Judith on 13/6/2013 at 10:45
Although it's not that polished game in comparison to other AAA titles (I still love it though). And it was not a failure. Nor was latest TR and a bunch of other games from SE or EA that were deemed a failure to meet company's expectations. But that's corporate greed, mostly. Still what does have to do with Thief case or any case in that matter?
LGS was not an indie studio, it used very expensive tech to bring us Thief, and it collapsed because of that (it was one of the reasons, at least). And I guess Thief will always be more expensive and complicated game to design, both in terms of technology (sound propagation, surface definitions, visibility measurement) and level design (lightning design is not only an aesthetic choice but first and foremost a gameplay design device, which makes environments harder to build).
Starker on 13/6/2013 at 11:00
Quote Posted by Judith
Although it's not that polished game in comparison to other AAA titles (I still love it though). And it was not a failure. Nor was latest TR and a bunch of other games from SE or EA that were deemed a failure to meet company's expectations. But that's corporate greed, mostly. Still what does have to do with Thief case or any case in that matter?
Did you watch the video at all? Or read the spoiler text? You can have a game that's "up to modern audio-visual and gameplay standards" without a bloated budget. People don't care if it's "not that polished game in comparison to other AAA titles". You don't have to hire Hollywood actors and you don't have to build everything from scratch. There's middleware for effing trees now...
As for how it relates to Thief, you don't have to hire designers to build a costume so you can study how the light falls on it either.
SubJeff on 13/6/2013 at 11:14
Tell me more about game development budgets and the budget for Thief.
You seem to have a lot of inside info.
Starker on 13/6/2013 at 11:25
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Tell me more about game development budgets and the budget for Thief.
You seem to have a lot of inside info.
What makes you think New Thief doesn't have a typical AAA budget?
Springheel on 13/6/2013 at 13:02
Quote:
Besides, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want a game which is up to modern audio-visual and gameplay standards, you'll end up with "bloated" budget and huge financial risk.
Which of the "modern gameplay standards" we've seen so far are your favourites?
Quote:
How does wanting to sell your game = not caring about making a good game
It doesn't, but wanting to sell as much of your game as possible = expanding your market as much as possible = trying to please everyone. And you know what they say about trying to please everyone.
SubJeff on 13/6/2013 at 13:45
Quote Posted by Starker
What makes you think New Thief doesn't have a typical AAA budget?
Nothing.
Tell me more. How much is the budget? What makes it bloated? How exactly is it affecting the development of the game? What proportion is going on what? How is that affecting the different aspects of it?
New Horizon on 13/6/2013 at 14:12
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Nothing.
Tell me more. How much is the budget? What makes it bloated? How exactly is it affecting the development of the game? What proportion is going on what? How is that affecting the different aspects of it?
Well, they certainly weren't underfunded considering the amount of time the game has been in development, the superfluous expenditures on hiring blacksmith's to create a real life version of the collapsible bow, and hiring a fashion designer to create a real life version of Garrett's outfit. If you're doing that stuff, you have too much of a couple of things... time and money. From what they've said, they went off course several times and became unfocussed. Gee, really? lol So now I suspect, going by what I've seen in the videos, they are going to be cramming to pull the game together. I wouldn't let the gameplay demo mislead you, the game has a long way to go.
SneakyJack on 13/6/2013 at 14:42
Quote Posted by New Horizon
the game has a long way to go.
And precisely the reason people should follow the development further toward release until screaming that the sky is falling. Even between the first and second demos there have been multiple changes addressing complaints from what people initially saw and that was less than 24 hours time.
Zewp on 13/6/2013 at 14:42
Quote Posted by Vivian
How does wanting to sell your game = not caring about making a good game.
Because they're not making design decisions that they think will make the game a better game, they're making design decisions based on whether it will appeal to the widest market possible. It's pretty easy.
SneakyJack on 13/6/2013 at 14:51
Quote Posted by Zewp
Because they're not making design decisions that they think will make the game a better game, they're making design decisions based on whether it will appeal to the widest market possible. It's pretty easy.
I look at it this way - Some people think that there never should have been a Thief 4 in the first place. So where does that leave their beloved franchise? Dead in the water and left to play Thief 2 fan missions for the rest of eternity. Or The Dark Mod which is at best Thief inspired and still not Thief itself.
So EM picks up the franchise and tries to run with it. Will the game be perfect? Absolutely not, nor were the first two Thief games. Part of their charm was their imperfections. But I'm hoping that if they manage to find an audience and heaven forbid actually turn a profit after all the restarts and design redirection while still releasing a game that I will enjoy.. that further down the line they're either more confident to release the next game in the series closer to the initial Thief vision because they know the fan base is still there and it's less a financial risk for the studio or another studio that has a passion for staying closer to the original formula then has the confidence to pick up the franchise because of how well the last game did.
For as much bellyaching that gets posted here about every new Thief game you'd think most here want the franchise itself to stay dead and buried to where no publisher would dare touch it to try to bring it back to life. I for one am not one of those people. I'd rather not see the series die. And if it takes a less than average game (Thief 3) and a possibly average to good game (Thief 4) to get to another great game then I'm willing to follow the series there.
