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Control dev: "Quantum Break was made in 6 years and you can finish it in 2 afternoons, Control is the opposite."

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
https://www.3djuegos.com/noticias-v...k-se-hizo-en-6-anos-y-puedes-terminarlo-en-2/

In 3DGames we asked Mikael "Mixu" Kasurinen, director of the game, how the studio's philosophy has changed, which in Control changes the linear and cinematic experience for a more open one with a different narrative.

"In Control we wanted to offer a valuable proposal in that sense, there's a lot more gameplay in it. You've got the main campaign, the secondary missions, it's a metroidvania-style open world, there's a lot to do. There are many layers in this game that add depth, we can't talk about them all. Looking back and seeing Quantum Break, for example, that was a linear story. You can finish it in two afternoons and that's it. There's no reason to play it again. And that's a problem in today's market. It's part of the new direction we've taken to create Control.

In our tour of Remedy's offices, we saw a game that was much more focused on good ideas, on creating a broad experience, selecting very well what's important and what's not to keep the release date affordable. Mixu confirms that:

"When you look back at Quantum Break it took six years of development to do it and you can finish it in two afternoons. And now the opposite happens, we've had less time for Control, and there's a lot more to see and experience," said the creative.

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https://www.3djuegos.com/noticias-v...ra-forma-de-contar-historias-las-cinematicas/

When we arrived at Remedy's offices in Helsinki to test the video game Control, a message was very present: Put it on sale. A philosophy that carries the promise of keeping under control the excessive ambition not to make productions of four or five years. In 3DGames we asked Mikael "Mixu" Kasurinen, Director of Control, about this philosophy and how to concentrate on creating a game as ambitious as Remedy's previous works, but in less time.

"Precisely because we've taken a new approach, devoting time and energy instead of complicated and beautiful cinematics, investing that time in the world and everything you can find in it," warns Kasurinen. "And it doesn't mean it's any shallower in terms of history, it's just that it's told in a different way.

One of the things we found curious was that we didn't see any cinematics on our visit, to be a very focused study on this kind of experiences. "I haven't seen a single cinematic all day," we said to "Mixu", director of the game, "And have you seen it as a problem?" "Not at all. "Exactly. Of course there's a lot of narrative in the game, elements similar to cinematic ones.

"We want to be very careful about how we do it and when it happens, because we want the player to always have control of the controller and participate," the creative warned. "We don't want to skip a 5-minute video like "it's cinematic time" as if you were watching TV. That's not what Control is all about, even if Quantum Break was like that." "I imagine creating cinematics takes up a lot of development time as well," we told him. "Yes, they're very expensive and time-consuming. And there's always the question of how much value they're bringing to the game. Now we're trying the complete opposite.
 

SonOfSheba

Banned
That sounds terrible, I love my cutscenes damn it! So now we are stuck with storytelling through textboxes or lore dumps? Hype deflated....
 

JoduanER2

Member
Of course less cinematics = better game. They should all stop focusing on cinematics, stop trying to be a movie, thats the problem with most games nowadays.
 
Memorial plaque on a park bench:

"In loving memory of David, who never saw a dog and didn't smile"

Word order matters.
 
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Quality over quantity.

I'm ok with a shorter game so long as if it offers an experience I will remember and want to revisit for years to come.

Some of my favorite games like Silent Hill 2 and 3 are on the short side, but they offer outstanding experiences with little to no fat and I've been playing them start to finish over and over in the decade+ since their releases (almost 20 years in the case of SH2)

The fact that developers feel like length is a crucial element is missing the point, they need to be focused on maximizing the quality of the experience in however many hours your game winds up being.
 
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wipeout364

Member
I loved Quantum Break lots of fun, but I agree way too long a development for what we got. No idea how these guys stay in business they are so slow, maybe they are a super small studio that produces AAA games so can contain their costs. I been a big fan of everything they have made so looking forward to Control.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
I loved Quantum Break lots of fun, but I agree way too long a development for what we got. No idea how these guys stay in business they are so slow, maybe they are a super small studio that produces AAA games so can contain their costs. I been a big fan of everything they have made so looking forward to Control.
Yeah IIRC Remedy is very small and does not need such huge budgets.

As for the topic... I applaud them for getting more gameplay in it. QB was quite meh. It's really difficult to understand why it took them 6 years to make it. Glad Control is done that much faster. Love the writing of their games and really hope we get more from them in the coming years.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
wow, I can't even take a shit in two afternoons

But seriously, I don't have much hope for this game.
 
