Whilst flicking through Audible, I came across ‘Blood, Sweat and Pixel’, a book looking at the process of video game creation. The topic obviously appealed to me but what really sold me was that it looked at many games I had played. So, alongside looking at Naughty Dog, creators of blockbusters like the Uncharted series and CD Projeck Red, who created the Witcher series, you had solo developers or smaller teams who created Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley.
I purchased the Audible version of the book and enjoyed my time with it.
I knew the author, Jason Schreier, from his long form investigative games journalist work from sites like Kotaku and magazine like Edge. He is a video game fan but was also not afraid to research where there were problems or issues in the industry. He was the writer who uncovered the unhealthy attitude to crunch at Naughty Dog, the mismanagement at Bioware with Anthem and the inappropriate behaviour of management of several high ups in big gaming companies. Using my backlog of Audible credits I bought the audio books and dived in.
Each chapter of the book focussed on the story of a particular game and they were all engaging, entertaining, emotional and enlightening in equal measure as we hear of teams and solo developers overcoming (for the most part) some extreme adversity.
It kicks off with Obsidian's last ditch effort to save itself when it pitched Pillars of Eternity pitch on crowd funding site Kickstarter. This story was inspirational as it showed how to adapt, play to your strengths and use your moxie to forge your own path.
The Uncharted 4 chapter deals with the issue of expectations and what happens when a project becomes unwieldy, struggling to find a way forward. In the case of Naughty Dog's highly anticipated Uncharted finale, it required firm hands at the tiller and thousands of hours of crunch to achieve. Unfortunately this took a huge mental, emotional and physical toll on many of the people behind the games creation... because, making games is hard.
In Stardew Valley we learn how the game was made by sole creator Eric Barone and how the internet has democratised publishing and creation of video game creation. This democratisation of creativity was last seen in the micro computer era of the 80s where lone bedroom coders could create a game and become legends. This gentle simulator game, where you play a desk jockey who gives up the rat race to become a farmer, took 5 years to complete but was a labour of love.
The Diablo 3 chapter is a look at how a much lauded series can carry a heavy weight as expectations are high. When a day 1 network issue rendered this game unplayable for most players due to an overloaded online server, it looked like the writing was on the wall as this was not a good way to endear yourselves to fans. When this was followed by days of players not being able to play the game they had paid for the situation seemed to escalate, and once they were on the grindy gameplay and online auction further compounded issues against the game. However, in a mea culpa the game underwent a transformation and with patches aplenty arose to become a much loved addition to the series.
The Halo Wars chapter looks at how Ensemble Studio, the creators of RTS Age of Empire, turned a classic PC genre stalwart into a console RTS, something thought impossible at the time. It's a heartening tale of trial and error and years of research and development.
The chapter on Dragon Age: Inquisition looks at how Bethesda created a redemptive game after the flawed Dragon Age 2 received a critical battering from reviewers and fans alike. The creative process was chaotic but by being focussed and inventive the game came out to much fanfare, gently massaging the poor profile of its parent company EA, who had won 'Worst Company in the US' 2 years in a row.
The Shovel Knight section is the tale of 3 creators leaving job security to build a passion project based on the nostalgia of 8bit NES games. Their story of risks and the rewards they reaped are heartening to hear.
In the Destiny chapter we learn how Bungie broke free of their Microsoft overlords and were able to stretch their creativity away from Halo to create a... FPS! But, they do say be careful of what what you wish for. They planned the game to run for 10 years. And to be made independently of all other big conglomerate company interference. This looks at what worked and what went wrong.
The Witcher 3 chapter looks at how a Polish company worked closely together with the author of the books and across the team to create an inspired RPG that is seen by many as the highlight of this gaming generation, even though it was released way back in 2015.
Schreier shows that all these games went through a baptism of fire to get made. It wasn't easy but the games were released. However, he ends with a cancelled game to show how fraught the game creating process can be. With Star Wars 1313, he looks at how Lucas Arts, underwent a tailspin burning through 4 Presidents within 10 years, which resulted in confusion and lack of vision from a studio that had built a reputation of excellence. When momentum finally built with Star Wars 1313, Disney purchased the studio and shuttered it after a short time.
Over the course of the 10 games we see tales of crunch, iterations, scrapping hundreds of hours of work and burnout because making games is hard, the creative process is hard. This peek behind the curtain is a great look at the video games industry as a whole and is an excellent and compelling read. Schreier writes with passion and a clear knowledge of the subject matter and it is refreshing to see an honest insight into the creative process of the biggest entertainment industry in the world.
LINK- The Offworld Collection- Book Review