User blog:Thane Mantis/Clone - I found something curious...
- Blog #1 | Project: Shadow Forge
- Blog #2 | Project: Kingdom Maker
- Blog #3 | Project: Armour
UPDATE: Please read!
Just a quick heads up for anyone that may be reading this old blog. I've recently taken all the information in this blog post pertaining to the two games I initially dedicated this blog to researching, KIXEYE's two projects, Shadow Forge and Kindom Maker, and overhauled all of it, splitting it into two dedicated blog posts instead of one single post, which are linked above.
Originally when I started all of this work, it was a discussion on the KIXEYE Forums which I linked below when I originally wrote at the top of this blog post about "KIXEYE killing the original..." This was more or less a very lazily compiled back-up on my part. This blog was just the comments I had originally written on that thread which I just copied and pasted from there to here without any changes, creating a bit of a confusing mess as a result. Anyone not privy to the original conversation would likely be rather lost as to why I my comments were all written like I was having a back and forth.
Anyways, this has all since been resolved with my new blog posts which I've linked above and for anyone that may be interested, you can check out all my work with the links I've provided. There's also a third blog for a new KIXEYE game I recently became aware of, although information is rather scarce on it. But feel free to take a look regardless, and offer feedback and opinions if you feel like it.
Original Blog Post:
Just in case KIXEYE gets any ideas about killing the original...
Original Post:
So recently me an Axel were discussing all things KIXEYE in the PM's and at some point the convo turned to the all things KIXEYE, and more specifically the KIXEYE Corp. Site, as I found it has recently been re-done at last. Anyways, hidden amongst the various lies about how much they give a damn_ and so on about their games, and their dedication to good products, there's one thing that stands out. They have a section dedicated to the various top members of the company, including its founders, Paul Preece, and good ol' David Scott.
Whats interesting particularly however is not David's bio, but Paul's. Here's what is has to say.
Hmm, a soon to be announced mobile title you say. How curious? I wonder... might this be related to those trademarks and whatnot I dug up awhile ago and discussed here? Could this be Kingdom Maker taking shape? Thoughts everyone?
UPDATE: I looked back through the bio's and found this entry for David Scott. I think it was a recent edit since I don't recall the mention of a new mobile title at the end like last time I looked.
Hmm, more confirmation of a new mobile title it seems.
Update #1:
My search for information is yielding more information, and hidden secrets along the way.
I stumbled upon the original thread that helped me learn of Shadow Forge, and whilst it may not be entirely relevant anymore, it did give me an idea.
Since the link in that thread remained valid (https://www.kixeye.com/game/shadowforge/) I decided to replace the /shadowforge/part with /kingdommaker/ and it seems to be a functional link of sorts, as I was redirected here.
Considering the lack of content on that page, I'd dismiss this almost entirely and immediately, if it weren't for that aforementioned functional redirection of that initial link. It seems that KIXEYE might already have some back-end framework of sorts in place for Kingdom Maker to give it a full place on the site down the line.
And just to be sure this wasn't necessarily a fluke of sorts, I tried entering the other two names in between those slashes, /wildlanders/ & /wildorn/ and even tried adding "home" after the last slash for both URL's (since the Kingdom Maker page has "home" written after the last slash in the URL) and none of them take you to a hidden page, they redirect you to your profile page instead. So this might lend a little bit of credit to possibility of this game being full steam ahead in development perhaps? Thoughts everyone?
Oh, and on a somewhat unrelated note, whilst the game does seem to be dead, I did find what may have been the first and/or last official status post on Shadow Forge. CM Scarlett prior to his vanishing from the forums did seem to at least confirm this was a thing here in this thread. I wonder what happened to it to cause it to seemingly get cancelled.
Update #2:
I have more information guys. Or at least, yet another piece of information confirming a new title.
On the Corporate Site, they have links to career centres showing job offerings at their various development studios at:
- San Francisco, US.
- Brisbane, Australia.
- Victoria, British Columbia.
Brisbane has no openings, and Victoria are only offering positions for a QA Lead and a Senior Game Developer working on War Commander. San Franscico however has one opening referencing a new "Unity" Project, so that tells us this games engine that it runs on. I must say, Unity is an interesting engine choice, as its a popular pick for developing games across as many platforms as possible. I wonder if this leaves open the chance for this game to move from mobile to maybe desktop?
At any rate, Yard, this is likely good news for you as this should give good odds this game comes to Android, since Unity prides itself on being a multi-platform engine, deployable to over 25 platforms, including of course, Android. Thoughts?
Update #3:
Alright, Im back at this again, because yet again I've found more information. This time however, its not about Kingdom Maker, but details on the mysterious Shadow Forge, and what this game might have become had it survived since signs point to its death. My search for information lead me back to this thread here which as I've said before, was where I originally learnt of Shadow Forge if memory serves me well. Well, one comment was posted which gave me an idea to try.
