But What Does it Have to Do With Shadowbane?

[Signe]

Stray Bullet Games!

AUSTIN, TX -- June 1st, 2007 -- One year ago today key developers from Wolfpack Studios banded together to form Stray Bullet Games, LLC. Over the last three hundred and sixty-five days, the members of Stray Bullet have been hard at work. The team has seen the addition of new members, has taken on contract work from other studios, and has laid the foundation for a new massively multiplayer online game, based on an original intellectual property conceived in-house.

“While we are still working with other studios on external projects, Stray Bullet’s main focus is our own original intellectual property,” remarks Mark Nausha, SBG President and CEO. “That’s the main reason we founded this studio.”

While developing a proof-of-concept prototype for their as yet unannounced new title, the Stray Bullet team evaluated various middleware technology solutions. During this process, a base solution was decided upon; “We decided on Simultronics’ HeroEngine because it gives us a comprehensive set of tools and the best infrastructure for development,” says Ala Diaz, the Technical Director at Stray Bullet Games. “The power of HeroEngine lies in its collaborative real-time development model, with a fantastic suite of tools and systems.”

One month ago Stray Bullet Games completed the proof-of-concept prototype, and shifted from the concept phase to pre-production. “We have yet to release any detailed information to the general public concerning the new project,” says Mike Madden, Creative Director. “This is due to a variety of reasons, but none more so than the fact that any information we release now will probably change by the time we enter Beta Testing. As we approach that date, we will begin releasing more details.”

“The first year is always the hardest for a new studio,” says Frank Lucero, VP of Product Development and SBG COO. “With that behind us and moving into pre-production, the company’s future looks strong indeed.”

Stray Bullet Games has formed one of the most creative, talented, and experienced teams in the industry. Interested parties that wish to learn more can email shoot@straybulletgames.com or visit the website at www.straybulletgames.com.
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About Stray Bullet Games, LLC.

Stray Bullet Games [www.straybulletgames.com] is an independent developer of massively multiplayer online entertainment founded by key developers from Wolfpack Studios, the creators of "Shadowbane®." Based in Austin, Texas, Stray Bullet Games develops products and services for a worldwide customer base with the mission of establishing a new standard in the areas of virtual 3D environments and persistent world gaming.

 

Press Contacts:
Sean Dahlberg

Stray Bullet Games

press@straybulletgames.com

 © 2006 Stray Bullet Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Stray Bullet Games and the Stray Bullet Games logo are trademarks of Stray Bullet Games, LLC. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved.

We've given you a year... whatcha got for us?   

[pxib]

We've given you a year... whatcha got for us?   

Straybullet: sbg.exe - Fatal Application Exit. Unhandled Exception!
sbg.exe has encountered an error an cannot provide only cryptic hints about their new project!
ExpCode: 0xC0000005 ExpFlags: 0 ExpAdress: 0x00728B3D

[Sir Fodder]

As a sometime student of MMOGs I always wanted to try Shadowbane but never did, I could not justify giving money to such raging idiots (the sb.exe gripes made it easier, thanks F13 ).

Only douchebags of the highest order would name a studio "Stray Bullet", WTF? Tasteless in the extreme just to try and come off as some sort of tough guys.

[AshenTemper]

Only douchebags of the highest order would name a studio "Stray Bullet", WTF? Tasteless in the extreme just to try and come off as some sort of tough guys.

Are you sure you didn't play Shadowbane? By your above comments, you seem to fit right in with some players of the game (and no, that's not a knock on the Shadowbane Community, all MMOs have their groups of raging idiots).  :-D

As to Signe (and others), I would like to point out that aside from myself and a few others (Meridian is the only one coming to mind, atm) the members of SBG are not the same individuals who were part of the original team that created Shadowbane. The vast majority of this team were those who inherited the work when Ubisoft acquired Wolfpack Studios (they were a part of another project at Wolfpack Studios that was canceled when the acquisition occurred) and much of the current team came after that point. If you go through our roster, you'll see most members of the team are seasoned veterans in the game industry.

