Chronicling the inability of gamedevs to make video games

[mercerxiv]

These development inefficiencies have also plagued Overwatch too. They were releasing two heroes per year. Marvel Rivals (made by a NetEase in China) releases a new hero every month. ???

I can show you exactly what happened. Might not be worth 58 minutes of your time, but here you go.

Before:
One guy decides a dungeon with evil druids would be cool. Makes the entrance a rock that looks like a skull because he likes pirate stories. Creates 4 thematic areas with different monsters. Added some jumping challenges because he wanted to. Adds some group quests to direct players to the area.

Now:

Didn't watch but I think I already know what's inside. A prime example of why games actually get worse the more people you involve - design by committee is probably one of the cardinal sins of the AAA games industry. Instead of just 1 talented guy who you have already hired and paying money to making a decision, you force it to be designed by a committee instead.

[mercerxiv]

Project management in game dev was a mistake.

The problem is design by committee. There are 5 people trying to push their own ****** ideas to be accepted by the group while simultaneously seeking acceptance from the girl and trying not to point out how bad her ideas are. They don't have the skills to use the editor, and then the one guy who is going to implement this stuff ends up working on ideas that he doesn't think are as cool as what he wanted to do from the start.

The video shows them "collaborating" for an hour and they have almost nothing to show for it but back at the office this would be considered a successful meeting and they'd book another one for the same time next week to make more "progress".

This ******** is real. I've worked in the games industry and that seems to be (sadly) the industry standard practice. You will have some HR Karen (or otherwise effeminate managerial dude) tell you that "we don't tear down each others ideas in this studio" or some drivel along those lines and basically stop any constructive conversation in its tracks. You are only allowed to do the ugly corpo trope of "yes, and...." if you want to add something. This is how we end up with asinine **** where it appears as if they couldn't settle on one design and just threw in the kitchen sink instead.

[Tangerine]

This is how we end up with asinine **** where it appears as if they couldn't settle on one design and just threw in the kitchen sink instead.

I wish this was the case, because at least that'd show some ambition. Instead it's the same cookie-cutter template that's been done to death because it's "safe and proven."

[rusty_shackleford]

ep in mind, "doubling in size" doesn't immediately equal "doubling in productivity" or "value".

Right, it halved

[J1M]

ep in mind, "doubling in size" doesn't immediately equal "doubling in productivity" or "value".

Right, it halved

Twice as many places for bad employees to hide.

[mercerxiv]

This is how we end up with asinine **** where it appears as if they couldn't settle on one design and just threw in the kitchen sink instead.

I wish this was the case, because at least that'd show some ambition. Instead it's the same cookie-cutter template that's been done to death because it's "safe and proven."

I'd say it's true just often for the simple reason that nobody can agree on anything, or there's a suit in the room who will bring a survey result/some stats from marketing and say "we should do this very popular thing everyone else does, meeting over".

[Oyster Sauce]

14 year old promotional video for a game that was 4 years old when it released has just passed 100 million views despite the game being abandoned without an update for nearly a decade after being intentionally sabotaged and left in a barely playable state. Valve is an interesting case because they have enough self restraint to recognize that the talent is gone and just do the bare minimum as to not damage their reputation too much.

Counter-Strike 2 is the most active game on Steam right now with 1.5M playing it right now (DOTA 2 is second with 800k) and it's still missing maps and other content from CSGO, which it forcibly replaced in people's libraries.

[Tweed]

14 year old promotional video for a game that was 4 years old when it released has just passed 100 million views despite the game being abandoned without an update for nearly a decade after being intentionally sabotaged and left in a barely playable state. Valve is an interesting case because they have enough self restraint to recognize that the talent is gone and just do the bare minimum as to not damage their reputation too much.

Counter-Strike 2 is the most active game on Steam right now with 1.5M playing it right now (DOTA 2 is second with 800k) and it's still missing maps and other content from CSGO, which it forcibly replaced in people's libraries.

