GinoFelino
Member
Schreier killing it once again
Where did he post them? I can't seem to find them.
UE4 has a limited performance budget, it seems.Sounds like EA needs to use Unreal for there RPGs.
Where did he post them? I can't seem to find them.
Where did he post them? I can't seem to find them.
Really fantastic read.
Long and short of it: spent way, way too long in pre-production with impressively lofty dreams and scope that ultimately lacked coherent direction and leadership, alongside numerous toolset issues pertaining to Frostbite 3 that hadn't been resolved in Inquisition. Loss of original director and understaffed areas of development like animation resulted in a lot of cheap outsourcing and excessive crunch as the team attempted to salvage a project that left pre-production into production without a fully functioning vertical slice and numerous over ambitious production issues unresolved. 18 months crunch produced the Andromeda we got today, with a significant bulk of writing, planet, and quest design competed in this window, the most impressive and polished elements like combat and driving the few handovers from its earliest iterations.
First of all, where are all the sources? Is most of the information anonymous then?
I started hearing alarm bells during that one EA conference at E3 when everyone expected a Mass Effect: Andromeda blow out, and instead all we got was footage of the development team working on the game... A SECOND FUCKING TIME! That's when I knew something was up.
Where did he post them? I can't seem to find them.
Not long before Mass Effect: Andromeda launched, BioWare sent early builds of the game to mock reviewers, as nearly every AAA game developer does in the months before their game comes out. A mock reviewer will typically offer a private, early assessment of a game, a report on its strengths and weaknesses, and a predicted Metacritic range. Companies frequently make major strategic decisions based on Metacritic scores, so it's that number that gets the most attention.
This definitely does not sound like ME has a future anymore
Where did he post them? I can't seem to find them.
The Bob Dylan of video games
It says in the article the sources are protected because they aren't allowed to talk about the game.
He's not going to out his sources. They would get fired.
Jason isn't gonna give up his sources. Most of the people who spoke about the game spoke anonymously because legally speaking, they can't talk about the development process and would be in breach of contract. That's pretty standard in most industries, not just gaming.
Do you know what people will openly talk about development issues on a project they worked on with their real names attached?
People who don't want to work in the industry any more.
for everyone else, there's "sources close to the project said"
It says in the article that it was developers who talked to him under guarantee of anonymity.
Um thanks.When a journalist uses anonymous sources (likely because revealing them would get them fired), it is up to you to place your trust in these sources by extension of the journalist. The journalist's track record is key in this scenario, as a good track record makes them and their sources more credible. This also acts as a control on the journalist to not just publish everything they hear but try to corroborate and get lots of sources before publishing.
Jason has broken tons of stories like this before, especially around Destiny. Even with anonymous sources, many people here on GAF and elsewhere trust this piece. If MasterChief34 on GAF cited anonymous sources saying this, then I would dismiss it out of hand.
Apparently ME isn't the sales giant you'd think it would be given its standing in the industry and achievements of ME1 and 2. Dragon Age is the bigger game.Like... how? Why on earth wouldn't EA give the team making the new Mass Effect game every resource they needed? That seems beyond incomprehensible to me.
Some crazy quotes regarding their issues with Frostbite:
Article said:Their goal, a source said, was to make the Bob Dylan of video gamesone that would be referenced for years to come.
Why was it used then? Was this the only feasible way for the game to get made?
Thanks for the article Jason.
Of course.
Why was it used then? Was this the only feasible way for the game to get made?
BioWare built the bulk of the game in less than 18 months.
What's the idea behind using the same engine if that doesn't simplify the development?
it's "free " , so EA rather stick their developers on an inefficient non compatiable engine smhWhat's the idea behind using the same engine if that doesn't simplify the development?
This would have been so perfect T_TOne early idea was to develop a prequel to Mass Effect, set during the First Contact Wars of the series lore, when the humans of Mass Effects galaxy had interacted with aliens for the first time.
I still cannot fathom why Mac Walters was chosen to be game director after his hand in the Mass Effect 3 ending and the backlash that ensued.
There were multiple problems plaguing this game it is obvious but a better choice in game director might have meant that someone was overseeing the game who had more foresight and ability to right the ship as development went on over the years.
Then there is the very obvious and glaring fact that not many seem to mention. Bioware didn't HAVE to make a new Mass Effect game at this point in time. Shepard's story was done. No one was expecting a new Mass Effect game. If their top tier development teams were busy working on Dragon Age 4 and Dylan, Mass Effect could have waited. They could have made and released a wonderful Mass Effect team a few years down the line that did the franchise justice.
*Editing to add that yes, Bioware needs to release games on a consistent basis to keep EA and shareholders happy but the Dragon Age: Inquisition team could have begun production of Mass Effect: Andromeda as soon as DA:I was out and delayed the production of Dragon Age 4
What's the idea behind using the same engine if that doesn't simplify the development?
From the article, it sounds like most of the problems started before Walters was brought in to head the project. He probably did the best he could to pull the project together and release something, given the problems and external pressures coming the studio's way.
Very sad. Unreal 4 may have saved them some trouble and opened up more resources to where they really needed them.
Honestly, the only way to make an engine all EA games of any genre can run on is to make Frostbite 4 and have DICE and Bioware work on it together from the start. That way the pipelines and toolsets exist from the start and there's no need to jerry-rig stuff at the last second.Frosbite is EA's crown jewel of an engine and they want it in everything. That's the only reason I can think of. Otherwise, they would've just backed off and used UE4 or something and dealt with the limitations.
The problem is the engine Bioware needs to make their games work doesn't exist. It seems that even trying to modify Frostbite to fit their needs was a futile effort so I don't know where they go from here. I imagine they'd have to build a new engine from scratch, but I can't see EA going for that.
It's a shame they went with the Frostbite engine. Unreal Engine 4 would have been better.
Honestly, the only way to make an engine all EA games of any genre can run on is to make Frostbite 4 and have DICE and Bioware work on it together from the start. That way the pipelines and toolsets exist from the start and there's no need to jerry-rig stuff at the last second.
The director change is one I wish Jason had more info on, because it sounds like they might have gotten rid of the first guy because he was all big ideas and no way to execute them, while Mac Walters at least knows how to execute stuff, even if he isn't a great ideas guy.
What's the idea behind using the same engine if that doesn't simplify the development?
Do they talk about the story, writing and lore at all? I feel like a lot of stuff would've been forgiven had the writing and characters been on point.
The Mass Effect: Andromeda team was also having trouble executing the ideas theyd found so exciting just a year ago. Combat was shaping up nicely, as were the prototypes BioWare had developed for the Nomad ground vehicle, which already felt way better to drive than Mass Effect 1s crusty old Mako. But spaceflight and procedurally generated planets were causing some problems. They were creating planets and they were able to drive around it, and the mechanics of it were there, said a person who worked on the game. I think what they were struggling with was that it was never fun. They were never able to do it in a way thats compelling, where like, OK, now imagine doing this a hundred more times or a thousand more times.
By the end of 2015, Mass Effect: Andromedas leads realized that the procedural system wasnt working out. Flying through space and landing on randomly generated planets still seemed like a cool conceptand by then, many people at BioWare were looking with great interest at No Mans Skybut they couldnt make it work. So they decided to rescope.