Discovery:
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Revision as of 20:24, January 6, 2015
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{{Quotebox-Opaque|• ''"Square Enix commissioned Climax Games to work on a new Legacy of Kain game at some point between 2009-2010. Crystal Dynamics provided some supervision on the project."''<br/>• ''"Square Enix had a number of requirements for the game: it '''must''' have a single-player and multiplayer component and it '''must''' feature a new main character with a story distant to the original series."''<br/>• ''"Climax Games worked on the single-player component. Psyonix Games worked on the multiplayer component. Both games shared art assets, but other than that were wholly disconnected from each other."''<br/>• "''The single-player game went through many titles, eventually settling on ''Legacy of Kain – Dead Sun''."''<br/>• ''"The target format of the game changed rapidly during development. At one point it was envisioned as a small project (possibly downloadable?), and then as a [[wikipedia:Xbox 360|Xbox 360]]/[[wikipedia:PlayStation 3|PS3]] retail release. In its final form, the game would have been a PlayStation 4 launch title – I am unclear whether an [[wikipedia:Xbox One|Xbox One]] or [[wikipedia:Microsoft Windows|PC]] release was also planned."''<br/>• ''"A '''large''' amount of work went into the game, with a tremendous amount of hours contributed by the artists. Development had progressed to the point in which some voice acting/motion capture had taken place."''<br/>• ''"Square Enix eventually projected that the game wouldn't reach their sales expectations, and they decided to cancel it in 2012. One of my sources speculates that as the company had invested no money into marketing at this point, it was an easy decision for them. Some of the development team were not told about the cancellation, and still came in on their weekends to work on the game while Square Enix executives knew it would not be coming out."''<br/>• ''"There is a great sense of frustration that the game was not released. Due to a very strict [[wikipedia:Non-disclosure agreement|NDA]], anyone who worked on the project cannot discuss it openly without putting themselves in significant trouble."''<br/>• ''""Nosgoth" - once known as "War for Nosgoth" – is the multiplayer component of Legacy of Kain : Dead Sun. It recycles the art assets from the cancelled single-player project, and has been compared strongly to "[[wikipedia:Monday Night Combat|Monday Night Combat]]" with third-person battles using period-appropriate weapons such as crossbows."''|'''—Divine Shadow'''<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun"/>}}
{{Quotebox-Opaque|• ''"Square Enix commissioned Climax Games to work on a new Legacy of Kain game at some point between 2009-2010. Crystal Dynamics provided some supervision on the project."''<br/>• ''"Square Enix had a number of requirements for the game: it '''must''' have a single-player and multiplayer component and it '''must''' feature a new main character with a story distant to the original series."''<br/>• ''"Climax Games worked on the single-player component. Psyonix Games worked on the multiplayer component. Both games shared art assets, but other than that were wholly disconnected from each other."''<br/>• "''The single-player game went through many titles, eventually settling on ''Legacy of Kain – Dead Sun''."''<br/>• ''"The target format of the game changed rapidly during development. At one point it was envisioned as a small project (possibly downloadable?), and then as a [[wikipedia:Xbox 360|Xbox 360]]/[[wikipedia:PlayStation 3|PS3]] retail release. In its final form, the game would have been a PlayStation 4 launch title – I am unclear whether an [[wikipedia:Xbox One|Xbox One]] or [[wikipedia:Microsoft Windows|PC]] release was also planned."''<br/>• ''"A '''large''' amount of work went into the game, with a tremendous amount of hours contributed by the artists. Development had progressed to the point in which some voice acting/motion capture had taken place."''<br/>• ''"Square Enix eventually projected that the game wouldn't reach their sales expectations, and they decided to cancel it in 2012. One of my sources speculates that as the company had invested no money into marketing at this point, it was an easy decision for them. Some of the development team were not told about the cancellation, and still came in on their weekends to work on the game while Square Enix executives knew it would not be coming out."''<br/>• ''"There is a great sense of frustration that the game was not released. Due to a very strict [[wikipedia:Non-disclosure agreement|NDA]], anyone who worked on the project cannot discuss it openly without putting themselves in significant trouble."''<br/>• ''""Nosgoth" - once known as "War for Nosgoth" – is the multiplayer component of Legacy of Kain : Dead Sun. It recycles the art assets from the cancelled single-player project, and has been compared strongly to "[[wikipedia:Monday Night Combat|Monday Night Combat]]" with third-person battles using period-appropriate weapons such as crossbows."''|'''—Divine Shadow'''<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun"/>}}
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In his post, Divine Shadow provided the assets whose relation to ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' he had been able to verify, including various images, renders, textures, and animators' videos (one featuring voice acting). He also confirmed that Richard Buxton's storyboard had been produced for the project: it was ''"for a [[wikipedia:Computer-generated imagery|CG]] trailer that was never made"''.<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun"/> Soon, another anonymous Climax Studios staff member provided additional screenshots of [[Combat (disambiguation)|combat]].<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun-More">[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64482966&postcount=60 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains (Mama Robotnik Research Thread)] at NeoGAF (by Mama Robotnik), post #60 (by Mama Robotnik)</ref>