Why do I bring this up? Because I would like to point out that the members of the current team are not the individuals who created the "Arcane" engine that Shadowbane runs on. These are the individuals who have done their best to work with that engine with the time and budget allocated to them by our contractors. Think of it as trying to get a TRS-80 Color Computer to run Windows XP ;)

As to the cryptic nature of releasing information about the product we are working on, consider it a lesson I learned from working on Shadowbane. Releasing too many details about a product before its really ready to be shown is a bad thing. We'd rather have things nailed down and actually working before we elaborate on such things instead of saying how we think it will work. We are not trying to build a community around the product at this time, we're just celebrating the fact that we have made it this far (there are many studios who don't make it past the 12 month mark), that we finished our prototype, and that we have begun pre-production. Somehow I don't find that to be a bad thing.

[Signe]

I have read your roster and I'm impressed with it.  I'm expecting something Glorious.  Hurry!  Where is Sachant?  I miss her.

[AshenTemper]

We lost Sachant around the same time Ubisoft informed Wolfpack Studios that it would be closing its doors (link). She soon after found a job "elsewhere" but in the same industry and doing her fair share of kicking virtual ass and taking names as only someone in community management can do ;) You can, of course, always catch her through her blog which is currently undergoing a facelift.

[Signe]

Oh good.  I always forget people's blogs.  I'm so old fashioned.  Nearly became a Luddite, you know.

[Sir Fodder]

Only douchebags of the highest order would name a studio "Stray Bullet", WTF? Tasteless in the extreme just to try and come off as some sort of tough guys.

Are you sure you didn't play Shadowbane? By your above comments, you seem to fit right in with some players of the game (and no, that's not a knock on the Shadowbane Community, all MMOs have their groups of raging idiots).  :-D

How about you check those links before coming at me like that? I can give you a few thousand similar ones if needed. If that doesn't work, try sitting down for a few minutes and imagine that one of those kids was your own. If that doesn't do it, well I feel sorry for you, I truly hope you don't come to said realization the hard way.

[Signe]

[AshenTemper]

I think you missed the point; that being you sound like one of the "raging idiots" you referred to. Now, I don't know you and I don't know your posting history so perhaps this is just a sore topic for you but you were the one "coming at me like that" (or rather my company).

Now, as to your point... I didn't name the company and I can see your point through the bile and venom. At the same time, I think you are going completely overboard with your assessment of the name and using it in a single scenario. I do have a daughter and I served in Desert Storm while in the Marine Corps so I am sure I have great understanding of what "stray bullets" can do.

Does our studio name mean we are out shooting guns and promoting that stray bullets kill people? Hardly so and I think anyone could easily see that. I also think that most rational adults can possibly see what the name implies in light of the circumstances the studio was created under.

[Signe]

I can see how some people might take offense at the name "Rolling 30s"  or if someone named their character "Adolf Jew Slayer" or something.  This does seem a bit OTT, though.

Damn happy birthday threads always go astray off target balls up.

[Lightstalker]

I expected more boobies in this thread, or perhaps the inside track on the new game and its entire baking bread premise.

I am very dissappointed.

[Stephen Zepp]

Hey Ashen--good to see you around f13 :)

All I can say man is do some research here--I came to f13 pretty fresh off of finally giving up the ghost in Shadowbane (and I was a pretty big player on the fear server--Malangant the Righteous who founded the Church of the Reunification based on the Mandemus the Meek event way back when), and I quickly found quite a few very smart people/players who loved the premises of Shadowbane, just hated some of the design decisions, and of course the execution.

"Shadowbane done right" would be an incredibly amazing thing--I've been playing around with design thoughts myself for the last 3 years, and many of the ideas described here (some by myself, most by others) in the forums through some pretty in depth conversations are worth adding to your design idea mix!

[Hoax]

I think Fodder is a crazy jackass after finally getting around to reading this thread.  Also somebody should poke Trippy/Schild to update Ashen's title.

