Vigil (Darksiders devs): PS3 "a pain in the ass to work on"

[TTP]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-19-ps3-a-pain-in-the-ass-to-work-on

Marvin Donald, game director at Darksiders II developer Vigil

"It's a pain in the ass to work on," he said. "Five years later, getting used to it? That means it's a pain in the ass.

"I'm not an engineer, but I hear about it all the time. We have to do wacky stuff with the way we manage memory."

"Even as an artist, it's like, OK, my textures are too big, I'm in trouble because I checked in something that's making the 360 crash because it's a 20x48 when it really should just be a 10x24, or even smaller.

"But on the PlayStation 3, the assets go into different categories, and if one of those categories becomes too bloated it'll crash the system. It's a little bit more sensitive on the PS3 in that regard. There are some things you just can't do, or you have to do differently. Yeah, it's a pain."

"They have to do things their way," Donald said. "Somebody over there is going to think it's better. And it's really just different, which makes it a pain for everyone to port games back and forth. But, whatever. We'll see."

 

[Takao]

Welcome to 2006.

 

[ScionOfTheRisingSun]

I am having flashbacks to 2007.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Not to be a dick, but how is this news anymore?

 

[Suzzopher]

And despite this, Darksiders ran great on PS3.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Old news is old. How are they liking Wii U?

 

[Uno Venova]

Everyone one else seems to be coping fine.

 

[Carl]

Not to be a dick, but how is this news anymore?

Because it's eurogamer

Also, welcome to 2006, Vigil

 

[DonMigs85]

The split memory pool and low GPU bandwidth seems to be the main annoyance even today, but it seems a lot of devs have gotten to grips with Cell at least.

 

[Vic]

This is news?

 

[Auto_aim1]

Going with split-memory architecture was a stupid decision but oh well.

 

[Captain Pants]

First reply nails it every time.

 

[StevieP]

Everyone one else seems to be coping fine.

Not really. It's a pain in the ass to program for. But people do it because there's money to be made. Still, this thread is pretty passé.

 

[dralla]

yep. hopefully sony doesn't do this again with the PS4

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

Old news is old. How are they liking Wii U?

I'm sure when you can port something within a month without much knowledge about a system, it should be great.

 

[wrowa]

Didn't they develop the PS3 version of the first Darksiders? It's a bit surprising that they didn't get used to the PS3's problems the first time around.

The difficulties in programming for the PS3 are well-known, though, to a degree that it's actually surprising that some developers are still complaining today.

 

[GeoramA]

This takes me back.

 

[InertiaXr]

And despite this, Darksiders ran great on PS3.

The article seems to only say that the PS3 is difficult to work on, not that they were also unable to get Darksiders to work well on it. Things can be difficult and you can still 'succeed' as it were at the end.

 

[Nizz]

And despite this, Darksiders ran great on PS3.

Yeah, they seem to have a good grasp of the PS3's architecture. Hopefully, Sony has learned and their next console will be way more dev friendly.

 

[iamshadowlark]

IDK but isn't it pretty embarrassing to still be complaining about the ps3, given the results other devs have been putting out?

 

[DaSorcerer7]

Old news is old. How are they liking Wii U?

They love it

 

[TTP]

And despite this, Darksiders ran great on PS3.

Yeah. Of all the multiplatform devs I find it odd they are the ones complaining.

 

[scitek]

Old news is old. How are they liking Wii U?

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

Not to be a dick, but how is this news anymore?

They're a newer developer, so they found this out.

 

[BurntPork]

Old news is old. How are they liking Wii U?

They seem to be loving it.

PS3 is still hard to develop for? Wow. I figured that experience would have made it a cakewalk by now.

 

[Suzzopher]

The article seems to only say that the PS3 is difficult to work on, not that they were also unable to get Darksiders to work well on it. Things can be difficult and you can still 'succeed' as it were at the end.

I wasn't bagging on them, I was saying they seemed to get to grips with it despite the difficulties, believe me, I know how hard the system is to work on. It was a compliment to Vigil.

 

[wrowa]

IDK but isn't it pretty embarrassing to still be complaining about the ps3, given the results other devs have been putting out?

