Also, in case you wanted to know (and you do) here are the panels we’re going to be on:

Beyond Pen & Paper: RPGs, Videogames, and the Mainstream

Friday, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Wolfman Theatre

Role Playing Games – RPGs – have been around for decades now, evolving from their pen & paper roots to computers and consoles of all kinds. However, what started out as a niche genre has now crept into titles with mainstream appeal – Fallout 3, Mass Effect, and Oblivion. How did this jump happen? What differentiates the development of an RPG from other game genres, like shooters or platformers? Is it positive or negative to be an RPG game with their roots in pen & paper? And how in the heck do you go about defining what a “role-playing game” is to BEGIN with?? These questions and more will be discussed! Boundaries will be broken! Horizons will be expanded! And someone might actually use the term “THAC0″! Come roll twenties with us!

Panelists include: Brian Mitsoda [lead designer/founder, DoubleBear Games], Annie VanderMeer Mitsoda [game designer, ArenaNet], Tim Cain [design director, Carbine], Jeff Grubb [game designer, ArenaNet]

Going Indie

Friday, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM, Serpent Theatre

Once upon a time, indie games were rare and solitary creatures, living lives of seclusion in the wilds of the internet – mod projects of best-sellers, small titles appealing to publishers to see a wider release. Now, thanks partly to the advent of programs like Steam, XNA, and Apple’s App Store, indie gaming has been on the rise, moving from niche audiences to gain mainstream acclaim and attention. Join indie devs Brian Mitsoda & Annie VanderMeer Mitsoda (DoubleBear Productions, “ZRPG”), James Silva (Ska Studios, “Dishwasher: Dead Samurai”), Ron Alpert (Headcase Games, “180″) and Derek Paxton & Matt Kimball (Theogenic, “Fall From Heaven”)* about their experiences of going indie, tales of development, and advice for those looking to develop their own indie titles.

Panelists include: Derek Paxton [lead designer, Theogenic], Brian Mitsoda [lead designer/founder, DoubleBear Productions], James Silva ["lead dishwasher", Ska Studios], Ron Alpert [lead programmer, Headcase Games]

*NOTE: unfortunately the Theogenic guys are no longer going to be there, replaced instead by intrepid John Krajewsky of Strange Loop Games (whose title, Vessel, was nominated for Technical Excellence in this year’s IGF awards!)

Amazingness!  Come and check it out!

All of us here at DoubleBear Productions (as well as our friends working with us over at Iron Tower Studios and the talented indie devs helping us out as well) are excited to finally reveal the title of our work-in-progress “ZRPG” – Dead State.  Check out the new website, which will soon have a plentiful stock of screenshots, links, and other assorted goodness.

Thank you again for all your support and good wishes, and we can’t wait to get the game done and into your hands to enjoy!

For anyone who might want to know more about the project but has noticed the main page isn’t updated weekly, it’s because we’ve got new design updates on the forum weekly. This way, we don’t only get your comments on the game, but can reply and carry on a discussion too. So, if you want the latest info on our zombie RPG and timely answers from the developers, head to our forums today.

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/board,11.0.html

If you want to be notified the minute the forum is updated or just kept in the loop about DoubleBear going-ons, we’ve got both a Twitter feed and a Facebook page, located here and here:

http://twitter.com/DoubleBearGames

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DoubleBear-Productions/258448349489

We appreciate all the comments and questions we’ve received over the last few months. We’re hoping to bringing you some big announcements in the next few months, but in the meantime, you can get the inside scoop  in our design updates and forum posts. We’re also adding merchandise to our store all the time, so please take a look. We look forward to talking to you on the forums!

DoubleBear has a lot of things to be thankful for this year. We’ve been working on a project we’re really excited to be making, we’ve got some really great people building our game, and most of all we’ve had a great response from fans and the press to our announcement of our zombie RPG. We’ve still got a long way to go until we launch the game – there’s going to be headaches and hurdles and, I don’t know, maybe something or someone will be set on fire in the process. However, at the start of last year, where once there was no DoubleBear or even the twinkle of a game in our eyes, there is now something starting to take form.  There are a lot of people to thank for our progress. First, we’d like to thank the fans, and offer you an early present from us at DoubleBear. In the spirit of ruining Christmas (or holiday of your choice), we’re proud to give you a sneak peek at what’s in the box – a teaser of one of many screenshots coming your way next year. Behold!

Isn’t that pretty? I’d like to personally thank Oscar, our Lead Artist, for making this look amazing, but I would also encourage people to flatter him on our forum.  Without the considerable talents of Oscar, Nick, Vince and the rest of the Iron Tower and ZRPG crew, we wouldn’t even be close to where we are now. Thanks to everyone involved and to everyone who has offered us words of encouragement. It’s a whole lot easier to make a game when we know that people are restlessly waiting for it.

From all of us at DoubleBear, have a great holiday and we look forward to bringing you more information and screens of our game in 2010.

In the spirit of Halloween, we’re encouraging everyone who dresses up as a zombie this year to post links to pictures of themselves in costume. Or if you’d like, come onto the forums and tell us about how you were first introduced to the undead.

For me, the first zombie film I ever saw was Night of the Living Dead. Being a child of the 80s, I had seen my fair share of horror films on cable and videotape, which back then was a good mix of slasher or Fangoria-chic FX films. They had lots of latex wounds, lots of cars that wouldn’t start, and iconic bad guys that were more fun to root for, but horror was one thing that horror movies were (and continue to be) severely lacking. I remember my parents giving me a copy of Night of the Living Dead, which being before a time I appreciated Black and White films, seemed like it would be another one of those cheapies that was made for a generation that had been frightened by stop-motion lab skeletons and dime store rubber masks. I was living in an age of wall-splattering blood bladders and animatronic severed limbs – did they really expect me to be frightened by some chocolate sauce blood and pancake makeup? Well, to humor them, and because I was a horror junkie at the time, I went ahead and watched my first zombie film.

