Redfall — Arkane's next masterpiece

[maidenhaver]

We will soon see the end of gaming, gentlemen. Just look at the prevalence of mysterymeat afro-wearing wahmen in advertising goddamned shooters. Not just afro-wahmen but calartsified versions of people, then your duty calls season passes like gaming is a goddamned tv... )no not tv, six f;ags they have season passes) its dead. Its a dead decadence, jim. Todd Howard is the only devakiin alive who can save gaming at this point.

[KnightoftheWind]

This just means we need to consume Soyfield even more!. Get ya'll pre-orders in, sweeties!.

[The_Mask]

I decided to give Prey (2017) a try, and I am having a lot of fun. I'm starting to be pretty sure that there some sort of inner war happening at Arkane. Dishonored 1 and Prey are pretty good. The rest is something that would look better filling up a landfill.

Very weird studio with a very awkward approach to their reputation.

I like the fact that they keep me on their toes, but I would like it even more if they actually decided to get more involved in their own existence.

[GhostCow]

Prey is a masterpiece by modern day standards. I enjoyed it a lot and the only poz was that one series of audio logs about the ***** as far as I remember.

[WhiteShark]

I decided to give Prey (2017) a try, and I am having a lot of fun. I'm starting to be pretty sure that there some sort of inner war happening at Arkane. Dishonored 1 and Prey are pretty good. The rest is something that would look better filling up a landfill.

Very weird studio with a very awkward approach to their reputation.

I like the fact that they keep me on their toes, but I would like it even more if they actually decided to get more involved in their own existence.

Don't get your hopes up. The war seems to be over already. I'll just copypaste from the other place since people already did the research:

► State of Arkane

I also discovered Raphael Colantonio sort of initiated a mini exodus at Arkane when he left, Christophe Carrier (audio director and level design director of Dishonored, level design director at Dishonored 2), Joachim Daviaud (Lead level designer at Dishonored 2) and Monte Martinez (designer on Deus Ex 1, Dishonored and Prey) left with him, Chirstophe Carrier and Joachim Daviaud still worked bit on Deathloop but left soon afterwards.

So, out of curiosity, I dig in on where the level designers of Dishonored 1, 2 and Prey are, so here is the list:

Dishonored 1:

Chirstopher Carrier: Lead level designer of Dishonored 1 and 2, left Arkane after DeathLoop and is now working with Colantonio in WolfEye studios.
Stephane Aili: Still works on Arkane Lyon, however he is listed as tech level designer, so it means he is more of a programmer.
Ricardo Bare: He still works on Arkane and this guy has a really long resumee, he pretty much worked on every Arkane and Ion Storm title since Deus Ex 1, he, Steve Powers and Monte Martinez (before he left) were the only remaining designers that worked on Deus Ex, not counting Harvey as Harvey responsabilities are more like managing Arkane and projects than gettting involved on the nitty and gritty of level design.
Daniel Becker: Left Arkane.
Joachim Daviaud: Lead level designer, left Arkane after Deathloop and now works with Colantonio.
Raphael Gilot: Left Arkane.
Anthony Huso: Still in Arkane.
Matthew Holiday: left Arkane.
Monte Martinez: This guy is old school as much as Ricardo Bare and as Ricardo Bare almost worked on all Arkane and Ion Storm titles, he also left and now works with Colantonio.
Steve Powers: This guy is old, he worked on Ultima VII and VIII and Wing Commander, he still works at Arkane but he transitioned from a level designer to be Lead Narrative designer.
Yoann Soquet: Left Arkane.
Dana Nightingale: Still works at Arkane and is listed as Campaign Director but she is in Arkane Lyon.
Rich Wilson: He worked at Bioshock 2 (Aka, the best Bioshock), left Arkane.

As you see, some bad **** happened on Arkane, most abandoned ship.

OBS: I dig a little on some technical stuff but it is too many people, the most interesting thing is that only two guys from Dishonored Ai team remains at Arkane.

Dishonored 2:
Joachin Daviaud: Explained above, left Arkane.
Chirstophe Carrier: explained above, left Arkane.
Daniel Becker: Left Arkane.
Yoann Saquet: Left Arkane.
Raphael Guilot: Left Arkane
Sebastian Chaudet: Left Arkane.
Pierre Gaudillere: Left Arkane, worked on Solasta as a programmer.
Steve Lee: Left Arkane.
Maxime Maroukian: Left Arkane.
Johan Lalanne: Still works on Arkane Lyon
Thomas Boucher: Only worked on Dishonored 2 and Deathloop for Arkane, still work for Arkane but in Arkane Lyon not Austin.
Dana Nightingale: Still works at Arkane but in Arkane Lyon.