So I did just this and was lead to a couple LinkedIn profiles, one belonging to a man called Ben Dickens , (FYI, you'll need a LinkedIn account yourself to view their profiles if you want to see what I found firsthand, but don't worry, I'll quote what I've got and if anyone wants, can provide screenshots) and the other to a man called Rahim Wahab.
Mr. Wahabs file didn't seem to contain anything of particular note as far as I could see, just a mention of him working on Shadow Forge when I saw it in Google search's results (though I will take a more in depth look in a but.) Not sure what his official role was however since his file itself seemed to state nothing. Ben Dickens however, did have some details of note. Quote from his profile:
So Shadow Forge was a mobile puzzle fighting game? Hmm, anyone know of any similar type games we might compare it to in order to get a better sense of just how this might have worked? Thoughts in general guys? Think it would have worked? If I find anything more, I'll keep the thread updated.
Update #4:
Another couple of updates.
First of all, just in case anyone was curious, I figured out Rahim's role in Shadow Forge. According to a recommendation/endorsement on his LinkedIn Profile, he was a Quality Engineer for Shadow Forge, as well as Battle Pirates once. Excerpt from a recommendation by Steve Wetherill:
Sidenote: Potentially interesting fact about this guy Steve. According to his profile, between 2013 and 2016 he was, amongst other other roles, a Technical Director on an unannounced Unity/Mobile title. Considering the timing, Im guessing this may mean his hand was also involved with Kingdom Maker.
Secondly, I found an official statement made by Will Harbin, AKA Destro himself, also referencing what is likely Kingdom Maker. Initially I learned of this this specific post from the TOME: Immortal Arena News Page on Facebook which quotes part of his statement, and later found the full quote (since the original thread is gone) in this article.
Excerpt from a statement by Will Harbin:
So that tells us 2 things.
- Shadow Forge is/was possibly not meant to be the public name of this now bygone game.
- This quote was from early 2015, around February 5th in fact, nearly a full year before the initial trademark filing by KIXEYE according to the Kingdom Maker page on Trademarkia, whereas its filing date is dated as January 12th 2016 instead, nearly a year ahead. This hints that Kingdom Maker has been in development for nearly 3 years now.
Thoughts everyone?
Update #5:
So, I've got a couple minor new developments I've found as of late everyone, if anyone is still interested...
So, whilst I was organising my messy Favourites lists in my browser, I was reviewing my research to determine what links to delete and what to keep, and decided to make note of them on a copy I have of this thread on my WC-Wiki Blog (you can see that here.)
Anyways, whilst I was documenting my links and looking at what I had compiled, I went back to this old trademarks list that I originally posted here, and have also quoted below for convenience.
And it seems that there has been a minor update. Specifically to Kingdom Maker, the only live trademark. Its page (here ) says the following:
So it seems this Kingdom Maker moves onward in development. If Im reading the page right, this trademark started back on the 12th of January, 2016 so its been active and held by KIXEYE for 2 years now, far outlasting its fellows listed above. StIll no guarantee it will see the light of day, but, considering the recent update, it does look promising.
In other news, I found references to another KIXEYE title that was in development at some point, though has seemingly been canned. Originally I found reference of this new title on this thread here , where the original poster was doing what Im doing here and predicting new KIXEYE games and whatnot. and a follow up reference here. This mysterious game known is, or was, called "Armour" which, according to a quote at the bottom of this article here , was supposed to be a World of Tanks style combat game.
Thoughts everyone?
Oh, and one more thing. As you may have guessed assuming anyone remembers when I originally set out to do this, sadly that KIXEYE Team member who worked on Shadow Forge never got back to me in LinkedIn PM's. He viewed my page according to the Premium Trial which tells you when folks look at your page, but he never responded sadly.
Anyways, that's all for now. I'll follow up if by any chance I found more news.
Sources, Links & other Stuff:
These links may or may not be useful.
Source 1 | References a new project, potentially hints that Kingdom Maker has been in development since early 2015 or further back. Also references both David Scott, Paul Preece and Will Harbin all being personally involved. Interesting...
Source 2 | Link broken/leads to a now forbidden section of the forums. How curious... will need to investiget this... supposedly it references TOME's early demise according to mod comment...
Source 3 | Initial_Degeneration references a "medieval game" KIXEYE is making... Shadow Forge most likely...
Source 4 | Makes predictions for new KIXEYE games, including references to Shadow Forge, the "special project" involving Scott, Preece, and Harbin, and anoter project known as "Armour." That's new, will need to investigate...
Source 5 | Page contaning Shadow Forge promo image... homepage?
Source 6 | Thread containing my list of trademarks that KIXEYE has filed with sources linked...
Source 7 | Original thread discussing Shadow Forge. Point 0...
Source 8 | Article referencing the "Armour" game mentioned above. States that it is a "World of Tanks" style game. How curious...
Source 9 | References Mobile edition of TOME: Immortal Arena, and a Battle Pirates 2 it seems....
Source 10 | Must searched for cache'd version of tis article if it exists in the Way Back Machine...