Sega Signs Obsidian Entertainment To Develop Alien Title

[Nostromo]

http://www.obsidianent.com/

Role-Playing Game to be Based on Critically-Acclaimed Motion Picture Franchise

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (December 13, 2006) – SEGA® of America Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced that Obsidian Entertainment will create a role-playing game based on the Alien film franchise with license from Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising. This title will be developed for the next-generation systems and the PC.

Obsidian Entertainment draws upon their wealth of design knowledge creating successful games such as the best-selling Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords and the award-winning Neverwinter Nights 2 to bring the Alien franchise to role-playing gamers for the first time. The role playing game will build upon the distinctive look and feel of the original films while utilizing next-generation technology to create an entirely different and unique Alien experience.

“With Obsidian Entertainment’s development pedigree, they were our first choice to bring the Alien franchise to the RPG universe,” said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. “They are the only developer for us that could effectively combine the Alien mythology with compelling RPG gameplay to create the ultimate Alien experience.”

"We are thrilled to be working with the great production and publishing teams at Sega to deliver the ultimate in-depth Alien experience to gamers worldwide," said Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment. "Building an epic RPG with a license as heralded as the Alien franchise is truly a great honor."

After the Neverwinter nights 2 fiasco, can't say I'm excited about this. I just hope Sega are better publishers than Atari.

[CrONoS]

the game look ugly

[Nostromo]

Silly cronos, Aliens are supposed to look ugly.

[Sandman]

The Alien franchise is better suited to survival horror or action games, not so much role-playing...

[CrONoS]

[Nostromo]

The Alien franchise is better suited to survival horror or action games, not so much role-playing...

I agree. An RPG/FPS hybrid like System Shock would work.

[Nostromo]

If those are actual screenshots they are indeed fugly

[DrSpike]

I think an RPG would work fine in this setting, but Obsidian being in charge worries me.

[Snotty]

System shock
Alien
An Alien rpg? I would love to see it if they can make it work

[snoopy369]

Okay, wait, these guys actually claim KOTORII and NWN2 as *credits*?

How about "How to ruin your franchise in 3 easy steps"?

[Nostromo]

But is it Obsidian's fault or the publishers?

[El_Cid]

Well with NWN2 its all the publishers fault, but they have mitigating circumstances(like being nearly bankrupt).

KOTORII as a first try was always going to be tough as KOTOR was such a well finished game, and one of the consoles best rpgs to boot.

Still i agree those screenshots look horrible - much too bright and lurid colourful to create the right kind of atmosphere for such a game. I would suggest they go back and look at the movies(first two anyway) again and play a few of the older alien games like this:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/aliens-versus-predator

Then work out how to capture that horror aspect while putting it into a decent rpg framework.

As it stands its looking like a childish shooter and reminding me of the awfull Magic the gathering:Battlegrounds(which was a game also completely destroying the franchise).

I guess time will tell. Atleast with Sega they wont have the the companies finacial troubles interfering with the game development. Still Sega does like bright colours and 'kidish' themes so might not provide the harsh critique Obsidian might need to create the potential hit rpg in the waiting?

[Sandman]

Originally posted by nostromo
I agree. An RPG/FPS hybrid like System Shock would work.

It would.

Then work out how to capture that horror aspect while putting it into a decent rpg framework.

How would you go about this?

IMO, too many RPG conventions would undermine the tension. Leading the characters around with the mouse, rather direct control, for example.

[El_Cid]

Originally posted by Sandman

How would you go about this?

IMO, too many RPG conventions would undermine the tension. Leading the characters around with the mouse, rather direct control, for example.

Well one option would be that first method nostromo mentioned that you agreed with - make it along the lines of System shock. You can have a full 3D rpg. If it was my call I'd keep it single protagonist though. 3D and tactical/multiple "unit" managing has never been a comfortable bed fellow imho.

Or go with a "traditional" view point ala Baldurs Gate etc(and like those screenshots), but get rid of all the day-glo effects. Thats where watching the first two movies comes in, they were quite dark in the camera work......and scary for that. browns, greens, dull metals(and reds for the blood of course!) etc - definately not neon anything! That makes it look like Mario land or Zool or something - not good. This would be the better option for a party based affair i think.
It's entirely possible to create fear and tension in a 2D type game - just keep the pace moderate(like dont go the gauntlet route) and use music and graphics to good effect. Its been done quite well on occasion.