-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Jason Schreier: A look inside BioShock Infinite’s troubled development
Punished Miku
Gold Member
Management is violence.
saintjules
Member
thesplitsubject
Member
It doesn’t sound that bad, I’m glad he has all of this artistic space to create something new and interesting.
Punished Miku
Gold Member
Jason Schreir is the HR manager for all of video games.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
No game would ever release if he was.
cormack12
Gold Member
Source: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/the-nex...ock-s-auteur-is-in-development-hell-1.1702538
...more at link
It has been nearly eight years since development began on Ken Levine’s next video game. Levine, the creator of the hugely influential BioShock series, is an auteur of the medium. He embodies everything that comes with the title, according to people who have worked for him: a singular brilliance, stubborn perfectionism and a delicate ego.
His current project, which began in 2014, still doesn’t have a name or a release date. Development has suffered from numerous reboots and changes in direction, say 15 current and former employees of Levine’s Westwood, Massachusetts-based studio, Ghost Story Games.
Just as critics grant Levine credit for the artistry of his games, many Ghost Story employees readily blame him for their tortured project. Levine is a flawed manager who often struggles to communicate his vision and alienates or browbeats subordinates who challenge him or fail to meet his expectations, say current and former employees, most of whom requested anonymity because they feared repercussions.
A recurring gag around the office invoked another celebrated auteur. Persuading Levine was so difficult that former employees joked about engaging in Kenception, a reference to the film by Christopher Nolan in which Leonardo DiCaprio infiltrates a person’s dreams and plants an idea so that the target thinks he came up with it himself.
Ghost Story set out to revolutionize video-game storytelling but has instead watched other companies accomplish its goals. One employee says the team is optimistic that things are finally on track but estimated a release could still be two years away. Snight eventually quit, along with half of the original team. He says Levine’s creative process is what drove him to leave after five years there. “When it continuously goes in cycles and you don’t align anymore, you kind of get tired of being part of that,” he says. “I wasn’t really happy anymore.”
During a panel discussion a few years ago, Levine explained the final act of his process. “In almost every game I’ve ever worked on, you realize you’re running out of time, and then you make the game,” he said. “You sort of dick around for years, and then you’re like, ‘Oh my god, we’re almost out of time,’ and it forces you to make these decisions.”
But time never seems to run out at the new studio. Ghost Story employees spent weeks or months building components of the new game, only for Levine to scrap them. Levine’s tastes occasionally changed after playing a hot indie release, such as the side-scrolling action game Dead Cells or the comic book-inspired shooter Void Bastards, and he insisted some features be overhauled to emulate those games. Former staff say the constant changes were demoralizing and felt like a hindrance to their careers.
The 2017 target became 2018, then 2019 and on and on. The lax approach to deadlines minimized crunch time, a welcome change from Irrational, three former employees say. But working on a game with no clear release date is a challenge of its own, some staffers say. Employers forbid artists from including assets in their portfolios until a game is unveiled publicly, leaving job seekers to awkwardly justify why they had nothing to show for their last few years of work.
A persistent tension at Ghost Story, employees say, is between the type of game they set out to make and the kind Levine was used to directing. He wanted to see every moment of the story unfold on screen and fine-tune each one. But the narrative Lego concept made Levine’s cinematic approach impossible to apply because stories would change so much based on player decisions. Levine would often assess aspects of the game when they were not yet finished, decide they weren’t good enough and command the team to scrap or change them, employees say. “The type of game being explored does not match well with the creative process being used,” says Andres Gonzalez, a founding member who left to start a new company with Snight.
...more at link
It has been nearly eight years since development began on Ken Levine’s next video game. Levine, the creator of the hugely influential BioShock series, is an auteur of the medium. He embodies everything that comes with the title, according to people who have worked for him: a singular brilliance, stubborn perfectionism and a delicate ego.
His current project, which began in 2014, still doesn’t have a name or a release date. Development has suffered from numerous reboots and changes in direction, say 15 current and former employees of Levine’s Westwood, Massachusetts-based studio, Ghost Story Games.
