5 ms·

Star Citizen has proven one thing to me, and that is that dreamers (Chris Roberts) who are developing incredibly ambitious need to be held in check by good PMs

by jdhn 5y ago

Star Citizen has proven one thing to me, and that is that dreamers (Chris Roberts) who are developing incredibly ambitious need to be held in check by good PMs who are willing to push back when necessary. This thing has been developed for so long, and it seems like there's always excuses as to how there's something new to be added and that's why it's taking so long to even get to 1.0 status.

jerf 5y ago
It's a problem across the artistic genres. Authors who become too famous to be edited often have a bad decline in their later years, because they really need to be edited. (One of the things I respect Larry Niven for is his insistence that he be edited, even though within his niche he reached the point where he could have done the same thing.) Movie directors that become too big to say no to often turn out to not quite have been the raging individual talents they thought they were, but instead have been the front person for a talented team; I think there's good reason to believe that this is what happened to Star Wars, for instance, that George Lucas is in fact not on his own a supreme talent but instead turned out to be a good person to have on the team. A whole HN thread could be filled naming the flabby, overcomplicated, self-indulgent movies that directors have made when they got large enough to be allowed to do whatever they wanted. It would be a much smaller thread naming such movies that ended up good in the end. I think there's a few. But in my opinion, as much as we complain about studio meddling and such, the track record on just writing a blank check to a creative isn't actually that good either. I'm not sure it's possible, no matter how good you are, to ever get to the point that you don't need someone else assessing what you're doing and willing to be critical, at times even harsh if necessary. You will always be too close to your own work. Cultivating a dispassionate attitude can help, but you'll still be too close to your own work.
- endominus 5y ago
  Absolutely agreed. The other big example I can think of is Kojima, one of very few game directors I personally consider a true auteur. I just wish he still has people around him that could tell him, "So the player defeats the boss, learns about her genuinely heartbreaking tragic backstory as victim to vicious war crimes, and then... takes photos of her in lingerie? While she walks around and makes suggestive poses? Is... Is that really the tone we want to go for at this point?" It's a shame, considering how on-point a lot of the messages in his earlier games were (the speech by the AI on the role of automated systems filtering human knowledge to "create context" out of endless junk data streams - in a game that came out in 2001! - always sticks out to me), even if sometimes his actual scientific knowledge was a bit shaky. (You know why Solid Snake never lost his full head of hair? Male pattern baldness is a dominant gene!)
  - ionwake 5y ago
    > and then... takes photos of her in lingerie? That was a hidden easter egg - breaking the fourth wall and unrelated to the story and gameplay.
    - pdimitar 5y ago
      ...And that makes it better?
      - ionwake 5y ago
        It means what that guy was saying was wrong, so yes, what I said is better if you value the truth over incorrect statements. Next time think about thanking people who try and help you understand context EDIT> I removed an unfriendly statement
        pdimitar 5y ago
        Or it was a way to sneak something inappropriate while pretending it was a reference. I mean, neither of us chatted with the creator about it so don't act like you know it for a fact. Also, "next time do X", really? Gave me a good giggle at least.
        ionwake 5y ago
        >Or it was a way to sneak something inappropriate while pretending it was a reference. I agree with the first point - but dont understand your second point. A reference to what? I don't understand >I mean, neither of us chatted with the creator about it so don't act like you know it for a fact. Know what for a fact? It's a well known easter egg - have you actually played the game? Im getting a feeling you haven't. >Also, "next time do X", really? Gave me a good giggle at least. I was just giving you advice as if you were a younger me, it is not a personal attack just unwarranted advice, not sure why you would laugh. I mean't no disrespect in any case. I think its good to talk to people with counter arguments and I appreciate it. I just wish you didn't keep making points I don't quite understand and then moving onto another one - such as "talking with Kojima" himself is the only way to resolve any of what I believe are straight forward points. But I appreciate your time in replying. Im just trying to avoid coding a particularly thorny issue in my hobby project.
xbar 5y ago
Is the lack of a PM the problem with Theranos? I think the problems are the same.
- caleb-allen 5y ago
  Well, one is a mismanaged entertainment product and the other is fraud against healthcare patients.
- frakkingcylons 5y ago
  I guess they're similar in that they both had problems shipping a product but I think the similarities end there.

