Interview: Immortals of Aveum creator Bret Robbins delves into game\u2019s unlikely creation Electronic Arts \/ Ascendant StudiosImmortals of Aveum is an extraordinarily ambitious undertaking from a brand-new team at Ascendant Studios. In an industry with ballooning budgets and sky-high expectations, bold new ideas rarely come to the table, at least not at the highest level of AAA game development. So how did Bret Robbins pull it off with his newly formed team? We went straight to the source to find out. After a few hours in the world of Aveum, a recent hands-on session left me awestruck not only at the game itself, but at the very fact such a bold project even came to fruition in the current landscape. As mentioned in our preview, new ideas backed by blockbuster budgets of this size are exceedingly rare in the gaming industry today given the inherent financial risks involved. An original IP with a unique gameplay framework around it bolstered by industry-leading production value is all but unheard of at the very top of the AAA space. So how did a newly formed team manage to break the mold and deliver just that? We were fortunate enough to sit down with veteran game director Bret Robbins to piece together the story behind its development. From the early days with just a handful of employees to years of full-tilt production with more than 100 staff members, here\u2019s what we learned about Immortals of Aveum\u2019s journey at Ascendant Studios. \u201cClarity of vision\u201d over all else Throughout Robbins\u2019 illustrious career leading titles like Dead Space and a number of popular entries in the Call of Duty franchise, one rule has always remained paramount: \u201cClarity of vision.\u201d Ensuring every single developer has a clear understanding of the full picture is vital to the end product\u2019s success, he explained. It\u2019s a rule that carried through while building his very own studio at Ascendant, as Robbins knew exactly what game he wanted to make first, and made as much clear while hiring for the project. \u201cIf you look at the design documents and the story outline I wrote back then [five years ago], it\u2019s pretty much [Immortals of Aveum]. \u201cThere were some core pillars I really wanted to do in the game. I wanted really interesting, spell-combining combat. I wanted a big epic story. I had a bunch of characters in mind that you now see. Once I brought my lead writer on, we definitely improved it quite a bit, but the skeleton of it was all there.\u201d For half a decade, Robbins was steadfast in his commitment to the original vision. In turn, the dozens of developers joining his effort knew exactly what they were getting into. From the overall narrative to key gameplay systems, a great deal was mapped out from the very beginning. \u201cThe vision didn\u2019t flip-flop and change,\u201d he said. \u201cNo, this is gonna be a magic-shooter, cinematic experience, and we kept it true to that.\u201d Though it\u2019s worth bearing in mind, Aveum is no standard game. Unlike with previous titles he helped bring to market, games like Call of Duty where you had years of previous examples to rely on as a reference point, this new project didn\u2019t quite have that luxury. After all, it\u2019s an original universe that players navigate through an innovative mix of gameplay systems. So when recruiting for the Ascendant team, Robbins had to pitch the idea without any other real comparison to draw on. \u201cFor the very early people, I just had some design documents,\u201d he described. When hiring the initial batch of employees, he relied on his own \u201c60-page\u201d brief along with \u201ca bunch of images pulled from the internet. Here\u2019s how the game could look.\u201d As development progressed, however, visualizing the project during the hiring process became easier. With new prototypes and demos put together, the team would show these early glimpses during interviews and candidates \u201cgot really excited\u201d at the prospect of working on something entirely fresh. \u201cI was very fortunate with my hiring because people just wanted to work on something new. You don\u2019t see a lot of new games at this budget level in the AAA space. People knew they could really leave their mark on it and be part of creating a new franchise.\u201d A new studio with some bold ideas So with a story mapped out and a blueprint in mind for Immortals of Aveum\u2019s overall structure, the team got to work back in 2018. What came first was essentially a full year of \u201cexperimenting,\u201d Robbins explained, as the team went back and forth on the core gameplay loop. \u201cGetting the core gameplay right and creating that foundation, honestly was the hardest part. For the first year or so, we tried a lot of things. We went down some strange roads that weren\u2019t always the best. \u201cAbout a year in I just decided, let\u2019s get our fundamentals now. Let\u2019s make sure this feels like a great shooter first, then we\u2019ll put in all the other cool stuff we want to do. That resulted in a combat demo that I think was really, really strong.\u201d Having now played through a bite-sized chunk of the game, there\u2019s no denying the originality on display. While Immortals of Aveum feels like an expertly refined FPS in one moment, it morphs into an intense battle of strategy in the next as you survey the enemies ahead, consider your arsenal of magical abilities, and position yourself for the optimal onslaught. It\u2019s an incredibly satisfying mix of familiar components that coalesce to create something entirely new. It\u2019s this exact gameplay loop that landed Ascendant Studios a partnership with Electronic Arts, Robbins then revealed. After reaching out \u201cvery early on,\u201d before a demo was ever made, EA was originally reluctant. Though a year later, after going hands-on and experiencing this new combat, \u201cEA got really excited once they saw what it was. It was really the strength of that combat demo.\u201d The possible genesis of gaming\u2019s next big franchise What stood out most during not only this most recent hands-on preview, but also the virtual event before it, was the depth of Aveum. Decades of lore underpin the main narrative, with multiple warring factions all having their own motives. There\u2019s no shortage of storytelling to be found in-game, so much so, I couldn\u2019t help but feel this first release is just that, merely the beginning of something much larger. While falling under the EA Originals label, Robbins clarified the partnership is purely for marketing and publishing purposes. When all is said and done, \u201cAscendant owns the IP\u201d and retains \u201ccomplete creative control.\u201d Thus, the ball is fully in their court when it comes to the future of their new release, and throughout the team, \u201cthere\u2019s definitely no lack of ambition for what the future could hold.\u201d Ultimately, as you might expect, it boils down to the reception of the first game, Robbins said. Should the debut title connect with an audience and make people \u201creally fall in love with the world,\u201d possibilities are seemingly endless for what comes next. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot more stories to tell.\u201d In fact, we even got Robbins to subtly confirm a lore book in the works, one to further expand the exciting universe. \u201cThere might be one in the works,\u201d he said with a laugh. When Ascendant Studios was revealed to the world in 2019, Robbins made his lofty goals public. At the time, he said he wanted to make a \u201cbig game that\u2019s right up there with the best games ever made.\u201d Four years later, with Immortals of Aveum just weeks away from its July 20 release date, I ended our conversation by reminding Robbins of this objective and asking if he truly believes he\u2019s accomplished what he set out to back then. \u201cI do feel like this game is as good as any game out there,\u201d he responded without hesitation. \u201cI think it will absolutely blow people away. I am so proud of it. I think we\u2019ve made something great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interview: Immortals of Aveum creator Bret Robbins delves into game\u2019s unlikely creation Electronic Arts \/ Ascendant StudiosImmortals of Aveum is an extraordinarily ambitious undertaking from a brand-new team at Ascendant Studios. In an industry with ballooning budgets and sky-high expectations, bold new ideas rarely come to the table, at least not at the highest level […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}