14 DAY TRIAL // Stuart Black, best known for creating the Black shooter for Criterion in 2006, announces that his new project is already in the works and might be launched via Steam, presumably via the newly introduced Greenlight service.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the developer says, “I’m prototyping a game for potential release through Steam. A third person action/adventure thing about survival and creation in a fairly hard sci-fi context. Planning to have something to show in the new year. And I’m looking at a cute iPad/iPhone idea that Leading Light have.”
Black was a very influential shooter when it was released, with its focus on cinematic action and destructible environments.
Stuart Black was clearly identified as the main creator behind the game and everybody expected him to move to bigger projects and create more titles that change the gaming world.
The developer worked with City Interactive in order to create Enemy Front, a game that was supposed to use Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare as reference points.
Unfortunately, Black himself was at odds in creative terms with the company he was working for and was let go after a press tour.
The developer is also sour about his experience with Codemasters, where he worked on Bodycount.
Black talks about the problems he faces, adding, “You keep missing dates, assets don’t come in on time, and you just start having to shave that design down. And that tends to be where your quality goes as you go through the course of production, and why you end up with something that gets released and it’s not very good.”
Black was interested in creating a deeper game, with an open-world focus, but Codemasters constrained him to basically create a sequel to Black.
It remains to be seen whether the new third-person action survival adventure that Stuart Black is creating will have better luck.