Prey:
Lead designer: Ricardo Bare, still works at Arkane.
Lead level designer: Rich Wilson, left Arkane.
Monte Martinez: Left with Colantonio.
Anthony Huso: Still in Arkane
Shawn Elliot: Left Arkane
Albert Meranda: Left Arkane, now is working on the new Bioshock game at Clould Chamber
Steve Powers: Still in Arkane, however I think his position is more of a writer than a proper full level designer
Nathaniel Blaisdell: Still works at Arkane.
Jeremy Catlin: Still work in Arkane.

Curious note: Who is credited for the writing in Prey is Ricardo Bare and our boy, Chris Avellone.

The impression I have is with exception of Ricardo Bare, Anthony Huso and maybe Steve Powers, Colantonio took all the key level designers and the rest or left or were fired, they also mostly left or were fired.

So, out of morbid curiosity, who actually worked on Redfall? I will only mention people in key positions as it is too many people:

Redfall:

Ai team:

Walt Badgett: Ai lead, he is credited with a special thanks for Prey but seems he was hired for reals after Prey. What is curious is that on his Linkdin, it is stated that he started working on Redfall doing NPC Ai in 2021... could had been that the development started for reals only in 2021 or there was someone before him doing that?
Lead Ai Engineer: Trevin Liberty:He was an Ai engineer on Prey and was promoted as Lead Ai Engineer, hard to say if the disfunctional Ai is his fault or from Microsoft that didnt delay the game
Jeff Laffitte: He worked on Prey and Dishonored, what is strange is that he is listed as Additional Lead Ai engineer, that usually means he left Akane but his Linkdin still shows as he being part of Arkane.

Dan Scholten: new hire.
Zachary Tutlewski: new hire.
Eli Omernick: new hire.
Garrett O'Malley: new hire.
Heem Patel: New hire, already left Arkane.
Carlos Gutierrez: new hire, already left Arkane
Jeff Uriarte: worked for some time in Arkane, already left Arkane.

Well guise, the picture isnt good here, Arkane Austin basically took some Ai developers from Prey, promoted them as leads and hired a bunch of new people. Also, a bunch of those names arent working for Arkane for that long... could my theory that development only started for reals in 2021 be correct? This game is on Unreal 4, so, people cant claim alot of time was wasted developing an engine here before the Ai guys could start working.

Level designers:
Jeremy Catlin: Lead campaign designer, worked on Prey as level designer.
Kelly Mangerino Ferry: Lead Campaign designer and new hire, also hired in 2021.
Steve Powers: Already explained, seems this dude and Ricardo Bare are determined to go down with the ship.
George Royer: new hire, only has special thanks for Prey.
Paris Stacy: new hire, also hired in 2021.
Cory O'Brien: new hire.
Rachel Adams: new hire and lead open world designer.
Jason Payne: new hire, interesting, he was also hired in 2021.
Morgan Goin: new hire.

Additional level design:

Rich Wilson: Left Arkane in setember 2021 after 10 years in Arkane, seems he worked some time on Redfall but not for long as he is mentioned on Additional design what makes my theory that production started at mid 2021 at earliest more interesting.
Monte Martinez: Probably worked on some concept stage of the game but he left Arkane in 2018 after 8 years in Arkane.
Albert Meranda: Left Arkane in 2019, probably worked on some early pre production.

Arkane was also helped by Roundhouse studios but I wont bother name all those people.

Conclusion:

Bethesda was ready to close down Arkane after Deathloop, that was clear, most designers seen the writing on the wall, left with Colantonio or just seek out other opportunities. Bethesda was ready to can Redfall when Microsoft appeared to save the day and Bethesda only gave the full green light by early to mid 2021 for the game to shift to full production because of US laws. Then it came 2023 and Microsoft realized hollowed out Arkane Austin with only Steve Powers, Ricardo Bare and a few others as experienced designers that never did an open world game and a bunch of new hires that arent that experienced would take probably to 2024 and maybe longer and they thought it wasnt worthy to waste all that time for some risky game and released it to die.

The woke ****, seems to be streaming from Harvey and Steve Powers, both have He/Him on their social media profiles, I imagine the woke brain rot turned them in zombies, Ricardo Bare doesnt, but the new hires arent any better, Kelly Mangerino Ferry , lead campaign designer has she/her. I noticed that quite a few the people who left dont have pronouns and the ones that entered, especially the women, have pronouns.

