World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[Tacgnol]

Wonder what features they promised, they should have just replicated BL1.

Source 2 engine. They'd just need a plucky German modder to fix the game for the next 15 years post release.

 

[Prime Junta]

I don't see why Hardsuit needed that amount of employees, seems like overkill and mismanagement.

It's a fairly normal-sized team for an AA game. You need a lot of people doing writing, animation, modeling, level design etc.

It's clearly been mismanaged, though, and it appears that Paradox feels that despite their titles Brian and Ka'ai were the problem.

 

[Kalin]

Who the fuck is Ka'ai anyway

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I don't see why Hardsuit needed that amount of employees, seems like overkill and mismanagement.

It's a fairly normal-sized team for an AA game. You need a lot of people doing writing, animation, modeling, level design etc.

It's clearly been mismanaged, though, and it appears that Paradox feels that despite their titles Brian and Ka'ai were the problem.

One could say that they were... problematic.

 

[Tyranicon]

I don't see why Hardsuit needed that amount of employees, seems like overkill and mismanagement.

It's a fairly normal-sized team for an AA game. You need a lot of people doing writing, animation, modeling, level design etc.

It's clearly been mismanaged, though, and it appears that Paradox feels that despite their titles Brian and Ka'ai were the problem.

Sounds like a scaling issue. Generally, competent dev studios hire as needed, but this sounds like Hardsuit got their hands on some Paradox money and started adding more fat than they need. Pure speculation, but quadrupling your workforce within a short time span is almost never a good idea unless you've struck oil.

 

[Viata]

Some engineers were working 12 hour days for at least two months

Fucking dumbass.

 

[Tyranicon]

Some engineers were working 12 hour days for at least two months

Fucking dumbass.

A coder making banking software will rake in at least a low six-digit salary (base) with the best benefits the market will offer, along with probably a housing stipend or work-from-home options, and will utterly reject anything over a 40-hr workweek. Take the same coder, tell them they're making video games (omagerd), and you can pawn them off on a $30-50k salary, long work hours, and the most toxic, disgusting work environment known to man.

 

[Yosharian]

What the fuck is it with these games/series' that are being resurrected only to be horribly mis-managed and/or ruined. Bloodlines, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition (and all the other 'Enhanced Editions'), Tides of Numanuma, Outer Worlds, etc. Like, fuck.

 

[Tacgnol]

Some engineers were working 12 hour days for at least two months

Fucking dumbass.

A coder making banking software will rake in at least a low six-digit salary (base) with the best benefits the market will offer, along with probably a housing stipend or work-from-home options, and will utterly reject anything over a 40-hr workweek. Take the same coder, tell them they're making video games (omagerd), and you can pawn them off on a $30-50k salary, long work hours, and the most toxic, disgusting work environment known to man.

Same reason I went into regular software development rather than pursuing a career in games. Games development might be more "fun", but you sure get a bad deal in terms of job security, working hours and pay.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Most people who bought HoMM V on release probably weren't even aware that none of the original creators is involved.

Man, don't you badmouth HoMM 5. It was made by the same developer that created Blitzkrieg and Silent Storm series.

 

[sser]

HoMM V is an alright game. I even liked the orc expac it had

 

[Tacgnol]

HoMM V is an alright game. I even liked the orc expac it had

It wasn't as good as the third game (few things are), but HoMM V was a pretty decent effort. Shame the series went to complete shit afterwards.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

What the fuck is it with these games/series' that are being resurrected only to be horribly mis-managed and/or ruined. Bloodlines, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition (and all the other 'Enhanced Editions'), Tides of Numanuma, Outer Worlds, etc. Like, fuck.

Mainstream industry can't invent new games so they wheel out these games that have "Gamer Cred" from niche communities so that they can then sell it to the mainstream based off the gamer cred. The niche customers give up on the game aka RPGCodex when they see through it but by then its too late the normies are in full hype train mode because of the millions being thrown into marketing.

The mismanagement element comes from the fact that most of the oldies they wheeled out for additional credit haven't the slightest clue how to manage modern AAA teams. Thus the oldies are fired and replaced. The publishers mistake was thinking these veterans wouldn't just repeat their history of doing this. I'd probably call this the games industries last hurrah as after these veterans retire its over for the industry. After that most games will just be advertising platforms similar to Fortnite. Chris Crawford spoke about this exact thing happening in his book from 2003 and its finally arrived. This is what we get for not heeding the warning. As such the games industry has lost its identity and also its soul.

 

[Tyranicon]

the normies are in full hype train mode because of the millions being thrown into marketing.

Lol, not for this game. Hype train immediately derailed not too long after leaving station.

