Game Developers Need Help
Gamers expect a constant progression of technology. In just 3 decades, games have evolved from primitive black and white graphics to the extremely lifelike presentation seen in Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain.
Developers can’t possibly keep pace with the acceleration of technology given its current trend. What can be done to help them out?
Interminable development timelines
Games are taking longer and longer to make. In the halcyon days of id’s shareware distribution, game schedules were measured in months, not years. Developer teams were measured in single digits, not hundreds, and game budgets were measured in the thousands of dollars, not millions.
Since then we’ve seen Final Fantasy XIII taking hundreds of developers multiple years to complete. Even given that team size, their port to the Xbox 360 which comes on 3 DVDs is hugely compromised compared to the PS3 version given hardware limitations and code conversion difficulties.
Behond the result of 100 million man hours
We’ve seen Bayonetta released on the PS3 in a crippled form compared to the Xbox 360 as it wasn’t even ported by the game developers; the publisher had to take over as the developers didn’t know how to transfer the code efficiently (neither did the publisher, apparently, given the results).
We’ve seen the team for Assassins Creed 2 span three countries and number over 500, as that was the requirement for getting the game out in less than 2 years.
What will the next generation bring? Will a game like Duke Nukem Forever and Half Life 2: Episode 3, be the norm and not the exception, assuming development timelines that stretch towards a decade? This is clearly not a sustainable situation.
This remains the only thing from HL2: Episode 3 seen in the wild. I maintain Valve took their money and moved to Peru to live like kings
What are the hangups?
Development requirements have increased across the board. Map designers can no longer put one detail feature in a room, they need hundreds. Texture designers can’t get by with 256×256 textures, they now need high definition textures. AI subroutine complexity has increased exponentially.
While games don’t take longer to play (a criticism from gamers), the work required to create each feature is hugely increased. Imagine what it took to make the environment in a 2D side scrolling game vs. what it took to create some of the environments in Uncharted 2.
It's almost photorealistic
Not only does this added complexity make things much more difficult and expensive for developers, but it has destroyed the casual modding scene. I used to make maps for Half-Life, but once engines p rogressed to Doom 3 level and beyond, the detail required in each room was simply too much for a casual creator.
Is anybody trying to help?
The solution is clear to me: automated design. Take web design as the template: the simplest things are so standardized now that a program such as Dreamweaver can automate them. If you want a highly advanced website, of course you’re going to need to go into the raw code and tweak things, but window positioning etc. can be fully automated.
id Tech 5 is going in that direction with their megatextures. Their engine optimizes art elements for cross-platform development, so there are no adjustments / lead platform concerns involved in a game developed on id Tech 5. While this is just a starting point, technologies such as this and even a unified platform such as OnLive would go a long way towards cutting down on cross platform development concerns.
We're behind you id Tech 5 ... engines need new buzz words like megatextures. I miss voxels and mip mapping
I can envision a day when scripted sequences and artistic components could be dragged and dropped into game sections such as brushes in Photoshop. Modders could collaborate and resources could be reused. While a premiere AAA title is likely going to require the same personal touch seen in the best websites today, automated functions would vastly reduce requirements for games that aim for solid but not innovative gameplay content.
I don’t really care what it takes to make a compelling game. As a consumer, I make my purchase decision based on what package is offered and at what price. I understand, however, that developers are falling behind the curve, and the only outcome is that technology will focus on making development easier, development schedules will get longer, or prices will have to go up to support larger teams.
As a consumer, option A is clearly the optimal outcome, so everybody should be hoping id Tech 5 succeeds and catalyzes a trend.
