Support NeoGAF

[gollumsluvslave]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8329

Another UK dev house goes bye bye.

Republic was pretty good from what i remember

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

what have they done ?

 

[lochnesssnowman]

Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius

Generally, they get a lot of press because they are the house that Demis (Hassabis) built. He was Peter Molyneux' protege back at Bullfrog and led programming on Theme Park at 17. Or something like thaty.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

never heard of those games...

well I think more and more of small developing houses are gonna shut down when next gen gets launched, they just can't keep up with the costs...

their only hope is handhelds, and that won't be for long, the DS is the cheapest console to develop for in the market right now, and for how long do you think it will be there? 3? 5 years ?

 

[gofreak]

"We gave it everything we had but ultimately it wasn't quite enough. It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. Perhaps there is no longer any need for them."



I hope Demis moves on to bigger and better things.

Although Republic was a victim of its own hype, IMO. Yes it was original and different, but it wasn't quite as good as they suggested it would be in early previews. I can understand being ambitious, though..

Tis sad

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Wasn't this the team that claimed a billion polygons on-screen with their engine for Republic?

 

[gofreak]

Wasn't this the team that claimed a billion polygons on-screen with their engine for Republic?

Yeah, that was part of the early preview hype. Not sure if they claimed it was billions of polys actually being drawn, versus scenes with billions of polys (cut down algorithmically via LOD).

 

[fennec fox]

"We gave it everything we had but ultimately it wasn't quite enough. It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. Perhaps there is no longer any need for them."

Let's have a pity party, one, two three --

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

[Azih]

The Evil Genius demo completely and totally sucked.

 

[Acosta]

Hassabis seems quite discouraged I hope he don´t think about leaving the industry (actually he could, it´s a certificated genius and could find a good work when he wants).

It´s a shame, Revolution had a huge potential and actually has great ideas on it.

By the way, hats off to the way Elixir has closed. Other company would have going on and risk their employers salaries.

 

[CabbageRed]

I wasn't particularly impressed by EG. On paper it sounded very promising but in practice I thought the game failed to offer anywhere near enough diversity to keep the gameplay fresh after the first few hours. Also, didn't VUG show some degree of patience with EG's development cycle?

That's not to say I'm pleased to see Elixir go – they did have some great ideas and maybe a few more releases would have honed the execution of their concepts. I'm just not fond of the “It's the industry,” tilt.

I'm glad to hear that they are sticking by their employees. Very commendable, especially these days.

 

[Templar Wizard]

"It's the industry...”

no. its not releasing very good product.
republic was hyped to high heaven by the company and they promised 'the lot' to strategy gamers.
(typical molyneaux marketing)

what was the end result? a defanged bore-aton.

ergo, when marketing, promise less, deliver more.


secondly, Evil Genius. fair, not great. good stuff in there, but nothing to set the strategy genre on fire.
(didnt Rome:total war come out approx at the same time?, now THATS a pc strategy game)

at the end of it all, its not the industry its essentially the games that you release, pure and simple (but yes, the market does play a part)

sorry to see to them go, but hopefully a better new studio will get the investment money that would have gone into the republic 'sequel'.

 

[pilonv1]

I thought Evil Genius had some awesome ideas hurt by poor execution. I still enjoyed it for the most part but it's sad we won't see a sequel.

 

[Chiggs]

Republic was shit and Evil Genius was extremely underwhelming. They will not be missed.

 

[siege]

Sorry Elixir, but both of your games sucked. Such is life.

 

[element]

republic was awful!!

 

[RiotPelaaja]

Interesting fact: Peter Molyneux poured a lot of his money into Elixir to keep it afloat back in the days of Republic.

 

[Pug]

There downfall was the "Infinite Engine" they touted. God did that piss off many other developers.

 

[shibbs]

Aw shame, Evil Genius was pretty cool.