Sitting here thinking about the obvious and counting the time; I started to wonder about how games like Fallout New Vegas get produced? I mean there are the CD's to burn, the boxes and box-art to create, the manuals to write, proofread and print, the endless meetings with steam to refine the details, etc, etc - I can Only imagine what's involved. And yet at the end of the production from the time they said they were Done to release day is something ~ 3 weeks of time! That seems like a very small window somehow, and makes me think that alot of the other stuff must have been lined-up ahead of time just waiting for the final code disc to get spun. Is there a gold disc with the game? A super master from which copies are made and put on office walls? Curious!

Are there any insights that you all can share on the process? Not meaning to learn any trade secrets or such, but even an anecdote or two on this or past games would be intriguing.

Well were absolutely writing the manual and everything and having meetings with the guys over at steam long before it was done, when they said it was done I'm SURE it was all completely worked out, now yeah theres CD's to burn and package and everything, and ship, so it makes sense that it would take 3 weeks. Also I really wanna learn how exactly they do the transfer of data over to the company that makes the CD's really fast and packages them. That'd be interesting.

They burn a very special disk, the Gold Master, which carries the golden master version of the program. All the other disks are more or less direct copies of it.

Is this where the phrase 'The game has gone gold' comes from?

Yup. Then the golden master is ready to be burned onto the Gold Master disk, or has left the building already.

So, maybe the Golden Master disk may be carried by a courier? Maybe then the chip the courier in the game is carrying is the Golden Master disk to Fallout 4!

Then they feed said disc to Gabe Newell and he lays eggs. Pete Hines sits on the eggs 'til they hatch, ouala, New Vegas is served.

...and the pieces of the puzzle slowly start falling into place.

10,000 well fed monkeys are locked in a warehouse for a year or so. They're given top of the line computers, and shown dozens of flash cards and news clips to stimulate their minds. Monkeys start smashing keyboards and eventually start developing software code. A supercomputer running someretty complex algorithms extracts the good from the feces. This is where the term Code Monkeys comes from.

A slave master works with hundreds of interns working their way into the industry. They, unlike the monkeys, are not so well fed, kept in small cubicles with butter melting temperatures due to the hundreds of pc's running 24/7 in a non- air conditioned environment. Every once in a while, the pennyinching lead dev comes in, whips few interns, even executing the odd one just to set an example. He does this till the group runs as a well oiled machine. Hence - Game Engine.

Textures come from google searches.

Box art and manuals come from high school art classes in extremely rural areas, where only 1 in 7 have electricity. This removes the need to doll out free games, just I WORKED FOR AND ALL I GOT WAS HERPES AND THIS T-shirt.

A handfull of extremely high paid execs then pastes all the data together, with the help of any remaining interns lucky enough to survive the sweatshop. If the feel the need to add creative advice at this point, its game on for the intern toss from the 40th floor. Eventually the product is burned to a master disc and sent for publishing. This disc is usually called the Gold Disc. The call it gold in hopes they can regain some or all the expensise from the process. 10000 monkeys eat a lot of [censored] bananas.

Hope that game gives you some insight from a construction worker!

Well... instead of having a team of a half a dozen mediocres putting out 4-8 games a year, then nickel and diming you for DLC and things that could of been in the game. Bethesda along with a slim number of other game makers actually try and put in quality and quantity, instead of just mailing it in. They only bring out an RPG every couple of years and they are always highly anticipated and great. I'm looking at you EA/Bioware/all others.

Which brings me to another point. Notice how gamers/f@nboys will try to defend a game or game companies shoddy business practices with the "Its good business sense", or "There trying to make money, that's what companies do", when it comes to nickel and diming. Hasn't Bethesda proved that its about making quality games no matter how long it takes oppose to trying to rush out as many half assed games and DLC money grabs before the fiscal quarter. In essence; no, money grabs, greedy companies and abusing the consumer is not good business. It may make you money in the short term but leaves the consumer with a bad taste in their mouth and an empty wallet. If you want to make money and have a loyal fan base do what Bethesda or R* does. People may not like R* games but you cant deny they put time and effort into them.