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In his post, Divine Shadow provided the assets whose relation to ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' he had been able to verify, including various images, renders, textures, and animators' videos (one featuring voice acting). He also confirmed that Richard Buxton's storyboard had been produced for the project: it was''"for a [[wikipedia:Computer-generated imagery|CG]] trailer that was never made"''.<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun"/> Soon, another anonymous Climax Studios staff member provided additional screenshots of [[Combat (disambiguation)|combat]].<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun-More">[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64482966&postcount=60 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains (Mama Robotnik Research Thread)] at NeoGAF (by Mama Robotnik), post #60 (by Mama Robotnik)</ref>
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Divine Shadow observed, ''"''Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy'' was in development for '''barely four months''', and it took nine years for all the listed materials above to be made public. ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' was in development for over '''three 3 years''' [sic] (if you include preproduction). It has barely been a year since it was cancelled, and I anticipate over the next few years we will see much more of the work that went into it."''<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun"/>
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Divine Shadow observed, that''"''Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy'' was in development for '''barely four months''', and it took nine years for all the listed materials above to be made public. ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' was in development for over '''three 3 years''' [sic] (if you include preproduction). It has barely been a year since it was cancelled, and I anticipate over the next few years we will see much more of the work that went into it."''<ref name="NeoGAF-Robotnik-DeadSun"/>
====Official reaction====
====Official reaction====
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George Kelion responded to news of the leaked project with an official statement acknowledging its existence. He confirmed that ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' had been a project in development, disputed the accuracy of some indeterminate details revealed by the Climax Studios developers, and offered another series of relevant images:<ref name="NeoGAF-Monkeythumbz-DeadSun">[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64743986&postcount=181 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains (Mama Robotnik Research Thread)] at NeoGAF (by Mama Robotnik), post #181 (by Monkeythumbz)</ref>
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George Kelion responded to the news of the leaked project with an official statement acknowledging its existence. He confirmed that ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' had been a project in development, disputed the accuracy of some indeterminate details revealed by the Climax Studios developers, and offered another series of relevant images:<ref name="NeoGAF-Monkeythumbz-DeadSun">[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64743986&postcount=181 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains (Mama Robotnik Research Thread)] at NeoGAF (by Mama Robotnik), post #181 (by Monkeythumbz)</ref>
{{Quotebox-Opaque|''"I've been watching this post and I thought you might want a bit more information. I can confirm that ''Dead Sun'' was a project which had been in development - but which was cancelled.<br/>"I know it's disappointing to hear about these things out of context, and whilst some of the details released are accurate - some details are not. You know game projects can be cancelled for a variety of different reasons and I know it's very hard to tell from images and info alone, but in the end ''LoK: Dead Sun'' just wasn't the right game, at the right time... but you'll have to take me at my word on that, I'm afraid.<br/>"Obviously, it's not usual for assets from cancelled games to be released, but given that there's a lot out there already I thought you might appreciate seeing a few more images that were taken from the previously in-progress game.<br/>"As you'll be aware, we're currently working on a multiplayer game firmly set within the ''Legacy of Kain'' universe called ''Nosgoth'', which we're very proud of. It's grown in size and scope since its initial conception and we'll be talking more about it in the future. While we're not working on a single-player ''Legacy of Kain'' game right now, that doesn't mean it's not something we'd look at making in the future."''|'''—George "Monkeythumbz" Kelion'''<ref name="NeoGAF-Monkeythumbz-DeadSun"/>}}
{{Quotebox-Opaque|''"I've been watching this post and I thought you might want a bit more information. I can confirm that ''Dead Sun'' was a project which had been in development - but which was cancelled.<br/>"I know it's disappointing to hear about these things out of context, and whilst some of the details released are accurate - some details are not. You know game projects can be cancelled for a variety of different reasons and I know it's very hard to tell from images and info alone, but in the end ''LoK: Dead Sun'' just wasn't the right game, at the right time... but you'll have to take me at my word on that, I'm afraid.<br/>"Obviously, it's not usual for assets from cancelled games to be released, but given that there's a lot out there already I thought you might appreciate seeing a few more images that were taken from the previously in-progress game.<br/>"As you'll be aware, we're currently working on a multiplayer game firmly set within the ''Legacy of Kain'' universe called ''Nosgoth'', which we're very proud of. It's grown in size and scope since its initial conception and we'll be talking more about it in the future. While we're not working on a single-player ''Legacy of Kain'' game right now, that doesn't mean it's not something we'd look at making in the future."''|'''—George "Monkeythumbz" Kelion'''<ref name="NeoGAF-Monkeythumbz-DeadSun"/>}}
