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Development teams at Rare

S

Shiggy

Member

http://raretopia.com/features/throughthemagnifyingglass/index.html
I updated it a bit. The SFA was relocated to other teams.

But there are 4 Xbox game developing teams and one for handhelds:
"Rare has the Game Boy team, which is working on like four games at once, Donkey Kong Country, Banjo. As far as the console it's tough to put a number on it - it has four and three quarter teams in a way, four full teams and one team that's kind of half involved with other stuff, half experimental."
http://www.computerandvideogames.co...deogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=97087

This still seems to be like that. Kameo and PDZ are still developed, the Banjo team most likely started BK3 and the Conker team most likely started to work on KI3. The releasedates for those two games are just guesses.

Sabreman Stampede, that's difficult. According to Ken Lobb that team didn't exist at that time anymore. But the game was confirmed by Leigh Loveday in 2004. Even IGN expected it to debut at E3.

Here's a quote of a ex-Rare-member: "I don't know what happened to DKR. I think the team was broken up and put onto other games. Would not surprise me if they release it one day though. Not that it was complete or anything. "
Maybe the game will be released at some point, it doesn't look like it is still in development.
 
GitarooMan said:
Please let this be true. I don't know why this wasn't made instead of Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
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Well, KI3 and BK3 are often named as Xbox 360 games as rumours, so don't see it as a fact.
 
I heard someone say recently that virtually no one from the GoldenEye days was still working at Rare.

Anyone know if that is true?
 
The only game I care for from Rare is BK3, but I've lost faith in Rare nowadays anyways. I doubt it will be anywhere near classic status as the original was.
 
TheInkyVoid said:
I heard someone say recently that virtually no one from the GoldenEye days was still working at Rare.

Anyone know if that is true?
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I don't know the specifics, but I think a lot of the GoldenEye team formed Free Radical (TimeSplitters, Second Sight)
 
Jet Force Gemini better make a return. Rare can shove all their other properties up their asses for all I care (well, maybe Banjo).
 
Dav2k said:
The only game I care for from Rare is BK3, but I've lost faith in Rare nowadays anyways. I doubt it will be anywhere near classic status as the original was.
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I agree, BK3 is the only game that would reignite my interest in rare (i'm not big on PD0, Kameo looks OK). The original B-K IMO is the best 3-D platformer ever made (and yes, I know many don't agree)
 
You mean goldeneye team or days? Because of the GE team people like Botwood and Edmonds are the only major staff left and working on PDZ. If you mean the entire company most of the key players are still there: Betteridge, two Mayles brothers, Seavor, Tilston and many more. Those guys have been around since the DKC days. In fact Betteridge pioneered the so called "ACM" technique within rare way back when IIRC, he is now tech director there.
 
So I don expect more than 5 Xbox 360 games from Rare. Those four games and maybe one from the PDZ team, the Kameo team needs longer, maybe they've got a game for the Xbox 720 launch :lol
 
silver said:
KI3 has been rumored since, like, KI:Gold came out. And who cares for BK3? Banjo-Tooie sucked harder than DK64.
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KI3 was actually in development after Conker was cancelled.
 
silver said:
And who cares for BK3? Banjo-Tooie sucked harder than DK64.
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I think some people (myself included) hold out hope that BK3 could be closer to B-K 1 and less like Banjo-Tooie (i.e hope that it would run faster than 15fps)
 
You mean "Conker's Other Bad Day"?

And GitarooMan: yeah, of course I hope that too. But the problem with BT wasn't just the framerate. A BK3 as good as BK1 will totally redeem Rare for me, though.
 
silver said:
And GitarooMan: yeah, of course I hope that too. But the problem with BT wasn't just the framerate. A BK3 as good as BK1 will totally redeem Rare for me, though.
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Yeah, I know. The framerate was just one of many issues
 
So many people work at RARE as well. I wonder if this is what Microsoft signed up for when they bought RARE? GBA games, and the occasional console game for 300million$, and 250employees.

What in the HELL do RARE employee's do all day? I mean, c'mon already. Bunch of lazy bastards if you ask me...
 
moku said:
So many people work at RARE as well. I wonder if this is what Microsoft signed up for when they bought RARE? GBA games, and the occasional console game for 300million$, and 250employees.

What in the HELL do RARE employee's do all day? I mean, c'mon already. Bunch of lazy bastards if you ask me...
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Well they're not that fast. I think you realize that Kameo changed very much after Starfox Adventures was finished, maybe because some of that team went to the Kameo team?
 
moku said:
So many people work at RARE as well. I wonder if this is what Microsoft signed up for when they bought RARE? GBA games, and the occasional console game for 300million$, and 250employees.

What in the HELL do RARE employee's do all day? I mean, c'mon already. Bunch of lazy bastards if you ask me...
Click to expand...

We work hard actually.
 
axxxj said:
We work hard actually.
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If you really do work for Rare, and on the PD0 team. Please don't let Joanna's game suck. This is a shot at redemption for you guys
 
moku said:
What in the HELL do RARE employee's do all day? I mean, c'mon already. Bunch of lazy bastards if you ask me...
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Rome was never built in the UK.
 
Working hard or hardly working? Rare has been the deadbeat dad of the console developer world. You expect them to come with that child-support money, but then they spent it all on weed. Make some goddamn games! And when you show them, don't make them suck ass. Rare is falling fast. PEACE.
 
axxxj said:
We work hard actually.
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Fuck the haters, I still believe. Especially after Conke L&R. Thought the multiplayer was fantastic.

