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RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

Billy Pilgrim

Novice
Joined
Aug 6, 2017
Messages
47
Hi Chris, somewhere you mentioned Westwood. I wanted to ask if your path ever crossed with Erik Yeo's? And if so, did you guys ever talk shop?
 

StrongBelwas

Savant
Patron
Joined
Aug 1, 2015
Messages
483
Chris Avellone Can you talk about the mothballing of Onyx? The official line is that it involved a lot of expensive middleware that wasn't a fit for the projects Obsidian took, was that a mistake on the part of upper management?
 

crawlkill

Kill all boxed game owners. Kill! Kill!
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
674
broke my heart a little to read about all this. best of luck to all the Obsidian employees who've made the great art they have, in spite of the environment. sorry you had to suffer in silence, Chris.

in Fallen London terms, Communism is rising...
 

Cleveland Mark Blakemore

Golden Era Games
Übermensch Developer
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
11,557
Location
LAND OF THE FREE & HOME OF THE BRAVE
As a game designer at a large, vibrant, yet unruly company, I deal with terrible managers and producers every day, frequently bringing me to breaking point with their incompetency and lack of structure. I often think they intentionally make things difficult in order to justify their jobs, and things would go so much more smoothly if the leads were in charge instead.

damn maybe i should quit my day job and start consulting with game companies on practices and process... there's clearly untapped demand here

100%.

If aliens landed and gave you their totally objective point of view as independent, neutral observers ... you wouldn't believe what they'd tell you.

In most organizations, you are trying to succeed in spite of, not because of, managers. Their incompetency is not just a rumour - it's a scientifically verified and tested fact.

Particularly pertinent to Australia, where the managers have been rated the most incompetent in the entire developed world for over three decades including in surveys by Australians themselves.
 

Cleveland Mark Blakemore

Golden Era Games
Übermensch Developer
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
11,557
Location
LAND OF THE FREE & HOME OF THE BRAVE
In most organizations, you are trying to succeed in spite of, not because of, managers. Their incompetency is not just a rumour - it's a scientifically verified and tested fact.

100% true where I work. When a manager is off sick, the work rate doubles.

Every year when the company is off sick with the flu and the managers are bedridden, I am in the office fixing enough problems to keep the dump afloat for another year when they get back. Usually within two weeks of returning to work they have destroyed/torn apart/broken the things I was able to fix when they were away.

At one company in Brisbane I restored Sharepoint access for the entire company so they could actually log into and use Sharepoint. The manager when he arrived was apoplectic with rage and said I had risked the security of the entire company by approving access for people with Sharepoint accounts to actually log into Sharepoint. He ordered all accounts locked with permissions again and then overnight the Sharepoint server turned into a gray dead lump of metal that permitted no human access ever again, just as it had sat for the previous couple of years.
 
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Cleveland Mark Blakemore

Golden Era Games
Übermensch Developer
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
11,557
Location
LAND OF THE FREE & HOME OF THE BRAVE
Cleveland Mark Blakemore , can you talk about the best manager you ever worked with? It just feels weird that software dev and game dev seem to be devoid of that shit.

Failure rate for networks goes up when network admins are hired and network availability goes down. With no admins, research shows network remains viable, longer up time and better access for all company members.

Failure rate for any software project climbs up as soon as they get managers and research shows it climbs each successive rung of management that is added.

Three guys in a makeshift home office in their mom's garage in their underwear with takeout pizzas are more successful than entire race of mankind. At anything. True dat.

All things become failure quests when Homo Sapiens is added to the mix.
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
1,301
Grab the Codex by the pussy
Oh shit! Cleve in this thread?

giphy.gif
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
I'm hoping we actually hit the Resonace Frequency of the Codex, trigger the Energy Build-Up and witness the Internet explode.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,297
In most organizations, you are trying to succeed in spite of, not because of, managers. Their incompetency is not just a rumour - it's a scientifically verified and tested fact.

Particularly pertinent to Australia, where the managers have been rated the most incompetent in the entire developed world for over three decades including in surveys by Australians themselves.
Do NOT get me started on the incompetence of managers in Australia. The stories I tell to those I trust have their jaws hitting the floor faster than if they saw Selena Gomez doing a strip tease.
 

GreyViper

Prophet
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Messages
1,523
Location
Estonia
Failure rate for networks goes up when network admins are hired and network availability goes down. With no admins, research shows network remains viable, longer up time and better access for all company members.

Failure rate for any software project climbs up as soon as they get managers and research shows it climbs each successive rung of management that is added.

Three guys in a makeshift home office in their mom's garage in their underwear with takeout pizzas are more successful than entire race of mankind. At anything. True dat.

All things become failure quests when Homo Sapiens is added to the mix.
I think this is the classical to many cooks in the kitchen syndrome. But I will disagree you will need and admin, even you previous stories confirm it. Somebody needs to keep things running. What you you are describing here is bureaucratic corruption. The bigger company gets the more likely Spreading Scourge of Corporate Corruption.
You are right in that regard that one person can achieve great things, being a great example. You made a game by yourself and managed to release it, in spite of nay sayers. That in itself is quite an achievement, that not many can boast about.
But as you found out while developing, programming and searching for bugs, it takes so much time if you do it alone.
Id give Homo Sapiens a chance, they just might surprise you in pleasant way.
 

hello friend

Arcane
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
7,847
Location
I'm on an actual spaceship. No joke.
In most organizations, you are trying to succeed in spite of, not because of, managers. Their incompetency is not just a rumour - it's a scientifically verified and tested fact.

Particularly pertinent to Australia, where the managers have been rated the most incompetent in the entire developed world for over three decades including in surveys by Australians themselves.
Do NOT get me started on the incompetence of managers in Australia. The stories I tell to those I trust have their jaws hitting the floor faster than if they saw Selena Gomez doing a strip tease.
Please get started.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,297
Do NOT get me started on the incompetence of managers in Australia. The stories I tell to those I trust have their jaws hitting the floor faster than if they saw Selena Gomez doing a strip tease.
Please get started.
The customer made the comment that if he were to ever write a book on management, he will use his Australian supplier as a clear example of what not to do.

It goes downhill from there.
 

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