Just as critics grant Levine credit for the artistry of his games, many Ghost Story employees readily blame him for their tortured project. Levine is a flawed manager who often struggles to communicate his vision and alienates or browbeats subordinates who challenge him or fail to meet his expectations, say current and former employees, most of whom requested anonymity because they feared repercussions.
A recurring gag around the office invoked another celebrated auteur. Persuading Levine was so difficult that former employees joked about engaging in Kenception, a reference to the film by Christopher Nolan in which Leonardo DiCaprio infiltrates a person’s dreams and plants an idea so that the target thinks he came up with it himself.
Ghost Story set out to revolutionize video-game storytelling but has instead watched other companies accomplish its goals. One employee says the team is optimistic that things are finally on track but estimated a release could still be two years away. Snight eventually quit, along with half of the original team. He says Levine’s creative process is what drove him to leave after five years there. “When it continuously goes in cycles and you don’t align anymore, you kind of get tired of being part of that,” he says. “I wasn’t really happy anymore.”
During a panel discussion a few years ago, Levine explained the final act of his process. “In almost every game I’ve ever worked on, you realize you’re running out of time, and then you make the game,” he said. “You sort of dick around for years, and then you’re like, ‘Oh my god, we’re almost out of time,’ and it forces you to make these decisions.”
But time never seems to run out at the new studio. Ghost Story employees spent weeks or months building components of the new game, only for Levine to scrap them. Levine’s tastes occasionally changed after playing a hot indie release, such as the side-scrolling action game Dead Cells or the comic book-inspired shooter Void Bastards, and he insisted some features be overhauled to emulate those games. Former staff say the constant changes were demoralizing and felt like a hindrance to their careers.
The 2017 target became 2018, then 2019 and on and on. The lax approach to deadlines minimized crunch time, a welcome change from Irrational, three former employees say. But working on a game with no clear release date is a challenge of its own, some staffers say. Employers forbid artists from including assets in their portfolios until a game is unveiled publicly, leaving job seekers to awkwardly justify why they had nothing to show for their last few years of work.
A persistent tension at Ghost Story, employees say, is between the type of game they set out to make and the kind Levine was used to directing. He wanted to see every moment of the story unfold on screen and fine-tune each one. But the narrative Lego concept made Levine’s cinematic approach impossible to apply because stories would change so much based on player decisions. Levine would often assess aspects of the game when they were not yet finished, decide they weren’t good enough and command the team to scrap or change them, employees say. “The type of game being explored does not match well with the creative process being used,” says Andres Gonzalez, a founding member who left to start a new company with Snight.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
This kind of despicable hit pieces don't need to be posted once, let alone twice.
Last edited:
Papacheeks
Banned
I said this a long time ago. Guy needs to go indie and make something by himself. He's the reason Infinite was a train wreck development wise. And the fact Irrational Games whatever its called now has a game ready to show before he does, says all there needs to be said.
shubik
Member
That's kind of a weird take, to be honest. Isn´t that what journalism should be about?
GHG
Gold Member
Funny thing is, with the kind of reputation he has no sensible company owner would ever want to hire him.
Imagine this weasel on his first day.
Impotaku
Member
Two in the rapture one in the columbia
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Last edited:
shubik
Member
That's not what I would consider yellow press
AJUMP23
Gold Member
I'm here to provide weird takes, I'm a journalist.
The majority of people ignore good news.
If there were only good news to receive, the world would have no need to pay attention.
We have an ingrained ability to sense our destruction, which is why we endlessly strive to create preventions.
The Cockatrice
Gold Member
Despicable or not, there might be some truth to it. I want a new Bioshock or similar just as any guy, probably more, but I dont think it will ever see the light of day.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
"Yellow journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts. "
Fits like a glove.
Last edited:
BusierDonkey
Member
Jason is a self-serving ambulance chaser who makes a living off people who enjoy being outraged on behalf of others.
El Pistolero
Banned
Well, yeah, creative people are usually chaotic and impulsive, and making videogames is not an easy task. What a revelation! Let's not kid ourselves, the subtext here is that Levine is a "toxic" leader; an invitation to engage in a "explain yourself or get cancelled" campaign, imo.
Draugoth
Gold Member
Phunkydiabetic
Banned
Yeah but if you exist within the vitriolic "hate on Jason Schreier" mentality it allows you to belong, to be a part of a collective of individuals with one common goal, to hate on someone who creates articles picking apart the game industry.
