Chuck Berry
Gold Member
Has it been shut down yet?
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Concord is being taken offline on September 6, purchases refunded
DonF
Member
thats just a shame but at that point you dont need artists. cause you are not taking their input, it reads like studios just need AI image generation.On some places, you saw comments like "Concord characters weren't designed by committee, if they were, they would be a bunch of big tit Waifus and bald space marines, instead, they are quirky misfits"
Then one of the artists of the game pretty much says "they were designed by committee"
I actually feel bad for most of the devs at firewalk who didn't have decision power, they likely wanted to do something better, but had to cater to "modern audiences tastes"
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Never get a second chance to make a first impression. Combined with the devs telling the world the game is a 5 on 5 hero shooter just cemented it. At least for an entire year, nobody really knew what the game was aside from a CGI trailer. If it ended up a spoofy fun SP game it wouldnt be so bad (like GotG game), but as a hero shooter it was DOA.
That's not to say a game that got a bad starting impression (F76, RS: Siege and some more) cant start off bad and greatly improve. It can happen with tons of updates. Key difference is those games have a franchise history already, had lots of gamers day one, and had zero politics involved. It involved improving content and gameplay. Not diversity olympics and overhauling the entire artwork. In games like Fallout or a modern soldier game, you dont need crazy cool characters shooting fireballs with blue hair. Just adequate ones that fit the role and thats good enough.
Here's the cast of ugly characters. Bad looks, bad colour palette. Most of the characters have one shade to them. You can practically call them red chick, green guy, yellow robot, purple grandma etc.... Just to prove how unappealing the characters are, when FW posted the beta test results and Top 5 played characters, the top 2 were white/hispanic solider dude and the flying asian girl. Two of the handful of normal looking characters. The rest look ugly or outright retarded like big black tank girl in a turtle shell outfit, fungus head alien and ultra fat filapino dude wearing a bubbly winter jacket with orange dishwasher gloves. And then there's cringey Cmon Cmon Let's Go elfy girl. Then the rest of the Top 5 were hipster shrek, deion sanders with a hat and oddly the faceless astronaut girl wearing a bland spacesuit with the rocket launcher was #5.
Lets face it. If youre going to go for a hero based game (shooter, RPG, fighting, kick ass meathead slashing aliens game etc....) you got to at least make the characters cool. While other kinds of games like puzzles, sports, racing, turn based WWII hex strategy game dont need that appeal to win fans.
That's not to say a game that got a bad starting impression (F76, RS: Siege and some more) cant start off bad and greatly improve. It can happen with tons of updates. Key difference is those games have a franchise history already, had lots of gamers day one, and had zero politics involved. It involved improving content and gameplay. Not diversity olympics and overhauling the entire artwork. In games like Fallout or a modern soldier game, you dont need crazy cool characters shooting fireballs with blue hair. Just adequate ones that fit the role and thats good enough.
Here's the cast of ugly characters. Bad looks, bad colour palette. Most of the characters have one shade to them. You can practically call them red chick, green guy, yellow robot, purple grandma etc.... Just to prove how unappealing the characters are, when FW posted the beta test results and Top 5 played characters, the top 2 were white/hispanic solider dude and the flying asian girl. Two of the handful of normal looking characters. The rest look ugly or outright retarded like big black tank girl in a turtle shell outfit, fungus head alien and ultra fat filapino dude wearing a bubbly winter jacket with orange dishwasher gloves. And then there's cringey Cmon Cmon Let's Go elfy girl. Then the rest of the Top 5 were hipster shrek, deion sanders with a hat and oddly the faceless astronaut girl wearing a bland spacesuit with the rocket launcher was #5.
Lets face it. If youre going to go for a hero based game (shooter, RPG, fighting, kick ass meathead slashing aliens game etc....) you got to at least make the characters cool. While other kinds of games like puzzles, sports, racing, turn based WWII hex strategy game dont need that appeal to win fans.
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Kronark
Neo Member
Where is Jason Schreier when I need him?
I really need the juicy details on how 70% of the studio didn't believe in this game either. What kind of echo chamber studio culture do you need to ignore feedback this hard? Even Rocksteady looked at the feedback for Suicide Squad and seemed to have an internal "We're screwed..." moment.
