Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love that game! For my brother and I it was the alternative to Mario Kart since we didn't have a Nintendo console at the time. So much fun though.
I'd buy an updated version (online) in a heartbeat
Same.
“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
181–190 of 392 posts
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#182I wanted to believe that a team of 6 to 10 people could make a game that looked and felt AAA. Boy was I wrong! When we made Crash Bandicoot (with a team of 7), it was already virtually impossible to make a AAA game with 6-10 people, and that was 20 years ago. I tell inexperienced entrepreneurs to take their honest best estimate and multiply by 10. Or, as Mark Cerny (our producer on Crash) used to tell us, "add one an…
Issues with estimating, particularly something like this, mostly comes down to meta-ignorance: you don't know what you don't know. Given a particular problem of a similar sort to something he's worked on, an experienced engineer will be able to list 10 different issues that might crop up. An inexperienced engineer won't know of those potential problems and will just see the most optimistic path possible. When you're…
Another great approach is to take the outside view. Instead of figuring out what the path to success looks like, find a reference class which your project belongs to, and assume it'll be about the same.
Want to do better or find an edge? Figure out a way to be part of a better reference class.
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#183> I guess our public silence the last few months already said a lot.
While I can personally understand this reaction to having trouble, it's not healthy nor is it fair to cease communication in this way. A lot of promising projects announce difficulties by falling silent, including Limit Theory, which I was looking forward to seeing realized some day. Maybe crowdfunded projects need to shift to a mindset where it's expected to be upfront about problems.
> So with a heavy heart I have to communicate that as of now the IP of Woolfe, all of the assets and source code is now for sale
I said it before, but I'll gladly say it again: backing a Kickstarter project is a bet, not a pre-order. When I back a project, I calculate the odds and place my money accordingly, full well knowing it could be gone. As long as makers honestly tried to achieve something, I'm fine with failure.
Not everybody sees it that way, though. It would be nice if new games on Kickstarter would include a pledge for their IP to enter public domain in case the project as a whole fails. Because the alternative being played out here is most likely not very helpful to anyone, including the defunct studio.
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#184I wanted to believe that a team of 6 to 10 people could make a game that looked and felt AAA. Boy was I wrong! When we made Crash Bandicoot (with a team of 7), it was already virtually impossible to make a AAA game with 6-10 people, and that was 20 years ago. I tell inexperienced entrepreneurs to take their honest best estimate and multiply by 10. Or, as Mark Cerny (our producer on Crash) used to tell us, "add one an…
Tangentially related, this is a fascinating read:
http://www.quora.com/How-did-game-developers-pack-entire-gam...
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
I myself learned it from Rich in the very talk I linked to a few years ago and I'm the first to admit I didn't make that distinction beforehand. I've met more developers unaware of the distinction than otherwise, which is why I'm curious as to why you think it has become a meme? Also note that english isn't my first language (I'm french Canadian) and even here in french the distinction is seldom made.
In colloquial English, no. The distinction between two main types of simplicity, those of parsimony and elegance, has been a long-standing philosophical topic [1]. In engineering, the so-called KISS principle (first coined as such in the early 20th century) has always had the implication of minimalism and implementation simplicity, in contrast to mere ease of use. Fred Brooks wrote a famous paper in 1986 [2] perfectl…
Thanks for the precision, definitely puts it all into perspective!
I knew about KISS, but almost every time I hear someone mention it they think about ease not simplicity. I will also definitely check out Brooks' paper.
While I understand your position, I believe a lot of this has been lost to the new generations of engineers and what Rich did is remind them of it.
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#186I wanted to believe that a team of 6 to 10 people could make a game that looked and felt AAA. Boy was I wrong! When we made Crash Bandicoot (with a team of 7), it was already virtually impossible to make a AAA game with 6-10 people, and that was 20 years ago. I tell inexperienced entrepreneurs to take their honest best estimate and multiply by 10. Or, as Mark Cerny (our producer on Crash) used to tell us, "add one an…
Tangentially related, this is a fascinating read: http://www.quora.com/How-did-game-developers-pack-entire-gam...
Wow. "Ultimately Crash fit into the PS1's memory with 4 bytes to spare. Yes, 4 bytes out of 2097152. Good times." - the things we take for granted today!
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, the original kickstarter [1] was for $50,000 with $72,000 raised. I'm not an expert on the economics of the video game industry, but I can't believe that would pay a team of 6-10 people for very long. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/45588301/woolfe-the-red...
I won't back games unless they either ask for a few 100k, or are vastly over target already. The reason is that I'd rather back someone with a realistic, workable (but maybe a bit too high) budget than someone optimistic about a probably too low budget. Double so if they state that they want to hire someone. I see a lot of kickstarter project where a team of 5 is looking for 20K or somesuch. While some teams can and…
Keep in mind that there are also experienced studios that don't get all their funding from Kickstarter. I don't know (and doubt) if this was the case with this Kickstarter project.
$50,000 could have afforded them an artist for 6 months, or helped them to secure some essential software, or just supplemented the incomes of the existing team, while they continued doing 'side-jobs' to generally pay the bills.
Now ideally, they would get all their funding from one source (so we know what they received) and it would be enough to pay for everything. But I think a lot of people who pledge on Kickstarter have a gross misunderstanding of how much money a game takes, considering each team-member may have a salary ranging from $50k - $100k is not unreasonable at all.
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems like they meant AAA- quality game, with a budget of $75k + 6-10 people
I think you're correct... saying that you created a AAA title means that you can compete with major game studios... I think. However, in my opinion AAA doesn't apply to scope or budget but quality of experience. Super Meat Boy is one of the best games I've played in years and it doesn't come anywhere near the scope of say GTA 5 (which is also awesome). I don't think anyone calls SMB a triple-a title though... so I'd…
Collision detection is a ball ache even when you use an off the shelf solution. There's still loads of problems and edge cases to handle. There's the bullet through paper problem, where fast moving bodies will skip through thin objects. There's scale issues when dealing with large bodies colliding with small bodies. There's floating point precision if you're too far from the origin, how you handle narrow things tag can get stuck in geometry. Writing a robust character controller is difficult too. Handling jumping and crouching are both full of collision nightmares.
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#189"But changing gameplay from 2D to 3D had a major impact on overall development cost (we found out a little too late)" Not to pile on, but this was very surprising to me... how could you not know that this would have a major impact?
I don't understand the use of 3D in 2D/2.5D platformers, as it is. Just use vector art. It's cheaper, looks better and is simpler to code for.
Re: “It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're based on Antwerp, Belgium, That could make it work. Since the regular salary is $24k I'd expect it to be around $5k per person.
That's what the developer gets, net. Multiply by 2.5x for what the employer actually has to pay. 72k USD will get you one senior developer for one year.
72k USD per year seems quite low for even a fresh junior developer...