After that most games will just be advertising platforms similar to Fortnite.

Yeah, you're right here. The games of the future will be made by marketers and people who study the spending habits of whales.

 

[Tye]

I'd probably call this the games industries last hurrah as after these veterans retire its over for the industry. After that most games will just be advertising platforms similar to Fortnite. Chris Crawford spoke about this exact thing happening in his book from 2003 and its finally arrived. This is what we get for not heeding the warning. As such the games industry has lost its identity and also its soul.

That's a little too pessimistic, IMO. The old guard were once themselves fresh faces in the industry. There will always be new minds with new ideas and new studios looking to make AA-quality games that appeal to niche audiences.

Personally I think marketing is a racket- a house of cards that's just waiting to come tumbling down. Advertisements, film trailers, and promotional tie-ins. People are slowly starting to wake up to the corporate hegemony that's consumed western civilization, and for all the sway these people have, they're powerless without a set of eyes on them.

 

[Horvatii]

Paradox Interactive today announced it has acquired 33% of development studio Hardsuit Labs, based in Seattle, for 2M USD. Paradox has an option to increase its ownership in the future.

2 million to finish the gaym, 33% of worthless stake.
Take that, cuck swedes - how bout dem apples.

 

[DeepOcean]

What the fuck is it with these games/series' that are being resurrected only to be horribly mis-managed and/or ruined. Bloodlines, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition (and all the other 'Enhanced Editions'), Tides of Numanuma, Outer Worlds, etc. Like, fuck.

Two explanations: Developers has beens that bamboozled us on the most irresponsible and cynical way possible, toasting our money while claiming caring so much about "other people" by placing terrorist organizations Black Lives Matter logos on their twitters and publishers like Paradox hiring incompetent people on the cheap, paying much more attention to Marketing than actually the development of the game, hoping the dummies wont notice the broken state of the released game before they made their money.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

Personally I think marketing is a racket- a house of cards that's just waiting to come tumbling down. Advertisements, film trailers, and promotional tie-ins. People are slowly starting to wake up to the corporate hegemony that's consumed western civilization, and for all the sway these people have, they're powerless without a set of eyes on them.

Definitely agree here. Most marketing firms are a waste of money.

There will always be new minds with new ideas and new studios looking to make AA-quality games that appeal to niche audiences.

Of course but they're going to have to battle the way through a sea of shovel ware from other indie developers. On the plus side though having actual talent goes a long way so I shouldn't have much problem there. But its still annoying to have so much noise to deal with because even if you do make a quality game its still not enough to bring in some respectable market share that lets you keep going. It's why the old guard normally only ever made one game and those mostly only ever broke even at best. That's why its so surprising that Brian was even allowed to make this game to begin with.

 

[prengle]

What the fuck is it with these games/series' that are being resurrected only to be horribly mis-managed and/or ruined. Bloodlines, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition (and all the other 'Enhanced Editions'), Tides of Numanuma, Outer Worlds, etc. Like, fuck.

turns out most of the "old guard" from ye olden days of the western games industry are second-rate hacks too! who could've guessed...

 

[Roguey]

"Production started in early 2017 with an original targeted release date of December 2018"

Did Mitsoda actually agree to this, because he knows better than anyone how completely unrealistic that is.

 

[Semiurge]

Can't imagine a woman like that could write vampires as the distasteful monsters they are supposed to be in WoD.

I could imagine the redemptive aspect would get emphasized in the main character's story arc.

Great Place to Work. Fully recommend. 10/10

Too much nurture, not enough driving. This results in bloated egos, "artistic" tantrums and delays resulting from poor leadership.

The mainstream lost interest in Bloodlines 2 the day they showed this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEYGez6JLZ8&t=623s just look at the comment section. Then the game got delayed and for a whole year, we got one trailer + the news that the most the creative leads for the game was fired and the game gets delayed again. Of course, no one knows who Brian Mitsoda is but everyone understands that you don't fire you most important people unless your game is fucked beyond repair.

I feel for you.

 

[Viata]

"Production started in early 2017 with an original targeted release date of December 2018"

Did Mitsoda actually agree to this, because he knows better than anyone how completely unrealistic that is.

He agreed because the other option was to make a sequel for the Multiverse High. Can't blame the guy here.

 

[Roguey]

He agreed because the other option was to make a sequel for the Multiverse High. Can't blame the guy here.

Sure I can. Better to fade away gracefully than sully the work you're most remembered for.

 

[Viata]

Well, now he will be remembered as the guy that hardly get to see the end of project he is working on.

 

[Danikas]

Even the lead narrative designer is placeholder.

Jun 13, 2019
Prophetic words.