Hrungr
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Post by Hrungr on Apr 2, 2019 15:03:43 GMT
Kotaku: How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong Jason Schreier @jasonschreier What went wrong with Anthem? This is the story, based on interviews with 19 people who worked on or close to the game, of why BioWare's loot shooter was such a mess.
It's also a story about a legendary RPG studio facing a burnout crisis.
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Hrungr
Twitter Guru
ღ N-Special
More coffee...? More coffee.
Staff Mini-Profile Theme: Hrungr
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
Origin: Hrungr
Prime Posts: 18,258
Prime Likes: 65,767
Posts: 29,466 Likes: 104,068
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Post by Hrungr on Apr 2, 2019 15:18:12 GMT
Jason Schreier @jasonschreierWhile reporting this story, I learned the names of dozens and dozens of people who have left BioWare over the past two years. Those who talked to me said they believe that something desperately needs to change, and that they hope making it public will help.
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Hrungr
Twitter Guru
ღ N-Special
More coffee...? More coffee.
Staff Mini-Profile Theme: Hrungr
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
Origin: Hrungr
Prime Posts: 18,258
Prime Likes: 65,767
Posts: 29,466 Likes: 104,068
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Post by Hrungr on Apr 2, 2019 15:31:33 GMT
Jason Schreier @jasonschreierEA and BioWare declined to comment or provide any interviews for this story, but they did just put up this blog post, written before they could read the article. Very interesting, if somewhat dismissive. Hopefully they're serious about better planning.
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Post by alanc9 on Apr 2, 2019 15:38:07 GMT
Well, it's nice to see Schreier actually delivering the goods.
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Post by samhain444 on Apr 2, 2019 16:12:08 GMT
Holy shit, that is a depressing read...
Essentially 12 months of crunch to get the game out in EA's fiscal Q4...sounds "ME:A"-familiar, doesn't it?
There are always "heroes" in these situations and it sounds like Mark Darrah was the adult in the room and got them working together to ship it on time.
Also, Frostbite can go off and die somewhere..."full of razor blades"...Jesus
EA needs to give BioWare the time to develop "Dragon Age 4"...they can't repeat this.
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Post by luketrevelyan on Apr 2, 2019 16:18:26 GMT
These parts worry me the most. I had already assumed as much about the second quote based on other things we've heard, but this is the most confirmation we've had about it.
"Developers still at the studio say that under Casey Hudson, rather than start from scratch yet again, the next Dragon Age will be built on Anthem’s codebase. (We’ll share more on that game in the near future.)"
"That summer, studio general manager Aaryn Flynn departed, to be replaced by a returning Casey Hudson. As part of this process, the studio canceled Joplin. Laidlaw quit shortly afterward, and BioWare restarted Dragon Age 4 with a tiny team under the code name Morrison."
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Post by leadintea on Apr 2, 2019 16:19:43 GMT
Holy shit, that is a depressing read... Essentially 12 months of crunch to get the game out in EA's fiscal Q4...sounds "ME:A"-familiar, doesn't it? There are always "heroes" in these situations and it sounds like Mark Darrah was the adult in the room and got them working together to ship it on time. Also, Frostbite can go off and die somewhere..."full of razor blades"...Jesus EA needs to give BioWare the time to develop "Dragon Age 4"...they can't repeat this. Frostbite absolutely needs to go. It's a terrible engine and seems to be one of the major common threads between DAI's, MEA's, and Anthem's development issues.
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Post by thesupremedarkone on Apr 2, 2019 16:22:36 GMT
Well, it's nice to see Schreier actually delivering the goods. Glad to see people are still butthurt that he was right. Funny how every time this guy reveals anything, people like you use the same excuses to hate him and then it turns out he was right all along. When will you learn to just eat some crow
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Post by samhain444 on Apr 2, 2019 16:24:15 GMT
These parts worry me the most. I had already assumed as much about the second quote based on other things we've heard, but this is the most confirmation we've had about it. "Developers still at the studio say that under Casey Hudson, rather than start from scratch yet again, the next Dragon Age will be built on Anthem’s codebase. (We’ll share more on that game in the near future.)" "That summer, studio general manager Aaryn Flynn departed, to be replaced by a returning Casey Hudson. As part of this process, the studio canceled Joplin. Laidlaw quit shortly afterward, and BioWare restarted Dragon Age 4 with a tiny team under the code name Morrison." It seems every time they are starting from scratch...they did it with "DA:I"...then with "ME:A"...and then with "Anthem" It makes sense to you a previously established foundation so you are not staring years of crunch and ugliness in the face again.
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Post by luketrevelyan on Apr 2, 2019 16:28:14 GMT
These parts worry me the most. I had already assumed as much about the second quote based on other things we've heard, but this is the most confirmation we've had about it. "Developers still at the studio say that under Casey Hudson, rather than start from scratch yet again, the next Dragon Age will be built on Anthem’s codebase. (We’ll share more on that game in the near future.)" "That summer, studio general manager Aaryn Flynn departed, to be replaced by a returning Casey Hudson. As part of this process, the studio canceled Joplin. Laidlaw quit shortly afterward, and BioWare restarted Dragon Age 4 with a tiny team under the code name Morrison." It seems every time they are starting from scratch...they did it with "DA:I"...then with "ME:A"...and then with "Anthem" It makes sense to you a previously established foundation so you are not staring years of crunch and ugliness in the face again. Why not start from DAI though? Anthem seems like the completely wrong type of game unless they want DA4 to be more like Anthem. I want DA4 to have nothing to do with Anthem.
