[i]- For full effect, start video before reading - [/i]
Some time ago, in a galaxy not that far away
(in fact, it was in this very galaxy)
[b][u]DESTINY[/u][/b]
[b]EPISODE IV: THE STORY UNRAVELS[/b]
[i]Destiny is close to being a reality. The maps have been designed and programmed. The story has been written. The game coding is almost complete. The developers must now face a new challenge: deciding how the story and lore will be told within the game, design the mission structure and deciding on how to lay out that content to the player.
But a dark shadow looms. Development has been going well and relatively incident free, but recently the game publisher was agreed on based on previous successes. Little did the developers know that, driven by greed and accostumed to an abusive business model, the game publishers intend to force their dark influence into the decision making process and make their way into the developer meetings.
Thus the meeting to make the critical decisions about the game story is about to take place...[/i]
[b]Dev 1[/b]: Alright! We have a good story, lots of lore, plenty of missions, we're about to wrap it up!
[b]Dev 2[/b]: This is going to be huge! The game’s gonna have dozens of missions! We easily have enough for 60+ hours.
[b]Dev [/b]1: Ok, so lets do this! Taking the story, I think the mission layout should…
[b]Publisher[/b]: Not so fast.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: Whoa! What… How… Where did you come from?
[b]Publisher[/b]: I was here the whole time.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: Bullshit, you weren’t here just a second ago!
[b]Publisher[/b]: (waves hand in front of the devs eyes) I was here the whole time.
[b]Dev 1 and 2[/b]: You were here the whole time.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: What? What’s wrong with you guys? What is this?
[b]Publisher[/b]: Now… this is way too much content to put into the game.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: But… the story’s already been approved.
[b]Publisher[/b]: You will divide the story into several parts. You will only include some of the story with the main game.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: What about the rest?
[b]Publisher[/b]: The rest will be sold as DLC.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: But that way the story will make no sense and will be incomplete! Players will be forced to buy the DLC to have the complete story!
[b]Publisher[/b]: (grinning) Yes… indeed…
[b]Dev 2[/b]: That will leave the game too short! Players will finish it in no time!
[b]Publisher[/b]: Make them replay the same missions over and over.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: What? Why would they do that?
[b]Publisher[/b]: Give them irrelevant rewards. Make their progress dependent on incessant grinding.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: But what about the levels? We already have sections of the maps though specifically for parts of the story coded into the game, what are we supposed to do if we cut those?
[b]Publisher[/b]: Cut the sections of the map as well.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: We can’t do that! We’re too far in!
[b]Publisher[/b]: Make those areas inaccessible then.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: What if players find them?
[b]Publisher[/b]: You will say it was always meant to be like that.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: That’s insane! They will never believe it!
[b]Publisher[/b]: (waving hand) You will say it was always meant to be like that.
[b]Devs 1 and 2[/b]: We will say it was always meant to be like that.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: What the hell is going on here?
[b]Publisher[/b]: You are resistant. I do not like that. You will agree, or you will face the consequences.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: *gulp*
[b]Dev 1[/b]: Well, at least we have the lore of the game that gives it some depth.
[b]Publisher[/b]: That will not do.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: What?
[b]Publisher[/b]: The game’s lore will be told using collectible cards.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: You mean, unlocked as they play the game’s story?
[b]Publisher[/b]: Some of them.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: Some??
[b]Publisher[/b]: Others will be only unlocked after players grind enough time on a specific task.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: No… No more…
[b]Publishers[/b]: Others still will only unlock when they randomly find a specific item.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: Please… make it stop…
[b]Publisher[/b]: And you will tie them into the game reward system.
[b]Dev 3[/b]: Kill me.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: We’ll have to code in a whole section for these cards…
[b]Publisher[/b]: Now that I think about it… no.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: Thank god.
[b]Publisher[/b]: They will not be accessible ingame.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: Excuse me?
[b]Dev 1[/b]: Then… how…
[b]Dev 3[/b]: I feel the coldness of the grave.
[b]Publisher[/b]: You will build a database but make it accessible only on the internet or through a specific app.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: What??
[b]Dev 3[/b]: Only death can release me.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: Why can’t it be accessible ingame?
[b]Publisher[/b]: That makes too much sense. Besides, if we spread the game content over several platforms, we’ll have more tools to hook the lambs… I mean, players.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: And how long do you suppose we can keep the game up with all this?
[b]Publisher[/b]: The high lords demand allegiance for 10 winters.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: The who? What?
[b]Publisher[/b]: This shall be a 10 year project.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: 10 years??
[b]Dev 3[/b]: I will never love again.
[b]Dev 2[/b]: How are we supposed to hook the players for that long?
[b]Publisher[/b]: (grinning) The details of player progression and rewards system are to be discussed on another occasion.
[b]Dev 1[/b]: This won’t stop here??
[b]Dev 2[/b]: (Faints)
[b]Dev 3[/b]: I like turtles.
[b]Publisher[/b]: We shall meet again… soon.
[i](hope you enjoyed it guys, this took its time! If you did, please like and bump so others can see!)[/i]
[b]EDIT[/b]: typos
[b]EDIT 2[/b]: Thanks for your support and comments! Keep'em coming guardians!
[b]EDIT 3[/b] Broke the 100 like barrier! Keep it trending!
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I think it is interesting how all of these stories make it out like people doing development have input on the direction something takes. That is not always the case. Many times in video game software you end up working on one aspect of something and how it gets used is up to someone else. The same goes with art and 3d modeling. There are methods to how things get made in the world of software. Check out Waterfall and Agile development. I do think it is important to remember it is not one single person who works on a game, but it can be hundreds. To move people in the unison it takes to make a product like this is Herculean. Do things get cut to make a minimal viable product? Yes. Do things get lost in translation from user testing to actual production? Yes, the real world is messy and not in a closed laboratory. I think what is fantastic is that Bungie is using Agile methodology to change the product in ways they did not predict. Minecraft after all evolved waaaay beyond what it was in the same way. Very few games are managed this way. Some others are the Souls series (which is very unusual for Japanese development teams) and Call of Duty's current developer does this. It is important to also remember that because you can make something doesn't mean you can get the money behind it for production to plastic discs or shipped to stores, this is the role Publishers play; a feudal type system from the music, book, and film industries. To get better deals and support you need to sometimes make deals with the devil to get your vision out. Is that worth it? Hell yes, because we would have NO entertainment provided by some visionaries with out it. Check out two interesting stories: Pixar and their issue with Disney distribution and how they merged into Disney, as well as how Trent Reznor left labels behind and went to self publishing and finally back again to Sony. Making art for other people to interact with is super hard and painful. That world is not so black and white. Rarely does anyone intend to screw people out of money for nothing. Aliens: Colonial Marines was a very rare case in the industry which is why it got so much notoriety.