I really need the juicy details on how 70% of the studio didn't believe in this game either. What kind of echo chamber studio culture do you need to ignore feedback this hard? Even Rocksteady looked at the feedback for Suicide Squad and seemed to have an internal "We're screwed..." moment.
Cyberpunkd
Member
Nobody wants to be branded as “defeatist”. Corpo life.
PatientGamer
Member
Why do game developers/artists/writers etc, always want to be mollycoddled when their work fails to deliver fiscal results? This doesn't happen in almost any other industry.
Is it because their work has suddenly become 'public' for all to see? I still don't get it.
It was a bad project and ultimately the failure of leadership who should've closed it at Alpha. It's a mark of true arrogance and stubbornness that allow projects like this to see the light of the day.
Don't blame gamers for talking ill of your project. Do better next time lol, no game should be getting anywhere near 8 years of development time without a direct intervention from the higher ups.
What were the leadership team at Firewalk doing during this 8-year period? Crikey.
Is it because their work has suddenly become 'public' for all to see? I still don't get it.
It was a bad project and ultimately the failure of leadership who should've closed it at Alpha. It's a mark of true arrogance and stubbornness that allow projects like this to see the light of the day.
Don't blame gamers for talking ill of your project. Do better next time lol, no game should be getting anywhere near 8 years of development time without a direct intervention from the higher ups.
What were the leadership team at Firewalk doing during this 8-year period? Crikey.
ChuckeRearmed
Member
Bye, you won't be missed
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
LOL. I had to google what mollycoddled meant. I had a feeling it had to do with being coddled, but googled the term to make sure. First time Ive heard that word before!
Reason for those cringey apology and self serving ego boosting PR statements is due to the nature of the industry. Lots of manchildren work there, so when things go bad they feel like shit. In the meantime for 5 years on social media developing the game, devs are probably all amped up, super confident, possible battling fans who saw a preview build etc.... Reality sets in when the game releases and their corporate echo chamber of creative geniuses who think they know more about art and gaming than the rest of the world comes crashing down. There's also a chance a big bomb leads to layoffs. So doing a public statement how they did their best might soothe some hard feelings on the way out.
Game reviewers grill the game, gamers laugh and say what a waste of time and money when they could had made something else. And the nature of game dev is project based. So a studio might take 5 years to make a game and nothing else. So if it bombs, they just wasted 5 years of their career (assuming most stick around and arent already working on another contract gig at different company) and people will grill them until perhaps their next game in 5 years is redemption.
It wouldnt be so bad if game studios (they know who they are) didnt get combative or push politics. Just make a game with the best foot forward. If it fails, so be it. But people can respect a good try. Babylons Fall failed miserably. But I dont see ongoing threads and twitter and YT videos about it. It was a crappy action GAAS game, nothing more. The graphics seemed ok (minus the giant Visionaries avatar stuff floating around), but the game got nailed on poor gameplay. Not politics or bland modes or character/colour schemes. And I dont remember anyone at Platinum Games ranting on Twitter about white people.
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Londo
Neo Member
On some places, you saw comments like "Concord characters weren't designed by committee, if they were, they would be a bunch of big tit Waifus and bald space marines, instead, they are quirky misfits"
Then one of the artists of the game pretty much says "they were designed by committee"
I actually feel bad for most of the devs at firewalk who didn't have decision power, they likely wanted to do something better, but had to cater to "modern audiences tastes"
Why, oh why this generation of people can't stand ANY form of criticism? Okay, you fucked up, own it and move on.
Are you that much sensitive to external inputs and/or any screwup you do? That's okay too, you know, what isn't is dwelling in it too much. Seek professional help, a change in perspective will do wonders to your self-esteem.
Internet is not a friend, it's a tool.
Redneckerz
Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
Why would you ever need Jason Schreier.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
It’s so hollow and disingenuous. Pearl clutching about how publishers have unrealistically high expectations, and how Sony is so awful for giving up on Concord so easily instead of staying the course + raking in all those potential profits.
But it’s obvious that they’re just butthurt because they see this as a victory for the CHUDs and a loss for their whole “modern audiences are diverse and they want DEI in their entertainment” delusional worldview.