Re: Redfalls team, in particular the world/level design team is interesting. It consists almost exclusively of "fresh blood", mostly brought in from other open world developers/projects. Going to their LinkedIn profile reveals that a lot of them were hired as late as early 2022... I get that they wanted experience where possible and/or wanted to quickly fill their roster. But it also seems that Redfall didn't fully take off until last year.

Lead Open World Designer:

Rachel Adams. Ex Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem. Rachel Adams video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Open World Design Team:

Jason Pane: Newbie. Ex Destiny. Jason Payne video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Morgan Gain: Newbie. Ex Mafia. Morgan Goin video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Lead Level Artist:
Michael Hutchison. Newbie. Ex Shroud Of the Avatar, Star Wars: The Old Republic, animation jobs for Sierra oldies.Michael Hutchison video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Level Architecture Team:

Jim Magill. Did stuff for Prey already. Jim Magill video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Freddie Lee. Newbie. Ex Mafia III. Freddie Lee video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Camden Beyer. Newbie. Ex Saints Row. Camden Bayer video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Lilian chow. Newbie. Ex Far Cry + Watch Dogs. Lilian Chow video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Elisabeth Kim. Newbie. Ex Watch Dogs. Elisabeth Kim video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Nicole Tan. Newbie. Ex Tomb Raider, Avengers, etc. Nicole Tan video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Alison Dela Cruz. Newbie. Allison Dela Cruz video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Dan Qinn. Newbie. Ex Days Gone. Dan Quinn video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Katherine Stull. Newbie. Katherine Stull - Level Architect - Arkane Studios | LinkedIn



Level Design:

Jeremy Catlin. Did some stuff for Prey already. Jeremy Catlin video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Kelly Mangerino Ferry. Newbie. Ex Mafia III. Kelly Mangerino Ferry video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Campaign Level Design Team:

Antony Huso. Arkane Veteran. Anthony Huso video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Steve Powers: Arkane-, Deus-Ex- and Origin-Veteran. Steve Powers video game credits and biography - MobyGames

George Royer: A couple years at Arkane already, seems to have been promoted though (was a playtester on Prey). George Royer video game credits and biography - MobyGames

Paris Stacy: Newbie. Paris Stacy - Level Designer - Arkane Studios | LinkedIn

Cory O'Brien: Newbie. Did writing before. Cory O'Brien video game credits and biography - MobyGames

[maidenhaver]

Dishonored and Prey just needed a DromEd.

[Roguey]

Dishonored 1 and Prey are pretty good. The rest is something that would look better filling up a landfill.

Those were directed by Raph and had the Deus Ex design team.

[rusty_shackleford]

Prey isn't very good(it's spooky)

[KnightoftheWind]

I'd assume Arkane's next title will be it's last chance, otherwise I don't see why they're worth keeping around. All the talent left years ago.

[Maggot]

Dishonored and Prey just needed a DromEd.

Would never be as good when those games aren't brush based for their maps. The age of custom maps in new games is long gone.

[rusty_shackleford]

The age of custom maps in new games is long gone.

It will come back again when AI is capable of automating the texturing process, placing debris, etc.,

[Atlantico]

[Segata]

Apologize.

[rusty_shackleford]

Oct 04 18:50:36 <@Rusty_Shackleford> when do you guys think they'll release the 1.2 patch for REDFALL?

how did he know?!

[gerey]

Apologize.

No.

[Shillitron]

A huge update is now available for Redfall.

• 60 FPS Performance Mode on Xbox Series X|S
• Stealth takedowns
• Increased open world enemy population and new encounters
• New controller settings
• Gameplay & combat changes
• and much more

Redfall sisters.. we can't stop winning.. !!!


https://steamcharts.com/app/1294810

50 playing 22 min ago
53 24-hour peak,
1560 all-time peak


Imagine.. a game being in development by an entire studio for years.. peaks at 1500 players on steam..

[Shillitron]

‘Redfall,’ With 3 Concurrent Steam Players, Is Still Selling Its DLC Pack posted 2 days ago
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/ ... -dlc-pack/

Even the game urinalists are having a laugh at this turd.

Reportedly, Arkane is now pivoting back to Dishonored 3, and it does not seem smart to devote any more attention to Redfall, broken promises or no.

Not that {current_year} Arkane can even make a good dishonored game anymore either.. but I just find it a hilarious repudiation of all their woke trash that they are basically being strong armed back to their "original IP".

I am really excited to see if they make Dishonored 3 focus on some strong black female or not. $$$ or Politics.. what's gonna win out?

[Segata]

I am really excited to see if they make Dishonored 3 focus on some strong black female or not.