People who have never written software, let alone tried to make a large complicated software project, need to calm the fuck down about video game delays.
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@gruyere I understand why they get delayed. I just wish that the games would actually be FINISHED before a release date is announced. Tease us with trailers and shit all you want but giving even release windows needs to stop, when EVERYTHING gets delayed.
@beardalaxy yeah, there’s competing factions around that, though. Business people want it in a window and development tries to meet it. It doesn’t help that season passes are all the rage now and churning out high quality seasonal content is difficult and fragile when it comes to timeline slips.
I also would like finished games, but the reality is that people buy them partway done, so exceptional levels of polish are just not an economic incentive in the short term. Quantifying damage to brand reputation is for the next VP/CEO/whoever to worry about :/
@gruyere AAA industry is diseased, rotten to the core!
@beardalaxy I only agree somewhat. There’s a type of game that can only be made by a large game studio and they wind up being popular.
I play lots of indies and love them too, but they get passes for prolonged early access and rough edges for being indies.
I don’t really have the solution here, but making software is pretty hard. Making it with a team of people more so. Making it with 300 engineers is a goddamn miracle it ever works.
I just think there’s a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth when games are delayed that just make it seem like this reality is just now well understood.
But then you get things like Cyberpunk 2077 ... which is tragic because the art and acting and animations are all incredibly good ... but the game engine ruined what should have been a good experience. Indies like Hotline Miami, Don't Starve, Gris, Katana Zero, and Lithium City all have graphics/music/gaming that are more than good enough to give you a really fun time (and they're shorter, which I kinda prefer).
Also can't imagine what goes into game some of the AAA engines either. There are so many insane moving parts and ways things can interact. Game devs don't get paid at the top of the field, and yea they're making some of the most challenging software out there ... but everything's gotta fit into that $70 price tag, not for the game itself, but to turn a large enough profit to justify funding for the next title...
@djsumdog @gruyere indies and games with smaller budgets usually focus on refining the gameplay first and foremost which is mainly what I care about.
Games like rdr2 are absurdly good in basically every category, but the amount of man hours it takes to make something like that might just be too much.
Personally, I can't often justify buying a game at full price when I know there are games out there which are cheaper or on sale that I know I'm going to have more fun with. Sure, they might not be the second coming in terms of their graphics and general scope, but often with those games I just don't have a whole lot of fun. I think that there is way too much money being needlessly funneled into graphics and open world projects. Or shit like story modes in sports games. There needs to be some refining instead of all of this super ambitious stuff.
At the very least, though, I do still wish that games would get release dates when they were completely finished. Put it a month or two out to build some hype, and use that time to start developing your DLC or season pass shit or whatever. I, for one, won't be announcing a release date for my game until it is actually finished.
@beardalaxy @djsumdog I think the release date stuff, especially on AAA games, has a lot to do with building hype and trying to get people to buy right away. Lots of early sales can be spun into "good game" and help convince other people to buy it while the game is fresh in people's minds. This is especially important for games that have online components because an active player base is what those games will live and die by... until you get people completely hooked, at least.
I agree though that the main thing most gamers want from big studio games is a polished, high feature product and a lot of AAA games have fallen down on that. Some, however (rdr2, GoW) have really nailed it.
