James Ohlen

Last updated
James Ohlen
Occupation(s) Video game designer, Founder of Arcanum Worlds
Known for
Website www.arcanumworlds.com

James Ohlen is a video game designer. He was Senior Creative Director of BioWare where he worked for 22 years prior to starting the publishing company Arcanum Worlds in 2018. In 2019, Ohlen became the lead of a new internal development studio Archetype Entertainment under Wizards of the Coast to develop new intellectual property and video games for the company.

Contents

Career

In his early career, Ohlen ran a comic store as well as two Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. [1] The campaigns were so popular that each had a waiting list. [1] BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk recruited Ohlen to work at the company based on his D&D skills. [2] At BioWare, part of his early work included testing on Shattered Steel , then becoming the lead designer for Baldur's Gate which was credited with making BioWare a successful company. [1] As a result of the success of Baldur's Gate, Ohlen was made the company's Director of Design. He continued to work as the lead designer on BioWare's Dungeons and Dragons titles including Baldur's Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights. He later led up the design on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Origins. [3]

In 2006 James Ohlen moved to Austin, Texas to set up a new studio for BioWare alongside Gordon Walton and Rich Vogel. That studio was responsible for the production of the MMORPG game Star Wars: The Old Republic . [4]

In 2018 Ohlen retired from BioWare after 22 years to start up his own publishing company – Arcanum Worlds. [5] The first book to be produced by Arcanum Worlds is Odyssey of the Dragonlords. [6]

Wizards of the Coast announced it was establishing a new Austin-based studio in April 2019 to develop new intellectual properties (IP), and had tapped Ohlen to lead it. Ohlen said that the offer was too good to pass up, and that "This is just an opportunity to work on projects as personal to me as the good ol' days of the '90s and early '00s." [7] By January 2020, Wizards of the Coast revealed the studio as Archetype Entertainment, and that another former BioWare member, Chad Robertson, was named as vice-president and general manager. [8] A month later, Drew Karpyshyn, yet another former BioWare member, came on board Archetype as lead writer. [9] Ohlen was able to continue Arcanum Worlds under the deal, though the studio would not use any of the IP developed through Arcanum. [10]

Works

As Lead Designer/Creative Director

Other games

Related Research Articles

Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, it was published for the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, in addition to novels, role-playing video game adaptations, comic books, and the film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

<i>Baldurs Gate</i> Franchise of fantasy role-playing video games

Baldur's Gate is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The series has been divided into two sub-series, known as the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance, both taking place mostly within the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga extends to Amn and Tethyr. The Dark Alliance series was released for consoles and was critically and commercially successful. The Bhaalspawn Saga was critically acclaimed for using pausable realtime gameplay, which is credited with revitalizing the computer role-playing game (CRPG) genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BioWare</span> Canadian video game developer

BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts.

<i>Neverwinter Nights</i> (2002 video game) Dungeons & Dragons video game

Neverwinter Nights is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare. Interplay Entertainment was originally set to publish the game, but financial difficulties led to it being taken over by Infogrames, who released the game under their Atari range of titles. It is the first installment in the Neverwinter Nights series and was released for Microsoft Windows on June 18, 2002. BioWare later released a Linux client in June 2003, requiring a purchased copy of the game to play. MacSoft released a Mac OS X port in August 2003.

<i>Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn</i> 2000 video game

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate and was released for Windows in September 2000. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine, Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world.

Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California and part of Xbox Game Studios. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minsc</span> Fictional character from Baldurs Gate

Minsc is a fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing video games developed by BioWare and Larian Studios. He originated from the pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons sessions held by the lead designer of Baldur's Gate, James Ohlen, and was expanded upon by the game's lead writer, Lukas Kristjanson. His video game debut was in Baldur's Gate as a companion character who can join the player's party. He also appears in the sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the 2015 game Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, the 2023 game Baldur's Gate 3, as well as in promotions relating to the titles. Minsc is voiced by Jim Cummings in his original video game appearances, and by Matt Mercer in Baldur's Gate 3.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2</i> 2006 video game

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari Interactive. It is the second installment in the Neverwinter Nights series and is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Neverwinter Nights 2 utilizes an adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules. Players create player characters to represent themselves in the game, using the same character creation rules as found in the Dungeons & Dragons game. They may gain the assistance of additional party members, and they eventually acquire a keep that can be used as a base of operations. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting—in and around the city of Neverwinter. The story is mostly unrelated to Neverwinter Nights and follows the journey of an orphaned adventurer investigating a group of mysterious artifacts known as "silver shards" and their connection to an ancient, evil spirit known as the King of Shadows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Muzyka</span> Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician

Raymond Alexander Muzyka is a Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician. Originally trained as a medical doctor and practicing as an emergency department and family physician after graduation, he is the co-founder of video game developer BioWare, and was CEO, senior vice president, and general manager of the BioWare label of Electronic Arts. In October 2012 he announced that he was embarking on a 'third career' mentoring and angel investing in technology, new media, medical and social entrepreneurs, and impact investing at ThresholdImpact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drew Karpyshyn</span> Canadian novelist and video game designer

Drew Karpyshyn is a Canadian video game scenario writer, scriptwriter and novelist of Ukrainian descent. He served as a senior writer for BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and lead writer for the first two Mass Effect video games. He left BioWare in 2012 to focus on his Chaos Born novels, and returned to it three years later in 2015. On March 9, 2018, he announced he was leaving BioWare once again to pursue his independent work.

