The big crunch

I'm not talking about a certain unhealthy sugary cereal with a ship's stumpy captain as a mascot...I'm talking about the 14 hour days developers put in near a project's end to shine-up our games before that inevitable looming date when we must hand over the gold master to our publisher.  Even us "when-it's-done" studios have such dates -- we just do not make them public until the very end.  It's impossible to avoid deadline dates nowadays, because there's so much coordinated pre-planning and marketing that must be created and purchased (magazine ads, banners, marketing events, etc.) in order to maximize the anticipation and awareness of your game's release.

Testing of the game is non-stop.  And there's always a rush to improve last second elements and add in last second ideas that might have a significant impact.  It's during this final race to the finish that a game takes leaps and bounds every week, with every new build, as it all comes flying together like an exploding jigsaw puzzle played in reverse.  There are two phases I love most about game development, the beginning conceptual phase, where the direction is set, characters created, gameplay hooks devised, and then the last few months, when it all comes together and you finally see the results of years of hardcore effort.

We will soon release a three minute trailer of Prey.  I'll post the details of where the trailer will debut as soon as I know.  We're working with a major game site for the debut.  We took a little bit of a different direction with this trailer, and I'm curious to see reactions.  The trailer opens with live action footage, to help ground the character.  A lot of people who've seen the trailer don't like this aspect of it, but I think it works well.  In a few days, we'll all see how it pans out, reaction-wise.

All questions and comments relating to the trailer are welcome here.

Comments

[Dopefish]

I loved that aspect of the trailer, Scott. I'll be curious to see how it's received, too.

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

I've seen too many big aspirations evaporate and conclusions end badly to get too excited about the beginning or end of a project, just to take another perspective. It's natural to get enthusiastic about these things, and I'm not going to knock anyone for that as long as it's kept within sensible limits. Better to start slowly and end well, etcetera.

My first take on the Prey material, looking at the graphics, gameplay, and narrative aspects, was that it was an interesting and dynamic performance, but something was lacking somewhere along the line. I think, there's a certain obviousness about it, which is less a matter of game development and more a matter of cultural biases.

Work, play, movies, and games are all the same thing to me. As we've discussed in earlier topics, people don't like change, but what is strange today is cliché tomorrow. As with comic books morphing to live action, live action morphing to games will likely become just another tool in the toolbox. Really, all that matters is execution and timing.

I'm sure you'll make it look easy, Scott.

[Bjorn Larsson]

The word "crunch time" sounds unneccesarily negative. Might be a good idea if the entire industry started referring to the last phase in development as post-production, as is normal in any feature film. Pre-production, production, post production - a simple three-step approach to successful game development. It's almost like basic marketing, changing negative perception of words by replacing them with neutrals or positives!?

No post-production (cruchtime) = crap game :)

[Mirik]

Can you believe for a second I thought this was about Duke? I suck. ;)

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

The word "crunch time" sounds unneccesarily negative.

I think you're onto something there, Bjorn. Aspirations, goals, labels. All these things shape our perception, and by that our actions and the results that flow from that. For some years I've held "crunch" to be a poor way, inappropriately glamorised, and too easily excused. I’ve learned the hard way that good structure and balance can better shape your life, character, and what you achieve. Schedule, diet, and exercise are part of that regime. Sadly, bad habits are easy to acquire and very, very hard to overturn. Better awareness can change this.

Other people have commented on these sorts of things before, and I’ve noticed a bit more of it recently. Personally, I’m really glad that this and other issues, like pay and conditions, are emerging onto the agenda. Fair and realistic shared goals are better for everyone. Like a lot of company owners or high earners, Scott’s attitudes are understandable but out of touch with the grass roots. If you’re at the bottom of a large company things can look very different. On the plus side, I guess, 3D Realms smaller size and reward sharing mitigates this.

One of the things I’ve been thinking of and trying to practice recently is a thought from some Oriental man of note, whose name I forget, who said that as his immediate problems got bigger so he looked further back in history for simple solutions. Over the past few months I’ve found some real merit in this. It’s easy to sneer at the old ways, but we can learn from the mistakes and wisdoms of people long dead. As society has become politically, legally, and socially super-saturated, I think, seeking a more simple and detached perspective can add real benefit.

