Didier Chanfray SARL

[Renesans]

(note: I know SARL is short for “société à responsabilité limitée”, I just use it to distinguish the company from the person)

Didier Chanfray created a company named Didier Chanfray SARL to acquire the rights of LBA. It’s listed as the publisher for both LBA games on gog.com. I created this thread in order to summarize the info we currently know about this “mysterious” company. Why is it mysterious? I’ll explain below.

It seems that the company is working on something LBA-related. An interview of Didier seems to suggest that:

La première condition à cette renaissance était l'acquisition des droits de la licence. Je tiens spécialement à remercier Philippe Delamarre, DG du groupe Delphine, qui après avoir résisté à de nombreuses reprises aux sollicitations d'éditeurs divers et variés, m'a permis de racheter la licence à travers ma société Didier Chanfray sarl. Philippe connaît mon projet, il connaît ma façon de faire et ma volonté d'impliquer l'équipe de départ à ce projet un peu dingue. Il m'a fait confiance et j'espère ne pas le décevoir. Enfin, la balle est dans notre camp.

Didier is talking about a “rebirth” (“renaissance”) and a project (“projet”) here and that they’re in position (“la balle est dans notre camp”).

Another interview even adds to the mystery. In this one, he refuses to give a real answer to the question about his current project:

Tu travailles sur quoi en ce moment?

………………..tût………..tût………silence radio…………tût……..j’ai surtout travaillé sur ma nouvelle société qui vient de voir le jour : DIDIER CHANFRAY SARL dont ses activités principales sont : études, conseil & formation vidéo ludique.

Here, “tût” means that he won’t talk. He explains the main profile of the company: “études, conseil & formation vidéo ludique” but I’m not sure what that means. Can someone translate that properly?

Recently, he posted a picture of his new business card on his Facebook profile. It contains the text “SARL” and a logo but it’s unclear if it’s just an illustration on the card or the actual logo of the company.

Another batch of information is from Fred Raynal. When he posted about bOxOn on the MBN forums, he hinted that “Things are really moving, more news soon…” He may have meant the re-release of LBA on gog.com, but he could also have referred to Didier’s project. In this thread, Archas said Fred told him that Didier created a company for the purpose of creating “a new LBA” with the old team, but “it can’t be really called LBA3”.

Fred then replied himself hinting about a “remake”, which Didier already told us about on his Facebook (“un « remix » de LBA1”).

So the information we know is again vague and undetermined. We only know “there are some ideas on paper” but we don’t know if this is just a side-project or they’re working on full-time. The expression “old team” was said by Fred, but it’s again unclear if that means the old team are already working for them or if it’s just a plan. And finally, it’s unknown if they’re just going to port the original games into new platforms or they’re working on a remake using new graphical assets or they’re trying to create a new game in the world of LBA which will mix elements from the original games as well as adding new content.

A lot of things were hinted at but we were never given a more thorough explanation. To be frank, I’m a little anxious about the status of this project. I’d be very sad if this didn’t materialize due to the lack of enthusiasm of our community. I mean, after all those years, something’s really going on and nobody seems to care. For example, hardly any new posts were posted today in spite of it being a Sunday! So another reason for this thread was to ask for a little more fire and optimism. I don’t think that we should let go the seemingly last chance of an LBA game being made.

[Darkflame]

Nice summery.
I suspect it all comes down to small steps and funding.

I think if the GoG sales are successful enough they will proceed with a iOS remake, and if those sales are successful enough then a new LBA.

I dont think they will ever release something called lba3 because that might put off new buyers. It will be LBA:subtitle and (maybe) broken into a few episodes to make funding easier.
But thats just speculation.

To be frank, I’m a little anxious about the status of this project. I’d be very sad if this didn’t materialise due to the lack of enthusiasm of our community. I mean, after all those years, something’s really going on and nobody seems to care. For example, hardly any new posts were posted today in spite of it being a Sunday! So another reason for this thread was to ask for a little more fire and optimism. I don’t think that we should let go the seemingly last chance of an LBA game being made.

My thoughts exactly.
We got much more activity in lba promotion when the chances were much smaller

[Renesans]

Originally Posted by Darkflame

We got much more activity in lba promotion when the chances were much smaller

The main difference between then and now is that back then it was us who wanted LBA3 and now it's them who want to make an LBA game. So I believe now is the better chance for a new LBA, but everyone else seems to think otherwise.

[Angelus]

If you search other information in http://forum.magicball.net/showthread.php?t=16075 Fred Raynal wrote:

If you already did a full working remake, oh well, you are quicker than us and your work might get some interest , but don't be surprised if we say you have to stop as we are working on it.

[Renesans]

Did he mean they are already working on it? Then the question is what does he mean with "working"? Is this their main project?

[Darkflame]

Originally Posted by Renesans

The main difference between then and now is that back then it was us who wanted LBA3 and now it's them who want to make an LBA game. So I believe now is the better chance for a new LBA, but everyone else seems to think otherwise.

Well, I sure as hell dont :P
I think now is precisely the time we can make the most difference.

[yanosch]

I think that as a fanbase.community.. we should.do everything we.can to promote.this as much as possiblr... Everyone in the world needs to know a great game.might be rereleases... We wont only help fred.. because.. When we help him get more interest in lba.. The idea if an lba3 will be more profitable

and sorry for the mistakes..xD i wrote this on phone..

[Double-J]

I always felt like a reboot (or "rebirth," I guess) would be the best chance for LBA 3 to see the light of day. I fear looking too far forward, but I wonder how a reboot would impact the 'current' LBA storyline (that is, the 'stellar entity' pathway). No one knows if a new LBA is guaranteed to be a financial success. I'm wondering if a.) the reboot will combine elements from the first game and the proposed third game or b.) that the reboot will be some amalgamation of LBA 1 and 2 (which seems unlikely) c.) the 'reboot' will actually *be* LBA 3 but with enough backstory so that new people could jump into the series and not feel out in the cold because they've missed elements from LBA 1 and 2. The last option seems the most plausible on several fronts, not the least of which include the fact that if this new LBA is a commercial failure, at least Fred and Co. have finally completed the story arc.

I wonder which of the above the 'nuLBA' (because I'm not sure what to call the C-SARL project) falls under?

[Darkflame]

Id also bet the last option.
Given the rerelease and the remakes we are hearing, it wouldn't make sense to do a "true" reboot. (after all, if a iOS release gets more fans, they wouldnt want the same story again).

[BlazinBlack]

Reading this thread makes me really excited. It's thrilling to think of what could come towards us!

[yanosch]

Hahahah well i'm back, on laptop this time so correct grammahxD

Well i think, (as earlier said) that we as a community should promote LBA, i don't know, on our fb, spread QR codes with websites, because i am kinda afraid that they won't get a big audience.... (how well known is BoXon at the moment?)

This news makes me also very excited! But i'm really afraid it will be a commercial failure because of the relative unknowness of the LBA series, and i don't think they have the financial power to start a marketing campaign big enough to guarantee enough sales...

[Polaris]

Originally Posted by Renesans

“études, conseil & formation vidéo ludique"

Studies, advices & training about/for video gaming.

[Double-J]

Originally Posted by ashily

That's good.

____________________
*link removed*

How insightful and poignant.

[Polaris]

Indeed.