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Human Element goes on hiatus as Robotoki shuts down
Robert Bowling has informed Joystiq that his development house, Robotoki, will cease operations immediately. This announcement also likely marks the end for Human Element, their zombie shooter for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. In an official statement, Bowling said that the game is now on hiatus due to a lack of funding:
“This week we have ceased operations at Robotoki and the development of Human Element is on hiatus. We were actively negotiating a new publishing deal for the premium version of Human Element but unfortunately I was unable to continue to self-fund development until a deal was finalized.”
In a previous life, Bowling served as the Community Manager at Infinity Ward before founding Robotoki in 2012. Human Element was originally scheduled to launch in November and its first trailer debuted at last month’s inaugural Game Awards. You can see some of that footage in a farewell video that’s been posted after the break. It also features a quick look at some of Robotoki’s other unreleased projects, including a pretty sweet-looking space exploration game. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Human Element
Robotoki’s Human Element makes its debut at 2014 Game Awards
Human Element, the first game from Robert Bowling’s Robotoki studio, is barreling towards its November 2015 release date, which is now less than a year away. In honor of the inaugural Game Awards show, Bowling debuted the first trailer from the PC, PS4, and Xbox One first person shooter last night.
Set 35 years after a zombie apocalypse caused the fall of society, survivors group together in warring factions to fight zombies (and each other) for the last remaining supplies in the world.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Game Awards 2014, Human Element
Robotoki will use CryEngine to develop Human Element for PC, PS4, Xbox One
Robotoki and Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward’s former Community Manager, are hard at work on Human Element, their first game. Yesterday, Bowling confirmed that Human Element will be developed using Crytek’s CryEngine as well revealed the game’s launch plans.
Human Element is currently in development for the PC and will be released in November 2015 (so says Bowling via Twitter). In addition to the PC version, the game is in the works for next-generation consoles (specifically the PS4 and Xbox One), but it is unknown when the console edition will be available. A mobile spinoff of the open world game where players are tasked with rebuilding the world 35 years after a zombie uprising is also in development.
“The ambitious narrative and gameplay of Human Element required an innovative set of features in order to achieve our vision.” said Bowling. “CryEngine is the perfect fit for us because it delivers so many powerful features straight out of the box such as the physical based shading system and the infinite terrain from segmented worlds to create a massive open world experience but still allow the visual fidelity and detail our players expect from a first person experience from our team.”
Bowling also confirmed (again via Twitter) that a Human Element prequel originally in development for the Ouya has been canceled.
Robotoki reveals another zombie game… world yawns
Zombies. There is no escaping them, no matter what Jesse Eisenberg preached in Zombieland. Zombies are here to stay for quite some time it would seem, as indie game studio Robotoki announced their first title, Human Element, a zombie survival game, will debut in 2015. Robert Bowling, the company’s President and former Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward, said of the game, “Their greatest strength is the fear that [zombies] instil in us, the survivors, that unreasonable fear. Unreasonable fear that leads us to do unreasonable things to survive.”
While the description sounds very similar to Naughty Dog’s upcoming game The Last Of Us, and the poster echoes the classic Left 4 Dead, Bowling’s new company may be able to offer more than run, shoot and hide. The game will feature a character creation system, where you choose a class – Action, Intelligence, or Stealth – as well as a separate identity or starting scenario, but there is still only a choice of three: survive alone, survive with a partner, or survive while protecting a young child. Hopefully these various combinations will offer much retail value, with Bowling placing a special emphasis on survival on both a physical and moral level.
Will you have to feed a baby human flesh? We won’t know for another three years when the game is distributed across every conceivable platform, from “next genertation consoles” to PCs to mobile phones.
[Source: Game Informer]
Former Infinity Ward community manager launches new game studio
Remember Robert Bowling, the former Infinity Ward Community Manager more popularly known as FourZeroTwo? He left the Call of Duty creator a few weeks ago, but he’s already on to his next project, a new game studio known as Robotoki.
“Robotoki is focused on being a developer development studio that just happens to make games,” Bowling said. “We are focused on our team first and everything else second, because I believe as an industry; we have a lot to learn on how to treat talent. While we continue to out stride film and music entertainment in other areas, we are falling severely behind in how to properly inspire and support our creative talent.”
Bowling’s mission statement seems to feature shades of John Romero’s “Design is Law” philosophy. Let’s hope he doesn’t threaten to make us his bitch. But Robotoki’s developers-first aim also includes Bowling’s promise that the company is completely self-funded and will own all of its creations.
The studio is already in the early stages of development on its first project, which will be announced later this year. The untitled game is in the works for the PC, next-generation consoles, and mobile platforms like iOS and Android. Though obviously, each platform will receive a unique version of the game.
“How they experience the [game’s universe] is unique to their device. The mobile/tablet experience should not mimic the console or PC experience, it should be additive to it, not supplemental. Allowing them to support their console and PC experience, continue their progression, but by experiencing the world in a meaningful and unique way,” said Bowling.
[Source: Game Informer]