We'd heard before that Playdead, the creators of last year's breakout hit Limbo, were working on another title, and now Edge Magazine has learned that there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the next game will use the Unity Engine, which means that Playdead won't have to roll its own game engine this time around, leaving it free to conquer other tasks in the "ambitious" project.
But the bad news is that it will take a long time anyway -- three years or more. "A good game takes time," says CEO Dino Patti. "I think the new production will take at least three and a half years."
Even if Playdead already started when we talked about the project last October, we're still looking at another few years of development. In other words, the Wii U will be out and running before we get to play this one. Take your time, though, Playdead. We'll wait.
Reader Comments (25)
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 10:13PM Batman said
This is the kind of information you should keep to yourself as a developer...
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 1:32AM Polymorphic Ninja said
@Batman
Agreed. Unless they are a garage operation, it seems extremely odd that a game leveraging an existing game engine (such as unity) should take a year, let alone 2 or 3. If this is an XBLA game, this reeks of severe time mismanagement if they're not moonlighting. A game that takes 2-3 years is the kind that banks failure of the entire company on that one title.
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Agreed. Unless they are a garage operation, it seems extremely odd that a game leveraging an existing game engine (such as unity) should take a year, let alone 2 or 3. If this is an XBLA game, this reeks of severe time mismanagement if they're not moonlighting. A game that takes 2-3 years is the kind that banks failure of the entire company on that one title.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 7:18AM andgreen said
@Polymorphic Ninja
Really?
Have you tried to make a game of that magnitude yourself?
A small team. Excellent graphics and design. Soundproduction. Raising money. It all takes time. 3½ year is not long!
Try it out, and then come back and tell me if 3 years is a long time.
Reply
Really?
Have you tried to make a game of that magnitude yourself?
A small team. Excellent graphics and design. Soundproduction. Raising money. It all takes time. 3½ year is not long!
Try it out, and then come back and tell me if 3 years is a long time.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 11:45AM goal2004 said
@andgreen
Professional dev here. I actually have specific experience with Unity, having shipped 1 game using it and I'm 2 weeks away from finishing an initial release on the 2nd one. Using unity to make a game is RIDICULOUSLY easy. If it's only 2 people working on it then sure, 3.5 years make sense. If it's around 8 or more? That timeline is absurd.
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Professional dev here. I actually have specific experience with Unity, having shipped 1 game using it and I'm 2 weeks away from finishing an initial release on the 2nd one. Using unity to make a game is RIDICULOUSLY easy. If it's only 2 people working on it then sure, 3.5 years make sense. If it's around 8 or more? That timeline is absurd.
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 10:18PM daraikenu said
Then what was Duke Nukem Forever's excuse?
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 10:38PM Jameseh said
Seems a bad time to start developing a game with an intention to release in 3 years. Unless they have a devkit WiiU, PS4 and 360 successor then they're fine.
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 10:40PM Kirkpad said
I guess NOBODY read Dino Patti's tweets correcting the quote:
http://twitter.com/#!/DinoPatti/status/106829718359261184
"It will take at least 2 years from now"
http://twitter.com/#!/DinoPatti/status/106829718359261184
"It will take at least 2 years from now"
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 10:45PM Special Agent Steve said
@Kirkpad
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Reading?
What's that?
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Whoa, whoa, whoa. Reading?
What's that?
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 10:47PM blkdragonj said
I take it, its going to be a full retail price game than?
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 11:10PM Apakal said
Never to early to start the hype train.
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 11:38PM FunkMasterRitter said
Seriously???? Dino Patti???? All I can think about now is some kind of spongebob spinoff taking place in the triassic era..
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 11:39PM FunkMasterRitter said
@FunkMasterRitter
Lol Brontobob grass pants
Reply
Lol Brontobob grass pants
Posted: Aug 25th 2011 11:51PM Exu said
Hopefully this one won't take 90 minutes to finish.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 12:46AM Faceless Troll said
Three years doesn't sound too bad. I mean compared to FF VS 13 . . .
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 12:56AM Faceless Troll said
@pluupy There is no remake. That was Squenix trolling fanboys.
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Posted: Aug 26th 2011 9:39AM SEGA Scream said
In three years, I'll probably be dead. Nah, I'm just playing.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 10:07AM radioactivez0r said
I understand the need to try and stay relevant these days so people don't forget about you (Limbo? Oh man, that takes me back!), but with absolutely nothing to talk about, this really seems unnecessary.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 11:07AM gordeaux said
"A good game takes time"
I'm glad they've decided to make a good game this time around.
I'm glad they've decided to make a good game this time around.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 3:44PM thedannobot said
Not surprising, those dudes take forever to make games.
Limbo was synonymous with vaporware for several years. I remember getting excited about it when limbogame.org went up in 2004, but then the website wasn't updated for over 5 years.
Limbo was synonymous with vaporware for several years. I remember getting excited about it when limbogame.org went up in 2004, but then the website wasn't updated for over 5 years.
Posted: Aug 26th 2011 11:27PM superaj said
If it's as good as Limbo or better I can totally wait that long.