by jdhn 5y ago

jerf 5y ago

It's a problem across the artistic genres. Authors who become too famous to be edited often have a bad decline in their later years, because they really need to be edited. (One of the things I respect Larry Niven for is his insistence that he be edited, even though within his niche he reached the point where he could have done the same thing.) Movie directors that become too big to say no to often turn out to not quite have been the raging individual talents they thought they were, but instead have been the front person for a talented team; I think there's good reason to believe that this is what happened to Star Wars, for instance, that George Lucas is in fact not on his own a supreme talent but instead turned out to be a good person to have on the team. A whole HN thread could be filled naming the flabby, overcomplicated, self-indulgent movies that directors have made when they got large enough to be allowed to do whatever they wanted. It would be a much smaller thread naming such movies that ended up good in the end. I think there's a few. But in my opinion, as much as we complain about studio meddling and such, the track record on just writing a blank check to a creative isn't actually that good either. I'm not sure it's possible, no matter how good you are, to ever get to the point that you don't need someone else assessing what you're doing and willing to be critical, at times even harsh if necessary. You will always be too close to your own work. Cultivating a dispassionate attitude can help, but you'll still be too close to your own work.

endominus 5y ago
Absolutely agreed. The other big example I can think of is Kojima, one of very few game directors I personally consider a true auteur. I just wish he still has people around him that could tell him, "So the player defeats the boss, learns about her genuinely heartbreaking tragic backstory as victim to vicious war crimes, and then... takes photos of her in lingerie? While she walks around and makes suggestive poses? Is... Is that really the tone we want to go for at this point?" It's a shame, considering how on-point a lot of the messages in his earlier games were (the speech by the AI on the role of automated systems filtering human knowledge to "create context" out of endless junk data streams - in a game that came out in 2001! - always sticks out to me), even if sometimes his actual scientific knowledge was a bit shaky. (You know why Solid Snake never lost his full head of hair? Male pattern baldness is a dominant gene!)
- ionwake 5y ago
  > and then... takes photos of her in lingerie? That was a hidden easter egg - breaking the fourth wall and unrelated to the story and gameplay.
  - pdimitar 5y ago
    ...And that makes it better?
    - ionwake 5y ago
      It means what that guy was saying was wrong, so yes, what I said is better if you value the truth over incorrect statements. Next time think about thanking people who try and help you understand context EDIT> I removed an unfriendly statement
      - pdimitar 5y ago
        Or it was a way to sneak something inappropriate while pretending it was a reference. I mean, neither of us chatted with the creator about it so don't act like you know it for a fact. Also, "next time do X", really? Gave me a good giggle at least.
        ionwake 5y ago
        >Or it was a way to sneak something inappropriate while pretending it was a reference. I agree with the first point - but dont understand your second point. A reference to what? I don't understand >I mean, neither of us chatted with the creator about it so don't act like you know it for a fact. Know what for a fact? It's a well known easter egg - have you actually played the game? Im getting a feeling you haven't. >Also, "next time do X", really? Gave me a good giggle at least. I was just giving you advice as if you were a younger me, it is not a personal attack just unwarranted advice, not sure why you would laugh. I mean't no disrespect in any case. I think its good to talk to people with counter arguments and I appreciate it. I just wish you didn't keep making points I don't quite understand and then moving onto another one - such as "talking with Kojima" himself is the only way to resolve any of what I believe are straight forward points. But I appreciate your time in replying. Im just trying to avoid coding a particularly thorny issue in my hobby project.

xbar 5y ago

Is the lack of a PM the problem with Theranos? I think the problems are the same.

caleb-allen 5y ago
Well, one is a mismanaged entertainment product and the other is fraud against healthcare patients.
frakkingcylons 5y ago
I guess they're similar in that they both had problems shipping a product but I think the similarities end there.