The Game's Development Story Discussion

[RagingDragon]

Ugh, just reading this stinks of Alien 3-level production hell, which I was mercifully ignorant of until years later.

If the game tanks, hopefully we'll get some great articles divulging some of the problems (post-DNF style.) Even after it's all said and done, who wanted to see the damn game fail, or GBX for the matter? I can't stand Pitchford, but I don't questions his passion for what he does and they've made some great stuff.

Sigh. Welcome to the Aliens curse, friend. We hope you've enjoyed your stay with the license! Now go sit in the corner with Dark Horse Comics and drink until the game is good.

[Ash 937]

I can't help but feel a bit cheated by this news.  I was somewhat enthusiastic to hear that GBX had control of this game's development when it was announced.  They are not Valve Software but the passion of their early interviews for the project and that they appeared to be dedicated fans of Aliens made me think this game was in good hands and would get special attention. 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-12-aliens-colonial-marines-primary-development-outsourced-to-section-8-developer-timegate-studios-report

Now it's obvious that game was pimped out by GBX to sub-par developers for six years before there was simply nothing left for anybody to do with it.  I'm still getting it because I usually buy all things that are Aliens related for video-games (so long as I own the system for it) and I'll probably think that the game is slightly better than the reviews because of the huge fan that I am. But damn, I really don't think a game like this could've been handled more poorly.

[Grey_Yautja]

Yeah well, that's the thing with developers recently, we can't trust them to touch a good franchise without ruining it completely. I almost get the feel that the media and game devs want to put anything Aliens, Predator, or AvP down in the mud. We've seen that in the films, we're seeing it in the games.

...Or maybe, any game dev that makes a deal with Sega ends up failing to create something good AND lasting, AvP 2010 was meh-okay, though it didn't last for long.

[piff]

I can't help but feel a bit cheated by this news.  I was somewhat enthusiastic to hear that GBX had control of this game's development when it was announced.  They are not Valve Software but the passion of their early interviews for the project and that they appeared to be dedicated fans of Aliens made me think this game was in good hands and would get special attention. 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-12-aliens-colonial-marines-primary-development-outsourced-to-section-8-developer-timegate-studios-report

Now it's obvious that game was pimped out by GBX to sub-par developers for six years before there was simply nothing left for anybody to do with it.  I'm still getting it because I usually buy all things that are Aliens related for video-games (so long as I own the system for it) and I'll probably think that the game is slightly better than the reviews because of the huge fan that I am. But damn, I really don't think a game like this could've been handled more poorly.

the aliens vs predator thing is a quick money maker for these companies, over charge for the pre-release, over charge for DLC, while they can, before they game turns into a bargain bin game, just like avp2010 did. Its all about to quick buck, and a quick death.

[Paladinrja]

Now it's obvious that game was pimped out by GBX to sub-par developers for six years

I wouldn't call Timegate or Demiurge subpar at all. Timegates Section 8 & Predjudice games are great games. I can see Timegate becomming the next Free Radical; and Demiurge are a great boostrapped developer.

Nah, its all the partners in this, not those companies responsible for games that are well known to have good cred with the community. Demiurge did the original Mass Effect and Borderlands.

[ikarop]

I remember contacting GBX about this back in the day and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who caught wind of it back then. I had my reasons not to report it but I'm not sure about the rest of the press, particularly since these outsourcing partners kept being mentioned in interviews for almost two years (this was the first public mention). It's just kinda painful to watch all of this blow up on release date.



Official comment from Sega at a launch event:

"Absolutely not, the game has been developed by Gearbox Software. Other studios [like Timegate] helped Gearbox on the production of single and multiplayer."

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/sega-aliens-colonial-marines-sp-was-not-outsourced-to-timegate-studios/

[OpenMaw]

So... Liars, basically.

[MR EL1M1NATOR]

Regardless of what happened, this is on Gearbox's heads. The story was written by them, and they bullshitted this was a good game all the while knowing it was in reality a turd. They signed off on this product so the blame game just isn't going to fly.

[szkoki]

texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=2080612&forum_id=13

Hate to say it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up too high for Colonial Marines. I used to work at Gearbox, and the development of that game has been a total train wreck, going on what, 6 years now? Gearbox isn't even making the game, except for the multiplayer. Primary development was outsourced to TimeGate Studios, which has a less than stellar past.