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Post by samhain444 on Apr 2, 2019 16:33:13 GMT
It seems every time they are starting from scratch...they did it with "DA:I"...then with "ME:A"...and then with "Anthem" It makes sense to you a previously established foundation so you are not staring years of crunch and ugliness in the face again. Why not start from DAI though? Anthem seems like the completely wrong type of game unless they want DA4 to be more like Anthem. I want DA4 to have nothing to do with Anthem. "the next Dragon Age will be built on Anthem’s codebase." "Dragon Age Inquisition" was released 4 years ago and had static areas who's environment was constant, not to mention you are building it likely for the next gen of consoles. You are thinking "Anthem Age" with CO-OP and mages flying about to instanced encounters...likelier they just want to stop reinventing the wheel every game
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Post by alanc9 on Apr 2, 2019 16:35:25 GMT
Well, it's nice to see Schreier actually delivering the goods. Glad to see people are still butthurt that he was right. Funny how every time this guy reveals anything, people like you use the same excuses to hate him and then it turns out he was right all along. When will you learn to just eat some crow Huh? The only criticism I've ever made of Schreier is that I'm not a fan of teasing stuff. Protip: unless you're really familiar with someone's post history, it's best not to make assumptions about it.
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Post by UutIVvdPw7END0Ef on Apr 2, 2019 16:42:32 GMT
Long story short: The game was tops 18 months(1.5 years) in development, less than MEA(2 years/24 months). - Frostbite is still shit. - Mismanagement or lack of management. - Understaffed. - Old talents leaving. - Robert "Patrick" Söderlund(EA) only cared about the graphics. - Infighting between Edmonton and Austin, Edmonton wanted more traditional SP stuff in Anthem which just didn't work for an online game and ignoring Austin's feedback despite their knowledge with SWTOR. - Games that make more money like FIFA/Battlefield take priority Frostbite support, which Anthem needed.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Apr 2, 2019 16:44:28 GMT
Jesus christ...I'm so tired of my cynical thoughts towards this studio being right. Just as I suspected, they didn't have a clue what to do. and as usual, Frostbite sucks for anything that isn't an FPS game....sigh.
This was almost, verbatum, the story of FF 14 1.0 again....this is not the type of story you should ever see more than once...
Also ofc, in typical EA fashion, all they cared about was stupid graphics....
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Post by Thrombin on Apr 2, 2019 16:47:43 GMT
Long story short: The game was tops 18 months(1.5 years) in development, less than MEA(2 years/24 months). - Frostbite is still shit. - Mismanagement or lack of management. - Understaffed. - Old talents leaving. - Patrick Söderlund(EA) only cared about the graphics. - Infgihting between Edmonton and Austin, Edmonton wanted more traditional SP stuff in Anthem which just didn't work for an online game and ignoring Austin's feedback despite their knowledge with SWTOR. - Games that make more money like FIFA/Battlefield take priority Frostbite support, which Anthem needed.
To be fair, Patrick Söderlund just found the first demo to be boring and uninspiring and motivated the team to up their game. He was thrilled by the flying in the second demo which was basically the reason why they added flying back when they had pretty much decided to ditch it. Sounds to me like that was a good thing as the flying is one of the best things about Anthem now.
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Post by Qui-Gon GlenN7 on Apr 2, 2019 16:47:53 GMT
Well, it's nice to see Schreier actually delivering the goods. Name an instance where he has not delivered the goods. Regarding BioWare product, that will be difficult. Also, BioWare is dead, see my thread.
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Post by alanc9 on Apr 2, 2019 16:48:47 GMT
- Patrick Söderlund(EA) only cared about the graphics flying .FTFY. That's what seems to have turned it around. And from the sound of it, he wasn't wrong about the first demo.
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Post by shinobiwan on Apr 2, 2019 16:49:49 GMT
The article itself left me with some hope that Bioware has woken up to the issues and might improve in the future. Then I read the "response" blog that went up before they could possibly have read the article, which has a bunch of bullshit and "we're looking into it" responses. What the fuck.
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Post by Son of Dorn on Apr 2, 2019 16:50:07 GMT
😈
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Post by samhain444 on Apr 2, 2019 16:53:00 GMT
Long story short: The game was tops 18 months(1.5 years) in development, less than MEA(2 years/24 months). - Frostbite is still shit. - Mismanagement or lack of management. - Understaffed. - Old talents leaving. - Patrick Söderlund(EA) only cared about the graphics. - Infgihting between Edmonton and Austin, Edmonton wanted more traditional SP stuff in Anthem which just didn't work for an online game and ignoring Austin's feedback despite their knowledge with SWTOR. - Games that make more money like FIFA/Battlefield take priority Frostbite support, which Anthem needed.
To be fair, Patrick Söderlund just found the first demo to be boring and uninspiring and motivated the team to up their game. He was thrilled by the flying in the second demo which was basically the reason why they added flying back when they had pretty much decided to ditch it. Sounds to me like that was a good thing as the flying is one of the best things about Anthem now.
The flying is it's "Thing"...the vertical movement is what sold it to me and it's why I am still playing. He absolutely nailed that observation...
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Post by Solas on Apr 2, 2019 17:14:57 GMT
wew
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Post by Fogg on Apr 2, 2019 17:17:56 GMT
Read the whole thing, it's impressive what they still managed to build in those 18 months.
Basically all trouble started with DA:I getting great reviews and all those GOTY awards. It encouraged BioWare to take a path that lead to mayhem with ME:A and Anthem.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Apr 2, 2019 17:23:10 GMT
Read the whole thing, it's impressive what they still managed to build in those 18 months. Basically all trouble started with DA:I getting great reviews and all those GOTY awards. It encouraged BioWare to take a path that lead to mayhem with ME:A and Anthem. That was honestly the hardest part for me to read (aside from all the harsh treatment of the developers themselves etc) It...almost makes me wish my favorite DA game actually sucked, in hopes they would have woken up sooner to their ridiculous attitude.
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