It gave me nightmares for years. The concept of the undead was unlike anything I’d seen before. It was horror that you couldn’t hide from. Unlike other horror films, you couldn’t just avoid the summer camp where all those teens were murdered, or move away from Elm St. or stop playing with the demonic puzzle box – no, zombies came to you. You could run from them, but they would eventually catch up – with even more than before. You could hide from them, but there was no waiting for the sun to come up – they would always be outside because they had time on their side. There wasn’t just one monster to avoid – there were hundreds, maybe thousands, maybe millions. You didn’t know what was safe and you couldn’t even trust people to work together to stop them. Zombies were a force that kept getting stronger while humanity got weaker. They didn’t have clever taunts, or butcher knives, or hundreds of teeth – they just looked at you with that blank expression, shuffling closer with the intent of ripping out your guts for no good reason at all. They weren’t vengeful, or sadistic, or crazy, they just were.

After seeing the movie, I swore I heard them outside at night. I imagined them bursting out of overgrown bushes while walking home from school.  Sometimes, when the radio was on, I knew any second there would be a breaking news story about the dead walking the Earth. I had that one dream where I was the last man on Earth trying to avoid the zombie hordes for… well, I guess, I still have that dream once in awhile, just like the one where I realize I have a final for a college class I never remember taking. That is horror, when it sticks with you that long, and thus, I became a fan of zombies. Years later, lo and behold, DoubleBear’s first title is in no small way related to a fascination with the horror of how humanity would deal with such an unbelievable crisis. For all our sake, I’m really glad that my childhood fears hadn’t grown out of a fear of murderous leprechauns.

Anyhow, Happy Halloween 2009, everyone!

Provided there won’t be any craziness, Brian and I should be hanging out in the East Lobby on the 6th floor (layout here) around 11:45 AM or so, and maybe we’ll see you guys there, huh?  Also come to the panel, as it will be awesome.

-Annie

Which is to say – the reactions from folks have been so overwhelmingly positive that Brian and I have been absolutely bowled-over by it.  While we set out to make the games WE want to, damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead, and hoped that they would be interesting and fun for others, even our fondest dreams didn’t cover something like this.

From the bottom of our jaded game developer hearts, we thank you.  And we will do our honest best to make this an amazing title.

…not like we weren’t gonna before, you know, but now that we know so many people are watching, we felt compelled to emphasize this point.

With great sincerity, we thank you.  Keep watching – neat things will be coming along.

-Annie

Indie developer announces studio/RPG plans

SEATTLE, Washington – August 5, 2009 – DoubleBear Productions is proud to announce itself. “Although the studio has been aware of its own existence for months, we thought it might be better in the long run if we shared that info with others,” said DoubleBear founder Brian Mitsoda.

DoubleBear Productions is an independent studio committed to producing quality titles that are big on gameplay, without the cost or terms “immersive” or “dynamic” associated with other titles. The studio is currently at work on its first title, an RPG being built with assistance from their partners at Iron Tower Studios, utilizing their Age of Decadence tech. Frequent updates on DoubleBear and their game can be found at www.DoubleBearProductions.com. DoubleBear expects to release details on their first title within the next few months, or whenever there’s a slow news day.

DoubleBear was founded by Brian Mitsoda, a veteran of Black Isle Studios, Troika Games, and Obsidian Entertainment. Mitsoda is best known for his work as a writer/designer on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and has worked on multiple RPG and action games during his career. DoubleBear Productions is committed to working on independent titles and owning their own intellectual properties. They are based out of Seattle, Washington.

If you’ve ever watched a brand new band in their early days, you’ve no doubt noticed that their shows aren’t exactly packed. They might have a few of their friends out in the crowd, but the rest of the audience is just waiting around for the bigger names or hasn’t even arrived yet. If a band is good, they’ll get a few people to turn their heads away from their coasters or the redhead in the ironic t-shirt just long enough to notice the band and maybe even do some lizard-like head bobbing to express their approval. Possibly a few people buy their CD, friend them on their social network of choice, or attend another show because they were just that impressed. It’s that gradual momentum that keeps the band going. From fans to blogs to buzz to bigger venues and better exposure, that is how a band that will never be known outside of a group of maybe tens of thousands of people will keep touring and putting out albums.

Making independent games isn’t quite like forming a band, but there are a few parallels in that, similar to music’s alternative/indie scene, new forms of distribution and a growing audience/awareness for smaller titles have made them a viable strategy for developers who are looking to make something a bit outside the mainstream. Just like bands, the factor that makes indie developers successful is you, the fan. It makes our jobs a little bit easier to know you’re out there, and we want to read your emails and get your feedback on our forums. As we release more info and material on our game, your excitement and word of mouth is the best way we’re going to be able to get more people to hear about what we’re doing. Everyone plays a little better when the crowd is wall to wall.

However, we’re still setting up the equipment at the moment, so in the meantime, have a drink, take a look around, and get comfortable. We’re going to be starting all this very soon, so keep glancing over at us time to time. If you do like what you see, tell a friend or two.  And of course, we do have a merchandise table set up and all that, so please check that out.

We are DoubleBear, and we’d quite like to entertain you.

Sincerely,

Brian Mitsoda

Founder of DoubleBear Productions