Warren Spector, along with Paul Neurath, is developing a new game. The pair founded OtherSide Entertainment who, as whole, have created games that “have won over 200 industry awards and earned over $5B in revenue”. Some of those games, that Spector has specifically worked on, include titles such as System Shock, Deus Ex, Epic Mickey, Thief: The Dark Project, and a couple of entries in the Ultima series. Development on System Shock 3 and a remake of the first game is currently in progress.
In a press release from TriplePoint Newsroom, Spector said, “It feels great to be working with talented team on a new title and new IP.” As of now, the team has Spector serving as the Chief Creative Officer and Neurath as the CEO. Another press release declared that Jeff Goodsill has recently been appointed to the position of General Manager which will have him overseeing production on all forthcoming games. Aside from the featured concept art, there are no details about the upcoming game, but Spector did excitedly say, “We are still in early development and are looking forward to sharing more information soon.”
To get an idea of what may be coming ahead, we can look backwards at Warren Spector’s catalogue of games. He probably had his oeuvre in mind when he said in the press release that, “Fans of my work already know what to expect.” For those old fans that need a refresher or if you are a prospective fan interested in what the game might entail, we got you covered.
Spector essentially pioneered the video game genre known as immersive sims. This genre is typically characterized by, “an immersive world and engaging narrative that players will directly impact through their choices and playstyles,” per Mr. Spector himself. So when Otherside Entertainment says that they, “specialize in creating player-powered experiences,” that is what they are alluding to. To get some more in-depth explanation of what these games entail and how they differ from other games, check out the video below to get a design breakdown of immersive sims.
Some of these game designs, features, and ideas are fairly common today. This was not the case though back in the late ’90s and 2000’s. During that time Warren Spector’s inspiration was Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). So much so that in a Game Developers Conference talk, he expressed that his mission was to recreate his experience with D&D for players of his games. He wanted to design such an experience through an integrated first-person shooter, RPG, and immersive simulation game. As Spector’s proudest achievement, we can expect his next game to be an attempt to surpass Deus Ex. To hear how high of a bar Spector will try to overcome, listen to him explain the game and imagine what he’ll do this time around at Otherside Entertainment.