GillianSeed79
Member
Yeah I don't get the lunch thing. I only get 30 minutes at work too and the company never pays for lunch. Everything else sounds shitty but free lunch seems awesome *shruggs*
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Former BioWare Emloyee Review of company sheds distuburing light on MEA's development
- Thread starter MasterMenace
- Start date
Yeah I don't get the lunch thing. I only get 30 minutes at work too and the company never pays for lunch. Everything else sounds shitty but free lunch seems awesome *shruggs*
Prototype Viktor
Member
As the percentage of males make up the demographic of a company approaches 100% so does the possibility of Bro
BarringGaffner
Member
It would explain the state of the game though I personally tend not to trust these company reviews because I know some terrible people that reviewed my company after getting fired that were very dishonest.
but yeah.. makes sense.
as for the animations.. I mean there must be some reason to drop the facial anim. Memory? Had to change the rig at some point for a larger fix?
but yeah.. makes sense.
as for the animations.. I mean there must be some reason to drop the facial anim. Memory? Had to change the rig at some point for a larger fix?
Caayn
Member
30min unpaid lunch is normal here.
Having your boss pay for your lunch, or longer lunch periods, are the exception.
And_Gignac
Member
Normal doesn't make it ok. Don't normalize your exploitation.
Damn we have recessed so much in work rights.
Dirtyshubb
Member
Because its like the smallest thing they could do to help with crunch culture.
"people are complaining about crunch culture, should we plan more efficiently or give them extra time so they can work normal human hours? "
"no fuck that, just give them a sandwich each and they will be fine."
Getting a free lunch is nothing when people are being forced to work 90 hour weeks, hardly seeing their families and even sleeping under their desk for the night to save time coming in.
The gaming industry really needs to get better at treating its staff like valuable assets instead of the disposable coding machines many places currently do.
NAKEDCOWBOY
Neo Member
Sadly, I will not be first day purchasing Andromeda, a game I have looked forward to for years. I'm very picky about games and the Mass Effect series is something I hold dear.
I bought EA Origin Access on PC just to try Andromeda and was very, very disappointed in the combat, the handling of a brand-new universe and the UI. The reviews sealed it for me, reassuring me that I won't be missing anything.
If anything I'll buy this game when it's on sale for $10 and play on easy through the main story just so I can play the sequel if it's handled with more care than this atrocity.
I bought EA Origin Access on PC just to try Andromeda and was very, very disappointed in the combat, the handling of a brand-new universe and the UI. The reviews sealed it for me, reassuring me that I won't be missing anything.
If anything I'll buy this game when it's on sale for $10 and play on easy through the main story just so I can play the sequel if it's handled with more care than this atrocity.
Crunch usually means an unspoken rule of unpaid overtime, and not taking any paid breaks either.. I assume the OP is saying management used free lunch to try and appease that.
General Lee
Member
I can't play this.
The game really doesn't look like that for me. Maybe on the lowest settings? In any case, we've seen time after time how early vertical slices and "target" renders have graphics turned up to 11, and once the game is actually made devs realize they actually have to make it run on Xbox One level hw. We've seen these same comparisons with W3, Watch Dogs, DS2 etc. It's really nothing new at this point.
My guess is EA really wanted continuation of ME so Bioware had to shove it to Montreal with limited resources, and there was little creative passion or strong leadership for it to begin with. Eventually EA realized the game isn't going to be on the same level as the original trilogy, and decided they'll just push it out now regardless of how unfinished it is.
It's crazy though how Bioware Edmonton's new IP is supposed to be a multiplayer action adventure, when they're the ones known for SP RPG's and Bioware Montreal is the one that did ME3 MP.
Definitely agree
I do A LOT of out of hours server work, no extra pay just "some" time off when staffing levels allow
Comes with the job role, I accept that or find another line of work, or a more junior position on much much less pay where I'm only expected to do my contracted hiurs
All companies have their faults..
The culture sounds shitty though and the employee did the right thing by leaving if he didn't like it
I can't play this.
I think on other topic people already said that final build image is from glitched video and probably game is on low settings there. I have seen this scene with a lot better quality in someones stream.
Might want to moderate that "a lot" .
Bottom is non glitched version.
In fact, here is the comparison with the non glitch version.
https://my.mixtape.moe/lygacu.mp4
As expected, it's still terrible.
Irrelevant though.
In 2017, when you look at the competition, that target render was 100% doable.
It's not like I was satisfied with what I had seen.
But now that I've actually seen the good "Mass Effect" that we'll never get, I'm done.
I can't deal with this as the norm :
I didn't see anything that looked that bad in the 10hr trial I played on PC, all the indoor environments were gorgeous and had very nice textures. That have to be run on really low settings to achieve that look.
Wishmaster92
Member
Texture res slightly improved. Looks largely the same. The early demo clearly looks about a generation better.Might want to moderate that "a lot" .
Bottom is non glitched version.
In fact, here is the comparison with the non glitch version.
https://my.mixtape.moe/lygacu.mp4
As expected, it's still terrible.
CarbonFire
Member
They were playing on the PS4 Pro @ 1080p.
Pretty much.