It was a good run. Great times before they ****** it all up.

[Rand]

On the left, the originals. On the right Ubisoft India.

[DecadeRiptide]

On the left, the originals. On the right Ubisoft India.

They both look great. Proud of India for improving on the original.

[Rand]

On the left, the originals. On the right Ubisoft India.

They both look great. Proud of India for improving on the original.

► Show Spoiler

[Oyster Sauce]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926 ... g_of_Meat/

The Future of King of Meat

Following the launch of King of Meat, it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch the community enjoy this fun and chaotic world.


Despite the creativity and innovation Glowmade brought to King of Meat, the game has unfortunately not found the audience we hoped for. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to conclude our investment in the game, and King of Meat's servers will close on April 9, 2026. Players will be able to access and play all existing content until then, so we encourage you to enjoy your remaining time in the game with your fellow Contenders.


All players who purchased King of Meat will receive a full refund in the coming weeks from their platform provider.


We want to sincerely thank every player who supported King of Meat and the wonderful community that formed around it. Your enthusiasm, imagination, and feedback have meant the world to us and to the team at Glowmade. We're grateful for Glowmade’ s partnership and passion throughout this journey and wish them continued success in the future.


For more information, check out our FAQ.

???

I know it didn't do very well, but there's no way it's not worth the manpower to allow player hosted servers/go F2P with cosmetics/just not refund copies. Seems ******** to me.

[Stack of Turtles]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926 ... g_of_Meat/

The Future of King of Meat

Following the launch of King of Meat, it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch the community enjoy this fun and chaotic world.


Despite the creativity and innovation Glowmade brought to King of Meat, the game has unfortunately not found the audience we hoped for. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to conclude our investment in the game, and King of Meat's servers will close on April 9, 2026. Players will be able to access and play all existing content until then, so we encourage you to enjoy your remaining time in the game with your fellow Contenders.


All players who purchased King of Meat will receive a full refund in the coming weeks from their platform provider.


We want to sincerely thank every player who supported King of Meat and the wonderful community that formed around it. Your enthusiasm, imagination, and feedback have meant the world to us and to the team at Glowmade. We're grateful for Glowmade’ s partnership and passion throughout this journey and wish them continued success in the future.


For more information, check out our FAQ.

???

I know it didn't do very well, but there's no way it's not worth the manpower to allow player hosted servers/go F2P with cosmetics/just not refund copies. Seems ******** to me.

You'd think, but the issue: the vibe-coding Indian programmers have no idea how to change anything in the code

[Maledict]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926 ... g_of_Meat/

The Future of King of Meat

Following the launch of King of Meat, it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch the community enjoy this fun and chaotic world.


Despite the creativity and innovation Glowmade brought to King of Meat, the game has unfortunately not found the audience we hoped for. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to conclude our investment in the game, and King of Meat's servers will close on April 9, 2026. Players will be able to access and play all existing content until then, so we encourage you to enjoy your remaining time in the game with your fellow Contenders.


All players who purchased King of Meat will receive a full refund in the coming weeks from their platform provider.


We want to sincerely thank every player who supported King of Meat and the wonderful community that formed around it. Your enthusiasm, imagination, and feedback have meant the world to us and to the team at Glowmade. We're grateful for Glowmade’ s partnership and passion throughout this journey and wish them continued success in the future.


For more information, check out our FAQ.

???

I know it didn't do very well, but there's no way it's not worth the manpower to allow player hosted servers/go F2P with cosmetics/just not refund copies. Seems ******** to me.

Amazon Games

[J1M]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926 ... g_of_Meat/

The Future of King of Meat

Following the launch of King of Meat, it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch the community enjoy this fun and chaotic world.


Despite the creativity and innovation Glowmade brought to King of Meat, the game has unfortunately not found the audience we hoped for. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to conclude our investment in the game, and King of Meat's servers will close on April 9, 2026. Players will be able to access and play all existing content until then, so we encourage you to enjoy your remaining time in the game with your fellow Contenders.


