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We've all heard the stories, apparently the Gamecube is so easy to develop for, if that's the case, why have we had so many games delayed?
Star Fox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Galleon have all had their release dates put back (US release dates, we don't have dates yet)
With Star Fox and Eternal Darkess it's only a month or two. Galleon has been put back 6 months.
The way I see it, one of two things is happening:
1) Developers are being over ambitious.
2) Developers are realising the potential of the Gamecube.
If it's developers being too ambitious, starting to develop games, then realise that it just isn't working, they might have to scale down what they're doing, or spend longer to be able to achieve it. StarFox Adventures apparently features extensive Arwing missions, as well as a large Zelda-style adventure. Could it be that in trying to incorporate Arwing missions Rare have been too ambitious? Are they now busy removing them, and adding to the quest in orderto bolster it up a little? Or are they going all the way with the Arwing missions, make them as good as possible, so we have two very different genres mixed to make one very special game?
Eternal Darkness has always been a huge project. 13 playable characters in a story spanning generations? Multiple paths through the story depending upon the decisions you make early on. This really does sound incredible, but is it all possible? Both of these games started life as N64 games, but were moved to Gamecube to find a larger audience. Could the fact that it started on N64 development kits be now causeing the problem? Unlikely given the amoun to ftime they've had to change over. But the scope of the projects must have changed immensely to turn them into Gamecube titles, rather than N64 ones.
It seems to me like the developers have just tried to add too much in, and are having trouble drawing it all together into one pretty package.
Though on a more optimistic view, could it be that they are realising the potential of the Gamecube, and simply making the games even better as they get more used to development? Given the reputation of these two developers I'd hope this was more likelt. Rare are famous for their delays, always trying to cram more in, make it as good as possible.
Galleon, on the other hand has had a huge delay. it was supposed to debut on the Gamecube in March, and a port was going to come to the Xbox in June (Note still US dates). I don't know whether theXbox version has also slipped. Maybe a bit of cash dollar from Microsoft has caused this game to slip on the 'Cube, to debut on the Xbox?
Only time will tell.
Star Fox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Galleon have all had their release dates put back (US release dates, we don't have dates yet)
With Star Fox and Eternal Darkess it's only a month or two. Galleon has been put back 6 months.
The way I see it, one of two things is happening:
1) Developers are being over ambitious.
2) Developers are realising the potential of the Gamecube.
If it's developers being too ambitious, starting to develop games, then realise that it just isn't working, they might have to scale down what they're doing, or spend longer to be able to achieve it. StarFox Adventures apparently features extensive Arwing missions, as well as a large Zelda-style adventure. Could it be that in trying to incorporate Arwing missions Rare have been too ambitious? Are they now busy removing them, and adding to the quest in orderto bolster it up a little? Or are they going all the way with the Arwing missions, make them as good as possible, so we have two very different genres mixed to make one very special game?
Eternal Darkness has always been a huge project. 13 playable characters in a story spanning generations? Multiple paths through the story depending upon the decisions you make early on. This really does sound incredible, but is it all possible? Both of these games started life as N64 games, but were moved to Gamecube to find a larger audience. Could the fact that it started on N64 development kits be now causeing the problem? Unlikely given the amoun to ftime they've had to change over. But the scope of the projects must have changed immensely to turn them into Gamecube titles, rather than N64 ones.
It seems to me like the developers have just tried to add too much in, and are having trouble drawing it all together into one pretty package.
Though on a more optimistic view, could it be that they are realising the potential of the Gamecube, and simply making the games even better as they get more used to development? Given the reputation of these two developers I'd hope this was more likelt. Rare are famous for their delays, always trying to cram more in, make it as good as possible.
Galleon, on the other hand has had a huge delay. it was supposed to debut on the Gamecube in March, and a port was going to come to the Xbox in June (Note still US dates). I don't know whether theXbox version has also slipped. Maybe a bit of cash dollar from Microsoft has caused this game to slip on the 'Cube, to debut on the Xbox?
Only time will tell.
We've all heard the stories, apparently the Gamecube is so easy to develop for, if that's the case, why have we had so many games delayed?
Star Fox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Galleon have all had their release dates put back (US release dates, we don't have dates yet)
With Star Fox and Eternal Darkess it's only a month or two. Galleon has been put back 6 months.
The way I see it, one of two things is happening:
1) Developers are being over ambitious.
2) Developers are realising the potential of the Gamecube.
If it's developers being too ambitious, starting to develop games, then realise that it just isn't working, they might have to scale down what they're doing, or spend longer to be able to achieve it. StarFox Adventures apparently features extensive Arwing missions, as well as a large Zelda-style adventure. Could it be that in trying to incorporate Arwing missions Rare have been too ambitious? Are they now busy removing them, and adding to the quest in orderto bolster it up a little? Or are they going all the way with the Arwing missions, make them as good as possible, so we have two very different genres mixed to make one very special game?
