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Former 343 Employee speaks out about Halo Infinite(Crunch, game over ambitious, cut content, etc.)
- Thread starter Biosnake
- Start date
Well Reach wouldn't get a 91 MC if it released today.
Masterpiece like GOTY material, genre defining game?
I would imagine dropping an expose about the troubles of Infinite's development right before it launches would not be received kindly by the people he would have to source the information from, 343, or Microsoft.
well it has always been like this way before 2021. every developer crunches, you just didn't hear about it much before, Its nothing new. every great blockbuster game you have played has been made with crunch. every.. single.. one.
From reading about the odd bits of material about game development, it really does seem that games are literally made with black magic and it is a wonder they are ever made.
Content complete and Gold are very different, you can be content complete and still be a year out from release.
From what we know that was the case for the first few years, when they did the E3 2018 trailer breakdown they mentioned that they were proud to say they didn't crunch to make the trailer or have the engine features ready for the trailer. It seems since then things went off the rail.
Sad but true.
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It's also kinda necessary unless you're just doing an iterative sequel of an existing franchise.
There's a reason why the industry loves sequels so much.
Easier, safer and cheaper to create.
I would say a Masterpiece is something that will be looked at as a povital game that moved the industry forward for all intents and purposes, like The last of us, Red dead Redemption, GTA 3, BOTW. Games that are still referenced years after they have left our collective concience.
User Banned (1 Week): Whataboutism, Community Sniping Over Multiple Posts and Threads
Reminds me of this
Neil Druckmann Describes Current Stage of The Last of Us Part II as "A Total Mess" - PlayStation LifeStyle
Neil Druckmann recently described the latest The Last of Us 2 development stage as "a total mess," as the team tries to narrow down their ideas.
www.playstationlifestyle.net
I think in halo games the most important thing is Story, Gameplay Loop & Quality Content in MP.
The game can have MC lower than 90 but can be called by fans "Masterpiece"
Nothing that wasn't already known/assumed for the most part, all sounds pretty standard for a big AAA game in development.
Yup, not to mention he/she is Chinese and specifically, a skybox artist. Either this is completely fake (most likely) or this person will be identified in absolutely no time.
Plus, the one "biome" that they've already talked about features multiple different locales within it, in the real world. Swamps, snow, plains, deserts, forests etc.
I think it being cross-gen removed any idea that this would be 343s Magnum Opus. I've only expected that its going to be a fantastic Halo game and a return to form akin to the Bungie days. As long as I get a great story with the Chief and classic Halo multiplayer, then this will be a win in my book. However, I may have higher expectations for a Series X/S/PC exclusive sequel.
he is real, he just doesnt give a fuck since he doesnt work there anymore.. you can find it brave or dumb, up to you
Yeah that was a suicide move lol.
Not only you breached NDA and are legally liable, but no company will want to risk hiring you in the future.
Apparently he shows his face on camera too, so something fishy is definitely going on here. Honestly, with his face being shown on camera, this makes me think this is more fake than believable (you'd have to think an actual employee would have an NDA of some sort before speaking so candidly about a game currently under development, especially one he is apparently still working on).
Why do people feel this is fake? Nothing he said is bad, besides crunch, and a lot of dev's do it unfortunately. Infinite having development issues could be seen by the demo last year.
Edit: He also was shown walking out of 343's office, plus his badge. It's obvious he worked there.
Edit: He also was shown walking out of 343's office, plus his badge. It's obvious he worked there.
??????????????????????????????????????
The man literally showed his 343 ID. And what does his nationality have to do with anything, what the fuck is wrong with you???????
It appears there is an increased trend towards semi-open worlds among AAA games as an obvious way to make a sequel feel 'refreshing' and a clear improvement over their predecessors. Gears tried to do it and even though it wasn't a disaster, the more open areas are also the weakest parts of the game imo. ND tried to do it with both LL and TLOUSII but it was limited to essentially one area (still loads of fun) and the studio has been iterating over the same engine for decades.
Still, it's honestly unthinkable to me how MS allowed the situation around Halo Infinite to unfold the way it did. On one hand, pretty much everything shown made it 100% clear to anyone that the game is not anywhere close to release. On the other hand, the whole Series promotional campaign was designed around this game meaning that either there was some serious miscommunication between parties or MS was fully aware from the beginning and they really needed the Halo name to drive sales.
