Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread - Page 279

Based on the video captions, here's a comprehensive summary of what Tim Morten discussed:
RTS Genre Market Status
Tim Morten shared insights from his experience at Blizzard and EA, stating that while the passionate core RTS audience hasn't diminished, other genres like MOBAs and Battle Royales have eclipsed RTS in terms of market size. He believes RTS can still succeed but would need innovation to match the scale of these larger genres.
Stormgate Development Journey
Original Vision

Founded Frost Giant Studios with Tim Campbell to create a new RTS in the Blizzard style
Aimed to create a hybrid between Warcraft and Starcraft styles
Built around "Four C's": Campaign, Competitive, Co-op, and Custom game modes

Key Challenges Faced
External Factors:

Market Oversaturation - The number of meaningful game releases has doubled in recent years, creating intense competition for player attention
Capital Environment Shift - Started during a venture capital boom (2019-2020), but funding dried up mid-development after the pandemic, forcing scope adjustments

Internal Challenges:

Scope Issues - Trying to build four distinct game modes simultaneously spread the team too thin
Execution Speed - Campaign development was slower than anticipated due to toolchain and creative dependencies
Unrealistic Expectations - Set expectations too high for an indie studio competing with Blizzard's 18 years of Starcraft 2 development

Lessons Learned and Future Outlook
What He Would Do Differently

Narrower initial scope for early access while maintaining grand vision for final delivery
Better messaging to set appropriate expectations
Adapt to changing market conditions more quickly

Industry Perspectives

Advocates for hybridization model - teams spread across multiple regions to manage costs
Suggests leveraging lower-cost labor regions for art and engineering
Believes AI will increasingly be necessary for small studios
In current conditions, recommends premium over free-to-play business models

Current Status and Next Steps

Stormgate's launch was not commercially successful
Currently seeking partnership opportunities to continue development
Plans to license the Stormgate engine to other RTS developers
Believes the tech they built represents a significant advancement in RTS development

Tim emphasized that while Stormgate didn't achieve its commercial goals, he remains passionate about the genre and hopeful about finding partners to continue the project's development.