Interview with Peter Molyneux re Godus

[george1979]

Just read thru this and it is a pretty startling read - very Paxmanesque

Have only been vaguely aware of the development of this game, I knew it had been floating around for some time but had no idea its three years old and still not finished. Things like this that really put me off kickstarter. As much as it's his own fault I actually started to feel a bit sorry for Molyneux towards the end - growing soft in my old age

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015...n-kickstarter/

[chrism]

Reading that interview was like watching a pitbull with a sentient rag-doll.
I think Pete needs to take a back seat and work under a more competent manager, one with his feet on the ground who understands the audience's expectations and what is realistically possible to achieve with the resources at their disposal. He can be the 'ideas guy' (strictly no PR either )

[george1979]

Reading that interview was like watching a pitbull with a sentient rag-doll.
I think Pete needs to take a back seat and work under a more competent manager, one with his feet on the ground who understands the audience's expectations and what is realistically possible to achieve with the resources at their disposal. He can be the 'ideas guy' (strictly no PR either )

Yeah I think you're right. I'd be inclined to give the benefit of the doubt and say he just gets carried away with himself rather than deliberately lying but it's about time he kept his mouth shut lol

[shaithis]

This was the kickstarter I really really wanted to buy into but something told me not to.

Too many fond memories of Pop1 and 2

[Marenghi]

if kickstarter is to become a viable and trustworthy source of funding game development then any and all game devs need to be held accountable. i appreciate projects can overrun due to unforeseen problems but i don't see why Peter or any other dev can 'get away' with such actions.

interesting video that's relevant

[directhex]

A repost of my comment on this topic, from elsewhere, where Tim Schafer gave support to Molyneux:

It's more complicated than people are giving credit. And Tim is well-placed to feel sympathy - and give advice.

One of the most important jobs in game dev is the producer - their job is basically to axe features. Game dev often involves a lot of iteration, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of grandiose plans that don't go according to plan - the producer's job is to say "this feature is eating all our developer time, it will not be finished in time. NO MORE. Cut it".

Want a test-case in a game with no adequate producer at the helm? Duke Nukem Forever - where George Broussard would come into the office after every new AAA release, and demand a major changes.

Some of the big "auteur" designers, like Schafer, often end up at odds with their producers - they'll go on about their "vision", and fight over what does or doesn't end up in a game. There's a reason why Tim's games often end up late - but usually nicely polished (i.e. the producer doesn't put their foot down enough, meaning his ideas have more of a chance to survive and get refined, but the dev time therefore budget end up way over plans as a result).

Now, Molyneux's problem isn't even that he lacks a decent producer - it's that he opens his gob way way WAY too early in development - promising core features of a game before it's even been adequately gameplay-prototyped, let alone scoped out properly with his team, and cleared with the producer.

When Tim says "I will make a rock 'n' roll adventure" or "I will make a point 'n' click", he delivers. Late and over budget, but delivered.

When Peter says "It'll be the most impactful world ever! Plant an acorn anywhere and watch a tree grow!" - he hasn't asked his programmers to do it yet. He hasn't heard back on the feasibility of doing it within the XBox's RAM limits. He hasn't seen how long it'll take, and whether that fits into the publisher-mandated milestone deadlines. He's just opened his gob and promised things. He does it all the time.

The big difference between Tim and Peter is that Tim promises high-level concepts which he can deliver in one form or another (even after the producer gets out their machete & starts to chop) - Peter promises low-level details, which are the first thing the producer needs to chop when the time or budget hit a wall.

It's not even that Peter is bad at what he does in development (though I'm not praising Godus here), it's that Peter promises things he simply has no idea whether he can deliver. He needs to stop doing that. Be more vague. And keep the man away from KickStarter - his particular failing is uniquely incompatible with crowdfunding.

[big_hairy_rob]

He needs to stop doing interviews full stop. He is not a trained PR person and doesn't understand that by hyping his games way beyond their potential is damaging not only himself, his publishers and staff, but also the industry. Any companies working with him need to put strict controls in place to prevent him from damaging the game prior to launch.

Do I believe that he is a pathological liar? Yes I do. Even in the Rock Paper Shotgun interview he constantly contradicts himself and never seems to hold himself accountable. He lied about the features in the game, and lied to get sales for a game which will probably never be finished. He also knowingly lied about the games funding thus taking a preverbal huge dump on anyone who wasted Monty investing in him. Sure it was Kickstarter and green light, both of which need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but once again he simply promised something far beyond what was practical. The fact that he tried to justify his actions mean that it wasn't accidental, but deliberate. 25 plus years in the industry and if he cannot answer simple questions regarding his own profession well that speaks volumes.

He reminds me of a puppy that gets so excited that it doesn’t realise it's just urinated everywhere. Nobody want's to be covered in puppy wee.

[shaithis]

There is a rather funny fake PM twitter account that I like to read occasionally

[CathalM]

I really do like Peter, but I don't think he'll ever reach the heights of his past.