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[LegendOfKage]

Not satisfied with just being a free to play multiplayer COD like, and rogue like, it seems that Shatterline is now also a 4 vs 1 multiplayer game. For those not already aware, Shatterline is in early access on PC and will be released for console later this year.




This got me wondering, do you think some small studios have a large advantage over major studios when it comes to adding content? Take Halo and Apex for example, and compare them to Shatterline and Splitgate. Aside from the brilliant and feature rich forge mode, Halo has been very slow to add new content. Apex manages a new map every few seasons, but has been painfully slow to add meaningful new content, such as new game modes. If I'm not mistaken, the recent trailer for their recycled returning Christmas mode was their most downvoted trailer ever.

Now compare that to the amount of new content, features, and game modes being quickly added to Shatterline while it's in development, or Splitgate when it was still in development, and there's a noticeable difference. It makes me wonder how much the bureaucracy of large publishers work against developers when it comes to making improvements and additions.

What are your thoughts? What are some other examples that you can think of when it comes to small studios who seem to make a lot of content for their games, or large studios with big publishers who take forever to add new content?

 

[DarkMage619]

Has a small indie studio released anything like Forge on Halo Infinite? There are some things a larger studio can do than smaller ones can't.

 

[Razvedka]

Adding ever more resources (read: people) for a particular software project doesn't necessarily mean 'more is getting done' in terms of features or bugfixes. On the contrary, more people often means more churn, more meetings, and more bugs. Similarly, there are diminishing returns for having your staff work more hours (read: crunch). Brook's Law talks about some of this, but typically within the context of a project which is 'already late'.

It has been my observation that massive companies and projects often struggle against younger and smaller companies which are more nimble. It probably helps that often these smaller companies are lead by actual technical experts- not 'business people'/MBAs- who have a vested interest in their product and the company itself as owners.

My post is dealing in generalizations though for the sake of brevity. There are various confounding factors could very likely skew things one direction or another. For example, I think that 343 likely had exceedingly poor leadership. In these situations it becomes hard for even the most dedicated and talented team, regardless of size, to 'save' the project. At best, you get 'Hero Syndrome' where a handful of people shoulder the technical weight to try and save the day, and of course this just leads to credit being taken by the 'business leaders', burn out, and then quitting. etc.

 

[LegendOfKage]

Has a small indie studio released anything like Forge on Halo Infinite? There are some things a larger studio can do than smaller ones can't.

Aside from the brilliant and feature rich forge mode, Halo has been very slow to add new content.

I kind of just said that. Aside from forge, I'm talking about the rest of content, and all the months of missed roadmap goals. Do you feel the large size of a company can sometimes get in the way of development?

To answer your question, the developer of Splitgate did add a level creation tool, but discontinued development to focus on a sequel. They did this once they realized it would be hard to retool their game into what they could now do with a massive amount of funding.

 

[justiceiro]

While things get moving faster for sure, they also don't have to worry too much about balance and gun feel. The standat is lower, no matter how you look at it.

 

[LegendOfKage]

While things get moving faster for sure, they also don't have to worry too much about balance and gun feel. The standard is lower, no matter how you look at it.

I don't see why smaller devs have to worry any more or less about balance or gun feel. If anything, COD recently proved that you can make large fundamental balance changes that upset a good deal of your customers and still coast your way to massive success on the "Call of Duty" name and by appealing to casual players.

If anything, I'd say that independent developers might have to worry even more about balance or gun feel, because they're the ones who don't have a series history to rely on.