Purpose of this blog

Dmitry Yudo aka Overlord, jack of all trades
David Lister aka Listy, Freelancer and Volunteer

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

[MISC] Wargaming Seattle


Gas Powered Games (Wargaming Seattle)
Everyone's wondering about Gas Powered Games, our recent acquisition earlier this year. For Chris Taylor, this was a happy surprise - in 2012, the studio was facing an uncertain future with only a now-defunct Kickstarter project keeping it afloat. Being a part of the Wargaming team has given the studio new life; the feeling of excitement in the offices is evident, from the fresh, new ideas coming out of the development team to the eagerness with which they accept opportunities within Wargaming's structure.

Office decorations in Seattle - they already fit right in!
Last week, I got to visit the offices of the new Wargaming Seattle studio and meet with Chris and his design and development leads to talk about the direction the studio is moving, plans for new game development, and just get to know the team and let them know what Wargaming is all about - bringing the fun to free games. Our shared vision turned out to be even more powerful than anything we would have come up with alone.

Their vision is like our vision - a perfect match!
Gas Powered Games and Chris Taylor are already well known for a number of famous products, including Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander 2, Dungeon Siege, Space Siege, Age of Empires Online, and Demigod. The studio happens to be the same age as Wargaming - 15 years - so it's no wonder they have developed so many cool games.

Chris Taylor, CEO and Founder, Gas Powered Games
Chris Taylor is the fire under this studio that keeps things hot, in spite of the cold, rainy weather Seattle is famous for. I was extremely impressed with his enthusiasm and desire to take on new projects and become part of the Wargaming team. As he told me over dinner, it's going to be great for him to let someone else focus on administration, so he can go back to enjoying making great games.
Game memorabilia from the past 15 years
The Gas Powered Games offices are located just outside of Seattle, near Nintendo's US headquarters. They're very postmodern, with a lot of glass and steel, and too large for the number of people working there right now, which means they are going to have to start recruiting to get those desks filled. That way they can get to work on The Next Big Game®.

Chris Taylor's desk - clearly a sign of a creative mind!
There is one desk that is already full to capacity - Chris Taylor's! It looks like he's kept every game he's ever played, every magazine and book he's ever read, and enough office furniture to pile all of them on! Fortunately, we all know that chaos is a sign that creative juices are constantly flowing. Another way Gas Powered Games fits right in with Wargaming!  :-)

by ChrisK

26 comments:

  1. Nice to hear, that Chis Taylor and hit ideas fit nicely into Wargaming!
    Maybe Chis could join this blog, too. To share some information of his new project with us!
    And please let his new project be a RTS with the economy and gameplay style from the old Supreme Commander, because this was the best RTS I ever played!

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  2. this post, especially the first paragraph, sounds like commercial for WG to me, I dont really like that

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A minor touch of marketing bulls..t, I would say. Nothing extraordinary.

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  3. what kind of bottles are those on chris taylors pic, right side?

    is he drinking to get better crazy ideas?
    fits right with russian style, no? ;)

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    Replies
    1. Not at all. We are all sober here. Most of the time.

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  4. Now that WG owns GPG Chris Taylor can help WG IP transcend the interactive medium and make sure it's lifestyle enhancing in addition to vertically integrating to be more connected to customers.

    Forget new tanks, WG need to get on this ASAP.

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  5. It's a nice note if we were shareholders of the company, or had any news on planned GPG titles, but there's nothing.

    Sooo...
    Can You guys give us some sort of estimated time when some more precise news on any of WG games will be out? Maybe not in form of super specific patch notes, but at least something that at least would give us a clue o what will come, and what to expect ...

    Pls ;-D

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  6. GJ WarGAYming... now GPG has to make shitty F2P crap for you..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your insults are as outdated as your taste in business models.

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    2. to be honest, F2P model is the worst model for players at all, it is too expensive and the game quality lacks because of the business model!