Still, it's honestly unthinkable to me how MS allowed the situation around Halo Infinite to unfold the way it did. On one hand, pretty much everything shown made it 100% clear to anyone that the game is not anywhere close to release. On the other hand, the whole Series promotional campaign was designed around this game meaning that either there was some serious miscommunication between parties or MS was fully aware from the beginning and they really needed the Halo name to drive sales.
Yeah, like I said above, the fact he unveiled his real identity actually makes me super suspicious of this overall. He either completely murdered his own career just now, or this is fake. Either outcome seems pretty goofy.
AAA devs seem to really be struggling in this current and past generation
Honestly I would be cool with many of them going dark and taking their time over the next few years while they retool their pipelines and safeguard/take care of their talent
I feel like the bleed to the talent pool is going to really hurt the quality of games going forward and it is getting harder and harder for AAA games to live up to rising expectations especially now that the hardware is more powerful than ever before
Honestly I would be cool with many of them going dark and taking their time over the next few years while they retool their pipelines and safeguard/take care of their talent
I feel like the bleed to the talent pool is going to really hurt the quality of games going forward and it is getting harder and harder for AAA games to live up to rising expectations especially now that the hardware is more powerful than ever before
They should have trusted the process and moved to UE a few years ago after the first internal reboot (you can find plenty of info on the topic) They got scared and kept pushing with their current setup and yeah, that's what happens when you are retrofitting and adding engine features at the same time
I'm not sure what part offended you, I just said his identity will be easy to narrow down with knowing that he is Chinese, worked for 343 then CA, and a skybox artist. Not sure what upset you, didn't say anything that crazy lol?
Then after posting that I learned he showed his face, and now you're saying his badge, so yes, his identity seems very confirmed. Relax.
Their Inside Infinite Zeta Halo edition from February and the corresponding #Ask343 video.
We have summary threads of these on here.
I'm not a developer but sure doesn't seem normal for MS expecting to ship a game in the fall when the engine was barely finished a few months out.
I honestly believe it would pay dividends to stop trying to expand the scope of games in this franchise, and makes something that's laser focused on doing fewer things really well.
that's the spiritual reboot they really needed.
that's the spiritual reboot they really needed.
Not sure why people think that would have made the process any easier.
You're trading a technology you have full control over with a list of known issues and needed improvements, for a new one you've never used and have no idea what issues might cause you, and that you need to deeply modify to suite your needs anyway.
It's just unavoidable imo. The software I work on as nothing to do with games. Literally nothing, and I was up till maybe 2am last night watching over a hotfix release we were doing and making sure nothing catastrophic happened. That's on top of the late nights it took to find/fix the problem leading up to last night.
Not what he's saying, but the fact that if this were a real employee, that they're so openly breaking NDA for a game currently in development. Something very suspicious about this story, which makes me lean fake, but this is pure speculation. Otherwise, why would an employee commit employment suicide?
Your original message's wording is... unfortunate. I apologize for overreacting. But this is not fake, he's probably done with 343.
While I believe the crunch stuff is real. I think this guy wasn't a 343 employee. He is purposefully damaging his career. These people have NDAS. If real, except a Microsoft lawyer to go after him.
Very unfortunate to hear about crunch again. It's the reason why I changed course and stopped pursing game development early on. Instead I make just as much as a data analyst and work less hours with better work-life balance.
Seems like he was a real 343 employee.
I know for a fact he is a real employee. I know this specific artist, not in person but know of him
edit: and no I will not spread his information around.
I mean... duh? Not trying to defend the crunch part here, but im not sure how you can make a big game and not have the project change over time, or not have to develop new tools for whatever new stuff you want to make.
Murdered his career? He dosent work at MS anymore so he dosent care prob.
Why does it have too be fake? Nothing he said is unbelievable.
I said he was Chinese because the original article seems to be in Mandarin. And him being Chinese in addition to the other details would help narrow down his identity (this is before I even knew he fully revealed his identity). Merely saying he's Chinese literally had zero racist connotations if that's what you were implying, I was just concerned this person was outing their identity before knowing he openly did it anyway!
If this is real, I don't see how he didn't just compromise his whole career, but I'm ignorant on this subject and only speculating.
Yikes, doesn't sound good.
Really hope it somehow all comes together in the end but it's looking doubtful at the moment.
Really hope it somehow all comes together in the end but it's looking doubtful at the moment.
Yeah that's fair. I hope he's got his bases covered! That said I hope we hear more from this game's development. Something's gotta change in this industry, doesn't feel sustainable when you hear these stories from almost every studio