Pretty much every game I worked on at Black Isle had a gargantuan design document attached to it pre-implementation. This being said, in some cases this didn't prove to be a problem and was actually quite inspiring for the team (Torment), and in other situations we were definitely kidding ourselves.
This being said, we were an experienced developer and publisher with management that had a fair amount of experience in what it takes to get something out on time and make some money. When internal projects failed, it was because the attention to keeping the talent focused, working, and motoring along schedule wasn't there like it had been on other projects. I'll be the first one to admit that without a clear idea of what I we were contributing to a particular end goal, my attention and focus derailed.
You get that vibe going team wide, and you've got a real problem. There's a real talent that lies in managing creative people in the game industry. You have to give them enough room in the box to explore and devise fun/clever/exciting things while making sure that they understand it's a business and shit needs to get done. While it's unreasonable to expect that people have the same kind of work ethic as Caramack, it's foolish to assume that all you need to set up is a big kid's paradise to foster the kind of creative buzz a project/studio needs to bust out a AAA title.
Producers (and other leads) who can find the right balances and manage appropriately are fairly unique people.
Disappointing that M4 didn't find it's way to the finish line. Dave Konieczny is a very good friend of mine, and I followed the progress of your project through plenty of phone calls to the 5D offices.:)
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Pretty much every game I worked on at Black Isle had a gargantuan design document attached to it pre-implementation. This being said, in some cases this didn't prove to be a problem and was actually quite inspiring for the team (Torment), and in other situations we were definitely kidding ourselves. This being said, we were an experienced developer and publisher with management that had a fair amount of experience in what it takes to get something out on time and make some money. When internal projects failed, it was because the attention to keeping the talent focused, working, and motoring along schedule wasn't there like it had been on other projects. I'll be the first one to admit that without a clear idea of what I we were contributing to a particular end goal, my attention and focus derailed. You get that vibe going team wide, and you've got a real problem. There's a real talent that lies in managing creative people in the game industry. You have to give them enough room in the box to explore and devise fun/clever/exciting things while making sure that they understand it's a business and shit needs to get done. While it's unreasonable to expect that people have the same kind of work ethic as Caramack, it's foolish to assume that all you need to set up is a big kid's paradise to foster the kind of creative buzz a project/studio needs to bust out a AAA title. Producers (and other leads) who can find the right balances and manage appropriately are fairly unique people.
Disappointing that M4 didn't find it's way to the finish line. Dave Konieczny is a very good friend of mine, and I followed the progress of your project through plenty of phone calls to the 5D offices. :)