Well first you need to find a good herd of nerds and some super nerds. Then you have to find someone with money who isnt too sane.

Combine these with a few tons of caffene and several hundred tons of junkfood and eventualy you either have a game or not.

Supposedly they have tried to breed better nerds and super nerds but so far that has ended in horrific abonimations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA should be on our radio playlist too!!! It's totally relevant and retro era styling...

I think it gets produced by the Norwegian tree folk of nautizna. But in all seriousness i really don't know, because the tree folk of nautizna dissected my brain.

I agree with this for the most part, but not about Bioware. they are pretty much forced now to produce games like this since they are now owned by EA. they still try to make quality RPG's (DA:O was one of the best in the past few years imo).

they are still trying to make quality games but are now under the rule of thumb that is EA.

I mean come one you can't just outright discredit baldur's gate, neverwinter nights, and Knights of the old republic. those are all classic games made by Bioware.

*was a dedicated Bioware fan from early on*

But the worst part is how gamers have come to accept this all, and even embrace it. It gets me sick when I see articles about game DLC being made before the game is even out and all of the comments filled with joy. It just doesn't make sense to me. I am perfectly fine with a company making DLC after the game is out, but cutting parts of your game out to sell separately is just absolutely cold. Where is the compassion? Where is the respect?

"Its all quite glorious really."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Xytb84Zrg

But did you notice how watered down DA was compared to Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. It was supposed to be its spiritual successor. I agree, Ive loved Bioware ever since I got the BG and F1 combo pack back in the 90s. There dead to me now though. I doubt we will ever see the old Bioware again. I'm still in puzzlement at how ME2 got such a great reception from RPG heads. When the main ME Bioware Forum was shut down the day ME2 released, I thought it was because the purists were going to bash it so hard for being a watered down GOW clone with a dialogue system(OK...that's a bit exaggerated but still) ... It basically triumphed all over that personal theory of mine, went on to garner all types of undeserved praise and ill never understand why? I actually thought that maybe EA was afraid that original fans wouldn't receive it well. Now I know they must of laughed all the way to the bank saying "We got 'em again boys, this game is a shell of its former self and they still bought it. HAHAHA..."

Back on topic

Iv always wanted to take a tour or something of Bethesda and Obsidian and all those other great RPG makers of yesteryear. You know... see 'em in action.




I thought it might be more like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP2m95JAD4g.

it's like making a major movie. Come up with a concept. Write an outline. rewrite it. rewrite the concept. come up with another outline. rough out a script. rewrite it. play it on paper. rewrite it. storyboard it. etc etc It's the only way you can write worthwhile RPGs, you have to think through and doublethink through every little detail. And then spend three weeks adding a little detail that only 1 out of 1000 players will ever see. Then it becomes immersive.

Obsidian started from a strong place in that the engine was already written. Sure they made tweaks to it, weapons mods etc, but because Bethesda had spent so long actually writing the framework Obsidian could concentrate on the story.

My hope for FO4 is that they team up - Bethesda concentrate on writing an amazing updated engine, Oblivion concentrate on writing an amazing story. Then mix the two. While takes a looooooong time, but that's what makes a game a classic, as opposed to just "this years eyecandy".

Well, here we have the reason why I have bought only 6 games in 2000's. Them being Medieval: Total War, Unreal Tournament 2003, Half-Life 2, Rome: Total War, Stalker and Fallout 3. Of course one the reasons is also my slow update rate on my PC hardware, but if the game content wouldn't be so mellow these days I might upgrade it more often. What comes to EA, I lost my hope in them something like 10 years ago and have been boycotting them ever since, even though they occassionally publish gems like Dead Space. Fortunately we have modders and few good basegames for mods, my gaming career would have ended years ago if there weren't any modders around.

Although i agree on the most part, most of the new games are fun to play.

That's what matters to me.

Sure the games that aren't pressured to be released and have had the time to develop, ARE better games.

Still, I found a lot of the games released the past years to be fun.

I haven't paid full price for the most of them, but when they have a nice discount, they are worth buying.