Redfall - open world vampire slaying co-op FPS from Arkane Austin

[Zlaja]

If market trends are anything to go buy, consoles are becoming obsolete and people aren't buying them anymore

Dude, you're way off. The sales numbers for both Switch and PS5 are excellent. I think you're confusing the fact that there's an ever increasing lack of interesting console exlusives with failing hardware sales.

 

[Azalin]

Xbox is a disaster. Maybe Phil needs to rethink this...

There’s clearly quality and execution things we can do, but one thing I won’t do is push against [the] creative aspirations of our teams.

Its those creative aspirations (or lack thereof) that was a mistake in the first place. Sometimes these creative aspirations will never lead to a good game no matter the talent on the team. Nobody asked for a game like this. It was shit at conception and stayed shit.

What the fuck is he doing? What kind of interview is that?

Guessing he got called into the office and will be given his marching orders soon.

They spent a ton of money buying all these studios(Bethesda,Obsidian,Inxile) to bolster their exclusives lineup and they haven't delivered anything of importance yet.If Starfield isn't a Skyrim level of success I don't think his future isn't going to look very bright

 

[Ryzer]

The only two Looking Glass people that actually worked for reals on Arkane was Terri Brosius (AKA, the voice of SHODAN) on Dishonored 1 as a writer and some minor voice acting on 2 and Randy Smith that worked on Dark Messiah, that was it. I also read on reddit people claiming Harvey Smith worked on the Looking Glass Studios, I promess I desired to force choke some bitches through my computer so hard.

Do you want to be even more depressed? Guess who is the lead level Architect in Redfall? Was Michael Hutchison, basically the artist that worked on Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, not only the remake, the remake and the original. Yes, everything will end on shit and madness.

It's my belief that Dishonoured burned out Harvey and Prey burned out Colantonio. They killed themselves for those games, resulting in Colantonio dropping out.

That then, coupled with wokeness and trump derangement syndrome going up to volume 11, absolutely destroyed any creative will Harvey had left. It's a job and he's kicking the can down the road until someone fires him.

Lmao the enormous amount of copium the Deus ex tards are inhaling. The reality is simply that they have always been braggarts with super-overinflated ego. Deus Ex came up at the right time because if you look objectively at it, it's not a very good game with its god awful gameplay.
They tried to replicate this by showing to everyone why they are so intellectual. Same thing happened with the other rest of Immersive sims/Looking glass posers jerking themselves on past glory.
You know it's that thing Cleve was talking about.

 

[Infinitron]

The only two Looking Glass people that actually worked for reals on Arkane was Terri Brosius (AKA, the voice of SHODAN) on Dishonored 1 as a writer and some minor voice acting on 2 and Randy Smith that worked on Dark Messiah, that was it. I also read on reddit people claiming Harvey Smith worked on the Looking Glass Studios, I promess I desired to force choke some bitches through my computer so hard.

Iirc, Harvey Smith actually interviewed for a job at Looking Glass Studios when they still existed and was rejected.

 

[flyingjohn]

As always, most of what codexers like about old games were made by people ( usually the unknown programmer at the end of the rolling credits) who never got the spotlight because they were effectively working and not giving interviews/inflating their ego all day.

Ah yes, the alternative reality where Deus ex levels and augmentations were designed by the janitor and that one freelance 3d artist guy.

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

The only two Looking Glass people that actually worked for reals on Arkane was Terri Brosius (AKA, the voice of SHODAN) on Dishonored 1 as a writer and some minor voice acting on 2 and Randy Smith that worked on Dark Messiah, that was it. I also read on reddit people claiming Harvey Smith worked on the Looking Glass Studios, I promess I desired to force choke some bitches through my computer so hard.

Iirc, Harvey Smith actually interviewed for a job at Looking Glass Studios when they still existed and was rejected.

Harvey almost accepted the job (he was going to work on Terra Nova), but opted to stay at Origin so he could pitch Technosaur, a project of his own (that got canned by Don Mattrick after 12 months of development).

Source: https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/harvey-smith-1 (Starting around 0:40:00)

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

Uncle Pete says:

Kinda late to the party, but... Pete Hines was/is full of shit, who knew?

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Just saw this. Even their tech support replies are buggy.

 

[Spukrian]

 

[CyberWhale]

Not only does it play like shit, it looks like shit and runs like shit as well.

 

[DeepOcean]

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 shit 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 shit, 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.

 

[copebot]

I just discovered the project lead of Thief Gold and 2, Steve Pearshall, is now some IT guy in a law firm today, so yeah guys, gaming is dead, good night. Also, I read some people claiming Arkane was full of ex Looking Glass developers, nigga... Randy Smith got from leading Thief Deadly Shadows at Ion Storm to have a special thanks for having helped on a game called Boyfriend Dungeon as his last activity and yes, the title is exactly what you are expecting. That furniture abandoned on my basement saw more activity than the curriculum of most developers from Looking Glass on the last 10 years. The only one that got somewhere was Ken Levine on his grifting skills.

The only two Looking Glass people that actually worked for reals on Arkane was Terri Brosius (AKA, the voice of SHODAN) on Dishonored 1 as a writer and some minor voice acting on 2 and Randy Smith that worked on Dark Messiah, that was it. I also read on reddit people claiming Harvey Smith worked on the Looking Glass Studios, I promess I desired to force choke some bitches through my computer so hard.

