It’s the end of the year and the Liquid folks are settling down for some much deserved rest and relaxation. The building is quiet and even though we have staff on hand maintaining our Facebook games, it’s a good time to introspect and think about the year.
2011 was an epic year for us. It will go down in history as the year we added incredible amounts of knowledge to our existing skill set. The entire company is now well versed in creating, growing, and maintaining Facebook games and a couple of teams are completely up to speed on mobile game development. Our production speed has improved drastically. I have a shelf where I keep all the games I’ve worked on in my career – 24 in total over the course of 20 years – but those are just the box products. In the last year we’ve also made 3 Facebook games. The pace is so much more gratifying.
The tech team has learned just about everything under the sun, artists have spent as much time in Flash as in Unity and Unreal, and designers have brought their visions to D&D games, rhythm games, and Hollywood mogul games alike. It seems to be Liquid’s blessing to have a wide variety of talent and experience and this year has kept with tradition.
Before I close out the year I just want to say a few big thank you’s.
First, to the staff… Thank you for the time and effort you put towards your work, but more importantly, thank you for the time and effort you put into making Liquid a fun place to be. Thank you for the joy and levity you bring that make hard times easy and the heavy topics light.
Second, to the spouses, significant others, and families… without you, none of this is possible. You soothe the aching brains after a hard day’s work and you refresh and invigorate them to get up and strive for greatness again and again. You are amazing.
Third, our supporters… whether you are a fan of one of our games, a believer in the company, or an admirer or what we are trying to achieve. whether you are a friend, or a shoulder to lean on, or the guy at the taco stand whose really nice to us. There is no better way to say this than, you are the wind beneath our wings. 
Last, but certainly not least, our clients… you are the people who challenge us to be greater. Your powerful views inspire us and your ambitions leave us awestruck. We very much appreciate working with you and learning from you.
Thank You all for your contribution to helping make Liquid the dream place it is.
So, what’s up in 2012?
Liquid has been saving it’s pennies and 2012 looks like it just might be the year that we put out our first self funded game! [We put out a non-game app for iOS in 2011 called Dayo - still the most useful app I own] We have three things in various stages of development of which only one has been announced… Battle Realms Alpha [working title]. We will talk in more detail in the coming year, but I can tell you that Battle Realms Alpha will expand the BR world beyond the Clans of the first game and open up other land masses in the world. My hope is that these Liquid owned titles will kindle our fans and reunite us all on the Liquid forums. You will never have a better chance to be heard and be a part of making a cool game than on these projects.
We’ll continue to support and grow Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook. I love this game. D&D games are always a collaberation between Wizards of the Coast, the publisher, and the developer, but if I have my way, we will continue to expand on this game until it’s the most faithful reproduction of the paper game experience online. Imagine not having to lug around your books; being able to play with your friends anywhere. This is the power of a Facebook game and I would love to bring it to you.
We might just launch a new D&D title. Don’t want to jinx it, but we’re working on something that I have very quickly fallen in love with. We have it running on Facebook and iOS and it’s pretty frickin cool. More on this in the new year.
We will launch a really cool rhythm fighting game on XBLA and perhaps even some other platforms. We’ve been working for most of 2011 with a famous game designer who has decided to privately fund this. We’re waiting for just the right time to announce it so stay tuned.
That’s about all the tactical stuff I can talk about at the moment, so let’s switch over to the strategy.
Even though I love all games, and we at Liquid have built games on PC, console, and mobile without prejudice, I believe that the future is digital distribution. There are so many ways that retail is broken for games that it’s tough to see how they are going to fix it. So, our energy next year will focus on finding partners that believe in online distribution and want to find opportunities there. We’ve already started talking to an exciting list of possible clients and I look forward to talking more about them in the future.
I want Liquid to be the company that brings you fun wherever you are, from the living room, to the boardroom, to the bathroom. As platform agnostic as it can be, and as easy to get as it can be. I want our games to have depth, interestingly varied layers, and choices that matter. In short I want our games to leave you with something. I want them to be memorable.
Happy New Year everyone and see you in 2012!
Edward A. Del Castillo – President, Liquid Entertainment