You know that if like, Hogwarts Legacy or Black Myth Wukong had bombed this badly, they wouldn’t be crying about unrealistic expectations. They’d be celebrating like they just won some major victory in the culture war.
GymWolf
Member
After dustborn it's really impossible to separete comedy from reality, that game felt like it was trolling the wokes with all the woke buzzwords but it was all on purpose...
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Valt7786
Member
They're utter narcissists who spent their whole childhood being told how special they were, getting "participation" trophys,not being told "no, thats a bad idea" and being "reasoned" with instead of disciplined properly by their parents. Probably.
Timberwolf25
Member
This is the result of the "everybody gets a trophy" mentality. Where there is no distinction between winning and losing, so why put in the effort to excel. It leads to these kids, and eventually adults, thinking that just because they create something, it should be universally loved and praised.
The problem for them is that the real world doesn't work that way. It's sad they have to learn this lesson the hard way, but better late than never. Sadly only some of them will grow from this. The others that haven't learned, will put out the shitty posts that blame "bigotry" for the reason of their failures.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
So true. Narcissists is a perfect term.
It goes wit the territory of creatives. They think because they drew it or programmed some pixels on Unreal Engine which hardly anyone can, they think their work is god's work and everyone else is a dumb ass. Hey, it is true most people dont know how to program software, but end of the day if it sucks it still sucks.
How many people know how to design and engineer a car? Hardly anyone. It takes skill, and one part art and one part science. Some cars look like shit and get awful reviews. I dont see anyone at head office going on Twitter battling it out with car buffs or see any car review articles protecting them. If it sucks, it sucks. Somehow they can live with it. But a group of programmers who are adults making a bad game cry. You'd think as adults you kind of grow out of things, but some industries have more emotional people than others.
ResilientBanana
Member
I like that they mention the fans liked it, but not enough. I'm pretty sure the positive, inclusive loving fans actually did buy it and did their part. But clearly they catered to the minority crowd. Like if suddenly sports teams started doing all of this, do you think they would be catering to a majority or a minority? Teams would lose so much money because nobody would watch it. Cause and effect is at play here. It's just unfortunate that a lot of artists probably fit the hardcore leftist way of thinking and aren't more centered.The morons at Wired are coping:
-Culture.jpg)
The Death of ‘Concord’ Offers a Bleak Look at Gaming’s Future
After eight years of development, Sony pulled the plug on “Concord” today after just two weeks. Fans loved it, but seemingly not enough. Is the future of the industry blockbuster-or-bust?www.wired.com
Nydius
Gold Member
It’s what the “self-esteem” movement hath wrought. As an anecdotal aside, my late mother was a public school teacher and she was right there on the front lines when this attitude shifted.
Don’t use the word “no”, it will hurt their self-esteem.
Don’t give them failing grades, it will hurt their self-esteem.
Don’t let anyone feel left out no matter the reality, it’ll hurt their self-esteem.
And so on. The quest to make sure no one’s self-esteem got hurt has warped an entire generation’s view on reality.
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Nikodemos
Member
You know that meme, with the conference room meeting, and the guy who proposes the sensible solution goes flying out the window? That's actually satire. Satire is built upon real detrimental behaviors.
hemo memo
You can't die before your death
It was never alive
Schmendrick
Member
Why is Jason Momoa cosplaying as "Dora the Explorer if she was a frustrated old lesbian"?
Fake
Member
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Yeah I actually feel sorry for them as well. Imagine getting your dream job designing characters for some exciting new big budget game by a studio that got bought by Sony. Only to have all your work “fixed” by a committee of miserable harpies who hate their audience. Then watching your final product crash and burn in spectacular fashion.On some places, you saw comments like "Concord characters weren't designed by committee, if they were, they would be a bunch of big tit Waifus and bald space marines, instead, they are quirky misfits"
Then one of the artists of the game pretty much says "they were designed by committee"
I actually feel bad for most of the devs at firewalk who didn't have decision power, they likely wanted to do something better, but had to cater to "modern audiences tastes"
What a soul crushing experience.
I hope we get more Firewalk employees speaking up and throwing their employer under the bus.
They’d be far better off not saying anything, in terms of career prospects. Work on making your portfolio shine and explain privately that your Concord designs were overridden by management. Then you still have AAA experience and can mitigate the stink of the project’s failure extending to your own work. Someone who runs to spill tea online is nothing but a liability.