All players who purchased King of Meat will receive a full refund in the coming weeks from their platform provider.


We want to sincerely thank every player who supported King of Meat and the wonderful community that formed around it. Your enthusiasm, imagination, and feedback have meant the world to us and to the team at Glowmade. We're grateful for Glowmade’ s partnership and passion throughout this journey and wish them continued success in the future.


For more information, check out our FAQ.

???

I know it didn't do very well, but there's no way it's not worth the manpower to allow player hosted servers/go F2P with cosmetics/just not refund copies. Seems ******** to me.

Conventional wisdom says their steam review numbers imply 18,000 copies.

[Oyster Sauce]

[Maledict]

Looks like planet ape judging by the thumbnail of two apes

[Oyster Sauce]

The PS2 had 524 exclusive games

[methoxetamine]

Why is the thumbnail mirrored?

[rusty_shackleford]

The PS2 had 524 exclusive games

That's it? I'd have guessed way higher

[Breathe]

The PS2 had 524 exclusive games

That's it? I'd have guessed way higher

Well, for about 6.5 years (ps2 release to ps3 release) that's a new exclusive every 4.5 days. Not bad if you ask me.

[SoLong]

So much money and technology focused on making women look their worst.

[Fox1]

So much money and technology focused on making women look their worst.

Its all part of the demoralization campaign

[Maledict]

So much money and technology focused on making women look their worst.

>women
Its a negro

[TND]

if I were to release a game all the files would just be on the disk uncompressed, anyone who complains would be told to use a modern filesystem

You are the reason we had helldivers 2 be 150 gb for no reason.

[rusty_shackleford]

if I were to release a game all the files would just be on the disk uncompressed, anyone who complains would be told to use a modern filesystem

You are the reason we had helldivers 2 be 150 gb for no reason.

use a modern filesystem

[Stack of Turtles]

if I were to release a game all the files would just be on the disk uncompressed, anyone who complains would be told to use a modern filesystem

You are the reason we had helldivers 2 be 150 gb for no reason.

use a modern filesystem

Reiserfs is the official filesystem of the woman hating megathread

[J1M]

Are there any concept artist jobs left? Is this the first profession that AI has completely replaced in the games industry?

That I can do this with a free tool in a few minutes is amazing.

Templar, Oracle, Cleric, Inquisitor


Fighter, Archer, Delver, Commander


Planestrider, Arcane Trickster, Wizard, Artificer


Dragoon, Sorceress, Geomancer, Alchemist

[WhiteShark]

https://archive.is/kWOlD
https://insider-gaming.com/eidos-montre ... cellation/

Excerpts:

According to sources, the game had been struggling for years, with 4 different game engines used throughout development, narrative direction conflicts, and a budget that had exploded to several hundred million. The game’s spiralling budget resulted in several projects at the studio being cancelled, including a new Deus Ex game in January 2024.
(...)
Footage of the game (...) shows that Wildlands was an open-world third-person action-adventure game in which players would take control of a character named River. River was part of a group of teenagers called Spiritbounds, who could ward off bad spirits with their magical staffs and ride mythical creatures.

[stormvermin]

https://archive.is/kWOlD
https://insider-gaming.com/eidos-montre ... cellation/

Excerpts:

According to sources, the game had been struggling for years, with 4 different game engines used throughout development, narrative direction conflicts, and a budget that had exploded to several hundred million. The game’s spiralling budget resulted in several projects at the studio being cancelled, including a new Deus Ex game in January 2024.
(...)
Footage of the game (...) shows that Wildlands was an open-world third-person action-adventure game in which players would take control of a character named River. River was part of a group of teenagers called Spiritbounds, who could ward off bad spirits with their magical staffs and ride mythical creatures.

>third person open world action adventure
>character named "river"
>group of very best friends riding on forest creatures
>beat up baddies with magical sticks

Anyone could have told them for the low sum of zero dollars how stupid of a premise that is. Suffah, Embracer!