A very small Russian - Ukrainian team of Piranha Bytes fans, Alersteam, is working on a new RPG named Exoplanet: First Contact. The game will borrow elements from the PB games, which helped build the "Gothic feeling". The two project managers, LEDsky and false3d, are active members in the World of Players forums.

The team needs your help. They need your vote.

Expolanet is currently in the race for Steam Greenlight, which will help the game be listed on Steam after it is released.

You can also help by voting for the developer to be invited to E3 this year.



Links:

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• Exoplanet @ Steam Greenlight
• Alersteam to E3
• Alersteam Youtube account
• Discussion in forum (English)
• Discussion in forum (German)

written by Maladiq Comments

elind, head of Russian WoR-Staff, had collected questions of Russian users to former Piranha Kai Rosenkranz and made an interview. With her help, we are able to present a three part interview!

Kai has worked with the Piranhas on all of their games, with the exception of Risen 2, and was in charge of sound and music. He is currently running his own software company, Nevigo. They developed Articy: Draft, a powerful tool for story writing and game design.



Links:

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• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Kai's profile as former PB member
• Nevigo.com
• Articy:Draft @ Steam store

written by Maladiq Comments

elind, head of Russian WoR-Staff, had collected questions of Russian users to former Piranha Mattias Filler and made an interview. With her help, we are able to present the interview in English. Hope you like it!

Links:

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• Interview with Mattias (part one)
• Interview with Mattias (part two)
• Profile of Mattias as former PB member

written by MisterXYZ Comments

The Risen 2 Gold Edition has been released. This has been confirmed with a press-release by Deep Silver. The game can already be purchased from online retailers.

The edition contains both the Air Temple and the Treasure Island DLCs, and as a bonus, the Pirate's Clothes DLC.

Anyone who skipped the game until now because they didn't want to pay extra in order to get the complete game, with quests, characters and areas which tie it to the first Risen, can now acquire it for around 40 euros.

Links:

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• Discussion in Forum

written by Maladiq Comments

Gamestar.de reports that Risen 2: Dark Waters has been nominate for Best German Game in the 2013 edition of the German Computer Games Awards (Deutscher Computerspielpreis), which will take place on april 24th, in Berlin.

The prize in this category is of 50 000 Euros, of which 70% will go to the publisher, Deep Silver (35 000 Euros), while the rest will go to the Piranha Bytes, if Risen 2 wins.

Links:

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• German Computer Games Awards (German)
• Gamestar.de article

written by Maladiq Comments

Our Russian staff had the opportunity to interview Ralf Marczinczik, former art director at Piranha Bytes. The questions were collected by elind, who runs the Russian World of Risen. With her help, we now also present this interview in English and German. Enjoy.

Links:

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• Interview with Ralf (part one)
• Interview with Ralf (part two)
• Ralf’s profile as former PB member
• Blog of Ralf Marczinczik (German)

written by foobar Comments

Gameinformer.com had an interview with Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, Game Director, and Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, Lead Quest Designer, members of CD Projekt about The Witcher 3. They have named Gothic as a source of inspiration for the game, and also talked a bit about their relation with the fans.

It is interesting to notice that the attitude of award-winning RPG game developers tend to shift from the "accessibility" and "sophistication", inherent to mainstreaming, to a more challenging and rewarding experience.

Here are a couple of quotes.

Mateusz: We are not adding the scaling of enemies, just to clear this out.

Konrad: It would be more like in Gothic, if you remember. It was, in my opinion, done very good, that you got areas and monsters which are very powerful and you need to develop your character to defeat them. When you are progressing through in story you will meet stronger monsters and stronger enemies.

Another bit is about the ending. They will have 3 different epilogues which reflect the player's choice, and not only videos, but whole sections of the game.

About their relation to the fans:

Mateusz: We love our fans! We read forums a lot! If you want something really really bad to appear in The Witcher 3 don't hesitate to tell about it on the forums, we really appreciate your opinions.

Links:

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• Interview @ Gameinformer.com

written by Maladiq Comments

Alex Brüggemann (left) in an advertisement photography for Gothic

In the night from Saturday to Sunday, Piranha Bytes co-founder Alex Brüggemann died in presence of his wife and mother.

Alex Brüggemann was one of four founders of Piranha Bytes and thus, one of the spiritual fathers of the Gothic series. As Ralf Marczinczik wrote in his blog, Alex was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago. It appears he now succumbed to this dreadful disease.

The World of Risen mourns with the family and friends of Alex and wishes them all the best and the strength to see through these difficult times.



Links:

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• Blog of Ralf Marczinczik (German)
• Discussion in the forum

written by foobar Comments

The french developer Wizarbox which was responsible for the console port of the Risen games has filed for bankrupty under french law. As french media report, the company is currently trying to save itself by restructuring.

We thank André Feroi for reporting this.

Links:

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• Source
• Discussion thread

written by foobar Comments

As we reported last month, Piranha Bytes, Koch Media and Risen 2 have been nominated in the 2012 German Developers' Awards for Best Developer, Best Publisher, Best German Game, Best RPG, Best Game Design, Best Console Game and Best Sound.

Risen 2: Dark Waters won only in the Best Role-playing Game category, despite its many nominations. Both the Piranhas and Koch Media lost in the categories of Best Developer and Best Publisher.

Kai Rosenkranz's new company, Nevigo, received the award for Best Innovation for their game design and story writing software, Articy: Draft.

Links:

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• GDA Website

written by Maladiq Comments