Former developers from Blizzard and Epic Games have formed Lightforge Games, a new independent studio specializing in RPGs. The team is working on "a new cross-platform social video game that gives players the power to create worlds and tell stories more freely than ever before.

The studio is led by Matt Schembari (former UI director, Epic), Dan Hertzka, Nathan Fairbanks (former project manager and producer, BioWare, ZeniMax Online, Epic), Glenn Rane (former Art Director, Blizzard), and Marc Hutcheson (former Brand Manager and Marketing Director, Blizzard and Epic). Their resume includes "World of Warcraft," "Star Wars: The Old Republic," "Overwatch," "Fortnite," and "The Elder Scrolls Online."

"We all love games that are very social and creative, especially ones where the player drives the story. We're looking to combine elements of Minecraft and Roblox with tabletop RPGs to create a new way to play role-playing games." Given our backgrounds, it was an obvious choice to create a game that would revolutionize RPGs."

"Revolutionizing RPGs" is bold and vague, but here's the real detail: rather than a game itself, Roblox is a platform for creating and playing games. In other words, is it a production tool and client for digital tabletop adventures? Or will it be more like a player-driven MMO with custom builds?

The fully remote studio recently raised $5 million from several companies and investors. Among them is Dreamhaven, an indie publisher and developer founded last year by former Blizzard founder Mike Morlime, who says the studio "has great potential."

Lightforge Games recently announced that Bridget Collins (former game designer, Blizzard), Jarred Everson (former character artist, Blizzard), software engineer Dónal Mac Carthy and Lightforge is currently hiring for more roles, including lead animator and community manager.