The Future of Legions - Part Two
Legionnaires,
A little under 10 months ago we announced that we were beginning work on bringing Legions to Unity for the "next version" of the game. The details around this were pretty ambiguous regarding the timeline and exactly what was planned (i.e. if it was going to be a port or a "Legions 2"). The reason for this was simply because these details were also rather ambiguous to us. They relied on a few moving parts that took a while to solidify. We didn't want to overshadow the great progress being made with 1.40 with the ever-changing details around what was going to happen with the new game. Now that the dust has settled, we've been able to make some decisions that we're ready to announce to you: We will not be developing a Legions 2 game or a port for Legions: Overdrive. Legions: Overdrive, however, will continue to stay online and developed by the community. For more information, consult the FAQ below. I'll also be answering questions in the forum.
What were you planning on doing?
At first we were going to make a port (this is when we made the first announcement). Then we said, "Well if we're going to put all this effort into it and essentially reconstruct the game, let's make Legions 2 and add a bunch of cool things to it and re-launch the whole IP." So we decided to make Legions 2 and began moving in that direction.
In this announcement, you make a reference to "moving parts." What do you mean?
Licensing agreements, design direction, available resources, etc.
Why go back on your original announcement/plans?
Originally, we wanted to make a new iteration of Legions that brought out the best of what we loved with the game and improved on it. We went as far as negotiating a new agreement with IAC. In the end, we thought long and hard about the game we wanted to make and what we needed to do to be true to the IP and concluded that those two things did not totally agree. In other words, we didn't want to go out and make the game we wanted to make and call it Legions 2 because it wouldn't have been a good reflection of the feel and gameplay of Legions: Overdrive - it wouldn't have been Legions. When you have a volunteer development team working for months/years on a new game, you need your team to WANT to build it or it will fail.
What did you negotiate with IAC?
In the original license agreement with InstantAction (that was inherited by IAC upon the end of IA), we were severely limited by the terms. We were only able to distribute the game on this website, we couldn't monetize it, and we couldn't rebrand it. We asked to expand our rights to distribute freely (aka make the game available through places like Steam), make money on it, and rebrand as necessary (for Legions 2) in exchange for a share of the revenue. This was granted, but we never signed it because of the reasons outlined above, and because there were considerations about whether or not the revenue share was worth the use of the IP. In the end we decided this was not the right way to go.
What will happen with Legions: Overdrive?
The core development team for Legions over the last several years is working on a new game. We're leaving it up and we want you as a community to take over development, and we will provide administrative functions and legal oversight for the new community developers.
How do I contribute to Legions: Overdrive?
The development model will stay the same, where proven community contributors who want to be a part of the development team will be brought in to do more work and add more features. If you're interested, find Poponfu or BugsPray in the forums and send us a message.
What is this new game you're working on?
The Legions blog isn't the appropriate place to disclose this sort of information. I'll start up a thread in the Off-Topic section of the forum for discussion around the new studio and our first game.
As always, feel free to comment on the forums using the link below. I'll update this FAQ with popular questions as they come up.
BugsPray