I forgot you work in the industry, i need to be more careful lol.
Haha. : )
It also doesn't help that studios also have to deal with the publishers who help fund the games where as before it was a more in house development setup like the old movie studio system so what they want to do against what the bean counters who don't know squat about gaming want are two different things.
There's another myth! ; ) I actually learned a lot when I switched from development to producing (for a publisher). I discovered (gasp!) that they're NOT actually evil and that there are some very
ineffective devs out there who think that they shouldn't be beholden to things like commitments, schedules, budgets and deadlines. Certainly, game development is uncertain, but there are SO many devs out there that simply can't do a project plan to save their own asses. (And just as often as not, they have no clue what will actually SELL.) Then, when they realize ONE DAY before the deadline that they're not going to make it, they don't act very apologetic about it, as if the publisher should've been expecting it. (Never mind that the publisher, in anticipation of the delivery milestone, has sunk time+money into marketing that will now be wasted.) Once, I had a dev that wasted three out of eighteen project months on a
five minute sequence (that wasn't even integral to the game). They were essentially making a simple low budget 2d shooter, but in their minds, it was going to be the new Mass Effect. Oh, the stories I could tell. And really, beyond the very high-level financial people that aren't connected to the development anyway, most publisher employees are VERY enthusiastic gamers themselves. I'm probably moving back into development now, but 4+ years working as a publisher taught me the value of actually getting things done and delivering.
Honestly I'm sick of modern gamers, they all come off as spoiled brats who don't know how good they have it and act like savages.
There is that aspect of it. Sometimes, they are spoiled and (very) entitled, but there are cases where the devs/publishers aren't communicating effectively. I found that if you tell it to people straight, giving them hard-fact numbers about a situation, they tend to calm down and be understanding. Don't give them any BS to call you out on and things work much better- even when they are complaining about things like DLC costs. If they're complaining about costs and expecting something for free, I usually lay it all out: "Here are the numbers of what it cost to make and what the schedule looked like. Now tell me why it should be free and 50+ people shouldn't get a salary for several months of work." It usually works because you're taking the mystique out of it and killing a lot of misconceptions.
Also I'm tired of games that have characters in skimpy armor and underwear appearing when you steal their stuff. It wasn't there before you stole their clothes. I'm not big on game nudity but it's really distracting and breaks the world. At least not have it there and blur the stuff out.
The nudity thing has been a topic I've had to deal with as a producer. On the one hand, I'm all-for "equal opportunity" sexualization when appropriate (such as in a Conan game, because it fits the novels and world) but completely against it in a serious sc-ifi setting. (I produced one game that had a "serious" story where I had to go in heavy handed and cut out a lot of stereotypes and scifi "boob armor".)
I never even heard of that Conan game mechanic until Gamespot had a story they were removing it for consoles! I said every male game must be tripping over themselves because well guys. :lol
The Saints Row games had something similar. It was pretty funny.
As for game length, I'd much rather play a really great short game then a longer game that isn't polished or finished (KOTOR 2).
I actually discussed the bugs of KOTOR2 with the game's director when I helped produce another game he was working on. He strongly suggested using the fan-made patches, which apparently restores a lot of unfinished content and fixes a lot of the problems. (Haven't tried it yet though.) I prefer short games these days simply for lack of time. I barely have time to finish a FIVE hour game.
