Tieno
Member
Skip forward to E3 2006:
It is a week before the show, and we already know the Too Human E3 demo is not what it should be going into E3. We are disappointed and tired. So many technical problems, so many sleepless nights trying to fix so many of these problems, but they never stop coming. I remember speaking to Ray from Bioware the night before the show. He asked me my thoughts on tech and I respond, We are going to take some damage.
Why did we go to the show given this scenario? There are many answers, but Ill respond simply with we did, and we cant take it back. I guess we went in with the hope that people could overlook some of the technical issues and see the potential for Too Human. It is, after all, only a demo. We certainly thought that EGM would look on us favorably after seeing the game in a better state previously when they gave us a cover. Ultimately, we were incorrect.
When you present at E3, you often schedule time for the press and time to look around at the other games. It is exhausting for everyone. I was originally scheduled to do 1.5 days of interviews out of the full 3 days, which is a lot of interviews and demos. However, once we saw the new trailer for the first time the day before E3 and the boards starting lighting up with thoughts on Too Human, James OReilly (Director of Technology), Ken Alguire (Assistant Lead Designer) and myself decided that we would do interviews for all 3 days. James and Ken played, while I talked.
Why? To get every bit of information and feedback we could out of the demo. I would ask what people thought of Too Human after seeing a demo, knowing the response would not likely be favorable. Many people were polite (thank you), some lied and some were blunt. Some saw the potential, which made the ice bucket more tolerable. Hundreds of times we heard criticisms like the camera is too far out, the frame rate is bad, etc It was cold and it hurt a lot. Only this time, the cold didnt stop for 3 days. We will never forget what it was like.
We knew well before E3 that we would have to go dark and would not show the game for a long time. We knew it would be painful, but in the end worth it. We felt the pain would be worth the gain. We will weather our Ice Bucket and do whatever it takes to make Too Human great.
Since E3 we have not only fixed all of the problems we had going into the show, but we have made sweeping improvements across the board multithreading, rendering, significantly better textures, seamless loading all aimed at putting the Xbox 360 into overdrive. We have conducted focus tests on the game play, control, art and cameras, all aimed at making the game better. Soon we will start to reveal the story. We went into a very cold place in order to insure that Too Humans next showing would receive a burning hot reception. Soon you will see this for yourself and our ice bucket experience will be over.
After The Ice Bucket: A direct dump from the Xbox 360 frame buffer off a new build of Too Human. Those with keen eye will notice soft shadows, 4x AA, atmospheric scattering, cloth.... Frame rate, camera and seamless loading are no longer problems.
It is a week before the show, and we already know the Too Human E3 demo is not what it should be going into E3. We are disappointed and tired. So many technical problems, so many sleepless nights trying to fix so many of these problems, but they never stop coming. I remember speaking to Ray from Bioware the night before the show. He asked me my thoughts on tech and I respond, We are going to take some damage.
Why did we go to the show given this scenario? There are many answers, but Ill respond simply with we did, and we cant take it back. I guess we went in with the hope that people could overlook some of the technical issues and see the potential for Too Human. It is, after all, only a demo. We certainly thought that EGM would look on us favorably after seeing the game in a better state previously when they gave us a cover. Ultimately, we were incorrect.
When you present at E3, you often schedule time for the press and time to look around at the other games. It is exhausting for everyone. I was originally scheduled to do 1.5 days of interviews out of the full 3 days, which is a lot of interviews and demos. However, once we saw the new trailer for the first time the day before E3 and the boards starting lighting up with thoughts on Too Human, James OReilly (Director of Technology), Ken Alguire (Assistant Lead Designer) and myself decided that we would do interviews for all 3 days. James and Ken played, while I talked.
Why? To get every bit of information and feedback we could out of the demo. I would ask what people thought of Too Human after seeing a demo, knowing the response would not likely be favorable. Many people were polite (thank you), some lied and some were blunt. Some saw the potential, which made the ice bucket more tolerable. Hundreds of times we heard criticisms like the camera is too far out, the frame rate is bad, etc It was cold and it hurt a lot. Only this time, the cold didnt stop for 3 days. We will never forget what it was like.
We knew well before E3 that we would have to go dark and would not show the game for a long time. We knew it would be painful, but in the end worth it. We felt the pain would be worth the gain. We will weather our Ice Bucket and do whatever it takes to make Too Human great.
Since E3 we have not only fixed all of the problems we had going into the show, but we have made sweeping improvements across the board multithreading, rendering, significantly better textures, seamless loading all aimed at putting the Xbox 360 into overdrive. We have conducted focus tests on the game play, control, art and cameras, all aimed at making the game better. Soon we will start to reveal the story. We went into a very cold place in order to insure that Too Humans next showing would receive a burning hot reception. Soon you will see this for yourself and our ice bucket experience will be over.
After The Ice Bucket: A direct dump from the Xbox 360 frame buffer off a new build of Too Human. Those with keen eye will notice soft shadows, 4x AA, atmospheric scattering, cloth.... Frame rate, camera and seamless loading are no longer problems.
He looks more generic than before 