I bet some haiku could say that lot in about a dozen words...

[Mr.DJ]

In your opinion, is it safe to watch, for people that already knows they'll buy Prey and doesn't want spoilers...but still am curious to know as much as possible? :)

How's everything coming along Scott? What is the tactic to make Prey another succes title in 3DRealms history? :)

I have read about Prey's past dev. history and already know I just HAVE to own the game...but I'm getting the feeling(from visiting gaming sites)the interest in the game, is mostly coming from fans already knowing about the game and the average player being less impressed and seems to catagorise Prey with Doom3 in gameplay(and I don't think it's meant in a good way). I think it would perhaps be strategic wise to let the videos show more clearly, why Prey is more than "just Doom3 gameplay set in another enviroment/universe" like I've heard the non-believers say! ;)

[Mirik]

I've been noticing too an interest for the title, but not as 'wow i gotta have this' as everyone is rambling on about the not-even-announced Halo 3.

It's like they are focussed on that game, but watching sideways towards some other shooters to bide the time till H3 is coming out. Weird development, I think people are a little fed up with FPS titles and just look forward towards the 'huge' releases that defined gaming culture.

[sam]

"I think it would perhaps be strategic wise to let the videos show more clearly, why Prey is more than "just Doom3 gameplay set in another enviroment/universe" like I've heard the non-believers say! ;)"

When you got these trailers showing 3-5 seconds clips of a game, it's hard to tell any game (in the same genre) from another. It's all one big mess of weapons firing, explosions, people/monsters dying, etc.

Have you seen the E3 Prey video (from last year)? That is what you want to show those non-believers. :) Long gameplay sequences were you can actually see what's going on. That video shows, atleast to me, that Prey is no Doom 3 rip off.

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

That's an interesting balance of comments. I don't think it's productive taking one side or another. Really, it's better to plot your own course, which is why my comments are a blend of positive and negative, depending on how you look at them. Clearly, Prey does have something too offer but, a bit like Tomb Raider: Legend, it has the hint of by the numbers about it. I don't think that's a jaded or cynical view, rather, it's a question of expectation versus reality.

Scott's a dab hand at creating excitement and enthusiasm, as Max Payne showed, but you've got to take a step back and ask yourself what's really there. Experience helps, but there's a couple of things you can do to help. Switching off the trailer sound and evaluating the small details in isolation and in the wider context is good for developer and customer alike. Really, it's just a question of opening your eyes. It's all there.

My judgement of games tends to be restrained in comparison to the hype. I don't want to dent anyone’s enthusiasm or enjoyment of a product they've spent their lives working on or playing, so if you see something in it you like and it makes your day, don't let me stop you. What I will suggest, and I think this is useful, is that love it or hate it, if you roll with the experience and learn from it, perhaps, it might assist a better quality conversation where developers and customers can build more positive consensus.

Yup. I'll be interested to see how this one unfolds...

[Pag]

I haven't followed the hype around the game too much, but the positionning of Prey is unclear to me. It looks like yet another FPS where aliens invade the earth and you have to save the girl. What's the differentiation? The hero is an indian? Some places allow you to walk on walls? Nothing earth-shattering there...

That's separate from the actual quality of the game of course -- I haven't played it so I can't comment -- but considering Scott's strength in marketing I expected clearer positionning.

[Scott Miller]

Pag and all, the problem with Prey is similar to the one Tivo has. It's hard for the marketing people at Tivo to clearly distill why you need one of their boxes...yet!...when you've had one, you can NEVER go back. Now, I'm not saying Prey is as important as Tivo, but it has the same fundamental problem: It's a game that comes off sounding like every FPS before it, UNTIL you've played it. Even watching the videos of the game in full glory will not convey to you why this game is truly something different, just as watch Tivo in action is not the same as finally owning it yourself, and coming to realize what a change it is.

That's why we're releasing a demo of Prey before the game comes out, and I feel very strongly that the demo will be our most important marketing tool for the game, by a long shot.

