Today is Beamdog's 10th Birthday!

Thank you to our friends, fans, and partners, but most of all to the amazing Beamdog team members (past and present). We couldn't have made it to 10 years without you!

To mark the occasion, our Marketing and PR Lead Sarah Dawson sat down with Beamdog Co-founder Cameron Tofer to discuss a decade of Beamdog!

An interview with Cameron Tofer

SD: How did Beamdog begin?

CT: Trent [Oster] and I always said we’d work together someday. We were both at Bioware, but we kept ending up on different projects or teams— we never really got to team up back then.

Almost right after Trent left Bioware, I got the fateful call from him: “It’s time.” We cooked up a plan and co-founded Beamdog on July 9th, 2009.

SD: Tell us about starting up shop.

CT: It was really easy to say, “Sure, let’s go for it!” But we were game developers who wanted to run a business, and the main challenge was everything except the actual game development.

Our first office was cozy, nestled between other small businesses on the east side of Edmonton’s Whyte avenue. We were starting over fresh, and it was quite humbling to be honest.

We had a lot of passion going for us, but we also had to talk about the realities. We were starting up right after the 2008 financial crash, and games had been hit hard. Crunch (overtime) was also on our minds and we wanted to structure our studio to produce games on a 9-5 schedule. Back when we first got into game development in the 90’s, it felt like a secret club. But by 2009, there were so many talented developers making really great games.

Our initial plan was to become both a distributor and developer of games. Later, we got the idea to make an updated version of Baldur’s Gate when we realized it wasn’t really available for modern platforms. We’d worked on this fantastic game along with other incredibly talented developers, and saw the opportunity to revive it for original fans and new audiences.

SD: What are some moments or highlights that stick out to you from the last 10 years?

CT: The first sale on our website was a major milestone for us. It happened within minutes of the site going live. We had added our webstore URL to the site “Stumble Upon” and that was where the first customer came from. It was very exciting!

Another highlight was when we first teased BaldursGate.com. The outpouring of love from people around the world telling us how much Baldur’s Gate had touched their lives - that was incredible. The moment was particularly surreal for me, because Baldur’s Gate was based on a tabletop D&D campaign that I played in with my high school friends. James Ohlen was the Dungeon Master, and my character was a ranger named Minsc who was eventually allowed to get a companion animal: Boo the miniature giant space hamster! I never imagined that this kooky story from a group of Alberta kids could have such far-reaching effects.

Another strange moment was when we launched Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition on the Beamdog website with a 10% pre-order discount. I got an email from an angry customer complaining that he wanted to pay full price to support this release. I wasn’t expecting that.

Overall the highlights for me have been the human connections we made while developing games and building a community. Whenever I show up at conferences wearing a Baldur’s Gate shirt I’m lucky enough to meet passionate fans and other developers who are eager to talk about how important the game was to them— and the conversations are always so much deeper than just talking points and pitches.

SD: You worked alongside the original development teams for Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Did anything surprise you about adapting these games for modern platforms?

CT: We had a lot of assumptions going in. We were intimately familiar with all the working aspects of the game, but we also underestimated the monumental task ahead of us. There were so many moving parts and so much more code that had to be re-written than we anticipated.

We had many of the original developers working on the enhanced edition, and I don’t really know who else could have done the job we faced. You’d have to have some familiarity with the original code and team to make sense of a lot of it. In addition to our stellar team, we were lucky to get a lot of support from passionate and knowledgeable community members who wanted the project to succeed. We definitely couldn’t have done the work without the commitment and support of all these people.

SD: Has your approach to game development changed over the years?

CT: Yes, absolutely.

There was a period of time when I’d play games because it was part of my job to know about them, not because I was playing for entertainment. And when you’re making enhanced editions for these huge properties, it’s almost like being a museum curator because you want to protect and honor the games.

But gaming with my daughters has changed my outlook. I find I’m re-discovering games as pure fun. There’s a whole new generation of kids who consume entertainment in a completely different way than I did. So much is changing, and I’m coming back to games with this perspective of pure fun, and I think that is what will lead the development of future products.

SD: What’s next for Beamdog?

CT: Right now we’re focused on bringing our D&D Enhanced Editions to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The team has done incredible work and I can’t wait to show it all off.

Our Axis & Allies title is also on the horizon, which is a new kind of game for us. We’re digging into the strategy, teamwork, and rivalry that made the original board game great, so I’m hopeful the release will be a hit with veteran Axis & Allies players— and with new players too. We’ve created introductory tutorials, plus all the setup and rules are automated, so it’s a great way to learn the classic game.

As for the future, we’re fully committed to supporting our existing games across all platforms, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have plans for something new. We’re still in the early stages, but the “pure fun” I talked about before will be central to our future development plans. We’re not ready to share details, so Beamdog fans will just have to stay tuned for updates.

SD: Do you have any final reflections on 10 years of Beamdog?

CT: I’m having flashbacks to the many characters who built Beamdog— the ones in our games, and the ones working with the company over the years. In games, apathy can kill you, and we’ve been fortunate to have an abundance of passion surrounding us.

A decade of work has confirmed that people are the most important part of Beamdog— that includes team members, partners, family, friends and community members. We owe enormous thanks to all of them.

I’m extremely proud of everything we’ve created together and excited for Beamdog’s future.