Friend And Foe Games may only have five people on its roster, but with combined experience including Battlefield 3, Killzone, and The Last Guardian (just to name a handful) this new indie studio has a lot of talent.
In the modern gaming landscape it seems that indie studios are a dime a dozen. Often they are comprised of amateurs seeking to make a name for themselves in the business with next to no experience, training, or even talent. Then there are the rare gems: the indie studios comprised of or opened by industry veterans looking to free themselves from the constraints of the bigger studios. These outfits will not only have the creativity and fresh ideas often associated with indie development, but the skill and knowledge necessary to actually accomplish their goals and deliver a solid, complete product.
Friend And Foe Games seeks to be one of the rare few studios who manage exactly that.
With five members on its team, Friend And Foe Games is nothing to sneeze at as far as indie studio sizes are concerned. Team members include Ivan Dahlberg, Rasmus Deguchi, Rui Guerreiro, Thomas Lilja, and Victor Santaquiteria. Between them these individuals have worked on a lot of high profile titles, most notably The Last Guardian and Killzone. The team’s balance is heavily in favor of art design, and this is evident in some of the stunning images for the first of their two current projects, Vane:
The studio’s web site has quite bit to say about its team and their reasons behind going indie.
Our work experience as individuals span some notable AAA stuff, including The Last Guardian, Battlefield 3, Bionic Commando & Killzone to name a few. As many before us, however, we grew tired of working for big companies and chose instead to bet it all on pooling our talents and set out on the great indie adventure we always wanted. We’re now at a point where we’re ready to start showing our projects to the world. We really hope you enjoy the ride and see what we get up to!
Ambitiously, the studio is starting out with not one, but two planned titles under its belt.
Vane, featured in the stunning screenshot and animation above, is set to be an exploration and puzzle heavy adventure game. Despite how little is currently known about it beyond a handful of images and a brief blurb on the company’s web site, it is already shaping up to be a high-concept title worth following in the future.
The company’s other announced title is much more enigmatic. Dangerous Men has no screenshots available as of yet, only a blurb on the company’s site describing it as “a city-wide explosionfest” based on 80’s-style buddy cop movies and with an arcade slant to its gameplay. Despite the elevator pitch nature of the game’s description it looks to be an intriguing title as well, though more in depth information will have to wait.
Both of these titles have yet to have any official platform release plans or even release dates set. Nevertheless, Friend And Foe Games is shaping up to be an indie developer to keep your eyes on in the near future.