Max Payne had a similar problem -- it was hard to get across just how cool bullet-time was in screen shots and in videos. It takes playing the game to really get it.

So, we accept the Doom 3 comparisons for now, but no one who has played the game -- including all of the press (the game has 20 covers worldwide) -- has left the game thinking it was anything short of amazing.

Also, the game is not without some flaws, just as Duke 3D and Max Payne had flaws. We can never achieve perfection. Getting close is all we can hope for. I expect Prey to average around 88-92 in review scores, and that's about where Max Payne was. As good as it is, it's still just an FPS, and so it'll never score where the truly revolutionary games score, in the mid to upper 90's.

BTW, check out http://www.3drealms.com (top story, Prey Diary #15). We've announced that the new Prey trailer will go live on IGN in less than an hour (8pm PST).

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

Well, Scott. I'm not slow when it comes to assessing games and, I think, I've got at least as good a grip on Prey as I did with Max Payne. I spotted a few aspects to that game that passed most people by prior to it hitting them in the face or being subject to further developer comment. My take on Prey is the design and marketing are both a little off beam. To some degree your new trailers may mitigate that, but my personal breed of clinical detachment won't be fooled by enthusiasm. Sorry. It’s a personality flaw of mine.

Personally, I never gave Max Payne more than a 4/10 on my private marking scheme, and it only got that high because of the snazzy graphics. It sounds a bit low, but when most reviewers produce scores of the type where you have to automatically subtract 90% and take the remainder as a mark out of ten, it puts the headline grabbing marking schemes in context. In any case, the authority of most reviewers is in severe doubt so any score they offer shouldn’t be treated at face value. If it’s any comfort, I’ve provisionally pegged Prey at 7/10.

You’re right to be careful about judging a game before you’ve played it, PAG, but I weigh my assessments against playing and other peoples opinion, and I’ve found it’s a rare exception where I’m more than a few degrees off target. There’s always the chance I could get it badly wrong, and Prey might be that game, but I’ve been around too much and seen my judgement hit the target on too many levels to start hesitating now. Perhaps, if you make a careful assessment and test this, you’ll develop a clearer and more confident view to match your blog, eh?

Lastly, and you’re going to hate my for saying this Scott, I think, you’re underestimating both your audience and yourself. The past few years have seen a general rise in understanding of game design and marketing on the part of developers and customers. Progress has been difficult and patchy, but the overall qualitative feel to both sides of the fence has risen. This is great, but neither hesitancy or arrogance is helpful. With a little nudge, I think, developers and gamers can begin developing a little more subtlety of vision and appreciation. Neither, yet, fully have it, but when they do I don’t think there’ll be any going back either.

Whatever way this Schrödinger’s cat jumps, I’m sure, it will be interesting and delightful.

Thanks for the clear and measured comments. I appreciate these things.

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

Here's my instant but rather blunt reaction. Couldn't soften it without sounding fake.

My take is that the further West you go, the lower the context and the stronger the presentation, while as you go East it flips the other way around. Personally, I feel much more comfortable with European and Asian content than I do American. Crudely, American content tends to polish off subtlety and raise contrast. This is much a cultural and industrial issue as it is a procedural one, which explains where I’m coming from and why Prey et al don’t fit too well with me. If European games were more ambitious and Asian games more accessible, perhaps, some cultural mixing might help bring all sides a little closer together.

In the round, I’d say the new trailer was more of the same high dynamic and low context material 3D Realms are famous for. It sort of fits the look and feel of previous games, the company, and the country they’re from. To some degree, I see strong similarities with their previous output and some developments in the broader game and movie industry. For instance, there’s a similarity between character models, and emotional characterisation. Maybe, I can see this because I’m looking from the outside in, but there’s a certain follow the leader thing going on here. That would be fine but for the difficulty I have getting over low context content.

