Tag Archives: denis dyack

Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack has published a video addressing complaints and allegations levied at the developer, discussing such areas as the poor quality of X-Men Destiny, and treatment of staff at the studio.

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Alex Donaldson continues his discussion with NeoGAF owner Tyler Malka, where they discuss the site’s often volatile relationship with the industry. Oh, hello there Denis Dyack.

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Shadow of the Eternals has a new video available showing over nine minutes of gameplay and cinematic footage. The episodic game in the works at Precursor Games, is the “spritual successor” to Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness and is currently seeking crowd-funding. So far, the firm has garnered $137,848 towards its $1,500,000 goal, thanks to 2334 backers. It has 26 days left on the clock. Thanks, EdNorton.

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Eternal Darkness and Too Human developer Silicon Knights apparently lives on – in a severely reduced form. Kind of like Voldemort.

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The studio where Denis Dyack and other ex-Silicon Knights staff ended up has purchased assets from their old company to use in their new game Shadow of the Eternals.

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Silicon Knights is down to around five employees, which includes the company president Denis Dyack, according to a Kotaku report.

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The Canadian government has withheld grant money promised to Silicon Knights back in July 2011, as it claims  funding conditions were not met by the developer.

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A court judge has dismissed the expert testimony of an accountant Silicon Knights recruited to help solidify its case against Epic Games. In response, the firm’s Denis Dyack said the dismissal would be “one of the few rulings that Epic can say went their way.”

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Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack believes the surge in games with a large multiplayer component is due to developers and publishers trying to combat used game sales.

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Farming villes and clicking cows may be all the rage right now, but Silicon Knights’ Denis Dyack – whose un-blunted words can be legally classified as a lethal weaponry – doesn’t think the trend’s here to stay.

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Looks like Two Human, Too Furious isn’t six-feet under after all.

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Denis Dyack believes in the flag. Too Human was carved in maple. Silicon Knights is a child of the snowy north.

“I’m a patriot,” he told GI. “I’m a big believer in Canada, I’m a big believer in Ontario and I want the industry to grow here.”

The studio boss added that the future was bright for the Canadian games industry.

“When speaking to the government it may have been self-serving that they should look at our industry, but I’m a huge fan of Peter Drucker, and if you look at traditional industry, service-based industry, they are going to remain OK, he said.

“Manufacturing is in decline. But knowledge based industries where we fit in are going to grow.”

Go Canada. Is it Christmas yet?

Silicon Knights bossman Denis Dyack has said that the amount of industry developers being laid off during the past 18 months “has been staggering”, but the next fiscal year will be one of growth for Ubisoft with its new 800-person studio opening in Toronto.

“It’s been really a rough year and a half for the industry as a whole,” he told GI.biz. “The number of layoffs in the industry has been staggering. As an external developer it’s been tough. I actually don’t know anyone who’s older than us any more. There used to be four or five people I knew of but I feel right now that we’re one of the last of the V8s”.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people and I know a lot of people who have gone out of business,” he lamented.

“Where I see some more growth for Silicon Knights in the future is I can see a very strong recruiting campaign that will say ‘come back home to Ontario’,” he added. What that means for us [the new studio] is we’re really excited because we’re going to be able to come out, and the industry is going to rebound and grow, and we’ll be one of probably five companies in the world that has any serious business beyond ten years.”

The full thing’s through the link.

During his talk at Develop, Denis Dyack stated that gameplay is not everything when it comes to developing a title, and the aesthetic value must be considered an integral part.

Basically, games are art.

“Gameplay is not everything,” said Dyack. “If you look at the most popular games today, they are far more narrative-focused. If games are to follow the trajectory of films, then the dominance of gameplay will diminish in place of an increased focus and importance on gaming’s stories and the ways in which they are told.

“It’s an unpopular viewpoint. But I don’t believe that gameplay is the most important aspect to games. I have a theory: that engagement is greater than or equal to art plus story plus gameplay plus audio plus technology. It’s all of these things combined, and one is not more important than another.

“While I think that narrative is going to become more and more dominant, possibly superseding gameplay, narrative is not the be all and end all.  However, I think we will move towards a place where games can be a success because of more than just their gameplay, because of their music, their internal architecture and so on.

“That video games are art is quite obvious to me. The new synthesis is interactivity and gameplay. Instead of moving pictures, that which movies brought to art, we now have interactivity as the glue that brings together all the previous artistic elements.

“It’s ridiculous to claim that video games aren’t art because they speak the language of film. I would encourage us to apply filmic technique to our creations. If you can replicate these techniques extraordinarily well, then your game will resonate with people on a deep level.”