- Gamespot: Mass Effect Andromeda Senior Development Director Leaves BioWare.
- Polygon: Mass Effect: Andromeda lead writer leaves BioWare for Bungie.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Patrick Weekes is the fucking man. Always has been. Love that guy's work and I'm glad he's still operating on this level.
Militaratus
Member
It troubles me that we find these things out after the fact. Though on the other hand, if the developers and publishers were completely transparent, we'd obviously have more boycotts on our hands to have more healthy and happy work environments (which hopefully leads to higher quality games), but my pessimism would suggest that publishers would just cancel projects and probably close studios as the cheapest solution since they think nobody would buy the games anyway due to negative reaction.
Darkstorne
Member
Yeah, definitely take it with a grain of salt.
Workplace politics are 100% unavoidable. It's human nature to be tribal, we spent ~200,000 years living in small tribal groups and mostly mistrusting other groups, so cliques sadly come naturally to us. It's why people who live in the country are likely to smile and say "hello" to other people they pass, but as soon as you're in a town or city surrounded by a ridiculous number of people your natural reaction is to shut off and never even make eye contact.
Large companies and their HR teams should know this though and actively work to foster a more open and friendly atmosphere. It sounds like Montreal isn't doing that, and falling into the dangerous trap of treating anyone outside their lead teams as part of a different group of people. That's not a fun situation for anyone to be in, and it's not going to produce good results for a product the entire team is supposed to be working together on.
Alter_Fridge
Member
Bro-aware: Imposition
WaterAstro
Member
Electronic Arts is terrible to work for.
It's all about the bottomline and not about cultivating talent and creativity.
It's all about the bottomline and not about cultivating talent and creativity.
Alter_Fridge
Member
I've worked for companies like this (not game development). It's fairly normal right across the gamut of industires
GlamFM
Banned
Even if all the stuff in the OP was true - what does EA have to do with it?
Wind's Howling
Member
Irrelevant though.
In 2017, when you look at the competition, that target render was 100% doable.
It's not like I was satisfied with what I had seen.
But now that I've actually seen the good "Mass Effect" that we'll never get, I'm done.
I can't deal with this as the norm :
Have we seriously reached the point where we zoom in on compressed youtube videos in order to get a point across?
WaterAstro
Member
uh... EA owns Bioware?
It was about the art direction going to shit, as well as lightning and faces, which compression is barely affecting, but okay.
Enjoy this then :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSNCAZyjdU4&feature=youtu.be
Did the point get across now ?
Wow...the lack of self-shadowing really makes those characters look like shit.
fabricated backlash
Member
I was unable to take lunch breaks for 3 years at my last job... Took a massive toll on me.
Noisepurge
Member
We probably never will unfortunately, sounds very Bungie and what happened with Destiny.
Quickly wrapping up the game with fast assets to make it playable.
I know.. Mass Effect 3 doesn't look that terrible in comparison. But that still isn't saying much.
For a moment there I thought that was a screenshot of Saints Row 1 lol.Irrelevant though.
In 2017, when you look at the competition, that target render was 100% doable.
It's not like I was satisfied with what I had seen.
But now that I've actually seen the good "Mass Effect" that we'll never get, I'm done.
I can't deal with this as the norm :
GlamFM
Banned
And?
Wind's Howling
Member
Nowhere in your previous two posts I saw you mention art direction, lightning and/or faces being the point of your hate. I see someone hating on the graphics by posting a compressed youtube screenshot. That alone gives me enough incentive to post.
Dislike the game all you want, but stop posting compressed youtube shots in order to get your point across. It makes you sound unbelievable at best.
Jill Sandwich
the turds of Optimus Prime
Never having played a Mass Effect before I was going to use Andromeda to jump in, but I'll wait a couple of years for them to finish the game.
It will. Unlike this game it's made by competent people who take their time and push the boundaries with each new game they release. There might be downgrades and little controversies here and there but when you play their games you can see the love and hard work they invest in them. I never feels butchered and awkward.
Oook I'm gonna back away from this argument.
I'm sure people are smart enough to judge what they see for themselves.
Try out Mass Effect 1 if you have a PC
Depends on how much shoddy writing, subpar quest design, lots of bugs, and off-putting facial animations bother you.
It has good combat and some interesting planets.
About the 30 minutes paid lunch, as some people said, I also think that he/she is meaning that their crunch time was compensated with a lunch.
Probably they were doing 12 hours and working the weekends during that crunch time and didn't get paid.
I was at a company that did that sometimes, not very often.
Probably they were doing 12 hours and working the weekends during that crunch time and didn't get paid.
I was at a company that did that sometimes, not very often.
Wind's Howling
Member
30 or 40 bucks might make it a better purchase for a lot of people.
Darkstorne
Member
Yep. I'm waiting on that price point, and hoping Bioware get some patches out the door for character creation and those damn eye shaders while I'm waiting. The gameplay itself and the environment design were really solid in the trial imo.
Tertullian
Member
Do you really believe Youtube compression is the main thing wrong with that screenshot?
ffejeromdiks
Banned
You're not missing anything from the compression in that screenshot, the shit would look just as bad without it.
Chaos2Frozen
Member
They get to tell them what to do.