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[Draugoth]

Atomic Heart Trailers Developed As Vertical Slice, Project Suffered Crunches/Mismanagement

Atomic heart trailers were reportedly developed as a vertical slice, and the project has been the victim of crunches and mismanagement.

twistedvoxel.com

Atomic heart trailers were reportedly developed as a vertical slice, and the project has been the victim of crunches and mismanagement ,according to a report from DTF.ru,

The sources from the website states that development of Atomic Heart has suffered through crunch, failed promises to the development team regarding bonuses, mismanagement, lack of milestones, reboots, misleading via vertical slice, feature creep, and several other problems:

Development builds of the game would be presented to investors every annual quarter, which resulted in the demand for significant changes to the project. Gameplay trailers of Atomic Heart were reportedly developed as vertical slices instead of being captured from a working build of the game, giving the impression of a polished game to audiences. It was decided at some point that the game would feature an open world with various paths and dungeons.

Robert Bagratuni, a CEO/investor associated with the project is of the view that the game sells only a picture and a story, and, therefore, the gameplay can be neglected. According to him, the development team at Mundfish has a lot of work to do, and he believes they can and should give up “primitive joys like weekends and vacations” for the betterment of the project. He promised that developers will be reimbursed with bonuses beyond their expectation. As mentioned earlier, the management failed to deliver on these promises, as the bonuses never came through.

There were numerous milestones and dates, but they were all overly optimistic, especially with regards to the console versions. All versions required extensive testing, and, on a couple of occasions, the management’s plans left about 2-3 months of time for testing the console versions. Crunches have increased in frequency over the past year, mostly due to the insistence of investors. The majority of the development team was at work over the New Year’s break. There were times when developers were given no choice but to crunch. Additionally, the management also appeared to have indulged in a periodic wave of layoffs and new hires upon reviewing the development team’s work.

Over on enthusiast gaming forum Reset Era, the author of the report mentioned that a total of over 10 members of the game’s development team have corroborated his story, further suggesting that these are more than just rumors at this point.

 

[feynoob]

I guess this is the next cyberpunk2077 game for 2023.
Was that the reason why they delayed the game?

 

[lh032]

"they were all overly optimistic, especially with regards to the console versions. All versions required extensive testing, and, on a couple of occasions, the management’s plans left about 2-3 months of time for testing the console versions."

why does this seems familiar?

 

[ungalo]

It's a midbudget game by an unknown studio, so when i saw how beautiful it was i figured they were probably crunching hard.

Perhaps it started as a semi scam. But now that Focus is involved and the game about to come out i doubt the trailers are bullshit. Because i remember reading about these allegations but it was a pretty long time ago now.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

 

[feynoob]

"they were all overly optimistic, especially with regards to the console versions. All versions required extensive testing, and, on a couple of occasions, the management’s plans left about 2-3 months of time for testing the console versions."

why does this seems familiar?

 

[Bernkastel]

Atomic Heart, you don't have a Trigger Anime to save your ass and have everyone give your game a second chance like Cyberpunk 2077.

Spoiler

 

[jhjfss]

So...Business as usual in the gaming industry?

 

[Kuranghi]

The sources from the website states that development of Atomic Heart has suffered through crunch, failed promises to the development team regarding bonuses, mismanagement, lack of milestones, reboots, misleading via vertical slice, feature creep, and several other problems:​

No way! I don't believe it!

 

[rofif]

Of course. It's russian studio

 

[Balducci30]

So is all the gameplay they’ve shown fake or what?

 

[Fbh]

Hopefully it turns out ok, the author of the article is an Era poster so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.
With that said, it's always good to remain skeptical of promising new games from new studios without a proven track record

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Don't care even a tiny bit, still will play.

I had to put in about 10 hours of overtime every week for the last year all while hoping I will get a raise soon, anyone care? No? Anybody?

 

[FBeeEye]

So in other words, normal employee complaints. Sounds like every project I'm working on right now.