<i>Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford</i> 2006 video game

Darkness over Daggerford is a premium module for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights role-playing video game. It was released for digital distribution on August 16, 2006. Considered a user-made mod, the game was created by Canadian company Ossian Studios, headed by former BioWare employee Alan Miranda. It was remastered and released as an official premium module on June 1, 2018.

Alan Miranda is an American computer game designer.

Casey Hudson is a Canadian video game developer, known for his work on several of BioWare's video games, and mainly the Mass Effect trilogy as game director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gaider</span> Canadian writer and game designer

David Gaider is a Canadian narrative designer and writer. He was the lead writer and creator of the setting for the role-playing video game series Dragon Age.

Western role-playing video games are role-playing video games developed in the Western world, including The Americas and Europe. They originated on mainframe university computer systems in the 1970s, were later popularized by titles such as Ultima and Wizardry in the early- to mid-1980s, and continue to be produced for modern home computer and video game console systems. The genre's "Golden Age" occurred in the mid- to late-1980s, and its popularity suffered a downturn in the mid-1990s as developers struggled to keep up with changing fashion, hardware evolution and increasing development costs. A later series of isometric role-playing games, published by Interplay Productions and Blizzard Entertainment, was developed over a longer time period and set new standards of production quality.

<i>Baldurs Gate 3</i> 2023 video game

Baldur's Gate 3 is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment to the Baldur's Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for macOS and Windows in October 2020. It remained in early access until its full release for Windows in August 2023, with versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S releasing later that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archetype Entertainment</span> American video game developer

Archetype Entertainment is an American video game development studio established as a division of game developer and publisher Wizards of the Coast, itself a subsidiary of Hasbro. The Austin, Texas-based studio was created by Wizards in April 2019 to develop new intellectual property outside of Wizards' existing Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering franchises. Archetype is notable for having drawn talent previously fired from BioWare, due to poor business performance of titles directly under their control; Studio Head, James Ohlen, who had previously worked on Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games such as the Baldur's Gate series among other titles along with Chad Robertson and Drew Karpyshyn.

Mike Laidlaw is a Canadian video game developer best known for his work at BioWare as the creative director for the Dragon Age fantasy role-playing video game franchise, and the lead designer and director on the first three games.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bertz, Matt (12 July 2018). "Longtime BioWare Vet James Ohlen Retires From Games Industry". GameInformer. Archived from the original on December 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ "BioWare Bets Big With The Old Republic". Fast Company. 19 November 2011.
  3. ↑ (November 4, 2008). "New 'Star Wars' online game is 4-millennium rewind", Chicago Tribune , p. 32.
  4. ↑ "Bioware Opens Austin MMORPG Studio". IGN. 13 March 2006.
  5. ↑ Moon, Mariella (13 July 2018). "'Baldur's Gate' designer James Ohlen leaves BioWare after 22 years". Engadget.
  6. ↑ Lanier, Liz (13 July 2018). "James Ohlen Retires From BioWare, Working on Dungeons and Dragons Book". Variety.
  7. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (April 24, 2019). "James Ohlen joins Wizards of the Coast". GamesIndustry.biz . Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  8. ↑ Wales, Matt (January 31, 2020). "Ex-BioWare vets working on story-driven sci-fi game at new Wizards of the Coast studio". Eurogamer . Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  9. ↑ Wales, Matt (February 12, 2020). "Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn joins ex-BioWare vets' new Wizards of the Coast studio". Eurogamer . Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Jason (April 24, 2019). "Wizards of the Coast taps Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic designer James Ohlen for new studio". Venture Beat . Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Purchese, Robert (13 July 2018). "Decorated designer James Ohlen retires from BioWare after 22 years". Eurogamer.
  12. ↑ Dammes, Matthias (4 November 2017). "Report: Ist Bioware wirklich noch Bioware?" (in German). PC Games.
  13. ↑ "New 'Star Wars The Old Republic' Expansion: Free Trial Of Prequel Story Live". Inquisitr. 17 July 2016.
  14. 1 2 "BioWare's James Ohlen Talks Game Design". Game Banshee. 23 May 2017.
  15. ↑ Donnelly, Joe (24 July 2018). "If Anthem doesn't succeed, it won't be the end of BioWare, thinks ex-studio designer". PC Gamer.
  16. ↑ "An Important Update on Shadow Realms". Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.