When the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 trailer was released, I remember thinking the game was substantially unfinished and what was shown wasn’t truly representative of the overall experience. A few years later further comments from Scott confirmed this position. On the whole, as a trailer, that effort was better than the latest Prey version. Yes, someone put a lot of intellectual and emotional effort into this, and money was clearly spent, but it seems to have been spent on the wrong things, and it’s not as well sourced or put together. Lastly, whatever Scott thinks it adds to the customer pre-sales education, I can’t see anything I didn’t know before.

Conclusion: It’s a polished but fat and gimmicky tragedy in waiting. 6/10. Oops.

Taking a more detailed look at it, the fact that IGN hosted the trailer wasn’t a plus in my book. I do my best to avoid messy, slow, and advertising laden sites. Then there’s the issue of resolution. Signing up to get anything more than a blurry version is a showstopper, and that’s before I get started on the IGN watermark buried in the trailer. Yes, I know bandwidth costs money but inconveniences like this make life unnecessarily hard for customers, and I’m no big fan of the mathematically disproved philosophy that money dictates merit.

Looking at the trailer on a scene by scene basis, I’m pretty happy with the live action bit blending into game footage. The two don’t quite match, and the majority of scenes in the overall trailer seem to have something wrong with them on an individual level and as a whole. It was bitty and confusing at every level. In contrast, the earlier DNF trailer was much better crafted, paced, and knitted together well as a whole. By contrast, Prey is an expensive and backward step for what you get. I’m going to go for broke here and say these issues are shared between the trailer and the game, judging by content and the shared characters behind it.

Looking at the maps, models, and sound as an interactive narrative mix, there’s plenty of stuff I see in there that I like on an individual level, but when put into the bigger picture of Prey the game, and current industry standards at the top end, I’m a bit disappointed something a bit more vital and sensitive hasn’t emerged. Yes, I know emotions are the new black, but emotions in an of themselves are nothing if they’re not wielded well, which is another reason why I hope the Chinese keep Steven Spielberg at arms length when they’re working through the design of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics.

I’m sure Prey will be a blast, but I doubt there’s much in there for me.

[Mr.DJ]

Scott: "...We can never achieve perfection. Getting close is all we can hope for..."

Well, a perfect game wouldn't leave much room for an expansion/sequel! ;)

[Bludd]

I just watched the trailer. I had no problems with the live-action stuff at the start other than "that grass looks too good, must be prerenderend.." before I remembered Scott's comment about live-action.

It has a movie trailer quality too it and the portals and stuff still gets me psyched. I loved the box that tipped over and revealed a portal with a doglike alien demon kind of thing jumping out.

[Pag]

Scott, I'm happy to see you're taking criticism with an open-mind. With your past success it would be easy for you to take a holier-than-thou attitude. I've had to deal recently with people who got angered at much less. It's heartening to see some people understand such comments aren't personal attacks.

I've just watched the IGN trailer, and Prey seems like a very polished title. The graphics look great -- too great for my under-powered PC to run, but I'll keep an eye on the game once I get a Xbox 360. There's a demo planned for that platform too, I presume?

[Scott Miller]

Charles, the DNF trailer is a clone, pace-wise, and editing cut-wise, of the trailer for The Phantom Menace. We thought that trailer was about perfect, so we deconstructed it and copied it.

The Prey trailer was essentially done last year, but we waited until now to release it, to time it better with the game's release.

The reason for releasing an IGN first (today we're putting out a non-IGN version on several sites) is because the retailers use Gamespot and IGN for tracking data on the interest level for a game. In a way, these two sites are like the Nelson ratings for television in the States, and the higher your ratings, the more retailers will buy for their initial shipment, giving your game a bigger opening box office-like figure. So, it is as it is, and you are forced to play the system. I don't like it either.

[Mr.DJ]

Scott, now that you mentioned a demo...can you give us an ETA on when you would expect the demo to be out?

Regarding the newly released "super" trailer, well, I thought it was ok and liked the added indian clip. The weakest point was the recording of the audio dialog. They just seemed too "out of place" and not very immersive. I watched the lower quality Quicktime movie btw.

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

I think, what you say about people taking things too badly is a good comment, PAG. Certainly, my own comments were too long, negative, and nit-picky, and that would send some people through the roof. I guess, it’s a question of perspective and balance. Getting anything right isn’t easy, and being too under or over-sensitive is something to be watched and fixed.

