Sir Tech interview mentions JA3 and W9

[the mighty stamar]

http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=598


SirTech interview with Robert Sirotek
Sia 'Garrett' Manzari, 2003-05-29

After the bittersweet days of the release of Wizardry 8 late in 2001 and our farewell interview with SirTech's Robert Sirotek one and a half years have passed. The meantime also saw the Jagged Alliance team around Linda Currie getting signed by Strategy First and the Jagged Alliance brand licensed by Strategy First. We now had the chance to talk to Robert Sirotek and Linda Currie about their current howabouts and plans for the future, and, hang tight, you will be positivley surprised by the answer!

RPGDot: Hi Linda, Hi Robert! Please tell us, what happened to you & to Sir-Tech in 2002.


Robert: Hi, nice to hear from you again. I took some time off to spend with my family - the first time I have done this - and loved it. Almost didn't come back, but I did. I still love the gaming industry. I am involved with several friends helping them with their companies. I don't want to name these companies, but I am sure you will have heard of them. They are all great veterans in the gaming industry and have much more to contribute to it. Also, I continue with Sirtech, but on a much smaller scale. On top of all of this, I also continue to look for any interesting new opportunities to become a part of. Best place to reach me is through the general inquiries section of the Sir-tech.com web site.
RPGDot: Is Sir Tech gone now or are you still running it?


Robert: No, it is still going.


RPGDot: Linda, I understand you were employed by Strategy first for a short time. What happened there? What did you work on?


Linda: Yes, I was employed there for a year and a bit. Unfortunately their situation required them to close their Ottawa office so I and the rest of the team found ourselves suddenly unemployed. In all fairness, what I was working on there should just remain a mystery. Though I'm sure there were rumors in abundance, it's pretty irrelevant now.


RPGDot: How are chances to see Jagged Alliance 3 one day?


Robert: Chances are excellent.
RPGDot: Are you currently working on any projects, like trying to conclude any of Sir Tech series? How many of the Ex-SF people are there available as of today?


Linda: As we had indicated in the press release we put out in late December, Ian Currie & I are working to find funding for our team of people. This is primarily the team of people from Sirtech Canada that went to Strategy First with us in September 2001, though we have gained a couple of new members since then. They are all on-board with us in the pursuit of a new venture and we've definitely gotten some interesting leads.


RPGDot: Is there any chance of seeing you all return to work together?


Linda: We believe that we have a really solid chance of the team staying together to work on future projects. Ian & I have a lot of respect for the capabilities of everyone on the team and the fact that we've worked together successfully for many years should be attractive to anyone who knows how difficult it is to build a solid game development team. We are following some very interesting prospects.


RPGDot: And how are chances for a Wizardy 9?


Robert: Yes, absolutely the chances are very good. I can not tell you much more than this. When some decisions are taken, and I have something to report, I will contact you.

[the mighty stamar]

Just like to gossip about a few things,

The other person interviewed was one of the programmers from Sir Tech Canada which made JAgged Alliance 3 and Wizardry 8.

Strategy First Canada bought the rights to JAgged Alliance ( From Sir Tech) and it was rumoured that they were developing it.

This interview leads you to believe they folded, and the programmers are looking for funding to finish that project or start of a Wizardry 9.


But really it says nothing concretely. Im sure a lot of people would love to see Wizardry 9, especially by the same people who made Wizardry 8. So this should fan some hopes.

[Mr Creosote]

W9 would be nice but as there was what, a 11 year gap between W7 and W8?, don't go holding your breath in anticipation.
Wizardry needs D W Bradley and while I am uncertain to his contribution, if any, to Wiz 8 , I certainly felt the charm and characterisation of W6 and W7 was sorely missing in W8. It was just more of the same, and to me at least, while W8 is a goodish gam, it certainly isn't a game in the mold of W7.
Somehow the charm was lacking but also the balance of the game, it does seem a hardish game up to the middle game but then far too easy after that, and the culmination Ascension Peak is just child's play for any party that has progressed that far.
I don't mean to be critical, I am just mentioning that I feel D W Bradley's presence is needed for the next Wizardry release, should there be one.

[jersey_]

D.W. Bradley had no input into Wiz8. He won't have any input into Wiz9 either as he works for a totally different company.

Also, while we were waiting for Wiz8 to be published one of the programmers told us that Wiz9 was already being worked on and the beginnings of the story for Wiz10 were already being developed. I am not sure how much of Wiz9 was done at the time that the people at Sir-Tech went on to other jobs but programming had been started.

I have high hopes to see Wizardry 9. [img]smile.gif[/img] And I will be fine with waiting another decade to see it (though I would prefer not to wait so long). I have great respect for a team of artists that work so hard to stay together. And while much was missing from Wiz8 (not as many puzzles as Wiz7 and a few unfinished storylines because of time constraints), I will be preordering Wiz9 as soon as Sir-Tech makes such an option possible at my local retailer. Wizardry 8 is a great game. It must be as it hasn't been off of my HD since I got it and while I have only finished 2 teams (one party of 6 played on normal and one party of 5 on Ironman also on normal), I have played countless parties nearly halfway. And will play many more, I am sure. Some of them I may actually finish with. [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

[Ziggurat]

I believe D.W. is working on a new project at Heuristic Park called "Dungeon Lords". It's an RPG, 3/4 view (you see the back of your character from slightly above), but only one character. Maybe like Everquest, although I could never get that game to work when I had 128 MB RAM. Check out www.heuristicpark.com.

[ 06-02-2003, 07:17 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]