Pain developer Idol Minds rebrands to focus on narrative

The developer of Cool Borders, Pain and several Ratchet & Clank ports has changed its name and will now focus on narrative-driven AAA games.

Idol Minds has become Deck Nine Games, and it's hired talent from across the film, TV and video game industries. It's also developed its own toolset called StoryForge, which the firm says has taken three years to develop and offers "unparalleled freedom for Deck Nine's writers, directors and cinematic artists".

The company says it has partnered with a AAA games publisher for their first title - based on an existing franchise - that will be revealed at E3.

Deck Nine VP Jeff Litchford said: "With the creation of our new, proprietary toolset StoryForge and the shift in studio focus, we are removing the shackles from our creative team and bringing together our two passions; meaningful storytelling and rich gameplay. We've invested heavily in our staff of incredibly talented developers and in creating some truly remarkable tools. Our game will be announced at E3 this year where you'll be able to see our efforts for yourself."

President and CTO Mark Lyons added: "The studio has been focused on the creation of StoryForge for the last three years.We built StoryForge to give our writers, directors and cinematic artists and give them the tools they need to make deep, interactive, great looking games. We can't wait to show what we have created with it."  

Idol Minds has spent the last four years creating mobile titles, with the exception of Warriors Lair, a cancelled game for PlayStation Vita and PS3 that was being created in partnership with Sony's San Diego studio.