RIP, The Last Great Indie
A lament for the last indie powerhouse becoming another cog in the machine.
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A lament for the last indie powerhouse becoming another cog in the machine.
Read Full Article
RIP, The Last Great Indie
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
It's all about the money. I was disappointed when BioWare took that filthy wad of cash from EA.
I think game development needs to go back to its roots of small teams that ride on the success of their talent. That's what gets me excited about indie games. When you get an artist, programmer, writer and musician in the same room with just enough talent, that's all you really need. A four-piece development team. Rock on!
I think game development needs to go back to its roots of small teams that ride on the success of their talent. That's what gets me excited about indie games. When you get an artist, programmer, writer and musician in the same room with just enough talent, that's all you really need. A four-piece development team. Rock on!
I guess the question is, what sort of subsidiary are they going to be?
For example, EA bought up Westwood and Bioware. One still exists and makes good games, the other... RIP.
Will iD get the chance to make something good again? will they just be responsible for graphics engine work etc.? or will they slowly disappear?
[edit] The above post about Doom vs. Doom 3 got me thinking, I don't think I have enjoyed an iD game for quite a long time... maybe longer than 10 years...
For example, EA bought up Westwood and Bioware. One still exists and makes good games, the other... RIP.
Will iD get the chance to make something good again? will they just be responsible for graphics engine work etc.? or will they slowly disappear?
[edit] The above post about Doom vs. Doom 3 got me thinking, I don't think I have enjoyed an iD game for quite a long time... maybe longer than 10 years...
Well, a couple of points:
Bethesda is a hit or miss operation, you look at their big successes which have been sandbox RPGs, but they have developed/worked on other titles besides those. Including more limited RPG fare like Battlespire, to action RPG fare like Redguard, to things like X-Cars, Star Trek, and I believe a Star Wars themed chess program. Outside of their core Elder Scrolls games and Fallout 3 (which was itself a modified version of Oblivion) I don't think they have been successful though they have tried to branch out.
iD Software might very well give them the technical support they need to branch out into other things successfully, though honestly I'd think letting Bethesda do anything besides Sandbox RPGs would be a waste of having obtained the company. They do one thing well, and have proven they really aren't good at anything else (apologies to them).
It also occurs to me that with a sequel to Fallout 3 doubtlessly ahead, they might be looking to remove the RPG elements or reduce them substantially and towards that end wanted a set of experts in the shooter genere, namely the guys who pretty much invented the FPS. Truthfully I think this would kill the franchise, but it could be what they are thinking.
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As far as the analogy to the Beatles, well, I think the idea of splitting off usually involves people having differances of opinion on what to work on next and a couple of key members splitting resources to work on differant projects with their own teams. Oftentimes this leads to problems as described. I mention this simply because it isn't them generally just hiring 4 unproven bums to develop a game without any real plan and letting them use their name. Typically such split-offs make sense when they happen even if the underlying principle is to make more money.
On the other hand it occurs to me that if they did make a "Beatles West" and simply saw Paul and John splitting up to work on their own projects (since as I understand them the central conflict was the two of them disagreeing about what the music should be about) it might have changed musical history for the better.
What's more given that the Monkees were primarily a group of actors paid to pretend they were musicians (to my knowlege), and were ripping off (or paying homage to) the Beatles heavily in their style, becoming successful and well remembered despite everything, I'd imagine if The Beatles did decide to eventually split off, hire actors who could imitate their style, and have Paul and John do the actual writing... well they probably could have built quite the little clone empire there for a while.
Sort of like the amusing rumors that spawned a certain Bill Campbell comedy that Elvis Presley actually hired Elvis Impersonators to do some of his shows in his place (Bubba Ho Tep having taken the idea a couple of steps further than that... heh).
>>>----Therumancer--->
Bethesda is a hit or miss operation, you look at their big successes which have been sandbox RPGs, but they have developed/worked on other titles besides those. Including more limited RPG fare like Battlespire, to action RPG fare like Redguard, to things like X-Cars, Star Trek, and I believe a Star Wars themed chess program. Outside of their core Elder Scrolls games and Fallout 3 (which was itself a modified version of Oblivion) I don't think they have been successful though they have tried to branch out.
iD Software might very well give them the technical support they need to branch out into other things successfully, though honestly I'd think letting Bethesda do anything besides Sandbox RPGs would be a waste of having obtained the company. They do one thing well, and have proven they really aren't good at anything else (apologies to them).
It also occurs to me that with a sequel to Fallout 3 doubtlessly ahead, they might be looking to remove the RPG elements or reduce them substantially and towards that end wanted a set of experts in the shooter genere, namely the guys who pretty much invented the FPS. Truthfully I think this would kill the franchise, but it could be what they are thinking.
