Bungie Co-Founder Tries New Approach, Licenses Halo Engine

Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for its article discussing Bungie co-founder Alexander Seropian's forming of Wideload Games, a development studio "which has started work on a new PC/Xbox title based on the Halo engine technology." The studio's development philosophy is an attempt to break with the past by using "a very small number of core staff, and hiring independent staffers to actually bring the game through to completion", and Seropian comments of current large-scale development methodologies: "It's kind of broken... it's kind of antiquated - it's how they were making films in the '30s."

Comments

uh..

[hookedup]

independent staffers

So they are outsourcing?

Films from the 30s

[AtariAmarok]

" it's how they were making films in the '30s." "

...a decade which gave us The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and other landmark films. Sometimes, better writing/creation/etc is better than having the most recent effects technology, in films, games, or elsewhere.

Re:Films from the 30s

[Anonymous Coward]

Every decade has had some great films. The 30s are not unique in that respect.

Making Games.

[Retric]

So there outsourcing game development. Which is news because?

On a side note I think there trying to save money buy only hiring talent when they need them. So if the soundtrack is done they can save money by not having them hang around any longer ect. Then again it's hard to work with a development team that is constantly changing. I am going to vote for underpaid development teams working 80 hour weeks hoping for a success time will tell. VS. the consultant's that are just trying to rack up development but shout be interesting.

Great.

[vasqzr]

Now, we'll have 100's of crappy FPS games on the Xbox!

Anyone remember all the Doom/Quake clones in the mid late 90's on the PC?

Flawed Analogy

[NickFusion]

The reason films can be made by, and in some respects need to be made by large numbers of mobile freelancers is twofold:

Movies shoot in locations around the world, and a production company may find themselves in vastly different physical locations from film to film, requiring local talent to fill out the pool.

Movies are by-and-large made with very standardized technology, the Pananflex, HMIs, 10ks, there is a standard lingo for stardard equipment that make it possible for a freelancer from Boston to interact with a film crew from LA.

This didn't use to be the case, in the early years of film, the technology was very mutable, standards were still forming, very chaotic, and very creative. Things are now more formalized, and frequently formula-ized.

I doubt the game industry will find it self "shooting on location," so the first bit of the analogy falls flat.

As for the second, until graphics performance hit's it's peak (maybe it has), and it's widely regarded industry-wide that there is no percentage in building a new engine from scratch (some movement in that direction, re Doom/Unreal engine liscencing) you're not going to see the kind of standardization that allows a freelance workforce to interoperate seamlessly between companies.

As it currently stands, a worker becomes more valuable the longer he stays with a developer, and new people have a large amount of developer specific information to absorb before they can function.

As to which model, old Hollywood/new Hollywood, is to the advantage of the worker, well, that's a tougher call.

It's the Actors, not the workers

[Marc_Hawke]

There have been many slashdot stories, among other things, asking about superstar developers. Why you can list a million publishers, development companies, etc, but only rarely do you know the name of a lead artist, or AI programmer.

It seems to me, his reference to the movie industry is not about the (grips, gaffers, etc) but the actors.

Their 'plan' is to make super-star developers. So, you get "American McGee's Alice" happening more often.

"Halo Remix, starring John Johnson on AI, with Bill Billiams on Textures, and directed by Tom Thompson. With Special guest in Organic Modelling Nick Nicholby!"

The block buster games will start to be created by the famous 'rock-star' developers....and the dev houses and publishers will be no more important than "Universal" vs "DreamWorks".