Fracture Video Shows Geo-deforming Gameplay
Fracture is slated to hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this October.
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Frozen Pixel
replyFor the love of god. These types of developer videos are horrible.
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Let's make an important distinction here. These people are producers at LucasArts. Producers don't really *do* any actual work, especially publisher side producers. If it sounds like they have no idea what the fuck is going on or what makes a game compelling, it's because they don't. I doubt either of those people in the video has ever created so much as a pixel's worth of game content in their entire lives.
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[deleted]
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OK - you are right that producers usually don't produce a "pixel's worth of game content." Although that's exaggerated, that is generally true.
But enough of this "managers suck" mentality. Producers play a pretty fucking vital role in the development process. The actual developers have enough work to do on the game - the producer's job is to make the developer's job as easy as possible.
Of course, I do agree with you that maybe producers shouldn't be doing these DEVELOPER Diaries. It should be the lead designer, creative director, etc.-
When that happens we'll stop bitching about it.
Sure developers often aren't as good people persons as producers generally are, and subsequently might not fare as well under the camera - but at least have a developer involved on camera - even a lead who's main job is scheduling has a closer view of the game than producers.
It's insulting when a producer or suit says stupid shit about a game they don't understand or work hands on with.
The reality is, though, somewhere a dev is under pressure to fix that fps bug (resulting from a design that over promised on an unrealistic schedule) and is considered "too valuable" to waste their time on camera. (Though the producer generally makes more money...) And the world goes round again...
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I find it slightly amusing that you are trying to tell someone who actually works in the industry, how the industry works. While it is becoming less of the case, most Producers I've met have spent time in the trenches. Although, most for some reason seem to come from the programming or QA track, instead of art or design.
Being a producer is anything but easy. Especially so when you get into 100+ developer teams or managing multiple projects. A good producer is like gold in this industry. They are sadly rare. :(
It isn't their job title I was complaining about. It was the type of promotional format they are using - i.e. developer diaries - to promote their game. The way Kevin did it with BioShock was much better, as it actually showed the game, and the focus never shifted to that of the some developers head talking.-
I find it slightly amusing you're pulling out the "I work in the industry" card on me because 1) don't do that and 2) you never know who on here actually *does* work in the industry, although you can usually tell.
Judging by the defensive tone of your post and the fact that you capitalized "producer" and not "programming" I'll take it you're a producer. It was harsh and false of me to say that producers do no work so I apologize -- producers do work hard and are often some of the most dedicated people in the industry.
My point was that this video more than anything I can recall in recent memory is proof that people who are closest to the game should be the ones talking about it, when most often it seems to be publisher side producers who are a) rarely on-site to see the game in person with the developers b) usually working on several projects at once and therefore they are not the most qualified to be giving a rundown of the game.
You can tell that these people in the video are not enthused and even worse they trash their own game and then mention individual developers by name saying that it's their fault. That's inexcusable and could be totally avoided by being smart and letting the developers talk about the game they developed. If the roles were reversed and the developers complained about publisher side producers by name in a public video, the shit would hit the fan so hard it would look like Jackson Pollock working with the Quake palette.
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lol, I'm not a producer. I agree with your statements in this post, I just didn't agree with your blanket statement that producers are nothing.
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