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====Flipbook Studios====
====Flipbook Studios====
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In August 2013, Twitter user Alex_Roblez1986 noticed that [[Flipbook Studios]], a ''"CGI and Visual Effects Boutique in Manchester"'', had recently posted various pieces of concept art for a ''"Cancelled AAA Game"'' on their website.<ref name="Twitter-AlexRoblez-1">[https://twitter.com/Alex_Roblez1986/status/366690658053918723 12:40 AM - 12 Aug 13] at Twitter (by Alex)</ref><ref name="Flipbook-ConceptArt">[http://www.flipbookstudio.co.uk/concept-art-storyboards-and-character-design/ Concept Art, Storyboards and Character Design] at Flipbook Studio</ref> While not explicitly identified as being related to ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'', two of the images bore the titles "Legacy-of-Kain-1-1500x1060.jpg" and "Legacy-of-Kain-2-1500x1060.jpg". They distinctively showcased the character of Gein/Asher, and contained annotations ascribed to trailers named ''"The Blood Line"'' and ''"The Hunter"'' respectively.<ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-1">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942470&postcount=146 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #146 (by Aevum)</ref> Another vista concept, designed for a ''"Lake Town"'' environment, featured what appeared to be the [[Silenced Cathedral]].<ref name="Twitter-AlexRoblez-2">[https://twitter.com/Alex_Roblez1986/status/366694429039398912 12:55 AM - 12 Aug 13] at Twitter (by Alex)</ref><ref name="Eidos-Bazielim-Flipbook-2">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942569&postcount=157 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #157 (by Bazielim)</ref>
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In August 2013, Twitter user Alex_Roblez1986 noticed that [[Flipbook Studios]], a ''"CGI and Visual Effects Boutique in Manchester"'', had recently posted various pieces of concept art for a ''"Cancelled AAA Game"'' on their website.<ref name="Twitter-AlexRoblez-1">[https://twitter.com/Alex_Roblez1986/status/366690658053918723 12:40 AM - 12 Aug 13] at Twitter (by Alex)</ref><ref name="Flipbook-ConceptArt">[http://www.flipbookstudio.co.uk/concept-art-storyboards-and-character-design/ Concept Art, Storyboards and Character Design] at Flipbook Studio</ref> While not explicitly identified as being related to ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'', two of the images bore the titles "Legacy-of-Kain-1-1500x1060.jpg" and "Legacy-of-Kain-2-1500x1060.jpg". They distinctively showcased the character of Gein/Asher, and contained annotations ascribed to trailers named''"The Blood Line"'' and''"The Hunter"'' respectively.<ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-1">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942470&postcount=146 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #146 (by Aevum)</ref> Another vista concept, designed for a ''"Lake Town"'' environment, featured what appeared to be the [[Silenced Cathedral]].<ref name="Twitter-AlexRoblez-2">[https://twitter.com/Alex_Roblez1986/status/366694429039398912 12:55 AM - 12 Aug 13] at Twitter (by Alex)</ref><ref name="Eidos-Bazielim-Flipbook-2">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942569&postcount=157 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #157 (by Bazielim)</ref>
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Six further pieces of concept art were included as part of a separate blog entry on the site, entitled ''"A salute to unsung creative work"'':<ref name="Flipbook-Unsung">[http://www.flipbookstudio.co.uk/whats-new/a-salute-to-unsung-creative-work/ A salute to unsung creative work] at Flipbook Studio</ref>
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Six further pieces of concept art were included as part of a separate blog entry on the site, entitled''"A salute to unsung creative work"'':<ref name="Flipbook-Unsung">[http://www.flipbookstudio.co.uk/whats-new/a-salute-to-unsung-creative-work/ A salute to unsung creative work] at Flipbook Studio</ref>
{{Quotebox-Opaque|''"As a visual creative studio we're often very fortunate to work on new brands/products months and sometimes years before they're launched. This is especially true of our work in the video games industry, where we'll often work on development art-work, cut scenes, pre-rendered benchmark movies and life-like CGI simulations for the developer's art teams to try and recreate in the games engine, during development. Cinematics or Feature Movies (FMV) used to promote or announce new games titles can often take just as long to formulate and produce once we've met with the development teams, learnt about the USP/s of the game, worked up initial scripts, storyboards, concept art of key scenes and animatics. This is all before we actually begin work on producing the cinematic, which can in itself take upwards of 2-3 months to complete.<br>"These jobs are often a labour of love and it's fair to say the Flipbook team more than often get a little attached to them. It is therefore always very sad when a game is cancelled before going to market, something that does unfortunately happen from time to time. This regrettably happened to a AAA game we'd spent the last couple of years directing and producing a CGI teaser and announcement trailer for. Suffice to say this game IP was a biggy with an engaging plot and some pretty awesome character and environment designs, so we're sure the decision wasn't taken lightly. Of course now that the game will never see the light of day, neither will the trailers, which is sad not only for us but especially so for the substantial design and development teams who lovingly crafted the game in the first place.