Going to do a quick thread on this game and the studio behind it. For those interested and for those writing about it.
- The developer is Game Science Studio which was founded in June 2014 by ex Tencent Games staff.
- Here is their site-
游戏科学 Game Science
- Prior to the studio founding, some of the staff worked at Tencent's Quantum studio on a game called 'Asura'.
- This was essentially a Journey to the West themed MMORPG for PC that aimed to become a hit for the company.
- Ultimately it ended up underperforming.
- Some devs that worked on Asura left Tencent to form Game Science Studio in June 2014. The studio currently has locations in Shenzhen and Hangzhou.
- They first worked on a F2P mobile RPG / Card game called 100 Heroes that was published by NetEase in 2015.
- Their 2nd game was Art of War: Red Tides, a F2P multiplayer strategy game that launched on PC and Mobile. First on PC in 2016 and then on mobile in 2017, published by Hero Interactive.
- The company has also been working on a successor for this game, but it's under wraps right now
- At the end of 2017 they started to note that conditions were right for Chinese developers to enter the premium games market as platforms like Steam had become popular.
- They looked to create a premium AAA style game that could usher in a new era of premium Chinese games.
- Hangzhou was chosen as the new location for a studio focusing on premium games, while Shenzhen focused on existing mobile / PC F2P game projects.
- Drawing inspiration from Asura, the game they worked on at Tencent, they started work on a new game based on Journey to the West
- Has been more than 2 years since planning and development started. Originally with 13 devs in the first year and ramping up to around 30 this year.
- They played games such as God of War, Monster Hunter World and Sekiro during development, learning from each title.
- The gameplay demo showcased today is the result of 2+ years of development, learning UE4, implementing new processes.
- It is still far from completion and the aim now is to perfect what they have been able to showcase across a full length game that is worth the asking price.
- The team is currently hiring 19 new devs and will probably hire more after too.
- My personal estimate is that this game is still 2+ years out minimum.
- The studio will probably look for funding / publishers to work with too.
Hopefully it's a success!