I’m a big video games fan. I follow stories about the development of games with great interest. Provides a different angle to software development as I know it.
Do you remember when we used to buy games on disc? I always had a small chuckle to myself when a Day One patch of 100GB begins downloading. To fix whatever bugs leapt out after going gold. Never mind what was going to unearthed by the variety of the real world. Usually a Reddit pile on about how poor quality games are nowadays. Questions about who tested this and bemoaning paying 70 quid for a broken game.
I have sympathy with the developers and testers who work on these games. I know that they can’t predict what happens once to their game post release. no more than we can’t predict what our apps are going to do when exposed to the fragmented world of mobile devices. But every now and then something comes along that changes the world. Baldur’s Gate 3 (by Larian Studios) is one of those games by all Metacritic scores.
What interested me was that other developers in the industry began to voice how worried they are. Warning that Baldur’s Gate 3 should not held as a new standard:
https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/07/12/baldurs-gate-3-new-standard-for-rpg-genre-opinions
We were also warned to keep our expectations low and the quality of Larian’s offering is a one off. A coming together of perfect conditions for an industry busting game. And game development is hard, you don’t do it so you wouldn’t understand.
Ouch, especially the last part. Not a good strategy for customer interaction.
Talk about consternation across the internet. Why should we have low expectations? We pay our money for a finished product.
For Larian, they had a lot going for them, including their own skills and approach to what they do:
- Large team with low turnover leading to excellent technical and domain knowledge
- Previous games using similar systems allowing them to hone their craft and vision
- A long early access period to get product feedback and bug fixes
- Striving to provide a complete adventure. with no plans for post release monetisation, battle passes and other nonsense
There are a couple of angles here. If you are an independent studio with 10 developers, you can’t hit the same heights. But, if you are a large studio, whats stopping you from achieving greater things? Your own internal ways of working, strategy and culture I reckon. Instead of fearing Larian’s work and the reaction to it, you could learn a thing or two if you cared to investigate. I suspect that Larian has worked hard to build an environment where such a game can emerge.
Is any of this familiar? I’m sure we can tease out some comparisons with our own products in our mobile and web world. It seems to me that there are a few familiar threads here. Stable teams with deep domain knowledge who seek feedback can deliver amazing things. Which delight their customers.
Sounds good doesn’t it?
Diagram Industries 