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  7. Supreme Commander was the best Strategy game ever and many people still play Supreme Commander Forged Alliance. I'd like to see a new one with the same old style. :D

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    Replies
    1. never heared of Demigod ^^ before.
      Maby because i dont like Games like LoL, Dota, ...

      Delete
  8. Dear Overlord

    A little off subject ,but would you please do something about the arty in the game. I don't min arty in the game but it should never be able to carry the game. For instance , I have been in to many games where a player or myself get taken out with one shot from arty. If the game was called world of arty then one could understand.
    I wish I had a solution to my own complaint , but if i was to give it a shot I would make the maximum number of arty only three. Plus accuracy for arty from that time was not that great . As for the rest of the game I love it .

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately a hard cap is not a feasible solution because of the load it is going to bring on MM system substantially increasing waiting times.

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  9. Hi, Overlord

    first of all sorry for any misspellings, Im not a native English speaker. Secondly I really like your blog :) I think, that most to be said :)

    As for me, why Im posting here? I had long time ago, posted a question on the "[WoT] German Top LT" thread. It was about the new Tier VII German Light Tank. As it looks like on Silentstalker blog the Aufklärungspanzer Panther will come. It was also conform by storm, that this tank will come in 0.8.5 with a konisch gun.

    I will now not start a long boring topic about: How every tank should be on pair with normal credit ammo, as I think you would agree on that.

    My question is still the old ones on the "[WoT] German Top LT" thread: Is there any chance we could see another Tier VII LT? I mean there would be some options, like I already mention:


    - VK 2002 MAN (http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/141263-suggestion-tier-vi-german-light-tank/page__st__40__pid__2742424#entry2742424)

    - VK 2801 DB (http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/141263-suggestion-tier-vi-german-light-tank/)

    - VK 1602 (MAN) Leopard (http://forum.worldoftanks.ru/index.php?/topic/527740-vk-1602-leopard-%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F/page__pid__13274853#entry13274853)

    - Porsche Typ 245 (http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/141263-suggestion-tier-vi-german-light-tank/page__st__60__pid__2829624#entry2829624)

    - PzKpfw 38 mit PAW 600 (http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/211125-vk2801-got-hit-by-the-nerfbat-hard-at-least-in-the-testserver-also-how-would-you-nerf-gold-105mm-derp-rounds-edit-new-tier-8-light/page__st__200__pid__4058775#entry4058775)

    Two of those suggestions (Porsche Typ 245, PzKpfw 38 mit PAW 600) are from Zarax999, and I could imagine if you ask him, he could find more information about those tanks. As for me, Im the guy with the VK 2801 DB, Staufen. So currently I could make some drawings for this tank, in his elite-form and stock-form and those again in relation to the VK1602 and PzKpfw V. But I also dont know if WG even know, we in Europe had some other suggestions, as since you had left, we are getting the output of the russian Q&A, but sadly no real input chance.

    So, thats why I come here to ask:

    (1) Is there any chance we see a second German Tier VII Light Tank? So that people can choose if the like to go for the Aufklärungspanzer Panther or for another one (one of the above mention?)
    (2) If the answer for the first question would be: YES! What could be a design, which WG likes to use?
    (3) If one of the possible answer on question two would be: VK 2801 DB. I would be happy to make more drawings, for example how I think the turret could work etc.....


    So Im happy for any input. But I also dont mind if you cant answer does questions; as I know that your current position on WoWP means, that you havent all the information close around you.

    Your Staufen.

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  10. Make them make Supreme Commander 3, but in the same vein as original supreme commander and not the bastardised supreme commander 2..... if this is done i will be the happiest gamer that ever lived. also get them to optimise supreme commander, it was one heck of a system hog....

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    Replies
    1. supreme commander 2 wasnt produced by gpg

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    2. it was... and because Supreme commander 1 was to complicated for casuals they made it C&C like

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    3. ahm no square enix produced Sup Com 2 -.-

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    ReplyDelete