Via GameSetWatch.

Speaking at Develop today, Silicon Knights’ Denis Dyack reiterated his claim that a single-format future is the way forward for the games industry.

Questioned if a sole platform industry could ever become a reality, Dyack said it is “inevitable”.

“The value of technology is becoming less and less significant compared to the games that are on it. It’s costing hardware manufacturers more and more to do research and development. Video game publishers are having a harder and harder time making money,” he said.

Lots more on VG.

OnLive’s Cloud gaming model could well be the future for the industry, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack said today, and it’s likely to make consoles a thing of the past.

“What hardware one runs behind the wall of the Cloud is unimportant; only what you are transmitting counts,” said the developer, writing on VentureBeat.

“Thus, the ultimate game console in the Cloud model is no console at all.”

Dyack added that Cloud gaming will mean that reaching consumers will be far simpler if the concept takes off.

“In the Cloud, publishing and advertising become much easier,” he said.

“With the Cloud, getting directly in touch with the consumer may be as simple as starting a website. This means that those people who can create ideas will ultimately become empowered and that the future is bright for game developers as the need for traditional publishing and distribution also is commoditized.

“If you are wondering about the technology for the Cloud, it already exits and we will likely see public tests in the near future.”

He added:

“This model is attractive because it eliminates piracy 100 percent, since the consumer does not have anything to copy and needs only to log into the Cloud to interact. Technology is commoditizing the value of hardware to zero and a unified platform will be the likely result. Following this logic to its end, the implication is that hardware could be removed altogether. What hardware one runs behind the wall of the Cloud is unimportant; only what you are transmitting counts. Thus, the ultimate game console in the Cloud model is no console at all.”

Come on! No more consoles! No more wars! Creativity! Freedom! Total game! Slamming your cock in the fridge door! It’s all here for you! And us! And our children’s children!

Full thing through the link.

Michael Mays has been named as Silicon Knights’ new VP.

“Michael’s arrival at Silicon Knights marks a step forward in the development of our business,‭” ‬said company boss Denis Dyack.‭

“‬His keen business acumen and financial know how makes him the perfect leader for us and for working with the‭ ‬Ontario government to help build the video game industry presence in the Niagara Region and‭ ‬Ontario.”

Mays has worked for almost 20 years in the Canadian financial sector.

According to this Joystiq report, Silicon Knights has laid off 26 staff today as the studio reshuffled its size in preparation for “several new and exciting” projects.

Before the downsize, the company totalled just over 180 employees.

“Silicon Knights is currently working on several new and exciting games that will be announced to the public in the coming months,” said company boss Denis Dyack.

“In addition to those projects, Silicon Knights continues to develop and promote other new and original ideas, which will become the innovative games of tomorrow.

“These 26 individuals are hard-working and valued team members that we hope to bring back as we ramp up on our future projects.”

More through the link.

Too Human, eh? Peter Molyneux played it a bit and thought there wasn’t something quite right about it, as he told Joystiq.

“In the end, I think with Too Human… it has some gems in there, but they’re hard to find,” he said.

Again, I didn’t play it for terribly long. I quite like the combat and felt it was accessible, but I just… if I got my hands on the game, I’d rip out a few of the things they did and just concentrate on the core. It just slightly forgot about what it was trying to be. In a way, it tried to be something it was not. It felt – and again, I thought it did some things really well – that there was something slightly off about it.

“I’m sure that Dennis Dyack is going to come and kill me now.”

Loads more through there.

Speaking to VG247 in London recently, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack said that, in his opinion, EVE Online’s better than World of Warcraft. It’s an RPG developer MMO face-off, kids.

“I used to,” said Dyack when asked if he played World of Warcraft. “I pulled myself off… Within four weeks I was at level 57, so I almost got to level 60 and then I said, ‘You know, I’ve got to stop this.’

“I was really, really big into EVE Online,” he added. “I love EVE Online, and actually for me personally I actually think it’s a better game. I know it’s a lot harder core, but the depth of it’s unparalleled and I love it. But I have to stop, force myself to stop playing those games because it takes so much time.”

It’s not just MMOs that float Denis’s boat, though. He’s a whatever, whenever kinda guy. Expect when he’s crunching on a game.

“I play games across the board, you know,” he said. “Whatever I can play I’ll try, and I’m looking forward to getting home and actually playing some games, now that I’m not working on Too Human 24/7.”

So there you go. EVE wins. For now.