Precursor Games, the developer behind Shadow of the Eternals, have posted their first update since the game’s crowdfunding campaign began earlier this week. CEO Paul Caporicci writes: “After our first day of crowdfunding I am encouraged by the amount of support, but know we still have a long way to go to make this crowdfunding campaign a success.”
Thus far, Shadow of the Eternals, a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube, has accumulated a little over $100,000 in contributions. The goal is to reach $1.5 million in the next month.
Precursor Games were founded in July 2012, and are comprised of a number of veterans from Silicon Knights, the developer behind Eternal Darkness, and yes, Too Human. The latter wasn’t very well received, and Silicon Knights have since been through a number of problems, including a backfired lawsuit against Epic and lay-offs to their staff. Precursor Games looks like a new start for some of the studio’s staff, including founder Denis Dyack, who is the new company’s Chief Creative Officer.
Caporicci addresses these concerns in his update as well, in reply to the question: “Will past baggage have an effect on this project?”
“As many people can relate, being laid off is an emotionally distressing experience. When this happened to me, I was determined to turn this toward more positive ends,” Caporicci writes. Prior to founding Precursor, Caporicci worked on Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes and Too Human. He has also done the programming for the Shadow of the Eternals demo.
“I began reaching out to others to see if they were interested in starting something brand new, using lessons learned from past experiences. Denis Dyack was my first choice for Creative, as he has a keen understanding on the creative aspects of game development. It saddens me to read that people’s impressions of him are painted by anonymous accounts of other individuals. I’ve known Denis for 10 years now, and from first hand experience I consider him to be one of the most honourable people I know, and undeserving of the amount of negative accusations he receives.”
He continues: “I knew Shawn Jackson’s attention to detail, enthusiasm and experience would really balance our management team as Chief Operating Officer. The rest of the Precursor team is equally talented, and I’m amazed by the results we’ve achieved with our demo. Precursor Games has been built from the ground up to do something new, and we are excited to show and work with you on our first project—‘Shadows of the Eternals’.”
At the moment, Precursor Games only consists of a “core team”. Should the studio’s crowdfunding campaign be a success, they will hire more staff to develop Shadow of the Eternals.
Caporicci also briefly mentions Nintendo, who published Eternal Darkness, since Shadow of the Eternals is being released on Wii U and PC. Regarding what Precursor’s involvement with Nintendo is, Caporicci writes: “We have been in constant communication with Nintendo, and they have been very supportive of our endeavour to bring this game to their platform.”