I hope it proves me wrong, as I still have alot of friends still working at Gearbox, but I am expecting it to be average at best.

- mugwurt from TexAgs.com, posted 12:46a, 05/16/12

[RagingDragon]

Of course, now here come the articles. this is old news, it's just sad that they start publishing this stuff now. It makes them look just as bad as those who hyped the hell out of this game. Jump ship, quick!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/aliens-colonial-marines-development-was-a-total-train-wreck-says-ex-dev-6403761

[Le Celticant]

There are quite a few things that point out that the game development hasn't been smooth.
First it is the choice of SEGA by picking Gearbox which was already devoting its soul to other games.
Because Gearbox couldn't focus on everything, they have chosen to get a little help from different studios.

The good thing is: You make work much faster.
The bad thing is: Other studios have different methods of coding. That can explain the X amount of glitch / bug / lag everywhere present in the game.

Also, you must remember that this game was intended for Wii U which was not even out.
Meaning that the developers had to focus on PC, PS3 and XBox but also a console that was still at its Beta stage and where no proper FPS have been developed before on it.
So you can guess that the amount of time spend on the game was doubled and the progress considerably slowed.

Plus you had in this mess Crazy fans asking for changing their Alien tail (so re-model, re-do setup (rigging + skinning) correcting animation since it may have brought a thousands problem) and many other small details rather than focusing on gameplay mechanic & networking.
You melt this during 6 years and you send the package and the result is here.
It's an experiment, kind of incomplete, it's not a beta or a a top quality, it's just a product that was pushed away constantly by saying "I want to add this, and this and this, work on that, this detail is not like the movie, maybe we should add that, this is a good idea let's bring it" and when the deadline came they had to pack it up as it was so it's nearly Work In Progress.

[jahickson]

In response the the post about Sega denying TimeGates involvment in the Single Player..

Sega is saying this because as I said earlier in this thread: Sega was not made aware of TG's involvement when it was happening. Sega is right they paid GBX to make this game, not some outsourcing studio. Remember Sega funds Gearbox to make this game, not the other way around... So when GBX knew they couldn't fulfill their release commitments (all with being busy with BL2, DNF and Furious 4) they outsourced the game for ~year to make sure someone was working on it full time... Using, btw, the money Sega was giving them... Who is to even say GBX was giving TG less money than it was actually getting from Sega... Pulling off a profit while basically being a middle man... (that last part in conjecture, but I wouldn't put it past GBX)...

And again as I said before, since the game switched hands between Time Gate and GBX and then back to GBX, many systems were redone, art was redone (textures, particles, meshes) the game was tinkered with and changed by too many different people and too many different visions... Basically, if GBX would have had the balls to be honest with Sega and ask for more time while it worked on BL2 and kept the game in-house, this game could have been pretty good. But by selling off responsibilities to Time Gate, the game really had no chance in becoming the walkthrough video shown above.

Again, the stories from this GBX Employee are true... If anything Sega is just finding about all of this now...

Forget watergate, now we have timegate!

Also, if you are curious about GBX's further bad dealings, investigate the relationship between Ubisoft and GBX and the Furious 4 game announced at E3 few years back... Ubisoft was funding GBX for another traditional Hell's Highway game... what they didn't want was a whole Inglorious Basterds game... Let's just say a lot of shit hit the fan and fan reaction to the trailer helped give Ubisoft some leverage in getting GBX back to making the game Ubisoft originally wanted.

[VonPelz]

http://www.reddit.com/r/LV426/comments/18ewf4/a_lot_of_you_are_rightfully_upset_at_the_final/

Interesting read and sounds plausible. What a mess.

[ShadowPred]

Christ, Gearbox...what the f**k happened? Holy shit.

[piff]

Christ, Gearbox...what the f**k happened? Holy shit.

look at the game review, the game is done for. no dedicated servers, low score.

and they want people to invest over $100 when you factor in the game, maps ect...


http://www.gamespot.com/aliens-colonial-marines/reviews/aliens-colonial-marines-review-6403683/

4.5 POOR