Feldon NOTE: No EQ2-specific news/commentary in this article.
Kotaku has an interesting article from Anthony Burch who used to write for Destructoid and then at Gearbox Software. He reflects on the perception of game design from the outside vs. the reality of being on the inside and why there is such a gulf between the two. I know as I’ve learned more about game development and the maddening complexity of it, I’ve tried to dial back my own vitriol to something a bit more reasonable.
Before I joined Gearbox Software, I worked at Destructoid as a features editor. I worked there from 2006 to 2010 and specialized in highlighting indie games and spewing vitriol at big-budget games I didn’t like. It turns out there were a shitload of things I didn’t know about games development.
I was an atrocious blogger so I’m probably just speaking more to my personal ignorance during that time than anything else, but jeez is everything about game development more complicated and difficult than I thought.
Glad you have linked this Feldon. I get so angry at how nasty people get about games they dislike (but that people still worked hard to make), and how easy & straightforward they seem to think it is.
Hubby worked for two big game companies for many years so I saw the inside of it, good and bad. Now the two of us and a friend have our own Indie studio, with a successful Kickstarter (which was a month of hell and hard work – we didn’t have time to do anything else) and have finally been Greenlit too. It is all insanely hard work (and is why I play EQ2 so little these days despite adoring it). There is so much to do and the slightest problem causes seemingly endless frustrating delays.
Yet on the outside people think its easy and why isn’t the game finished yet? Or they demand that we give it away for free, or to change it from pixel art (a deliberate design choice as it is an 80’s style game) because they don’t like it but want to play the game, and we’re stupid to have used it. Or lay into the whole game and studio negatively just because they don’t like the music. All this really hurts. You don’t like it, fine, but don’t get personal.
I’m fine with reviews that comment constructively on game-play, or glitches or incompleteness etc, but there is never a reason to be rude or personal. The people actually making the game are humans with feelings, and who have probably put a lot of effort and passion into what they are doing. When reviewing big company’s games, often the reviewer tries to ‘hurt’ and ‘get at’ that company, but all they do is hurt the coders and artists and those doing the graft, not those making the big design decisions or those reaping the revenue at the top.
Just my thoughts, from inside and outside the industry.
Can I check your game’s page out?
Sure 🙂 Wasn’t going to be cheap and use Feldon’s awesome site as promotion, but since you ask…
http://www.sockthuggery.com
Game is called Mighty Tactical Shooter – it looks like s a 1980’s side scrolling shoot-em-up, except it’s got full physics (including gravity manipulation) & Gameplay is strategic and turn based. And when you’ve pulled off awesome moves you can play the whole thing back in real time.
As a software engineer on the east coast who does simulation (because you know….east coast). I always get a chuckle at the “how hard could it be?”s when people pose ideas or suggestions or wishlists.
I also get a chuckle at the “didn’t they test this??” on functionality that comes from the beta or public test server where they ask the players to test for the eventualities not caught by internal testing. Yet, those being the same voices not logging into public test or beta to play test or provide constructive, useful feedback.
Development is a something that does take commitment and devotion and whether your customer is government or civilian, gamer or scientist. Its a discipline that requires devotion but creates excitement when people positively love what you have created. Also, it creates tad bit of depression when your creation is received with an barely audible ‘meh’ or vicious attack on your person, your character, and/or your intellect.
Great link! Should be mandatory reading for all Daybreak Games forums.
Have to admit most of the vitriol spewing posters are too self-absorbed to understand the article. Shame, really, as most of that energy could be directed to good feedback.
Awesome article.
It is easy to misplace blame when you do not understand the problem.