What are Beamdog doing now? A purely speculative thread...
Anduin
Member Posts: 5,745
Beamdog is going through some big changes recently.
Trent kindly put minds at ease by posting this...
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/807954/#Comment_807954
He left us an interesting snippet...
Beamdog are working on three, a big, middle and small in-scale, projects.
We know how Beamdog works. They will keep things under wraps until the time is ready to reveal snippets and then make everyone go wild with hype. We privileged forumites can only guess at what they are up to...
And that is what this thread is about! What do you think Beamdog are up to? What could be the BIG project... Be?
Trent kindly put minds at ease by posting this...
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/807954/#Comment_807954
He left us an interesting snippet...
Beamdog are working on three, a big, middle and small in-scale, projects.
We know how Beamdog works. They will keep things under wraps until the time is ready to reveal snippets and then make everyone go wild with hype. We privileged forumites can only guess at what they are up to...
And that is what this thread is about! What do you think Beamdog are up to? What could be the BIG project... Be?
2
Comments
1. Big Project = Baldur's Gate Next
Yep. Baldur's Gate three if not in name... Possibly using the latest rule system... Trent has spoken about BG Next before... Perhaps this is it?
2. Middle Project = PST:EE
Never played this, but @Buttercheese put forward some interesting theories...
3. Small Project = Version 2.2 for Android and Ipad
Well... The latest patch has to go out to Android eventually...
...
I think my top slot could be fantasy... But I'm not sure what would go into the empty space...
Medium - Mobile/Tablet version updates
Small - Getting ready for 2.4
Oh, and the Top Secret huge future project that he didn't mention:
Have you a vague comment made by Beamdog top brass to give credence to such a claim?
They probably want to have the games in a good quality state (2.4 or maybe 2.5), and then when they're content with it, bring that 2.4 or 2.5 version over to IWDEE and Tablets (in either order).
Getting ready for 2.4 would obviously be either the medium or the small project.
Creating an EE version for either IWD2 or PST feels like it would have to be the big project. It would be an entirely new release, which should be a major thing. So that leaves the question, do they want to focus on making their own stuff now, or do they want to follow the 'safe' route a little longer, and make EE versions for IWD2 and/or PST?
.... Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.... I'll see myself out!
For similar reasons, I suspect the Medium project will be another new game of some variety, but on a smaller scale. Something that can deliver value with the new process sooner, and hopefully drive some income - companies ultimately need income to survive!
I'm hoping the small project is ongoing patching to the BG series, so that one day, after the iOS and Android ports have shipped, and SoD is available for Android, they might finally get around to the final patch for the already released macOS version of the game, and submit it to the Apple App store so that I can finally play. However, I despair that SoD on the App store was one of the many side projects consigned to oblivion. My solace is that I get to play the 1.3 versions of both games indefinitely, which are pretty solid, and I get to keep my un-nerfed assassin (who am I only now beginning to play, after 15 years or so with the games...). I can look forward to a lifetime of ducking SoD spoilers though, waiting for the mythical day it comes to my store...
Large is definitely a new IP lead by David Gaider.
Medium is hopefully patching and delivering the v2 game on remaining platforms.
Small is finally shipping the CE Box set of SoD to the customers that have already paid.
@GreenWarlock that is pretty insightful. I forgot about the collectors edition. I just received an email update. It is near completion... Just not yet. I also predict that an update to the game will commence before they burn the game onto the CDs, to get rid of any last bugs. Then... And only THEN, will they port stuff to android, IWD etc...
The 'final patch' for the Mac App store is not a patch to the game - the mac version is already available. It is simply submitting the existing patch to the app store for review, which is troublesome enough that they want to defer it to handle iOS and macOS reviews at the same time. So in the meantime, although the game is fully functional on Mac and available from other app stores, we don't get it from the official Apple Mac store until after all the Android and iOS work is complete.
An interesting hypothesis... But I'm not sure I believe in you @God
Potential Big Projects (with Gaider working on it):
-Completely new game (seems most likely to me)
-ID expansion akin to Dragonspear
-BGII expansion akin to Dragonspear
Potential Medium Projects:
-Planescape EE (most likely to me)
-IDII EE
Potential Small Projects:
-Making a small BGII DLC including Dragonspear characters (what I would like)
-Ongoing patches to the current EE games, including bringing ID up to the 2.x version
-Porting Dragonspear over to tablets/whatever
-Spinoff movie trilogy starring Mizhena
-Upgrade Infinity Engine to Infinity +1 Engine
-Siege of Dragonspear-themed LARP tournament, on ice
Medium project:
-Port Planescape: Torment to the iPhone and Etch-a-Sketch
-Save money by using d6 dice instead of d20
-Find out how many oatmeal cookies @TrentOster can cram in his mouth before people ask him if he's okay
Small project:
-Give badass pompadours to Charname and Irenicus in Legacy of Bhaal mode
-Turnip Peddler kit
-Baldur's Gate 3, but with everyone only 5 inches tall so everyone looks really tiny and cute
So many questions... Such as is infinity +1 a number...
Something original in the style of BG/IWD wouldn't be too bad though..
The UIs will be upgraded eventually. If you have constructive feedback on what you would like to change in the existing UIs, if you have thoughts on how it could be better, please, comment in the special subforum - https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/ui-discussion-and-workshop, so that your ideas would be heard.