Very happy to announce that Fearless Studios, the independent game developer I co-founded with my buddy Cedrick Collomb, has joined Kabam, the leading developer in hardcore social games. I’ve been amazed by how the industry has evolved over the past few years, and it’s a great opportunity to be on the front lines of this ever-changing art form.
Archive for the ‘Fearless Studios’ Category
Fearless Studios, the game development studio I co-founded with friend and fellow LucasArts alum Cedrick Collomb, has been hard at work on a number of projects over the past few months. Today, we’re thrilled to be part of HP’s most recent press release regarding the Touchpad. We’re not ready to reveal many details about this particular project yet, but we feel that it supports many of our core values as a company — including our central mantra of “creative risk mitigated by smart technology decisions.” It’s been a blast to develop for the platform — the first night we got the game up and running on one of the devices was an exhilarating milestone for us — and it’s allowing us to evolve as game developers in a number of exciting directions. The core team at Fearless has done an outstanding job of staying nimble, exploring several different concepts in a short window and prototyping like mad. This week, we’re focusing on control schemes and prototyping game spaces.
Hope to update more soon!
As always, Free Comic Book Day was a blast. Blue Moon has posted a few pics here.
Along with signing a bunch of our own stuff, Michael Stribling and I were also scribbling on a special print that he produced based on a setting and characters I’ve been kicking around for a while. Currently codenamed “The Dark Divide,” I’m working on bringing the world to life in several arenas: One of our current projects at Fearless Studios is a prototype of core gameplay inspired by the concept; I just wrapped up the rough draft of Chapter 11 of a novel; and Cedrick (my Fearless co-founder) and I are discussing funding for a comic book limited series or graphic novel.
The image below is a teaser with early concepts for two of the (probably way too large) cast. The version we signed had some text on it, but none of the logos are final, so I’ve opted to post the unadulterated version here (mostly so I could type “unadulterated”). Click on the image to enlarge (but be warned; the final image is pretty big…).
Without going into virtually ANY detail on the concept or characters, I will say that I love the semi-transparent tentacles… And, I’ll mention that we’re really working hard to make these characters as iconic as possible – hence the big green goggles on the gunslinger in the foreground. We’re not completely there yet, but it’s coming along. Any feedback is welcome!
I’ll be at Blue Moon Comics Saturday 5/7 from 12-4 celebrating Free Comic Book Day with the talented Michael Stribling. Blue Moon will have some copies of Darth Vader & The Lost Command on hand for signing, and I’m sure Michael will have some of his work on display as well. As a special bonus, Michael can show something he’s working on that’s the first official collaboration between the two of us — an original image based on some characters and a world I’ve been kicking around for a while, and which has evolved into one of the game concepts we’re developing at Fearless Studios. Stop by if you’re in the North Bay!
The last few weeks of 2010 proved extremely busy but productive. Here’s some quick updates:
- Darth Vader & The Lost Command: I delivered the script for Darth Vader & The Lost Command #5, the final issue in that limited series, right before Christmas. Not sure if this will be my last Vader story, but I certainly tried to treat it that way and take the character to places he hasn’t been before. A lot of the story deals with Vader being forced to confront his past and the decisions he’s made. The whole process was more than a little cathartic… The first issue hits stands on January 26th.
Batwoman: Jim and I finished our script for Batwoman #5, which wraps up the first arc (“Hydrology”) for the new ongoing series. We worked extremely hard to make sure that the arc packs an emotional punch and shows some growth for Kate, and to set up the next arc as well. I think I’m most excited about seeing reader reaction to the new villain and some of the scenes between Kate and Maggie Sawyer. DC posted an update on the series at the The Source, the official DC blog, which is also accompanied by art from the series (including Amy’s variant cover for Issue #1, which I’m reposting here!).- Fearless Studios: We’re working on several pitches for various folks, and we continue to forge ahead with our original IP development. We’ve also selected one of our original concepts to move into a prototyping phase. The concept is built around some very innovative gameplay and a setting that is a unique fusion of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. I’m very excited about the progess we’ve made on both the game design and prototyping pipeline. We’re putting together a plan to start revealing some of the material, bit by bit, and hopefully I can share more here eventually.
- Scrivener Beta-Testing: All my friends with Macs have been telling me about this program for a few years now, but it’s just become available — in Beta form — on PC. It’s basically a really fancy binder program, but it’s powerful and easy-to-use and generally awesome. I’ve been using it for the past few months now (and in fact, used it to write the rough drafts for Issues #4 and #5 of the Darth Vader series, and organize a novel and a screenplay I’m working on). You can find out more here.
I’m still working on various other projects, and some monster-related blog posts as well. Hope to have something up in the next week or two.
Ever since I resigned from LucasArts back in August, there’s been a bit of speculation about why I left that venerable company after nearly 13 years, and what I’d be doing next. Well, the answer to both of those questions came today when Cedrick Collomb and I officially announced the formation of Fearless Studios, an independent game developer located in Northern California.
You can read the full press release here, and interviews with USA Today, Gamasutra, and Techland are also up.
So, I left a good job, working with great people on arguably the most powerful and recognizable IP in the world to do something more than a little bit crazy, but it’s already been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Creatively, I feel reborn, and have discovered that Cedrick’s knowledge of tech rivals my knowledge of useless X-Men trivia. Together, we’re creating a studio that will combine the best of gameplay and story to create games that are constantly surprising players and leave a lasting impression. Fearless Studios will be an environment where we aren’t afraid to take smart creative risks and tackle new challenges, but we’ll mitigate these through smart tech decisions, prototyping and iteration, hard work, and being honest with ourselves and our partners. We’re already working on six different concepts, ranging from a splashy action title to hardcore horror.
To those of you who contacted me looking for info on my next gig, wishing me well, and/or offering me jobs, I want to say thanks, and to apologize if I was slow to respond or vague when I finally did reply. Since resigning from LucasArts, my mental bandwidth has been consumed with getting Fearless Studios off the ground, so I wasn’t as diligent about following up with e-mail and Facebook messages. And when I did find time to respond, I didn’t want to jinx anything by revealing too much too fast. I hope you all understand.
Anyway, please check out our official site at www.fearlessstudios.com. We’re still working on getting content in, but I hope to post regular updates about our progress. You can sign-up for e-mail updates there as well and follow us on Twitter.
Be Fearless!