Just a quick question, are most of the guys involved with previous Rare classics still working at Rare? And how is Kameo coming along, especially now that you have the beta kits.

I know Rare still have the excellent David Wise doing the music. Botwood, Seaver and Tilston, the producers from Perfect Dark, Conker and Goldeneye.

Just to let the myth rest.
 
I figure that if Nintendo had bought RARE when they offered themselves that the GameCube would now have Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, and Donkey Kong Racing (along with GbtG and Conker). I think these titles would've really helped fill in gaps in Nintendo's release schedule that have come up in the last couple of years.

I still wish Nintendo had decided to keep RARE. :(

At least it looks like Nintendo fans (without a Microsoft console) will be getting their games on the DS. :)
 
Do you think the reason Rare is having trouble putting games out lately is because of the constant system shifts? I figure over the years, it would've gone something like...

"Hey, you've been working on GameCube dev for a few years? Now, make games on completely new Xbox dev."
"Hey, you're working on Xbox dev. Xbox successor is early, now change dev work on that."

I mean, it can't be easy developing for a console for a couple years, only to have an immediate change, right?
 
And now a Rare glimpse inside one of the development studios:

WDCC-SCROOGE-I.jpg
 
Prine said:
Fuck the haters, I still believe. Especially after Conke L&R. Thought the multiplayer was fantastic.
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I'm not a hater, but I've lost a LOT of respect for Rare over the past generation. Maybe they can turn things around.

How many games did they release on SNES/N64, and how many of those games blew? That's when Rare was the shit. Great games man, and a good number of them.

I don't "love" companies like some of you people do, ESPECIALLY when they're sucking as hard as Rare has been for the past 4 years or so. They just want your money, you're a fool to even say "I still believe" :lol

Of course I'm not referring to individual staff members or anything like that, I'm talking about Rare the company.
 
Well, I was wrong. The great Jeton from Raretopia is back:

Ever since I wrote the Raretopia article a couple of years ago, I've been regularly updating the timeline to coincide with the latest information on Rare's development teams. I actually sent an email to Alberto a couple of days ago with the latest version of the timeline, but I'm not sure if he received it. Anyway, here it is for your viewing pleasure. If you compare it to the old one, you will notice a couple of differences:

http://www.raretopia.com/features/throughthemagnifyingglass/timeline_new.jpg

First of all, Sabreman Stampede has indeed been cancelled. If you want proof of this, check out the credits of Conker: Live and Reloaded. You will find that there are five ex-Stampede members on the team (compare to the credits of MSUSA, the last title released by the Stampede team). Furthermore, four ex-Stampede members including the lead designer have left the company, leaving virtually no one left on the team. Which ultimately means that the Stampede team must have been dispersed.

Secondly, I didn't bother to include the Quest team on the updated timeline since it was such a small team to begin with (only 13-strong). Besides, if I was to include every single team that has existed the chart would be too cluttered (remember there was a KI3 team as well). Instead, I have decided to stick only to the teams that actually finished their projects.

Lastly, I know for a fact that there are a total of six (not five) development teams at Rare, which include the handheld team. This means that there are five Xbox 360 titles in development, assuming that the Conker team is already underway with its next game. The Ghoulies team is hopefully working on Banjo-Kazooie 3, and the SFA team is probably working on something new. As for Killer Instinct 3, I'm not even sure it's currently in development. Last I heard, Chris Tilston and Kevin Bayliss are still heading the development of Perfect Dark Zero. Those two along with Mark Betteridge are the key people of the original Killer Instinct games, and the latter is no longer directly involved with games development. Of course, there is the possibility that KI3 is being picked up by a new team, but I doubt Rare would allocate a whole 30-plus team (i.e. Conker team) for such a project.

By the way, there are currently around 220 employees at Rare, of which 180 - 200 are involved with games production: five Xbox teams (5 x 30 people), handheld team (8 people), music team (8 people), testing team (15 people), and R&D team (at least 10 people).
Click to expand...
 
moku said:
So many people work at RARE as well. I wonder if this is what Microsoft signed up for when they bought RARE? GBA games, and the occasional console game for 300million$, and 250employees.

What in the HELL do RARE employee's do all day? I mean, c'mon already. Bunch of lazy bastards if you ask me...
Click to expand...
i think rare's games are visually impressive, and have a nice attention to detail, which creates long develpoment times, unfortunately.

ms realised they needed rare for 360's launch. which will have given kameo and [most probably] perfect dark around 5 years in development, so they should be great.

however, it is annoying that since the ms buyout rare has sold far more gba games than xbox games...!
 
First of all, Sabreman Stampede has indeed been cancelled. If you want proof of this, check out the credits of Conker: Live and Reloaded. You will find that there are five ex-Stampede members on the team (compare to the credits of MSUSA, the last title released by the Stampede team). Furthermore, four ex-Stampede members including the lead designer have left the company, leaving virtually no one left on the team. Which ultimately means that the Stampede team must have been dispersed.
Click to expand...
Goddamn, I've heard of this Stampede game, and will be pissed if it's cancelled. I remember watching the Donkey Kong Racing trailer at E3 2001 and was instantly my most anticipated GC game. I guess it'll never see the light of day. :(
 
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