Summer Eternal is one of the projects that rose from the ashes of Disco Elysium’s success and the subsequent dissolution of its creative team. This one is led by Argo Tuulik and Dora Klindžić, writers on Disco and its planned successor respectively, and is the one that has caught my imagination the most from among the splintered factions that also include: Longdue Games, Dark Math Games, Red Info Ltd., and the husk Disco’s original developer, Studio ZA/UM. Whew.
Summer Eternal launched in October of last year in a blaze of fiery rhetoric matched only by the dubious readability of its website. Heavy on ideology and light on information about its new game project, the studio has been mired in the legal morass of the post-Disco era; the delay in further information about their new title is likely due to the ongoing proceedings. But that hasn’t prevented them from announcing a “cultural journal” — what looks to be a very fancy zine — as a way of presaging the eventual game announcement next summer: Summer Eternal Anthology Volume 1.
Part manifesto, part game dev diary, I initially wasn’t super interested in picking this up; as fond as I am of the rhetorical slant and worker-led org structure of the studio, I wanted to learn more about what they’re actually making before I decided to support them.
That changed today, when they posted that additional contributors to the anthology will include:
- Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, of Technofeudalism fame
- Ted Chiang, SF Writer and essayist — eg. Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art
- Prof. Richard Wolff, Marxian economist
- David Gaider, RPG writer — ex-Bioware, one of the best game writers alive
- Mark Darrah, RPG producer — ex-Bioware, team leader for some of the best RPGs ever made
Now I’m interested. The volume will also include interviews with other members of the indie games space, and more on the unique org structure of Summer Eternal itself. Find details on the production in the latest update here.
images from the Summer Eternal website
