Baldur's Gate 3's second patch is right around the corner, with Larian Studios suggesting that it's a ‘chonky' one. In a community update post on Steam, the developer revealed that the patch will be focused on improving performance issues, specifically in Act 3, where players have reported laggy cutscenes and stutters when the camera pans around. In addition to fixing bugs that halted quest progression, our companion, the cheerful Tiefling Karlach, will be getting a new optional ending — a closure that is described as ‘fiery' and ‘poignant'. The lengthy blog post also touches upon some cut content that was discovered recently by data miners, some of which have now been revealed as a consequence of bugs.
4J Studios shifts to more original intellectual properties like Manic Mechanics
10.08.2023 - 17:51 / venturebeat.com
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4J Studios has been making games for other companies since 2005. But more and more, we’ll see it stepping out on its own with original intellectual properties, according to Chris van der Kuyl, cofounder of the game developer and publisher.
Van der Kuyl walked me through the company’s 18-year history. 4J Studios has had 16 titles published over the years. It made 17 mash-up games, seven mini games, 30 skin packs and 11 texture packs. It won 11 international awards and its games have been played by 150 million players.
And last month, the Dundee, Scotland-based 4J published Manic Mechanics, a couch co-op game for the Nintendo Switch. The title is the company’s first self-published game, and it’s a typical game for 4J with a focus on enabling everyone to play. In the comedic game, you have to prove that you can keep up with your friends and show off your skills as a mechanic faced with one task after another. It’s a lot like Overcooked or Diner Dash in that respect. 4J has even created its own game engine for the game.
This decision on doing games on your own or making games for others is getting to be an important decision for game companies. During the economic downturn, some companies like Warner Bros Games and Take-Two Interactive have said they’ll focus on well-known franchises rather than original IPs. They are being very careful about taking risks. So it’s interesting to see 4J go in the opposite direction, investing in new IPs as well as its own engine. It turns out that, the more experienced they get, developers would rather work on their own ideas for games, free of encumbrances on creativity.
It’s been a long road to get to this point. Van der Kuyl said that the company has been fortunate along the way, and his team has collected tons of experience. He has been making games with his cofounder Paddy Burns for a long time, and they’ve been best friends since they were 11 years old.
Van der Kuyl and Peter Baillie started VIS Entertainment in Dundee back in 1996 and worked on H.E.D.Z. as one of Hasbro’s first games. They adapted Earthworm Jim to the Nintendo 64. They saw enough success with work-for-hire to make their own title for Rockstar Games called State of Emergency.
But the studio had to hold back the launch of that game due to controversy, as it was about riot control in a chaotic city. After 9/11, it wasn’t seen as a tasteful game. When it did launch in 2002/2003 across multiple platforms, it was a hit.
“It was a bit controversial as a riot simulator,” he
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