Harvey Smith, a veteran video game designer who has worked on the likes of Dishonored (Creative Director, Writer) and Deus Ex (Lead Game Designer), has announced the formation of a new team in the shape of Black Pony Immersive, which, as you might have guessed form the name, will focus on the “immersive sim” genre.
In addition to Smith, Black Pony Immersive will feature Ben Horne and Ricardo Bare, both previously of Arkane Austin, who collectively have worked on the likes of Prey and Just Cause.
“My favorite gaming memories come from seeing players approach challenges with creativity, deep-diving into our world building,” Smith told IGN. “We try to reward players for their curiosity and exploration. At our new studio, we’re building exactly the kind of single-player games we’re most passionate about.”
In my mind, that’s a tricky, emotional question. I loved my time there with Raf, Ricardo, Ben, and everyone else. I worked at Arkane for 16 years. Part of the company is still around, in Lyon, where it started. During my years there, we went back and forth between Texas and France. The company released Dishonored, Prey, Dishonored 2, some great Dishonored DLC, Death of the Outsider, Mooncrash, and Deathloop. We worked on a few other projects too, including Redfall at the end. You say, ‘a better fate.’
But honestly imagine if, like Arkane, our new studio lasted 27+ years, and released at least 4-5 absolute bangers, on top of being a super fun, interesting place to work, a place that experienced what I can only describe as electric fan support. If that happens again, I will absolutely count myself as blessed. I would feel lucky in the extreme to experience that again. And I don’t know of many places that get to that much joy and creative success. It’s just so rare. Very hard to pull off.
Smith started his career in video games with 1994’s Super Wing Commander and went on to work on a number of pioneering games such as Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Dishonored, Dishonored 2, with his latest project being Redfall. His work saw him serving on a few projects with legendary game designer Warren Spector. His semi-autobiographical novel, Big Jack is Dead, was published in April 2013.
[Source – IGN]