Harvey Smith Says Low BlackSite: Area 51 Review Scores "Not Surprising"

[Andy Chalk]

Harvey Smith Says Low BlackSite: Area 51 Review Scores "Not Surprising"

Speaking at this year's BlackSite: Area 51 [http://www.sijm.ca/en] designer Harvey Smith gave some brutally honest opinions about the lukewarm reception the game was given, saying, "We got hammered so hard, and we deserved it."

While working on BlackSite, Smith was also overseeing another project, and Smith said, "I wasn't excited about this Area 51 game." Technical issues were also a source of trouble. "Everyone was forced to share tech," he said, adding, "It took eight months to get one thing working."

The game also wasn't given adequate time for testing. Smith said that during his time on the renowned Deus Ex [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex], the development team spent six months playing the game after it was completed to ensure everything functioned properly. In contrast, he said that the BlackSite team had "four days to orange box something," referring to the process of fixing and polishing a level, a time constraint he called "completely reprehensible."

"With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails," Smith said, adding that once the team had the game playable, "It went straight from alpha to final." The game was released in North American on November 13 for PC and PlayStation 3 [http://www.xbox.com]version is also expected shortly.

Although he believes the game deserved better scores than it has received, Smith claims the low scores came as no surprise to him, saying, "This project was so fucked up."


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[CarlosYenrac]

If the product is not finished, don't release it.
My mind boggles at the thought of what our beloved games industry would be like if more developers lived by this philosophy. We are not going to die if the next super-hyped game isn't on our doorsteps 3 months after it's announced, and personally I'm perfectly happy to wait an extra 6 months for a game if i know i'm going to get a quality title (gee, that next Duke Nukem game is going to be good, isn't it?).
This is why, even though i own five times the amount of PS2 games compared to Gamecube, Nintendo will always have my loyalty- hell, I already own Twilight Princess and I don't even have a wii- YET.
I waited years for a new metroid title after 3 and was not disappointed by prime even though I had waited through the N64 era. I would have waited until the wii for a similar quality metroid game- the sooner publishers realise that Q4 is not the be-all and end-all of the games industry, the less shit games we'll have to wade through for the gems.

*rant over*

*edit* ps. as a Star Trek fan i am also still stinging from the obvious disdain Interplay held for us poor, underappreciated trekkies who only wanted a decent, playable game set in our favourite fictional universe. Ironically it took Activision (always a byword for crappy no brainer SHMUPS in my mind until that point) to finally make it a reality.

 

[Saskwach]

If the product is not finished, don't release it.
My mind boggles at the thought of what our beloved games industry would be like if more developers lived by this philosophy.

I don't think many DEVELOPERS don't. Smith doesn't sound like he or anyone on the team were the ones pushing.

 

[Andy Chalk]

My understanding of the situation (that wee little teeny bit of it) is that this kind of pressure usually comes from the publishers.

 

[TheDarkArchon]

I'll quote PC Gamer here: "Delayed, then suddenly released. WTF?"