<br>"Although we're not allowed to tell you what the game was or indeed who we worked with, we have kindly been allowed to show some of the concept art we created for the project. The art work we're allowed to show is selective and doesn't reveal too much about the game, but it does at the very least provide a few examples of the creative direction and pre-visualisation services we typically provide on productions such as this. If you'd like to find out more about any of our games services then please do get in touch and we'd be more than happy to oblige. We can also show more of the concept art for the trailers discussed above in one-one meetings."''<ref name="Flipbook-Unsung"/>|'''—Flipbook Studios'''}}
{{Quotebox-Opaque|''"As a visual creative studio we're often very fortunate to work on new brands/products months and sometimes years before they're launched. This is especially true of our work in the video games industry, where we'll often work on development art-work, cut scenes, pre-rendered benchmark movies and life-like CGI simulations for the developer's art teams to try and recreate in the games engine, during development. Cinematics or Feature Movies (FMV) used to promote or announce new games titles can often take just as long to formulate and produce once we've met with the development teams, learnt about the USP/s of the game, worked up initial scripts, storyboards, concept art of key scenes and animatics. This is all before we actually begin work on producing the cinematic, which can in itself take upwards of 2-3 months to complete.<br>"These jobs are often a labour of love and it's fair to say the Flipbook team more than often get a little attached to them. It is therefore always very sad when a game is cancelled before going to market, something that does unfortunately happen from time to time. This regrettably happened to a AAA game we'd spent the last couple of years directing and producing a CGI teaser and announcement trailer for. Suffice to say this game IP was a biggy with an engaging plot and some pretty awesome character and environment designs, so we're sure the decision wasn't taken lightly. Of course now that the game will never see the light of day, neither will the trailers, which is sad not only for us but especially so for the substantial design and development teams who lovingly crafted the game in the first place.<br>"Although we're not allowed to tell you what the game was or indeed who we worked with, we have kindly been allowed to show some of the concept art we created for the project. The art work we're allowed to show is selective and doesn't reveal too much about the game, but it does at the very least provide a few examples of the creative direction and pre-visualisation services we typically provide on productions such as this. If you'd like to find out more about any of our games services then please do get in touch and we'd be more than happy to oblige. We can also show more of the concept art for the trailers discussed above in one-one meetings."''<ref name="Flipbook-Unsung"/>|'''—Flipbook Studios'''}}
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The nine suspected ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' images were publicized and discussed on the [[Eidos Interactive|Eidos]] forums.<ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-1"/><ref name="Eidos-Bazielim-Flipbook-2"/><ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-3">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942549&postcount=151 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #151 (by Aevum)</ref> Within the same day, Flipbook Studios deleted most of them and replaced them with renamed, lower-resolution copies, implicitly confirming their relation to the cancelled project. Only the ''"Lake Town"'' piece retained its original file name.<ref name="Eidos-Paradoks-Flipbook-4">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942581&postcount=158 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #158 (by Paradoks)</ref><ref name="Eidos-Bazielim-Flipbook-5">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942601&postcount=163 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #163 (by Bazielim)</ref><ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-6">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942619&postcount=168 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #168 (by Aevum)</ref>
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The nine suspected ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun'' images were publicized and discussed on the [[Eidos Interactive|Eidos]] forums.<ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-1"/><ref name="Eidos-Bazielim-Flipbook-2"/><ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-3">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942549&postcount=151 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #151 (by Aevum)</ref> Within the same day, Flipbook Studios deleted most of them and replaced them with renamed, lower-resolution copies, implicitly confirming their relation to the cancelled project. Only the''"Lake Town"'' piece retained its original file name.<ref name="Eidos-Paradoks-Flipbook-4">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942581&postcount=158 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #158 (by Paradoks)</ref><ref name="Eidos-Bazielim-Flipbook-5">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942601&postcount=163 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #163 (by Bazielim)</ref><ref name="Eidos-Aevum-Flipbook-6">{{Icon-Eidos}} [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showpost.php?p=1942619&postcount=168 The 10 Cancelled Legacy of Kains] at the Eidos Forums (by Divine Shadow), post #168 (by Aevum)</ref>
====Videos====
====Videos====