King Dazzar
Member
Concord's almost like a forgotten bad hangover now with the Astrobot push. They're very lucky to have had that coming along.
Draugoth
Gold Member
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SkylineRKR
Member
This person has a bit of a level headed response and isn't lashing out to randoms for a change.
But still, wanting to completely exit the business and not draw anymore because of a failure does sound very millennial to me. If its design by committee, then I could probably shrug it off with the thought that what ended up being used wasn't my idea. Its easy to speak from the sidelines ofcourse but I saw from miles away that this character design and woke shit was going to bomb. I can't imagine no one in the team felt the same way, unless every single one of them were handpicked DEI extremists.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Personally, I think a bunch of workers who push crappy or political content knowing it will bomb dont give a shit. Thats because a good portion of workers are contract workers. So by the time the game releases they are already gone to another company anyway. So to them it makes them happy they got their insane views into a final product. Thats the win.
What really sucks is the FT job people who rely on a successful product to make some sales and keep the company afloat. Your typical sales, finance, admin staffer or HR function arent contract roles. They are usually FT steady roles, where these people arent used to going from gig to gig every two years. And these roles dont play a part of creative or product formation, so they are at the mercy of whatever the game is whether it's crazy good or crazy bad. These people are fucked. At least for any techie/arts job on a game, how many of them are FT staff from beginning to end?
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
My only explanation for Dustborn was they laid it on extra thick in an attempt to get the CHUDs all riled up, thus causing the SJWs to white knight for it and buy it out of principle.
It all went according to plan, aside from that “buying it” part.
But yeah, if I didn’t know the person behind it, I would’ve sworn this was some kind of “let’s see what massive pile of shit we can get the Ministry of Culture to fund” prank/satire.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Apparently 45 minutes left and this thing flatlines.
GymWolf
Member
Would that even work?
Hey believe me, i'm a great artist!
Concord? Oh I was forced to do that, trust me bro.
If you were the head of the studio how do you even check such a thing to see if it's true before hiring?
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
But you can still play Redfall. I guess because we can’t play Concord, we have to take the word of the 12 people that bought it and got refunded. You know, because Concord is dead and unplayable.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
The fact that you have to ask is hilarious.
Show your own original designs that are stronger than what shipped. The experience of working in AAA is not just about what the end product looked like, it’s about whether you were selected to work at the level of a big budget project and worked appropriately within your team to complete what was asked of you.
Chuck Berry
Gold Member
How so? I was just wondering if they had a specific kill time. Was it at midnight? Is it later this afternoon?
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Supposedly 10 am PST/1 pm EST. So in half in hour.
Amazingly, when the servers are shut off Dustborn will overtake it.
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Bernardougf
Member
Yeah.. and the comment saying they dont want to do games anymore... it dosent looks like someone who take orders to do shit but can find another place better and do something better would say ... it sounds like "people dont appreciate my genius progressive art so fuck this"
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
No, I mean, no one knows because no one’s playing it.
killatopak
Member
GymWolf
Member
Lol in the gif it looks like he enjoy the fable dude at the end
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I have a hard time believing management and execs were the ones pushing for these junky graphics. cringey characters and pronouns. Characters and art style (colours) are terrible. If anything, upper management is typically focused more on budgets and sales, and they'll do whatever it takes to maximize sales if they can...... not push it away with junky visuals.
If anything, I'd bet management wanted better changes and the workers resisted. Just like the tweet years ago from the guy who did the anti-white tweet. That was no VP tweeting that. It was an art guy.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
That’s not a dude. It’s just a very, very, very ugly female.Lol in the gif it looks like he enjoy the fable dude at the end
GymWolf
Member
I know i know.
PeteBull
Member
I remember we even had fairy recent thread on gaf when actual dev complained(was twitter post) every time he proposes sexy design for black chicks higher ups make him change it to much more ugly ones
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
There was a gaffer yesterday who posted a vid of someone who used AI to make better looking characters. They skewed a little young and booby (even the grandma character in purple was made into a 20-something female), but overall 10x better than what the devs made. And I bet the guy just dabbled with an AI tool for an hour.
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