 

[Flabagast]

So is all the gameplay they’ve shown fake or what?

Probably yeah, at least to some degree

 

[SmokedMeat]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Developer collects a check for their game to appear on subscription service/timed exclusive storefront - and the money doesn’t go into making a better product.

A shame as I’ve had this on my wishlist for a long time.

 

[Spyxos]

Ah come on. I was almost looking forward to this game the most. Ken Levine save us.

 

[bender]

Why do I always think Atomic Heart is the sequel to Hyper Light Drifter?

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

I've posted about this title multiple times but I'll say it again: looks incredible, I'm all about the Russian Bioshock. However, given the unproven track record of the devs it almost looks too good to be true.

*cough cough*

Anyway, this is one of those rare games where reviews will be of some use to me, hope it turns out great but...

 

[lh032]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Developer collects a check for their game to appear on subscription service/timed exclusive storefront - and the money doesn’t go into making a better product.

A shame as I’ve had this on my wishlist for a long time.

heh...that actually makes alot of sense here.

If I were the devs i would do the same too.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

So is all the gameplay they’ve shown fake or what?

I don't think so,at least not on a level that is actually deceiving. They better know that the greater public would eviscerate them, like what happened to CDPR, and they were Proven.
They've been crunching and grinding the creation of this game out, but. the caveat seems to be QA. We'll have to wait and see, though. It appears this could be similar to the CDPR controversy.

 

[BabyYoda]

I'm not surprised ResetEra is involved, I'll take it with a pinch of salt then.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It didnt take too long for someone to blame gamepass.

It didn’t take long for someone to jump to conclusions.

 

[SmokedMeat]

heh...that actually makes alot of sense here.

If I were the devs i would do the same too.

It makes no sense, and would only hurt your future in the industry.

 

[Needlecrash]

Fucking hell. :\

 

[vaibhavpisal]

So is all the gameplay they’ve shown fake or what?

Whole game won't be as good as trailers shown.

Which makes sense cause trailers have been insane.

First game from an unknown studio cannot be that good.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Developer collects a check for their game to appear on subscription service/timed exclusive storefront - and the money doesn’t go into making a better product.

Spoiler

I still hope it turns out well...lol

 

[ReBurn]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Developer collects a check for their game to appear on subscription service/timed exclusive storefront - and the money doesn’t go into making a better product.

A shame as I’ve had this on my wishlist for a long time.

Sounds like a terrible developer to me.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Cant wait to see the downgrade from the trailers lol

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

Atomic heart trailers were reportedly developed as a vertical slice

Isn't this usually the case?

 

[reinking]

It didnt take too long for someone to blame gamepass.

Except they are not. They are blaming a dev for taking the money and not investing it in the game. They even made it a point to not mention a service by name.

 

[feynoob]

Except they are not. They are blaming a dev for taking the money and not investing it in the game. They even made it a point to not mention a service by name.

I owe you apology SmokedMeat

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Russians are corrupt it's what they do. Everyone is out for themselves. It is called "low trust society".

 

[wipeout364]

Was anyone really hyped for this game? Just wondering because all I knew about it was from the trailer they showed at one of the Microsoft events which didn’t really grab me and say this is amazing you must purchase.

Now Stalker 2 I am very excited for but that franchise has history.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I owe you apology SmokedMeat

No biggie!

I’m hoping it turns out well.

 

[Scotty W]

I would love for one of these journalists to go to a farm and try making the daily quota for apple picking.

 

[Kiya's Guard]

 

[The Cockatrice]

Atomic heart trailers were reportedly developed as a vertical slice, and the project has been the victim of crunches and mismanagement

Fucking knew it and called it every single time. That shit looked fake as shit or something you'd prolly play and finish in 2 hours or something. Scorn was the same but they at least took 6+ years to release a 5h piece of shit dick art show. Also the chinese game Black Myth or whatever the fuck is also fake as shit and you ppl will 100% never hear from it.