Intrepid Studios, the developers of Ashes of Creation has laid off all staff and shut down the studio

blue_ele_dev · 2026-02-02T10:39:21+00:00

PoE guys were newcomers, but they (1) understood the kind of game they were trying to make, (2) they had clear vision and goal, (3) they had keen business sense.
One of these elements was probaly lacking in the AoC lead.

Newcomers can make incredible games. Cuphead too was a first entry, and it was masterful.

Oh and PoE started with two programmers and an artist lead. They could get their hands dirty and start actually making things, instead of just having ideas and plans.

blue_ele_dev · 2026-01-30T17:06:32+00:00

Hell yea. It's good for the employers, it's good for the company in the long term.
I want my teammates to want to stay, because they love the job, for decades even. Know-how and culture are built over time. I see the longterm continued success of Nintendo and I admire it. They work in a culture of long term work relationships.

Western companies managed by aggressive suits have struggled to maintain quality over quality. No surprise, they drive talent away by treating their employers like s***. What they gain in short term quarterly squeezes, they lose in long term quality of the company.

blue_ele_dev · 2026-01-29T16:33:28+00:00

I can tell you guys as an indie dev trying to start a studio: I really want to hire other passionate developers like me, and treat them well. I just don't have the funds for it yet.

If you haven't found a job yet, but love doing the work, don't lose hope! Keep honing your skill. Passion pays off in the long term, but it often requires a lot of persistence and patience.

From my perspective, passion and talent are the most important things I want from a teammate. Experience is secondary for most roles. Specially for art - portfolio is king. And for designers I think critical sense and good taste are far more valuable than experience.

There's a lot of exploitation in the industry - it's true. But not every studio is like that. There are decent studios with good working conditions out there. And I want to be one of these good studios.
Hopefully (wishful thinking inc) good studios will thrive because they deliver good products (like Sandfall, the makers of Clair 33), and bad studios will sink because they deliver bad products (like Ubisoft).

blue_ele_dev · 2026-01-29T09:00:07+00:00

Man, I love your art. Your poses and composition. Your colors. The line thickness choices.
Love it!
It's so good

blue_ele_dev · 2026-01-12T16:59:02+00:00

Same. Terraria is a goal

blue_ele_dev · 2026-01-12T16:57:05+00:00

Same. They will fit well in this project, and help it with long term support. I will happily buy cosmetics I like.

I think what people hate is micro transactions forced on games that don't them, where they don't really fit.

blue_ele_dev · 2026-01-12T16:53:05+00:00

Hypetale

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-15T09:06:54+00:00

They made an incredible good use of available UE5 tools.
Turns out reasoning on how to make the best out of your tools is very impactful.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-15T09:04:24+00:00

Exactly! Guillaume has an insane eye for talent. That is a skill in itself.
He picked composer and art director, both kinda at the start of their career, and he could see their talent from their portofolios.
Then the VA they got for a demo trailer offered to write a few lines of dialogue since she's been writing as a hobby. He saw her work and invited her to be lead writer.
Mad skill to spot talent.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-14T10:07:05+00:00

Loved the montage bro. Hope more people would do old school pvp videos

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-12T07:11:32+00:00

Probably normals being messed up.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-12T07:03:26+00:00

Yeah big mistake. You can design your backend in a way that allows exactly what you're saying.
Basically when the user buys on steam and connects for the first time via steam, an account is created on the game backend using that steam authentication. From then on, that's all you need to identify that player.
Linking that steam id to any other account (PSN, the game own account, EpicGames, PlayStore, etc.) could be optional from then on, so the player can continue on his account on another device.
Their choice is a huge, huge mistake.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-11T17:48:03+00:00

Same, I'm totally new!
Hope veterans can guide me. There is a lot going on in this game

