Gamer @ Heart
Member
Is monster games still 15 people?
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Monster Games helping with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Thread starter Hero of Legend
- Start date
Fantastical
Death Prophet
This could have been a masterpiece.TheSpaceBetween
Member
Poor Donkey Kong. His ass has been taking quite the beating lately.
Edit: It was confirmed in this GI interview that Yamamoto is working on the music as well. If someone wants they could make a thread about him working on fucking donkey kong too.
Hero of Legend
Member
LOL I did consider it! Mostly finding a way to put in FUCKING CRANKY KONG! XD
Aaron Strife
Banned
Buy Monster and Next Level Nintendo
We don't know if he's actually composing or just filling the same role he had last time around and giving input.
Yeah buying Monster and Next Level Games seems like it would be a good way for Nintendo to expand their North American studios.
I want to believe, but I don't believe.
Aaron Strife
Banned
Not to be like "OMG SEQUELS PLZ" but Punch Out and Excite Wave seem like a quick and easy way to diversify their Wii U lineup.
Gamer @ Heart
Member
They already have a deep partnership. Why buy when they have them on lockdown it seems? Buying them means taking on the risk that they can easily avoid. If the leadership or talent walks away, nintendo can too.
Aaron Strife
Banned
Purely speaking out of my own ass, ExciteTruck probably did well since it was a Wii launch game and seemed to be hard to find for a while, whereas Excitebots came out of nowhere and price collapsed pretty quickly so I'm guessing it didn't do too hot. But Nintendo never gave the impression that they had much faith in it anyway.
Shikamaru Ninja
任天å ã® å¿è
People are are just obsessed with this monopolist-conglomerate ideal of buying studios so they become "legit developers". Monster Games has been an exclusively funded Nintendo developer for nine years. 9 YEARS!!!
What's buying the 18 person company going to change from that 9 year dynamic? Make the lives of people who makes lists on GAF a little easier?
It's pretty funny how a sidescrolling platformer has become such a big project that it needed three years of development time and two studios (Retro Studios and Monster Games) to complete it. The developers of Trine 2, with their 20 employees, have to be laughing at all of this.
Freezie KO
Banned
Nintendo might be willing to invest and expand the studio if they actually owned them. Then Monster could become capable of handling more than a tiny Pilotwings game and a few levels for Donkey Kong.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
Couldn't they make the company bigger?
Shikamaru Ninja
任天å ã® å¿è
1. Not every studio wants to become a 50-200 man company where people are in and out the revolving door just looking to bounce from one job to a higher paying job. Some companies like staying small, with the same people working there for years.
2. Nintendo's consevatism and stringent management hasn't ever been idealistic for R&D expansion. Nintendo has been slow in expanding their prized Japanese R&D, and completely stagnant on their western ones. Look at freaking NST! Nintendo buying a company is not the big green light for expansion at all.
Gamer @ Heart
Member
Exactly, They got burned a with the retro exodus. That is what they try to avoid by staying second party.
As for monster, people need to get it out of their heads that a tiny studio in the middle of minosota will become a new retro. Retro can get the people it does because its in the middle of austin, where there is a large talent pool and industry to pick from and a great city to intice people too.
Freezie KO
Banned
Well, if Monster isn't interested in the acquisition, then I agree it's a bad idea. But if they are, Nintendo needs expansion, and buying a Western dev is a good idea.
Monster is a good candidate for Nintendo precisely because Nintendo has worked with them for so long. And Nintendo is a good candidate for Monster because they have the deep pockets to grow the studio if Monster so desired.
Again, I agree with you about how Nintendo has been in the past. They have been reticent to expand. But I'm not saying Nintendo will buy up studios and grow them. I'm saying they should. And Monster seems to be a good candidate because, much like Monolithsoft, they have a previous long-standing relationship.
Sure, it'd be silly to just buy up a studio who develops exclusively for Nintendo and then do nothing differently with them, but that's not the full plan of what many are suggesting.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I dont know you, but I feel like we would be good friends. Ha.
Benzychenz
Member
Excitebots didn't even release outside of NA.
Edit: Wikipedia tells me it released in Japan two and a half years later?
Fuck you Shibata
Bill Rizer
Member
Uhmmm, how were the DKC3D new levels made by Monster? Retro quality seems difficult to achieve imho from Monster Games.
Globalisateur
Banned
They were great. Clearly as good and fun as the Retro levels in my opinion.
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
My thought as well. I'm prepared for disappointment though, but it seems a bit strange for a layman that a studio like retro would spend so many year making two (amazing) 2D platformers only, and nothing else.
Unless they have been and it got canned of course.
All those games used simple shells, Tropical Freeze seems to use something similar to Nvidia APEX Fur.
TheSpaceBetween
Member
It's funny how people assume they know everything about game development, and the development of specific projects. We don't know how long TF has been in development, how much manpower they are using, the difficulties of this specific project, etc. Oh and of course there is the fact that aside from being in 2D Trine 2 and TF are completely different games.
I hope so, 3 years to make DKCTF with 2 studios would be crazy
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
What makes it a given, besides the fact people really want it to be true?
Given that Yamamoto is completely uninvolved with the game I'd have to assume something else is being worked on. Unless there's a Metroid being made somewhere else.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
As someone not very impressed with this game, the fur is definitely a step above those games.
TheSpaceBetween
Member
Yamamoto is involved. From the interview, concerning the delay:
"And, lets not forget it gave David Wise and Kenji Yamamoto a little extra time to make adjustments to the amazing soundtrack!"
Like the hat?
Banned
I need an excite truck u
Are u excited? (Tm)
Are u excited? (Tm)
Neuromancer
Member
That's a shame. I wish they were working on a full blown Pilotwings game for the WiiU. They did a good job with Resort, aside from having only one island to explore.
Hero of Legend
Member
Indeed.
Version 3.0
Member
They both better be working on two games. The alternative - that they're both just working on fucking Donkey Kong - is too horrible to contemplate.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
And people want them to crank out a new system on par or more powerful than a PS4 in a few years ? I don't think Nintendo can handle it.
Shikamaru Ninja
任天å ã® å¿è
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/donkey-kong-country-tropical-freeze-full-e3-interview
Nintendo SPD Group No. 3 Producer - Kensuke Tanabe
Nintendo SPD Group No. 3 Director - Risa Tabata
Nintendo SPD Group No. 3 Musician - Kenji Yamamoto
Contract Musician - David Wise
Retro Studios and Monster Games then handling development.
Typical cluster of recent developers we've seen meshing to make Nintendo software.
Nintendo SPD Group No. 3 Producer - Kensuke Tanabe
Nintendo SPD Group No. 3 Director - Risa Tabata
Nintendo SPD Group No. 3 Musician - Kenji Yamamoto
Contract Musician - David Wise
Retro Studios and Monster Games then handling development.
Typical cluster of recent developers we've seen meshing to make Nintendo software.
A director from NCL and not from Retro?
TheSpaceBetween
Member
The GI interview says the actual creation of the game is all at Retro, so that does sound odd. Perhaps it is Vince Jolly, who was at the VGA's with Reggie, formerly Retro's animator, then art director, and now creative director at who is heading the project. Maybe Tom Ivey, who was one of three leads on DKCR but left for Armature earlier this year was originally heading the project, but that is just a guess... But of course the above lead says Tabata is director. That would be odd because for one, she is not at Retro, and two, in the DKCR Iwata Asks, she admitted to never having experience with the DKC series before DKCR.
But I mean, Sakamoto was credited as director, producer, and story for Other M when development was done at Team Ninja, but in that case Sakamoto was actually working at their headquarters during that time.