That quote is meant to be taken with a pinch of.. fuck it, that quote is meant to be ignored.

Game looks good but hype is dangerous. Could go either way.
 

Xenon

Member
It's amazing how fast they work when they're not on MS's teet. Oh and exclusive content for PS4 is just an extra kick to the balls.
 

TeamGhobad

Banned
so basically you gave MS the crap version and saved the good version for playstation....QB was on gamepass couldn't play it for more than 15min.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Yep I've been sayin the same thing in these threads. Its evident from the footage that the gameplay and levels are the focus for Control, not the cinematics.
 

Denton

Member
Quantum Break was incredibly ambitious and delivered one of the best, most consistent time travel stories ever written. For me it was extremely memorable and I intend to replay it someday.

Hopefully Control will deliver similarly...in 2020.
 
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ZywyPL

Banned
Well truth be told, the entire game is build on what was made for QB for all those 6 years - the whole engine, graphics, animations, sound etc., every time I watch Control gameplay I see the exact same game, only with different main character. So obviously it needed much less time to make, when they already had the foundations. That being said, I don't see Control world to me more interesting/engaging than QB, and the powers so far look nothing less than push/pull powers from any Star Wars game.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Very much looking forward to seeing Remedy be re-born after being shackled by Microsoft. Control will be everything that Quantum Break was meant to be but so much more and on a higher scale.
 

-MD-

Member
Quantum Break was incredibly ambitious and delivered one of the best, most consistent time travel stories ever written. F

I watched one of the 20+ minute live action episodes from it and it was like a D-tier netflix show.
 
How did they manage to make the game in 2 afternoons but with 6 years worth of gameplay ? Very impressive.
 
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Fbh

Member
Sounds good.
As much as they focus on it I don't think storytelling is their strength. They are good at coming up with interesting concepts but not as much when it comes to executing them. Quantum Break had an interesting setup and some good ideas but the way the story was told was just awful, with too many cutscenes on top of those terrible live action episodes..... and even with all that, a large part of the story was hidden behind endless emails and notes.
But the actual shooting and gameplay bits were great, so a game that focuses more on that an less on 10 minute cutscenes followed by 40 minutes live action episodes followed by 15 minutes of walking to every computer and reading walls of text sounds like it might actually be really fun

Same, eat sh*t Remedy.

Nothing wrong with not wanting to support the Epic Games store, but let's not forget that it's almost always the publisher and not the dev that decides where a game gets released. This being an Epic Games store exclusive is probably all down to 505 Games
 
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It's amazing how fast they work when they're not on MS's teet. Oh and exclusive content for PS4 is just an extra kick to the balls.
The scope of the project is completely different, also for Quantum Break they had to develop the engine.

Apples to oranges.

P.S. What exclusive content?
 
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demigod

Member
Nothing wrong with not wanting to support the Epic Games store, but let's not forget that it's almost always the publisher and not the dev that decides where a game gets released. This being an Epic Games store exclusive is probably all down to 505 Games

Didn't know they had a publisher outside of MS before since they did publish Alan Wake for PC.
 
I loved Quantum Break lots of fun, but I agree way too long a development for what we got. No idea how these guys stay in business they are so slow, maybe they are a super small studio that produces AAA games so can contain their costs. I been a big fan of everything they have made so looking forward to Control.

Max Payne was a pretty huge hit, wasn't it? I feel like that's how they've been able to stick around.
 
Quantum Break was incredibly ambitious and delivered one of the best, most consistent time travel stories ever written. For me it was extremely memorable and I intend to replay it someday.

Hopefully Control will deliver similarly...in 2020.

It really was their crowning jewel, lets hope Control is at the same caliber.
 

Bkdk

Member
Great decision, more gameplay and shorter dev time, so very desperately needed for the AAA game development now, 5-6 years dev time with length like quantum break is insane, by the time
The game comes out the design already felt outdated, and hopefully they can finish the story in 1-2 games, no more trilogy’s, id rather they do story dlcs like final fantasy 15 rather than split the game into sequels that take forever to make.
 

Denton

Member
I watched one of the 20+ minute live action episodes from it and it was like a D-tier netflix show.
The liveaction episodes suffered from low budget and some spotty writing, but I was talking about the game as a whole incl. the various texts that can be found ingame.
 

JCK75

Member
Due to stupid decisions by the publisher, it's going to take a year for me to start playing it.
 
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