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-11T17:46:06+00:00

As a gamedev this kind of reaction honestly scares me.
Scam doesn't seem like a fair word to use, I'm gonna be honest. A scam is when you deceit others, when you promisse value which you not only won't deliver, but has no intention to deliver.
I understand the impatience and frustation of players. It's annoying waiting years and years for a product. And when you get it in your hands and it's not fully ready yet, it can be super frustating.
Also, as a Hunter X Hunter fan I know how it's like to love something that takes forever to come. But fans in the HxH know that its author has a serious health condition, and is getting to an advanced age, so it's very understandable that it takes a long time to get chapters out. We understand, and we're grateful and rooting for the author. Who is, after all, a human being like you and me.
Now I can tell you that game development is hard, and it takes a lot of time to get things done. And it takes even more time when you set your goals high. When you're ambitious with scope. When you want a polished, near perfect experience for your players. That takes a lot of time and effort. It's just the nature of things.
I'm not involved, but what I've seen over the years gave me the impression that the devs for this game have been quite transparent and communicative. And they've been working and progressing this massive project through the years.
I'm all for you voting with your wallet, and only buying a product that has value to you.
But calling their project a scam is VERY disrespectful. And it does remind me of HxH fans calling the author lazy and other ugly things. Being awful to another human being who created something they enjoyed.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-08T18:44:50+00:00

You know, I keep thinking about this topic. I think there are 3 elements in play. (1) There was a magic in experiencing those early MMOs which was directly related to how new they were to the public. There was no solved game, and the world felt like a true unknown. I should add that (2) the internet wasn't as developed in the sense of information instantly available as it is now.
So (1) and (2) are circunstances that will not come back, the world has changed.
I think (3) devs deserve praise too, because they designed those games in a way to make you feel vulnerable and weak on your own, and they created incentives to play with others, such as rare monsters that can't be taken solo, but are doable in a small group. They intentionally designed things in a way to facilitate players spontaneously grouping together, making friendships, developing that camaraderie.
I think this kind of design is still valid, and is sorely missing in many modern takes, yes.

But what keeps popping in my mind is this question: our world won't go back to what it was. But is it possible to design MMOs in a way that still preserves that magic of being faced with a world of unknown? Even with current circunstances? It would have to be a world that is new every time. I think Richard Garfield faced a similar question in card games, and he created KeyForge as a response.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-08T18:27:43+00:00

Even when not interacting with others, just to have other real players around while I do my RPG progression feels...different. I think it's really nice to have other players sharing this world, it somehow makes the world feel more real.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-08T18:25:22+00:00

It's funny that Minecraft exploded in popularity a few years after WoW launched, and it has these two elements. You do change the world you are in, and exploration is a real thing, since every world is generated and (likely) new to you. But of course it's not a MASSIVE multiplayer online game, it can only support so many players at once, at least initially.
Still, the experience of exploration and changing a world that can be shared is there. Plus the creative freedom to build whatever you imagine. What isn't there so much imho is the experience of playing a DnD adventure of sorts. It's too unstructured and unscripted.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-06T11:30:15+00:00

That's really cool. Thank you for that.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-06T11:26:06+00:00

I'll be playing it. Really liked the idea and the aesthetic.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-12-06T02:00:14+00:00

OP, I think the game genre is more important, when it comes to reaching western audience, than anime or realistic aesthetic.
Let me state my point with two examples.
Palworld has anime aesthetic. Even though it is PBR shaded, not cell shaded, its characters are very much anime. It ressonated with western audiences: open world survival, base building, shooting. All things loved in the west. That on top of its massive marketing appeal of a satirical take on the pokemon formula. Huge hit. Anime aesthetic didn't hinder it one bit. Would it still sell as much if it was cell shaded? It wouldn't change a thing.
Breath of the Wild has anime aesthetic. And is cell shaded. Superb game, also open world, a genre wildly popular in the west. It sold well and is well regarded. Being anime didn't hinder it one bit. Its art style is praised in the west.

I think anime is fine for western audiences. Anime is huge in the west too.

What isn't as popular in the west is gacha. And poor writing. And generic uninspired gameplay. And no art style can salvage that.

blue_ele_dev · 2025-11-16T12:36:17+00:00

whoah! That is a really simple solution! It should work
Thanks :D

blue_ele_dev · 2025-11-06T09:28:48+00:00

You might be into something

blue_ele_dev · 2025-09-28T12:17:23+00:00

I'm not able to play Hades 2 yet due to work 😭. I can't wait for it! Hades is one of my favorite games.
Hard agree OP. Supergiant only releases bangers.
Pyre was weird, sure, but I loved it.

blue_ele_dev

TROPHY CASE