Back in August last year Patrick Söderlund revealed he was leaving EA after a lengthy stay with the company, including his time as the boss of DICE, and back in November we got the news he had started Embark Studios. Now we have a meaty new update from the studio, and there's a lot to talk about.
This update comes from Söderlund himself, who reveals that the studio has hired 50 people after "thousands of applications", and that they've got a studio in Stockholm's Old Town. Work has already begun on "what looks to become our first game" as well, which he describes as "a cooperative free-to-play action game set in a distant future, about overcoming seemingly impossible odds by working together."
This idea was settled on in a shorter time than Söderlund expected, and prototyping has already begun. With that in mind, Söderlund also shares some early concept work, which you can see below:
Of course things will change as development progresses on the game, but we know it's being developed in Epic's Unreal Engine which is "augmented with some of our own new technology." Progress has been going well, and at the link above a terrain test can be seen to showcase the capabilities of the engine.
"Our goal with this terrain test was to see how far we could push visual fidelity on a large scale (256 square kilometers), with completely dynamic weather & lighting, and without having to be a huge team," Söderlund explained. "Everything in this clip was created by three people over three weeks, using real-world scanned data, procedurally placed objects, and some great tools."
Söderlund also talks about how the developers are adjusting after coming from bigger studios into this smaller one, with the need to work differently too. It's a learning process for everyone, but they all have the same ambition:
"In essence, we think it's too hard for people that aren't professional game developers to create games, and we want to blur the line between playing and making, with games and tools that empower anyone to create."
"Just like anyone today can produce their own videos, write their own blogs, or make their own music, we imagine a world where everyone is able to create and share meaningful interactive experiences. Our belief is that the more people that are empowered to create, the better, more interesting and more diverse games will become."
What's perhaps most interesting is that Söderlund acknowledges that studios of Embark's size can't hide away for years developing something risky, but instead need to focus on getting something released quickly that can then be built upon; "a really fun game that, if popular, can expand with design and functionality that take us closer to our long-term vision."
Embark promises more updates in the coming months, as well as a full game reveal too. If you want to join the team though, you can do so by following this link.
Do you like what you see so far?
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