5 ms·

Why? This is what all work-in-progress game development looks like, there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. IMHO there should be much more WIP material li

Why? This is what all work-in-progress game development looks like, there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. IMHO there should be much more WIP material like this in the public, published by the game developers themselves. Too many people think that games just spring into existance, without a clear idea how game development actually works.

Stevvo 4y ago
I agree with you, but leaks are not fun. It's theft of creative endeavor.
detaro 4y ago
I don't blame major developers for not showing anything. If it looks unfinished (because it is), you get derision because the game "looks shit" and is "bad". If you show anything cool that you need to later scale back or cut you get dragged on release for "false promises". A place like Rockstar who a) has a giant audience, which exaggerates those effects and b) doesn't need the advertising bonus has good arguments for waiting until everything is mostly in place for release. (Whereas small/solo indie devs often show in-development work, because having anything seen that might interest future players is much more important to them) EDIT: case in point, even here we already have comments wondering what mistakes Rockstar made because this random development footage, likely years before release, doesn't look that much better than GTA V.
WastingMyTime89 4y ago
There is little WIP material released for blockbuster games like GTA because it’s useless for the studio. Rockstar doesn’t need to generate hype for the brand long before the game is ready to sell. They prefer a very large marketing push at release. I can safely predict that this leak will have approximately zero impact on the actual sales of GTA VI however.
troad 4y ago
In my (gamedev) experience, a huge part of the appeal of games is the illusion there's more than meets the eye. Most gamers want to suspend their disbelief and let their imagination run rampant; they can react very poorly to seeing behind the curtain.
- Sakos 4y ago
  This is an issue that the industry itself has caused. It's a self-inflicted wound. Companies never show footage like this, so gamers don't know what games look like during development. Then they get disappointed by footage like this or early looks that don't look absolutely mindblowing. If companies were more open about development, this wouldn't be a problem. > a huge part of the appeal of games is the illusion there's more than meets the eye. Most gamers want to suspend their disbelief and let their imagination run rampant This is complete nonsense.
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- honkdaddy 4y ago
  I felt a similar way after playing and tweaking lots of Mario 64 and OoT mods. Obviously I still love the games with all my heart, but getting to play it at so many different levels of polish and playability definitely allows the 'Wow - Perfection' feeling to fade a bit. I think playing an alpha version or poorly modded copy of a game like Amnesia: Dark Descent would totally kill the atmospheric creepiness which made the game so well received. I guess it's a bit like watching the BTS of something like the LotR trilogy. When you get to see all the orcs in full makeup just goofing around with the rest of the film crew, it means when you see them later in the real movie, you can't help but be reminded they're just people in great makeup. Keeping up that illusion in game dev must be enormously important.
- raydev 4y ago
  I don't think this is how people view games anymore. Look how at phrases like "t-pose" and "hitbox" and "clipping through" are used among regular (non-nerd) kids/teens. There are certain things about games that everyone understands now.
weberer 4y ago
This is why I loved the Factorio blog. From 2013 until release in 2020 they would write a weekly blog about what was happening and all the interesting problems they ran into. Its really fascinating. https://factorio.com/blog/ https://factorio.com/blog/

Stevvo 4y ago

I agree with you, but leaks are not fun. It's theft of creative endeavor.

detaro 4y ago

I don't blame major developers for not showing anything. If it looks unfinished (because it is), you get derision because the game "looks shit" and is "bad". If you show anything cool that you need to later scale back or cut you get dragged on release for "false promises". A place like Rockstar who a) has a giant audience, which exaggerates those effects and b) doesn't need the advertising bonus has good arguments for waiting until everything is mostly in place for release. (Whereas small/solo indie devs often show in-development work, because having anything seen that might interest future players is much more important to them) EDIT: case in point, even here we already have comments wondering what mistakes Rockstar made because this random development footage, likely years before release, doesn't look that much better than GTA V.

WastingMyTime89 4y ago

There is little WIP material released for blockbuster games like GTA because it’s useless for the studio. Rockstar doesn’t need to generate hype for the brand long before the game is ready to sell. They prefer a very large marketing push at release. I can safely predict that this leak will have approximately zero impact on the actual sales of GTA VI however.

troad 4y ago

In my (gamedev) experience, a huge part of the appeal of games is the illusion there's more than meets the eye. Most gamers want to suspend their disbelief and let their imagination run rampant; they can react very poorly to seeing behind the curtain.

Sakos 4y ago
This is an issue that the industry itself has caused. It's a self-inflicted wound. Companies never show footage like this, so gamers don't know what games look like during development. Then they get disappointed by footage like this or early looks that don't look absolutely mindblowing. If companies were more open about development, this wouldn't be a problem. > a huge part of the appeal of games is the illusion there's more than meets the eye. Most gamers want to suspend their disbelief and let their imagination run rampant This is complete nonsense.
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honkdaddy 4y ago
I felt a similar way after playing and tweaking lots of Mario 64 and OoT mods. Obviously I still love the games with all my heart, but getting to play it at so many different levels of polish and playability definitely allows the 'Wow - Perfection' feeling to fade a bit. I think playing an alpha version or poorly modded copy of a game like Amnesia: Dark Descent would totally kill the atmospheric creepiness which made the game so well received. I guess it's a bit like watching the BTS of something like the LotR trilogy. When you get to see all the orcs in full makeup just goofing around with the rest of the film crew, it means when you see them later in the real movie, you can't help but be reminded they're just people in great makeup. Keeping up that illusion in game dev must be enormously important.
raydev 4y ago
I don't think this is how people view games anymore. Look how at phrases like "t-pose" and "hitbox" and "clipping through" are used among regular (non-nerd) kids/teens. There are certain things about games that everyone understands now.

weberer 4y ago

This is why I loved the Factorio blog. From 2013 until release in 2020 they would write a weekly blog about what was happening and all the interesting problems they ran into. Its really fascinating. https://factorio.com/blog/ https://factorio.com/blog/