Excidium II
Self-Ejected
Sawyer is right. Comparing videogame development to filming a movie is beyond retardo.
Sounds like they just applied the methodology wrong, that's not how it works.Also I remember some weird shitty video game production technique I heard call SCRUMM or something called that. Basically you make a working protoype of a level or area and you have everyone staff to test it out instead of just winging shit. Then I heard that people who made that shitty Bioware starwars MMO andTim SchaferMr. Shitface both use the production technique and their games are a productional clusterfuck.
You are correct, "SCRUM", "Agile", etc. are re-branded business methodologies that failed in other industries. Their primary function is to employ consultants. Consultants are successful at selling their snake-oil because the methodology makes non-technical management feel like they have some grasp of what the technical people are doing. The reason the approach is so pervasive is that software development generates so much wealth that the waste is tolerated. (manufacturing a new copy is essentially free)From my poor understand on how flims and games are made, movies of the same series or IP can be composed of wildly different staffs per each film project, thus the tone and quality overall can greatly differ. Where with video game developers the talent stays with each project barring mergers, layoffs or outright bankruptcies. So on paper it can be done like movies, but in reality it won't because the situations and environments are different.
Also I remember some weird shitty video game production technique I heard call SCRUMM or something called that. Basically you make a working protoype of a level or area and you have everyone staff to test it out instead of just winging shit. Then I heard that people who made that shitty Bioware starwars MMO andTim SchaferMr. Shitface both use the production technique and their games are a productional clusterfuck.
So I'm guess I'm dumb - just taking the quoted part from the OP as the relevant part - but a lot of the rest of the article is actually spot on and is worth a read. She covers the nature of sequels, publishers, and several other interesting topics.
Sawyer is a fucking autist.
Sawyer is right. Comparing videogame development to filming a movie is beyond retardo.
So I'm guess I'm dumb - just taking the quoted part from the OP as the relevant part - but a lot of the rest of the article is actually spot on and is worth a read. She covers the nature of sequels, publishers, and several other interesting topics.
I've come across a few jackasses like that, you're supposed to banter back, after awhile some funny shit happens and you bond a bit and the match he sends you a friend request, accepting or reject is irrelevant since you're probably not going to see his ass again. It makes an average game into a memorable one.Well, unfortunately, the trends that should be covered but in a positive light is the shunning of the people who are basically being jerks. We're not talking like in the Gamergate sense. We're talking in a general sense. There is a small group of people who are ruining multiplayer gaming for everybody because they would go online, they would use foul language, they would cheat, they would -- like, many times, I stopped playing Team Fortress 2 because I would go on there and the moment they find out I'm a girl, well, here come the rape jokes.
And they think it's funny.
And I don't think it's funny.
Of course, if I use a male persona, then they start just talking smack to me and I'm like, "Look, I'm just here to play the game. I'm not here to make racist jokes or to just taunt each other with very tasteless banter."
Oh wait, it's not - not even remotely. Actually almost without fail, any TV or Movie person that I have encountered trying to "cross over" has figured out pretty quickly that very little is the same. Really, only in the broadest and most general of strokes - in which case you could say producing a theater production, which people have been doing for centuries, is just like doing video games!
If she only meant it as an example, in the most general and vague of interpretations, ie:
Scheduling should happen.
Good scheduling is better than bad or no scheduling.
Things will happen that you cannot predict nor control - so good planners will try to leave breathing room in your schedule.
Then she is correct.... I guess, but that's not really anything groundbreaking there.
Yeah, like Fallout 2 and Fallout 3?movies of the same series or IP can be composed of wildly different staffs per each film project, thus the tone and quality overall can greatly differ. Where with video game developers the talent stays with each project
That just sounds like the magickal hindsight. Planning has diminishing returns, I think moaaaar planning is missing the actual problem.Again, based on some of the crazy stupid projects she's been on, it seems reasonable to say "hey we should plan better guys".
Yeah, like Fallout 2 and Fallout 3?movies of the same series or IP can be composed of wildly different staffs per each film project, thus the tone and quality overall can greatly differ. Where with video game developers the talent stays with each project
Where with video game developers the talent stays with each project barring mergers, layoffs or outright bankruptcies.
Interplay Entertainment
By 1998 the financial situation at Interplay was dire and the company was in bankruptcy court. To avert bankruptcy Interplay went public in order to raise capital and pay off debt. Interplay was successful in its public offering and avoided bankruptcy. Shares were sold on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and the Interplay changed its name to Interplay Entertainment Corp.
