TOP 10 interesting facts about Sven Vincke – the creator of Baldur’s Gate 3 and a lover of real armor

From an early age, Sven was a fan of computer games and the board game Dungeons & Dragons. However, the first more or less playable project of the future founder of Larian Studios was a simple hunting simulator, created by Vincke for his father. At that time there was no question of any variation, although not only Sven’s relatives liked the game, but also his friends. This strengthened the man’s dream and gave him the necessary drive to continue.

When Sven finally decided what he would like to do in life, the question arose about creating his own studio. For a long time Vincke could not choose a name. All his ideas were somehow connected with the name of his beloved dog – Pilar. The final name came about when Sven was playing a slot machine, and the dog’s name, which he used as a nickname for the result, didn’t quite fit. I had to shorten it to “Lara”.

Interestingly, Vincke did not found the company alone in 1996. The name of the second founder has been lost for unknown reasons. What happened to him is unknown.

The first contract that Vincke managed to conclude with the publishing house was relatively small. Atari offered $50,000 for a game reminiscent of Ultima 7. However, the game designer wanted to go further and do something no one had done before: realize a whole new level of freedom and interactivity. Thus began the development of Ragnarok Unless. It was in this project that Sven first came up with a feature that became the hallmark of Larian Studios: the ability to pick up and interact with all objects in the game world.

At this stage the young studio faced its first crisis. Development was delayed and the head of Atari had health problems, after which he sold his shares to another company. The money for Ragnarok Unless ran out and it was decided to cancel the project.

Left virtually without work, Larian Studios decided to use the remaining build for a new game – The Lady, The Mage & The Knight, but here too the hunger for ideality played a cruel joke on Vincke and other employees. The budget was desperately short, so it was collectively decided to start the parallel development of another project: the LED Wars strategy. People worked on RPGs during the day and RTCs at night.

The work has almost completely switched to the freelance format with monstrous reworking. In modern reality, this is even difficult to imagine. However, we must give the head of the studio his due: he was not only able to motivate employees to continue working, but also actively supported them from his own pocket, driving himself into debt and loans. The result of this policy was the formation of warm, almost family relationships within Larian Studios.

The crisis situation not only led to a total crisis. Vincke himself was very concerned about the well-being of his employees and did not hesitate to personally donate money to continue development. He even had to borrow money from his future wife (a scientist, by the way) for gasoline, because his own savings were completely spent on the needs of the company.

Further financial problems only worsened. There was a time when Vincke owed money to almost anyone who would give him money. Only a miracle saved the studio.

When the situation became particularly critical after the failure of Divine Divinity, on which Larian Studios had placed a special bet, Sven had to reduce the workforce to three people. This was a major test for his emotional health as the studio head essentially fired his friends.

After such a difficult decision, Vincke went to his father’s farm and spent two weeks thinking about the future fate of the company and his own. Of course, thoughts about stopping work on games also appeared.

To somehow keep their heads above water, it was decided to participate in small projects, such as games for children and even an online casino. “Larians” worked tirelessly to stay on top of game development.

It was during this period that Sven came to the conclusion that collaboration with publishers was not the path for developers to take. It was decided to publish the projects independently. As it turned out, this was the right choice. After a series of misfires and failures due to the constantly changing wishes of publishers, tight development deadlines and other constraints, Larian Studios began developing its ideas without regard to anyone. A goal was around the corner.

As we wrote above, Sven was fond of D&D since childhood, so after the release of the critically acclaimed Divinity: Original Sin he approached Wizards of the Coast with a proposal to transfer the mechanics of the board game into the world of a computer game . The owners of the Dungeons license saw Vincke as an overly confident upstart, and negotiations were unsuccessful. However, when Larian Studios gained credibility in the world of RPG projects, the opinion of “Wizards” changed.

As a result, the leaders of the company themselves contacted Sven and offered him the rights to bring the Forgotten Realms to life in a gaming format.

An interesting fact that few people remember today: in 2016, the game designer visited IgroMir and personally presented Divinity: Original Sin 2.

Then he was far from the main star of the show. Oh, I wish I could bring back those times…

It’s no secret that Vincke was involved not only in the game design, but also in the script for all Larian Studios games. In Baldur’s Gate 3, it was Sven who came up with the idea of ​​​​the larva, which made it possible to unite very different heroes with one problem.

This is truly a brilliant move that freed the developers’ hands and allowed players to create absolutely any hero without any problems.

Unfortunately, there is no companion or character like Sven in Baldur’s Gate 3. However, the developers still immortalized their boss in the project.

The opening menu shows the city, but after a few seconds the camera drops underground to a huge gate. A group of adventurers emerge, one of whom is wearing armor and holding a torch. This is a model of Sven in the same equipment he wore during the Game of the Year award ceremony.

The work of testers is very difficult. Finding vulnerabilities in a game is a tedious task, so Larian Studios took a step that has been gaining popularity lately.

A special AI was created for testing. However, the most interesting thing is that an unspoken competitive struggle emerged within the creative team, the aim of which was to “outperform artificial intelligence.” Only one of the developers was faster and more likely to identify all possible errors in a specific task.

Sven Vincke is an exceptional person. The success story and development of Larian Studios deserve respect, because the developers have had to go through a lot. The current situation of the studio is an example of how a competent manager and creative person can overcome all obstacles and setbacks. This is very inspiring.

Sven Vincke’s plans for the new project are still unknown, but the game designer has already announced that he is not going to give up his favorite turn-based combat system. In an interview, the head of Larian Studios said he was considering a game in the spirit of Into the Breach, but that any certainty would have to wait.