Sure, they could just ignore this thread or the article in question but how would any of their peers know about their sassy thoughts on the guy? You gotta put in work for those e-attaboys
Punished Miku
Gold Member
It doesn't sound like he even broke eggs. He just kept asking for different eggs, while not having his staff crunch either.
They're literally just complaining that the game is taking a long time and that they can't pad their resume. It's pretty ridiculous.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Imagine thinking that focusing one's professional endeavors exclusively on hit pieces designed to attack and damage people in the pursuit of an agenda without a single shred of evidence is not a good thing. How do these people dare to disapprove!
Last edited:
kyliethicc
Member
litty titty
shubik
Member
Maybe it's just me but I feel like a lot changed in our media world since 1898...
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Definitely for the worse.
A definition that used to fit then, still fits today. Same methods. Same purpose. Same effects.
Last edited:
shubik
Member
that's correct. That's why yellow press today means papers like bild.de, NY post, The sun etc. I wouldn't put Bloomberg in the same category.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Oh, I definitely would. And not just limited to Jason Schreier. Especially their gaming coverage (but not limited to that) would likely make the Daily Mail proud.
If one looked at their Grammarly history, one of the most common expressions would be "according to sources familiar with the situation who wish to remain anonymous" and equivalent variations, followed by a sensationalist claim.
Last edited:
M1chl
Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Yes, but not spinning it into your own flair, like it's hurtful and so on, that should be up to reader. Besides we know, who is probably paying him, by not covering actually bad stories. Like Activision and so on. So he can go fuck himself. Also he is infamous for me since the, what was the game on vita with huge tits... so that and how he was trying to snatch data from "too much white people in central europe", so he can do another hit piece. With game I worked on, whole press was disgusting, but again his name was on the list of "blacklist" and very soon after the situation emerged.
So again, he can fuck himself.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Dragon's Crown by Vanillaware, over which he literally insulted and personally attacked the creator, George Kamitani (who incidentally is a fantastic artist who made a lot of great games), in another hit piece.
Last edited:
YukiOnna
Member
I swear this guy gets the same 5 people to say the exact same stuff for every hit piece he does. Last I checked, Levine repeatedly said how he hated Infinite's development and the toll it took on making sure the game shipped on time so he didn't want a repeat of that at his smaller studio. It could be in development hell, it could not be.
Why not write a positive article for once?
Why not write a positive article for once?
M1chl
Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I was like "Dragon's Lair" and I couldn't come up with the second word. Thanks.
Javthusiast
Banned
So? If it's factually in development hell than it warrants reporting on it. I don't like Schreier either, but whining about his reports everytime is sjw level of being outraged at everything.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
This doesn't mean what you think it means. "fact" is something you can prove. It isn't based on anonymous sources.
Last edited:
GHG
Gold Member
It doesn't take much to read the tweet in the OP to understand his angle with all of this:
"This is a story about a video game auteur whose management style has hurt a lot of people:"
.Pennywise
Banned
The vulture does it again!
YukiOnna
Member
I don't think it has anything to do with it being in development hell at all. Even reading the first paragraph gives you an idea what his actual aim with this crap was. If it was actually about development hell, then it should just be labeled a rumor in the first place and only report on that, which should lead to a very short "article". But heavens forbid Schreier and Bloomberg having the respect to do that.
Javthusiast
Banned
GHG
Gold Member
What makes you think this guy is my hero?
The only person crying and white knighting in here is you, and for Schreier of all people.
SirKicksalot
Member
Another case of a publisher giving respected auteurs so much rope they end up hanging themselves - and taking rank-and-file employees along on the ride until they're fed up with the lack of professional progress.
Being a chaotic and impulsive cunt is just the icing on the shit cake.
Being a chaotic and impulsive cunt is just the icing on the shit cake.
Javthusiast
Banned
Him talking to former and current devs on projects who tell him the same thing, like Levine being a difficult director to work for etc. is more believeable than Abandoned being anything other than a scam, yet a ton of Gaf is riding on Abandoneds nutsack like it is the next Kojima master ARG.