No. The PS3 is a plattform that is difficult to program for. That's a well known fact. The difficulties don't prevent developers from making great games for the plattform, as you can get the hang of it with some experience (especially if you use the right middleware), but the PS3 is nevertheless not a very developer-friendly console. "Great results" and "ease of development" are two different things that don't rule each other out.

 

[Marleyman]

IDK but isn't it pretty embarrassing to still be complaining about the ps3, given the results other devs have been putting out?

What is embarrassing with pointing out how it sucks developing for the PS3? They aren't saying they can't; just that it sucks.

 

[Mindman]

Gotta love Sony's stupid hardware decisions. Complicated does not equal better.

 

[VariantX]

IDK but isn't it pretty embarrassing to still be complaining about the ps3, given the results other devs have been putting out?

Id only think it would be embarrasing if what they put out there looked and played terribly.

 

[Replicant]

 

[bonesmccoy]

And it has no games

 

[Speevy]

Shouldn't you be embarrassed to say this in 2011?

 

[Kade]

And it has no games

The pinnacle of humour: Overused and outdated memes.

 

[ram]

And despite this, Darksiders looked like a PS2 game on the PS3.

...oh wait...

 

[Kaako]

Time paradox!

 

[Rolf NB]

Yeah. Of all the multiplatform devs I find it odd they are the ones complaining.

=>

"I'm not an engineer

 

[BeautifulMemory]

And it has no games

Just wait until mgs4 comes out, year of the ps3

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

ALERT: Revolution changed to Wii.

Dumb name sure to be nail in Nintendo's coffin.

 

[sajj316]

Gotta love Sony's stupid hardware decisions. Complicated does not equal better.

redeemed with Vita .. let's move on folks. Same thing goes for Mr. Game Director. The last thing you should be saying in 2011 is how the game is a pain in the ass to create on the PS3. However, I'm kind of expecting this since they are creating this game for all three current gen consoles .. PS3, 360, and Wii U (I went there ... ha).

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

The pinnacle of humour: Overused and outdated memes.

You know, things break.

 

[Nirolak]

Since the successor consoles are in development, this isn't actually a horrible time to start complaining again about things that annoy you about any of the platforms in general.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

The pinnacle of humour: Overused and outdated memes.

The pinnacle of intelligence: Failing to recognize sarcasm and irony.

 

[FLEABttn]

...oh wait...

I must have had some coke bottle glasses on in the PS2 era then.

 

[Takao]

Since the successor consoles are in development, this isn't actually a horrible time to start complaining again about things that annoy you about any of the platforms in general.

Given the things people like Yoshida have said, I think Sony themselves know already.

 

[Jin34]

Old news is old. How are they liking Wii U?

3 guys ported the game over in 5 weeks, 1 guy got the stream to the controller function done in 10 minutes.

 

[Curufinwe]

Shame the PS3 didn't come with 512MB RAM plus the RSX.

 

[Morkins]

Didn't they develop the PS3 version of the first Darksiders? It's a bit surprising that they didn't get used to the PS3's problems the first time around.

The difficulties in programming for the PS3 are well-known, though, to a degree that it's actually surprising that some developers are still complaining today.

They did.... Doesn't make anything else they said any less true. Personally, I am fine that developers are still bitching about it because Sony was arrogant and stupid in how they approached the PS3 initially. Vigil knows how to work with it, but that doesn't mean that they should be happy with how inconvenient the entire system is to work on. Other developers just aren't voicing that opinion anymore because it isn't like it is going to change anything for them. They have to deal with it, so they just do. Vigil has to deal with it, but at least they have the balls to come out and say "Yeah, this still sucks just as much as it did when the system launched."

 

[Eliciel]

this is...wow.. this is gaf ^^

 

[Zombie James]

"We have to do wacky stuff with the way we manage memory."
"There are some things you just can't do, or you have to do differently."
"And it's really just different, which makes it a pain for everyone to port games back and forth."

In other words, welcome to multiplatform development. You can't expect two different systems to behave the same way.

 

[Speevy]

Here it is.

2006:

"PS3 is a pain in the ass to work on."

2009:

2011, all systems are locked in unchangeable market positions, new consoles expected to be announced within the next 2 years:

"PS3 is a pain in the ass to work on."