-
As far as the analogy to the Beatles, well, I think the idea of splitting off usually involves people having differances of opinion on what to work on next and a couple of key members splitting resources to work on differant projects with their own teams. Oftentimes this leads to problems as described. I mention this simply because it isn't them generally just hiring 4 unproven bums to develop a game without any real plan and letting them use their name. Typically such split-offs make sense when they happen even if the underlying principle is to make more money.
On the other hand it occurs to me that if they did make a "Beatles West" and simply saw Paul and John splitting up to work on their own projects (since as I understand them the central conflict was the two of them disagreeing about what the music should be about) it might have changed musical history for the better.
What's more given that the Monkees were primarily a group of actors paid to pretend they were musicians (to my knowlege), and were ripping off (or paying homage to) the Beatles heavily in their style, becoming successful and well remembered despite everything, I'd imagine if The Beatles did decide to eventually split off, hire actors who could imitate their style, and have Paul and John do the actual writing... well they probably could have built quite the little clone empire there for a while.
Sort of like the amusing rumors that spawned a certain Bill Campbell comedy that Elvis Presley actually hired Elvis Impersonators to do some of his shows in his place (Bubba Ho Tep having taken the idea a couple of steps further than that... heh).
>>>----Therumancer--->
ummmmmmm.......epic games anyony? last i checked they were still an independent studio, granted they make about as much money as some large publishers, but their still an independent studio.
anyway, nice article, but i do have one big problem with it. the fact is this: times change, things change and the world changes. you either change with it or get left behind. fact of the matter is that game development is more expensive then its ever been (with games quickly catching up to movies in terms of cost) primarily because of the increasing demand to make games look better (kind of ironic since it was id that was a major proponent of pushing graphics technology back in the day). these days a studio cant survive and produce these kinds of games with one small team, and for a studio like id to concentrate only on small, simple games would be odd.
lastly, with multiple teams if one fails the other CAN make up for its failure, where if they have one team and it fails alls pretty much lost.
anyway, nice article, but i do have one big problem with it. the fact is this: times change, things change and the world changes. you either change with it or get left behind. fact of the matter is that game development is more expensive then its ever been (with games quickly catching up to movies in terms of cost) primarily because of the increasing demand to make games look better (kind of ironic since it was id that was a major proponent of pushing graphics technology back in the day). these days a studio cant survive and produce these kinds of games with one small team, and for a studio like id to concentrate only on small, simple games would be odd.
lastly, with multiple teams if one fails the other CAN make up for its failure, where if they have one team and it fails alls pretty much lost.
Great article. id have always been one of my favourite developers, and Quake II is still one of my favourite games of all time. Like you, I've always admired the fact that they kept doing what they were good at and didn't sell out to anyone, until now, at least. I doubt the move to ZeniMax will hurt them, since they'll have a lot more money to work with, but it's still a pity that they don't stand alone any more.
Incidentally, am I the only one who actually liked Quake 4?
id was always a powerhouse, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Their games may not be particularly complicated, but they do what they need to: they're good, solid, and all-round fun. Sometimes, that's all a game needs to be.Radeonx said:
Incidentally, am I the only one who actually liked Quake 4?
I did. It was a very solid old-school fast-paced type of shooter in a way that was refreshing compared to slower paced shooters like Halo, Killzone and the others. I wasn't really expecting much after Doom 3 to be honest but Quake 4 basically was what Doom 3 should've been.Anachronism said:
The multiplayer was nice too, though it was just copy-pasted from Quake 3. You can't fail there.
I dug Quake 4 too. Like you said, not high art - but fun. The biggest problem with the game was that they spoiled the best part (Strogification) in the previews. If that had been a surprise twist I think it would have really grabbed people.Woe Is You said:
Loved the article.
I for one, never liked id Software very much. All they did was make games that constantly made me motion sick, something which was the sole reason for putting me off gaming when I was a young lad checking out this new PC stuff. Pretty much the same goes for Bethesda, their shitty and repetitive engine made me lose any interest I had within the story.
I'm very unsure what the two teams could cook up together, but considering how little either of them has managed to catch my attention, I doubt I'll be interested.
I for one, never liked id Software very much. All they did was make games that constantly made me motion sick, something which was the sole reason for putting me off gaming when I was a young lad checking out this new PC stuff. Pretty much the same goes for Bethesda, their shitty and repetitive engine made me lose any interest I had within the story.
I'm very unsure what the two teams could cook up together, but considering how little either of them has managed to catch my attention, I doubt I'll be interested.
I certainly that was major idiocy on the part of pretty much everybody. The manual spoiled it, the box spoiled it, the site I bought it from spoiled it... there was virtually no way of avoiding it being spoiled. I found the game itself fun, but not special. Shortly before getting it, I had been playing Fear, so the gunplay didn't spark as much. Plus I think by this time I'd gotten Body Horror fatigue from various games I'd been playing, so some of the set design manage to be both squicky and tiresome.Shamus Young said:
Great article, and very interesting as well, as I didn't know much about id beforehand.
Such a shame though to see the last indie maker go.
Such a shame though to see the last indie maker go.
