Comments on: Lucas With the Lid Off http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/ Random babblings from a few digitally inclined people Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:15:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Kelmon http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2012 Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:24:27 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2012 In Reply to <a href="#comment-2010" rel="nofollow">#9</a>: Interesting and, ultimately, not very surprising. I think it's fair to say that the Daikatana team didn't perform a Risk Management process before and throughout development and got bitten in the ass for it. Assumptions made will often turn out to be incorrect and it's pretty clear from this that the development was performed by people with no idea of project management, just that they wanted to make a cool game. As far as I am concerned with my argument, games can take as long as they like to be developed as long as that duration is in accordance with the plan presented to those payinig for the game. As long as everyone understands that Game A will take 9-years to produce and they are still happy with that then everyone got what they expected. It's Game B that was projected to take 3-years to develop but actually took 9-years that worries me, no matter how wizz-bang it is. In Reply to #9: Interesting and, ultimately, not very surprising. I think it’s fair to say that the Daikatana team didn’t perform a Risk Management process before and throughout development and got bitten in the ass for it. Assumptions made will often turn out to be incorrect and it’s pretty clear from this that the development was performed by people with no idea of project management, just that they wanted to make a cool game.

As far as I am concerned with my argument, games can take as long as they like to be developed as long as that duration is in accordance with the plan presented to those payinig for the game. As long as everyone understands that Game A will take 9-years to produce and they are still happy with that then everyone got what they expected. It’s Game B that was projected to take 3-years to develop but actually took 9-years that worries me, no matter how wizz-bang it is.

]]> by: Plagiarize http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2010 Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:02:56 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2010 just an aside, MANY games have been in developement longer than Daikatana these days. DK fell foul of a change in engine leading to a lot more work than the team predicted. they thought that quake engine content would be compatible with the quake 2 engine and that it would take a few weeks, not an entire year as happened. there was also a major team walk out... but it was ultimately only in development for a little over 3 years. if your lead programmer quits, your project is going to be set back as the next one comes in and tries to work out where the previous one had gotten too. DK did break even, believe it or not, after selling through 200,000 copies worldwide. most of the problems can be attributed to bad 'people' management. anyways. wasn't that informative and boring? just an aside, MANY games have been in developement longer than Daikatana these days. DK fell foul of a change in engine leading to a lot more work than the team predicted. they thought that quake engine content would be compatible with the quake 2 engine and that it would take a few weeks, not an entire year as happened. there was also a major team walk out… but it was ultimately only in development for a little over 3 years.

if your lead programmer quits, your project is going to be set back as the next one comes in and tries to work out where the previous one had gotten too.

DK did break even, believe it or not, after selling through 200,000 copies worldwide.

most of the problems can be attributed to bad ‘people’ management.

anyways. wasn’t that informative and boring?

]]> by: Kelmon http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2009 Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:59:32 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2009 In Reply to <a href="#comment-2007" rel="nofollow">#6</a>: Over a year late? Yes, I'd term that a failure regardless of the reviews. Personally, I didn't think much of the game anyway but that's besides the point. It sounds harsh, particularly when much of the gaming world waxed lyrically about how great Half Life 2 is but over a year late for a relatively minor IT project isn't very good. Still, it's nowhere near as bad as the likes of Duke Nukem Forever and Daikatana where the investors in the publishers would have been really annoyed since they were handing over their money and getting no return on it because none of these projects were delivering. Personally, from a business perspective, I'd like to see an end to this "when it's done" mentality and see gaming projects actually delivering on-time. Such project successes makes games much more attractive to investors and therefore easier (and cheaper) to finance. It just may be that developers have to forget grand visions for the timebeing until they get good enough at IT projects to achieve them. In Reply to #6: Over a year late? Yes, I’d term that a failure regardless of the reviews. Personally, I didn’t think much of the game anyway but that’s besides the point. It sounds harsh, particularly when much of the gaming world waxed lyrically about how great Half Life 2 is but over a year late for a relatively minor IT project isn’t very good. Still, it’s nowhere near as bad as the likes of Duke Nukem Forever and Daikatana where the investors in the publishers would have been really annoyed since they were handing over their money and getting no return on it because none of these projects were delivering.

Personally, from a business perspective, I’d like to see an end to this “when it’s done” mentality and see gaming projects actually delivering on-time. Such project successes makes games much more attractive to investors and therefore easier (and cheaper) to finance. It just may be that developers have to forget grand visions for the timebeing until they get good enough at IT projects to achieve them.

]]> by: CookieJesus http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2008 Wed, 21 Jun 2006 01:45:30 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2008 How can these guys be sure they have a kickass (by their standards) game until it hits the shelves? I'm pretty sure no developer puts a game out thinking "oh well, it sucks but I hope I get some money out of it". P.S. I like your philosophy. How can these guys be sure they have a kickass (by their standards) game until it hits the shelves? I’m pretty sure no developer puts a game out thinking “oh well, it sucks but I hope I get some money out of it”.

P.S. I like your philosophy.

]]> by: Plagiarize http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2007 Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:23:18 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/06/lucas-with-the-lid-off/#comment-2007 half life 2, halo and doom 3 all took longer than planned. half life 2 was over a year late (and it's release date was announced six months before the first release date). half life 2, halo and doom 3 all took longer than planned. half life 2 was over a year late (and it’s release date was announced six months before the first release date).

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