[DarkSign]

I must say that "Shadowbane = Done right" is part of the philosophy for the game our group is working on.
Ashen was always a good moderator - talk about a gamer "living the life", check his resume ;)

The name StrayBullet isnt that bad to be sure.

All I can say man is do some research here--I came to f13 pretty fresh off of finally giving up the ghost in Shadowbane (and I was a pretty big player on the fear server--Malangant the Righteous who founded the Church of the Reunification based on the Mandemus the Meek event way back when), and I quickly found quite a few very smart people/players who loved the premises of Shadowbane, just hated some of the design decisions, and of course the execution.

While we're comparing past accomplishments, I was a "pretty big player" on Dread, then Vengeance as an officer (rejected GL multiple times) of TBW.

The website looks like we're looking at a ShadowRun type MMO with the lizard mounts, elven ears and biomech legs. I do applaud you for not starting the hype train too early. Get enough to really talk about then start advertising.

[Trippy]

I think Fodder is a crazy jackass after finally getting around to reading this thread.  Also somebody should poke Trippy/Schild to update Ashen's title.

Good idea.

[Amaron]

So if my memory serves me correctly Shadowbane was made by a group that at the very least had several hackjobs who suckered someone into giving them money.  They screwed up for years until Ubisoft was forced to push the game out in it's original craptastic state and on release they fired the hackjobs and hired all new people.

This new group is I assume made of many of the people Ubisoft hired at release and not the hackjobs who made the original SB client according to Ashen's comments.  Looking through Stray Bullet's listed management the Lead Designer is Mike Madden and he's never created an MMO before according to his credits.  Really I'm not seeing any of this "seasoned veteran" stuff in all the listed info.   Of course that's not a knock on them.  Afterall Brad McQuaid is a "seasoned veteran" of the mmo industry.

Still though these people are all look untested at"from scratch" MMO design so call me somewhat skeptical at this point.  Of course I'm somewhat interested to see what kind of MMO will come from people who have been forced to toil away on what I hear is probably one of the most horribly coded MMO's of all time.   Being forced to do work with that piece of crap for all these years is probably enough to give anyone a proper respect for good software engineering practices.

[Stephen Zepp]

So if my memory serves me correctly Shadowbane was made by a group that at the very least had several hackjobs who suckered someone into giving them money.  They screwed up for years until Ubisoft was forced to push the game out in it's original craptastic state and on release they fired the hackjobs and hired all new people.

This new group is I assume made of many of the people Ubisoft hired at release and not the hackjobs who made the original SB client according to Ashen's comments.  Looking through Stray Bullet's listed management the Lead Designer is Mike Madden and he's never created an MMO before according to his credits.  Really I'm not seeing any of this "seasoned veteran" stuff in all the listed info.   Of course that's not a knock on them.  Afterall Brad McQuaid is a "seasoned veteran" of the mmo industry.

Still though these people are all look untested at"from scratch" MMO design so call me somewhat skeptical at this point.  Of course I'm somewhat interested to see what kind of MMO will come from people who have been forced to toil away on what I hear is probably one of the most horribly coded MMO's of all time.   Being forced to do work with that piece of crap for all these years is probably enough to give anyone a proper respect for good software engineering practices.

to provide a different viewpoint: When SB originally got their start, you didn't have 10 commercially published MMO's, and didn't have multiple generations of MMO's to learn from. You also didn't have MMO engines lying around, nor even standard game engines that you could turn into MMO ones.

IMO SB was a brave leap into some amazing innovation, who's execution failed at a couple of key points (engine production value being one of the primary ones, as well as failing to fully flesh out and implement some of the designs), and pretty damned impressive for what was basically an "indie" work product. The fact that the core of the team is making a major iteration (even if it is a macro-iteration of multiple years), is pretty motivating to me as both a player and a Game Developer.

[Vinadil]

As broken as SB may have been, I have not seen anyone else do what they were able to do when it comes to allowing players to build in a large part of the world and then tear down what others have built.

If nothing else SB gave us a great template to work off and start hundreds of, "Well you could do THIS better, or THIS different" conversations.