What is Retro up to?

What is Retro up to?

We haven't seen Retro since tropical freeze in 2014, and there not working on Metroid Prime 4... so where are they? And what game are they working on? A Metroid spin-off, a Donkey Kong game, or is it something completely new? But before we start, consider subscribing to NintendosView so you never miss an article. Now lets dive into rumors, reports and my thoughts of what Retro's up to.

Hiring

Alright so Retro has hired a few people for different things, but they might give us a clue on what tha heck there working on!

         First off is enemy and boss Programming and on Retro's Job hiring they said, 

Founded in 1998, Retro Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Company, Ltd. Retro is a state-of-the-art game development studio, working in conjunction with Nintendo to bring award-winning games to Nintendo’s cutting-edge next-generation platforms. Retro Studios is located in beautiful Austin, Texas. With rolling hills, scenic waterways, abundant wildlife, vibrant music and film scenes, and a laid-back cosmopolitan culture, Austin is a dynamic city with an excellent quality of life. Austin’s sunny weather also supports a great range of outdoor activities, providing plenty of venues for top-notch game developers to recharge and unwind.

Purpose/Summary

Individual contributor that develops, writes and debugs code for video game software and tools with a specific focus on AI programming for enemies & bosses and various other game-play systems as required.

They have also hired for environment artist. 

They are looking for only one person to fill the role there, but it is a full-time job where you will work 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday. According to the job description, they are “looking for a passionate and skilled 3D Environment artist, who can create suitable and quality visuals for Nintendo games”.

They also are looking for an AI engineer to work on programming for AI enemies and bosses, as well as a UI engineer to work with “a specific focus on User Interface programming for HUD”, according to the respective job descriptions.

And they hired for Senior Tools Engineer, IT Manager, F-T Concept Artist and Tool Engineer back right before DK was released.

One more, a level 2 designer who,

• Works with game designers, engineers and artists to help make the design vision come to life; helps balance and tune the game play mechanics to suit the target audience and age
• Maintains the vision and ideals of Retro’s software products
• Maintains constant communication about development status with the Design
• Supervisor, Creative Director, and other Design Staff
• Remains current with competitor’s products to ensure the best quality product from Retro’s development team
• Develops concepts, writes treatments, flow charts and game scripts
• Participates in developing prototypes
• Performs game design revisions to achieve highest quality
• Helps bring the creative vision and technical specifications for assigned video games

Alright, so that gave us a little information, but not much. But wait! Here comes the icing on the cake! One of the writers of Retro changed there Bio to,

         

Narrative specializations in worldbuilding, character development, design integration, non-linear storytelling, prose fiction.

Woah! prose fiction? So its probably not Donkey Kong! It also sounds like the world is pretty big.

Rumors

Alright, so  I gathered what rumors I could find and I also put my thoughts on them. Lets go!

Liam Robertson and Marcus Sellars

I decided to put these two together because, why not? Fist I'll start with Liam Roberson who back in 2013 said some interesting things...

"I don't actually know what the project is, exactly, but I know that it is something that Retro themselves pitched. … They came off of Tropical Freeze in very late 2013, I think it was, and they continued throughout 2014 pitching new projects. … And then they eventually pitched a project that went through, and NCL greenlit, and I assume that's what they're doing now—by all accounts, it is."

I don't think Retro wants to do [Metroid Prime 4]. … I'd be surprised if Retro themselves pitched [that]. I think they've had their fill of Metroid. … And if it is Metroid, then it will be something different—like maybe a 2D one, or something—different from Prime.

I think they have the potential to work on multiple projects, but I feel like the money isn't there. People don't realize it, but Retro is one of the priciest studios for [Nintendo] to maintain, and I can't see them letting them do two projects at once. As far as I know, they have one NCL producer with them right now, and I couldn't see this person overseeing both of them; I think this person would be doing one.

"… And you were saying, 'could it be an original property?' I think, actually, the time is now for Retro to do an original property. They've done two established Nintendo franchises, they've done Metroid and Donkey Kong, and I think now is the time to let them take hold of the reins a bit more for themselves and do that. And I think if it is something that they pitched themselves, then that does make it more likely that they pitched something original.

Interesting hu? Well it doesn't stop there! Marcus Sellars said that Retro's new game will come out this year. And I believe it! They have been working on it since 2014! I think its time!

New IP Horror Game

You knew I'd talk about this one way or another! Someone said that Retro's new IP was a Horror game. What do I think? While first off this rumor was proven fake, and second off Prose Fiction doesn't sound like horror to me! So this is 100% false! There was also a rumor that Retro was working on a 3D Donkey Kong game and not even a game at all (Nintendo Labo) but these have been proven false!

My thoughts

So its not Donkey Kong, not Prime 4, so what is it? I think its a new IP (not horror!) pros fiction makes it sound not si-fi so I think its a fantasy game like Breath of the Wild and Skyrim. It will have non-linear storytelling maybe like Breath of the Wild, maybe like Metroid Prime. 

So that's my best guess and all the things I could find. What do you think there making? Let us know in the comments. All I know is I hope they announce it at E3.