Do you want to be even more depressed? Guess who is the lead level Architect in Redfall? Was Michael Hutchison, basically the artist that worked on Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, not only the remake, the remake and the original. Yes, everything will end on shit and madness.

Yeah, it's cause money is good and he already created the best games ever made. Leave when you're on top and get paid, brother. Those games have not been topped by anything. They will not be topped by anything in the next 50 years barring some radical change in the culture. I now understand how boomers feel about rock music.

 

[ScarredBushido]

the only game that i liked that had harvey involved outside of dishonored was Cybermage. that game had nude strippers walking around in the city...

 

[SomeGuyWithAnOpinion]

I'm not surprised you have bad taste in writing considering how long it takes you to make a single coherent point.

Whatever. Enjoy your extremely one dimensional characters and your randomly generated wilderness full of critters.

 

[Latelistener]

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.

That means unlike the official "tired of gaming industry" story (not that anyone believed it), Raph knew what he was going to do long before he actually left.

And we already knew that the development of Weird West started almost immediately after Prey.

Aside from those he also took with him:
Emmanuel Petit - Lead Visual Designer on Prey
Cedric Peyravernay - practically the "face" of Dishonored games and doesn't need an introduction.

Worth noting that Austin also lost Frederic Augis (gone freelance and worked on Weird West), an amazing concept artist who's pretty much responsible for how Prey looked.

Overall, someone on the other forum told me that among 70-75 people of Arkane Austin there are like 6 people left from the Prey team. I'll probably check that later, but it doesn't seem far from truth.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

State of the Arkane. =(

 

[Siel]

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.

That means unlike the official "tired of gaming industry" story (not that anyone believed it), Raph knew what he was going to do long before he actually left.

And we already knew that the development of Weird West started almost immediately after Prey.

Aside from those he also took with him:
Emmanuel Petit - Lead Visual Designer on Prey
Cedric Peyravernay - practically the "face" of Dishonored games and doesn't need an introduction.

Worth noting that Austin also lost Frederic Augis (gone freelance and worked on Weird West), an amazing concept artist who's pretty much responsible for how Prey looked.

Overall, someone on the other forum told me that among 70-75 people of Arkane Austin there are like 6 people left from the Prey team. I'll probably check that later, but it doesn't seem far from truth.

You know how terrible things are when you hire community managers as narrative designers.

 

[Zlaja]

You know how terrible things are when you hire fat and lesbian community managers as narrative designers

Fixed.

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

Most Arkane Austin devs I follow are keeping quiet, but this Senior 2D Artist shared her feelings:



To which I say:



And fuck each and every one defending this cynical, pathetic cash grab attempt as "Arkane trying to push immsim to new heights", or bullshit to that effect.

Redfall WAS going to feature microtransactions, for starters.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Don't want to be mean, but looking at the social media profile pics of these people... is there anyone normal left in kwan game dev in positions that are actually directly contributing to producing games? You don't need 200 managerial iq to figure out you ain't getting anywhere with this human material.

 

[Tyranicon]

This is the problem with media corps pushing their employees to build so-called "personal brands" on Twitter so they can get free marketing.

Not only is it a complete waste of time, but it also encourages employees to embrace twitter culture. If you look at most gamedev teams now, it's just a bunch of twitterites who can barely play the games they're supposedly making. And of course, once they get into management positions, they hire more talentless hacks.

Talk about plans that backfire.

 

[toughasnails]

So I fear that this thing is making me unhealthily cynical at this point.
I know nothing about that person but she is at the very least presenting as an appealing, sexually self aware female. So THAT'S who just happens to have came out with such comments outta your whole team, THAT'S who's projecting vulnerability and being threatened. Now this is totally not meant to elicit certain reactions from lonely young men in your audience. Totally.
And man imagine if the whole narrative around this game organically, unpredictably shifted into one about gamer toxicity, disrespect towards game developers and so on.

 

[Latelistener]

Most Arkane Austin devs I follow are keeping quiet, but this Senior 2D Artist shared her feelings:

She/her was doing achievement icons for Prey.

Then for some reason was promoted to senior 2D artist for Redfall.

And the more I read about Redfall the more I see those kind of weird promotions, like janitor being promoted to an art director without any reason whatsoever. I have some question to Harvey to be honest.

Also, just a reminder that art in Redfall is an absolute generic shit and doesn't come close to Dishonored or Prey.

The only question remains for me is what happened to the Prey team. 50 people don't just go away because they were asked to make an co-op shooter. Were they laid off after Prey?

 

[Tyranicon]

Most Arkane Austin devs I follow are keeping quiet, but this Senior 2D Artist shared her feelings:

She/her was doing achievement icons for Prey.

Then for some reason was promoted to senior 2D artist for Redfall.

And the more I read about Redfall the more I see those kind of weird promotions, like janitor being promoted to an art director without any reason whatsoever. I have some question to Harvey to be honest.

Also, just a reminder that art in Redfall is an absolute generic shit and doesn't come close to Dishonored or Prey.

The only question remains for me is what happened to the Prey team. 50 people don't just go away because they were asked to make an co-op shooter. Were they laid off after Prey?

Senior as part of a job title is not as grand as it sounds. In some media companies, it just means someone who has 3+ years of related experience. I've worked with senior graphic designers, video editors, etc in their early-mid 20s.

Also:

 

[Fedora Master]

YouTubers be like
"WOW LOVE ARKANE, I PLAYED ALL THE DISHONORED GAMES"