April 9th, 2008 (Development Blog)

There is still no visual updates to the game but a lot has been brainstormed and changed. The changes for VG was accompanied with The founding of Stormblade Studios. At first, Stormblade Studios was going to be a seperate project from Valhalla's Gate but I soon after decided that it would be good to combine the two for a number of reasons.

- Dedication to VG was obviously dwindling
- It would make VG more professional and Organized
- It will allows us to create new projects under one name
- For those trying to get into the gamin industry, this is the next big step to take (Working for an Indie Team).
- We will be able to get more experienced team members and gain experience ourselves.

Want to know how Stormblade Studios started? Well I'm going to write the plain truth. I visited Ggamedev.net and posted an application on the help wanted forums asking for a place in a project using my C# and Game Design skills. I got 6 offers in an hour but turned them all down after reminding myself I had a team and a game that was being worked on.

I did not turn them down immediatley though, I waited for them to explain their situation and figured we were as bad as them and with me trying to work on another project, Valhalla's Gate will get nowhere. At that moment, Drizzt, an old friend logged into MSN and I decided to open a convo with him. We talked about our projects at the moment and he was telling me about a project he was working on with some people. It then escalated into a discussion about making an Indie team called Twin Blade Studios (It went through a lot of names like Osaris, Devcore, and Stormguard). About 30 minutes after our conversation, Natemo (a member from Gamedev.net) added me on msn and offered to create a team together and work on something. All three of us joined in one convo and talked about many things, ending up with Stormblade Studios and a domain for it.

The changes in Valhalla's Gate are once again drastic and effective changes. Valhalla's Gate will no longer be a 2d MMORPG created by mirage Source. It is highly possible to create a fast paced hack and slash, 1st person (or 3rd) RPG. Thats right, an RPG, not ORPG. As a small team just starting out, we will need to start with small projects (Valhalla's Gate not being one of them) that will give us more experience.

Another reason for these decisions is my personal amibitions as well. The time I've spent with 2d point and click engines has taught me a whole lot but like everyone else, It is time to move to bigger and more catchy things. With my Game Design and C# Programming skills, I am confident that we will be able to make better things. I would also like to use the skills of my current team like:

3D Art
3D Modeling
2D Art
Conept Art
Programming (Network, AI, General..ect.)
Game Design
Music Composer
Sound Composer
Website Artist/Programmer
Game Writer
Media Artist (Videos, Cutscenes..ect.)

If you do not have any of these skills, it does not mean we will not allow you to stay with us, you will just need to LEARN. Learning is the reason why we are here. You guys are not geeting paid, so the obvious reason why your here is because you love video games and love creating them.


I hope this was enough for now, there will be constant blog posts on these forums until we move to www.stormbladestudios.com.

Haha read that last line...