Trying to create a top-notch video game in today's ultra-competitive market, and amid increasingly demanding gamers, is a challenge.
And it's a scary one, too. Even if you've made a tremendous game like Batman: Arkham City , you still might have some reservations. You might also be tuned into your mistakes, which makes things all the more nerve-rattling. Check out what Rocksteady director Sefton Hill had to say about last year's stellar production:
"…you become finely tuned at spotting mistakes in the game. In fact, I’ve not even finished Asylum yet! Usually it takes me about two years before I can play anything I’ve worked on with any kind of perspective.
When Arkham 1 came out it wasn’t until the reviews started to hit that I first thought, ‘people actually really like this.’ It wasn’t that I didn’t have confidence in it. It was more just this was the best we could have done and we hoped people we going to like it. But I didn’t know how they were going to take it.
When you play Arkham you can feel it’s been made by people who are really passionate about what they do and want to make the best game they can make. But it’s so hard to say how good it is compared to other titles. This year for gaming has been phenomenal. The quality of titles is, as a developer, terrifying."
This is great because it gives you an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes…or rather, what goes on in the mind of a studio boss. There's just so much to consider, and you have to wonder, regardless of effort and confidence: "Will they really like this?"
That must be a question that'll keep you up nights.
Related Game(s): Batman: Arkham City
Be afraid no more for you did better than good!
Being a developer in this day and age must be a highly stressful job. I don't think I could handle the pressure.
When you have the best of the best titles releasing all around you, like Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Batman Arkham City, Resistence 3, Modern Warfare 3, battlefield 3, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Rayman Origins, Sonic Generations, Zelda Skyward Sword, Super Mario 3D Land and many many others, I would probably just throw my hands up and say "I give up!!! I don't think I can beat these guys!!"
Thank God for XBL and PSN, and all Indie games finally having a platform to tread water. PS2 generation was great, but there wouldn't have been a platform or audience for great DL titles like Braid, Limbo, Castle Crashers, Flower or Pixeljunk.
DMachine; remember you are probably looking at it from the point that one has already conquered the mountain.
You are right that the pressure is intense, including long working hours and the like… but there are a "team" of very talented individuals that are pulling their weight together for the most part. I lot of creative energy has to be controlled and channeled in the right direction. I think that is the difficult part.
If your engineers are good, have a proven track record, and more importantly, your game concept and accompanying story is top notch; one has to be a little dumb to screw it up.
We agree that much of the issues we have seen are technical. Story wise, in video games that is, we can get away with it a bit. For example Haze did not have to be a bad game… I mean if GG was creating it it would have done well technically…
So, for the most part, developers have the tools and the talents to build up each layer from base, and get to the top of the mountain in one piece…
Issue is not all developers have the right people and/or are able to execute from concept to product…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
That question rattles my nerves every time I write a story. There's just no perspective when it's your own work.
Absolutely loved Asylum, cannot wait to finish my huge backlog and get to Arkham City.
Last edited by Killa Tequilla on 2/26/2012 11:28:29 PM
there lucky because in their genre theres really not much to compete with them.
both in that genre, and in the whole superhero medium.
best competition thats in arkham citys genre, and medium being a superhero game would be captain america and that was not exactly a stellar title.
that said though i far enjoyed arkham asylum more.
city somehow felt smaller, all the levels just feel crammed in.
maybe its how the AI behaves, constantly bunching up but its FAR too hard to pull a enemy to the side and play cat and mouse with him.
that was the best part of asylum, you could tease enemies, make a noise and make them go where you want.
if you do that in arkham city they magically know where you are, and everyone even if there 200KMs away from you, guns you down!
right, so they can tell exactly where i am just from me detonating a explosive which is opposite to where i am can they?
ooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkk……….
city felt a bit rushed to be honest, just felt really thin like things were done not because the team wanted them, but simply to cover other things up.
does not feel like its been through with a fine tooth comb adjusting everything like asylum did.
ending compounds that too, going along so slowly then all of a sudden everything happens and the credits roll.
what the, did they loose half the script?
Last edited by ___________ on 2/27/2012 2:01:22 AM
The crazy thing is he's just talking about the pressure from the competition from a technical and creative perspective. The budget of your average game nowadays puts many devs in a "make or break" position with each release. Even if a game is top-notch in terms of presentation and story, competition from other games being released around the same time frame can cause a game's sales to flounder and that studio to shut down.
Makes you wonder just how turbulent the next gen is going to be.
Things would be different if the governments of the world didnt tax us into oblivion. Entertainment as a whole is the first to take the hit in a government-run recession. If this was a free market recession, things would have already gotten better and innovation would be the primary objective of most developers. Thank you Washington DC for ruining our games!!!
Ron Paul 2012 😉
Last edited by PSN French on 2/27/2012 3:53:46 AM