If nDreams appears to have gone a bit quiet lately, it’s because we’re working. Behind our calm exterior, there is a frenzy of activity as we work on a number of new projects – one of which is an ARG. But more about that in a second.
Making and running our first ARG, Xi, was a huge undertaking and took well over a year to complete. For most of that time, we stayed under the radar. It wasn’t until Xi went live that people really noticed nDreams and now, well, many are keeping an eye on us, not least because they want to know how we aim to top Xi.
Xi is a tough act to follow, but I hope the game I’m now producing will be even better. It won’t be based in PlayStation Home – sorry, Home fans – but I fully expect it to be one of the biggest ARGs in the world next year.
Meanwhile, nDreams is working on plenty of fun projects for Home – new spaces and apartments and games that I know you’re going to enjoy. They’ll be going live very soon and we’ll continue to produce new content for Home for the foreseeable future.
The new ARG is a rather different kettle of fish. It requires a lot of planning and technical innovation, so we’ll be writing and building and artworking behind the scenes for months yet. This is always the hard part. It’s the unglamorous stage between coming up with the initial idea and seeing it finally realised. The production phase. The nitty gritty. Believe me, you’re better off not watching this bit.
The one great comfort is that we’re pretty much guaranteed (touch wood) that this game *will* be released. I’ve met people in the industry who have spent years developing console games that never saw the light of day. One highly skilled and respected artist had worked on various games for almost a decade without seeing a single one hit the shops. But barring disasters, our new ARG will be live early next year, so we know there is light at the end of this long, dark, wintery tunnel.
So don’t worry, we haven’t disappeared. We’re not sleeping. We’re not distracted. We’re just preparing.
It’s going to be worth it.
David Varela
ARG Producer