Interplay continued to endure losses under Brian Fargo due to increased competition, less than stellar returns on Interplay’s sports division and the lack of console titles. This forced Interplay to seek additional funding two years later with an investment from Titus Software, a Paris-based game company. Titus agreed to invest 25 million dollars in Interplay and a few months later this was followed up by an additional 10 million investment.[10] Despite releasing critically acclaimed games such as Descent 3 and FreeSpace 2 the company then reported several additional quarters of losses.
By 2001, Titus Software completed its acquisition of majority control of Interplay. Immediately afterwards, they shed most of Interplays publisher functions and signed a long-term agreement under which Vivendi Universal would publish Interplay's games. Interplay founder Brian Fargo eventually departed to found InXile Entertainment as Fargo's plan to change Interplay's main focus from PC gaming to console gaming failed.[11]
Herve Caen took over the role of CEO to perform triage and made several unpopular but arguably necessary decisions to cancel various projects. Interplay then sold Shiny Entertainment and several game properties while closing BlueSky Software. Due to a low share price, Interplay's shares were delisted from the NASDAQ in 2002 and now trade on the over the counter (OTC) market.[12] On December 8, 2003, Interplay laid off the entire Black Isle Studios staff.[13]
Burdened with debt, Interplay faced bankruptcy again and was brought to bankruptcy court in 2006. In order to pay off creditors the company altered its licensing agreement with Bethesda Software and then sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda Softworks in 2007.[14][15] Interplay retained back-licensing rights to Fallout Online and the rights to sell the original Fallout games. Interplay began development of Fallout Online in 2007. Following a lengthy lawsuit by Bethesda Softworks, both sides agreed to a settlement where Interplay would receive 2 million dollars and the rights to sell the original Fallout games for a limited time.
So I'm guess I'm dumb - just taking the quoted part from the OP as the relevant part - but a lot of the rest of the article is actually spot on and is worth a read. She covers the nature of sequels, publishers, and several other interesting topics.
Well, I finished it, at the end she falls apart and goes back into her echo chamber where she blames gamergate and hails indies as the greatest thing and the hope for the future. Oh well.
The stuff before that is still good reading.
So I'm guess I'm dumb - just taking the quoted part from the OP as the relevant part -
What all these devs need to do, is stop talking and start doing... Diplomacy is over. They either make something better than before or they didnt made anything at all. Thats how i see it.
And how hard can it be? Youd think with all this new tech itd be easier, but no. And the last time i checked gameplay cant be copyrighted...yet. So, they have the blueprints in all the old games they have the tools and whats stopping them from just copying the same thing and spicing it up a bit? Because thats all there is to it. It aint rocket science.
Kind of lost me here. What's your point?
Think about the things that constantly change: New engines; new user tech that a teams needs to optimize the game for; new pipeline methods/programs for creating art assets; I mean that's not even mentioning the fact that you can't just use the same concepts form a previous game and plug and play. And this assumes there's enough resources to make the game you initially wanted to make.
The effects of errors are far greater.I was always wondering why it's possible to plan a movie from start to finish before actually making it while games only seem to start/get money based on vague sales pitches (equally to publishers or backers).
I mean someone with experience in games production should be able to do it.
Kind of lost me here. What's your point?
I dont know man... I guess i dont want just old games but better games than those. Because this is 2016... How come the first Thief still has the best AI? The game is almost 20 years old ffs. Youd think by now we would have something better but no, nothing. I guess i was saying i want to party sure, but like its 2016 not 1999....
...When i said they should just copy it i meant it more in gameplay sense. If you take a game like Thief and people played it to death and its clear to everyone why its great. And its also clear what could be better and not just to game devs but to regular players who know nothing about making games. Things like - guards noticing closed doors or missing colleagues etc. Stuff like that, better AI in general. So it seems pretty straightforward to me what devs should do. Just take the existing thing and add more stuff to it. But then new Thief comes out and they didnt add anything, they did the exact opposite. Zero progress. And that just pisses me off.
She mentions the race to the bottom that is happening now. I think she used de 20's metaphor to support a particular point she was trying to make "production still sucks on videogames and producers are still many times arrogant clueless amateurs ." but people tend to jump the gun and think the whole text was about the 20's movie industry comparison, what isn't.