That’s an interesting comment about the trailer, Scott. Great artists steal, right? It was an excellent trailer and something I made a point of archiving. As much as it wasn’t truly representative of what was behind it at the time, the action and tone carried a fair look and feel of what you were trying to achieve. If there was an issue, it was this lack of clarity.

I hadn’t expected the criticism of the ratings style system. I’ve seen plenty of Americans comment on various aspects of their society and economy, and how they’d like things to tilt in a less extreme direction. As with anything else, things change and its just a question of patience. As much as I have my criticisms, I guess, we’re not much different. Ditto China, etcetera.

Never mind, it’s a new day tomorrow.

[GreatBritishProducer]

Ah, Prey. There is one thing I remember about the game from the first time I saw it, the portal jumping. Everything else was familiar and derivative; I could not help but reflect on Half Life during key stages of the trailer; I'd conclude its not good if you have your viewer thinking about another product throughout the show. Regardless, its a well executed trailer, if somewhat repetitive and disappointing at the very end (see below) . And the live action works - good art direction.

I would like to ask a question; why the swearing at the end of the trailer? 'I want those bastards dead, all of them. Whatever it takes!'. What was the thinking behind this? There is no warning of the swearing. Did you not think it irresponsible considering the trailer is without an age rating? This does not happen in film trailers unless its been rated, and this can only be enforced in the cinema or on DVD.

Sadly, this hints at persistent immaturity still prevalent in the games industry. Immature scripting, immature decision making, immature marketing and immature consumers.

[Stewart Quade]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/poppinfreshly/gaz_nukem.jpg

Any comment on this picture Scott?

[Jare]

Daikatana. The 5th Element. Doom 3 / Quake 4. Those were the references that immediately jumped to my mind after watching the trailer. As much as I loved that movie and the Id games, I can't see such a combination raising much interest among the masses of gamers. You portray what looks like a common man (of a culturally perplexing origin) involved in a love story while he fights what seems like an impossibly hopeless threat to humankind. I can admire the detailed graphics (cartoony-looking humans excluded), fast-paced action and funky space-bending gimmicks, but the narrative concept is really hard to swallow.

If there's a behind-the-scenes story I'd like to hear, it's the DNF 1998 trailer. I don't suppose you could...? :)

[Pag]

Stewart, that picture looks Photoshopped -- the Duke Nukem logo isn't well centered and the Revolution seems out of place. I also can't think of where that photo could have been taken, if it was real. Where did you get it? I'm curious.

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

I would like to ask a question; why the swearing at the end of the trailer?

Yup. This was an issue for me as well. Must say, it genuinely upset me for no reason at all. This is an example of what I refer to as the low context mentality. America, to be direct, has a bit of an obsession with strength of response and lacks a general awareness. This is shown at all levels, from the individual, to the corporate, to their projection on the international stage. To some degree, I think, this is sinking in but if it’s just a temporary fix to get out of a tight spot, it’s just piling up more trouble for the future.

This isn’t solely an American issue. Whether you’re European or Asian, the fundamentals remain the same, even if the mix of challenges is different. To be fair, many Americans are thoughtful, considerate, and kind, and many key thinkers and opinion formers have popularised or contributed to the overall discussion over many years. In the United Kingdom we have our own issues of this nature that need addressing and, with a big kick from the government, the beginnings of this is happening.

My take on Prey is that’s an unhappy game. I don’t mean this in the surface sense that it seems to be all about gloom and doom, or one whack-fest after another. The issues run deeper than that. It’s just a feeling but, I think, there’s something not quite right about something deep within its design. The look and feel doesn’t resonate in a pleasant way. It’s spirit is a bit, well, doubtful. It’s not a game I like and I’m getting the idea that it’s going to bomb badly. I may be wrong about this, and Scott et al are welcome to release it as is, but a last look can’t do any harm.

[Stewart Quade]

Pag. I do realize the picture is fake. I thought the idea was cool though. ;)
It was taken from Gaming Age Forums.