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Blood, Sweat, And Pixels Thread: Print Sneak Fuck

M

M.Steiner

Member
Thought it was worth a mention but if you're in the UK and want a paperback, give Wordery a look. You won't get it next day or anything and you can't upgrade from their free delivery option (afaik), but I ordered a copy from them last Mon (4th), they dispatched it on Thu (7th) and it arrived today (11th).

Gonna start it later, looks like a great read!
 
C

Cronen

Member
M.Steiner said:
Thought it was worth a mention but if you're in the UK and want a paperback, give Wordery a look. You won't get it next day or anything and you can't upgrade from their free delivery option (afaik), but I ordered a copy from them last Mon (4th), they dispatched it on Thu (7th) and it arrived today (11th).

Gonna start it later, looks like a great read!
Click to expand...

Thanks for this!

Just had an email from Amazon to say that the UK release date has changed to October 5th (was previously the 4th).
 
C

CrichtonKicks

Member
BrassDragon said:
One thing that amazed me is how haphazardly the main narrative is designed in some of these major titles, particularly when contrasted with the dedicated and highly involved writing pipeline the Witcher III developers set up. It just seems odd that companies known for their storytelling, like BioWare, Bungee and Naughty Dog, can get blindsided by structural flaws in their narrative very late in development.

Reading between the lines, it seems to be a problem driven by personalities rather than project management issues. Guess everybody fancies themselves a writer and/or qualified to tinker with narrative.
Click to expand...

Based on the book, DA:I's narrative issues were project management issues based on the issues the team was having with the technology. They were struggling with Frostbite so much that they couldn't see how the narrative was playing in the game until very late in the process.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
BrassDragon said:
One thing that amazed me is how haphazardly the main narrative is designed in some of these major titles, particularly when contrasted with the dedicated and highly involved writing pipeline the Witcher III developers set up. It just seems odd that companies known for their storytelling, like BioWare, Bungee and Naughty Dog, can get blindsided by structural flaws in their narrative very late in development.

Reading between the lines, it seems to be a problem driven by personalities rather than project management issues. Guess everybody fancies themselves a writer and/or qualified to tinker with narrative.
.
Click to expand...

eh, I wouldn't say Witcher 3 didn't have it's own structural flaws as well in their story. the best part of Witcher 3 story are all the big side story in every main area which can work as a stand alone story without the main story narrative.

the main story itself is not that interesting, both Witcher 1 and 2 have better main story imo.

Amy Hennig seems like she had problem piecing the story together, but when Druckmann and Straley takes over. they had the complete story layout in weeks.

Bioware seems like they had the initial story layout just fine, they already know early on that the main character will be inquisitor, who'll be the villain etc. it's just that the decision to make it open world hurt them because the story they had is not big enough unsuitable for open world games. they end up putting in filler quest just to make the big world have lots of content.

no idea what happened to Bungie and Destiny though. it seems the writer work separate from the rest of the team, and when he pitch the story, people are all just caught off guard.
 
M

ManUtdRedDevils

Member
My experience with the book is that after a chapter, I'm tuckered. I knew crunch was an issue but I never realized how often throughout a game development it happens. Kudos to those who can survive that. Crazy.
 
K

KorrZ

Member
Only read the first 4 chapters so far, but I've loved it. It's great to get this level of insight.

Would absolutely buy a follow up.
 
W

Wadiwasi

Banned
This book has one of my favorite lines ever now.....

Age of Empires was big, but compared to Halo it had the cultural impact of a brunch photo on Instagram.

It's so good because it's true lol
 
D

Drencrom

Member
Is this book limited?

I've ordered it from two different retailers in sweden and they both got cancelled because of the supplier.

EDIT: Seems like it hasn't been released in europe yet (amazon uk says Oct 5th)
 
M

Mezoly

Member
When I read the Uncharted 4 chapter I feared that Bruce Straley will probably be gone from ND. Sad to see it come true, but the development process is just gruesome.
 
B

BrassDragon

Member
The only thing that doesn't sit right me is the way the Blizzard and Diablo III chapter just breezes through the boneheaded decision to launch that game with a real money auction house. It's presented as if Blizzard is made out of sweetness and cotton candy, with nothing but the players' best interests at heart, who should be applauded when they finally and magnanimously remove the fun-killing and cynically greedy feature from the game.

I realize that we're getting these stories from the principal decision-makers and they like to paint themselves as the heroes but the notion that a billion dollar company just naively stumbles into such a feature, ostensibly to 'protect' players from grey market trading, seems ridiculous to anyone with a brain.
 
N

Nicko

Member
Finished listening to the audiobook version of this. Congrats Jason on the really great work and intriguing interviews!

Looking forward to a sequel hopefully sometime down the road! I feel like there are enough of these development tragedies/untold stories in the industry for you to have some great source material.

Made me actually look forward to washing dishes/chores for the entire week!
 
B

Boy Wander

Member
Definitely going to purchase this or have someone get me it for Christmas.

Good OP btw although I'd rather the thread be called "Press Sneak's Book" or "Press Sneak Fuck's Book"
 
H

H.Protagonist

[-_-]/
Just got my copy and I'm already nodding my head 4 pages in. People are always blaming managers for 'horrible' scheduling or being incompetent at planning, but until they've had to deal with a 'Spanish Inquisition' type situation they should really ease off. You can work in buffers, budget for the unexpected, and even be flexible with that end date as far as marketing can manage, but scheduling is almost always a nightmare for at least one of the stages.
 
N

natureboy46

Member
Halfway through the Diablo 3 chapter and really enjoying the book so far. Stardew Valley chapter made me love the game more than I already did.

Fantastic idea for a book. Can't believe we haven't seen this type of thing before. Unless we have, in which case, what other books like this should I read?
 
GlamFM

GlamFM

Banned
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I

Inglorious_ Man

Member
Just finished the book today. It was terrific. After reading the Pillars of Eternity chapter I bought Pillars of Eternity: The Complete Edition for the PS4 because reading that chapter on how Obsidian created that game as well as the great reviews on it made me want to support their work. I own the majority of games that were mentioned in the book except for Stardew Valley because I am waiting for the Switch version and of course Star Wars 1313.
 
H

HoJu

Member
Really enjoying it so far. Even though I understand why you can't go into Japanese developed games, it makes me wonder if there are any stories for western developed games for z japanese companies. Like with ex Retro Studios staff, Grin, Cuthbert, etc.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Finally got time to dig into the book a little a short while ago. Read through the Project Eternity stuff, and thought it was really good. Writing about game development can be a really tricky thing, because it means so many different things to different people and the level of engagement, interest, and personal knowledge a given person might have towards the subject is spread across a huge range. I think the way the book is framed works well in not feeling like something just for enthusiasts who already know all the nuts and bolts, but effective as a general purpose book for those interested in videogames, about how hard it is to make them, but also covering the human element of why people try so hard anyway. Looking forward to reading more!
 
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