Eternal Darkness has always been a huge project. 13 playable characters in a story spanning generations? Multiple paths through the story depending upon the decisions you make early on. This really does sound incredible, but is it all possible? Both of these games started life as N64 games, but were moved to Gamecube to find a larger audience. Could the fact that it started on N64 development kits be now causeing the problem? Unlikely given the amoun to ftime they've had to change over. But the scope of the projects must have changed immensely to turn them into Gamecube titles, rather than N64 ones.
It seems to me like the developers have just tried to add too much in, and are having trouble drawing it all together into one pretty package.
Though on a more optimistic view, could it be that they are realising the potential of the Gamecube, and simply making the games even better as they get more used to development? Given the reputation of these two developers I'd hope this was more likelt. Rare are famous for their delays, always trying to cram more in, make it as good as possible.
Galleon, on the other hand has had a huge delay. it was supposed to debut on the Gamecube in March, and a port was going to come to the Xbox in June (Note still US dates). I don't know whether theXbox version has also slipped. Maybe a bit of cash dollar from Microsoft has caused this game to slip on the 'Cube, to debut on the Xbox?
Only time will tell.
Star Fox Adventures, Eternal Darkness and Galleon have all had their release dates put back (US release dates, we don't have dates yet)
With Star Fox and Eternal Darkess it's only a month or two. Galleon has been put back 6 months.
The way I see it, one of two things is happening:
1) Developers are being over ambitious.
2) Developers are realising the potential of the Gamecube.
If it's developers being too ambitious, starting to develop games, then realise that it just isn't working, they might have to scale down what they're doing, or spend longer to be able to achieve it. StarFox Adventures apparently features extensive Arwing missions, as well as a large Zelda-style adventure. Could it be that in trying to incorporate Arwing missions Rare have been too ambitious? Are they now busy removing them, and adding to the quest in orderto bolster it up a little? Or are they going all the way with the Arwing missions, make them as good as possible, so we have two very different genres mixed to make one very special game?
Eternal Darkness has always been a huge project. 13 playable characters in a story spanning generations? Multiple paths through the story depending upon the decisions you make early on. This really does sound incredible, but is it all possible? Both of these games started life as N64 games, but were moved to Gamecube to find a larger audience. Could the fact that it started on N64 development kits be now causeing the problem? Unlikely given the amoun to ftime they've had to change over. But the scope of the projects must have changed immensely to turn them into Gamecube titles, rather than N64 ones.
It seems to me like the developers have just tried to add too much in, and are having trouble drawing it all together into one pretty package.
Though on a more optimistic view, could it be that they are realising the potential of the Gamecube, and simply making the games even better as they get more used to development? Given the reputation of these two developers I'd hope this was more likelt. Rare are famous for their delays, always trying to cram more in, make it as good as possible.
Galleon, on the other hand has had a huge delay. it was supposed to debut on the Gamecube in March, and a port was going to come to the Xbox in June (Note still US dates). I don't know whether theXbox version has also slipped. Maybe a bit of cash dollar from Microsoft has caused this game to slip on the 'Cube, to debut on the Xbox?
Only time will tell.
In my view, from a designers point of view...
When you design a game, it doesn't just finish there. You don't write on a piece of paper what the game will be in the end... you can set out a specification, and ideas, but it's unlikely to be the same product you end up with.
Why? Because ideas evolve out of ideas, and you get more ideas as you go along.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you could see the bubbles here?"
Add a few days.
"We REALLY should have bump mapped fur here..."
Add a few more days, so all characters with fur are bump mapped and uploaded correctly.
"I don't like the engines on the sides of all these ships... can we put them above and below?"
That means redesign the entire stock of ships... all of them have to be changed, and it all has to fit in with the original design of the ship itself.
So quite a bit of time.
The problem with these people is they come up with too many ideas. So perhaps it is over ambitious... but it's wanting perfection, too.
On another note, Galleon has been in development for AGES. That's usually a bad thing.
Usually because it's not a good idea to begin with... and getting more ideas from it is hard. Eventually you'll get so fed up, and just release a substandard piece of software.
Could be wrong though, Galleon could be great. Pirates rule.
When you design a game, it doesn't just finish there. You don't write on a piece of paper what the game will be in the end... you can set out a specification, and ideas, but it's unlikely to be the same product you end up with.
Why? Because ideas evolve out of ideas, and you get more ideas as you go along.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you could see the bubbles here?"
Add a few days.
"We REALLY should have bump mapped fur here..."
Add a few more days, so all characters with fur are bump mapped and uploaded correctly.
"I don't like the engines on the sides of all these ships... can we put them above and below?"
That means redesign the entire stock of ships... all of them have to be changed, and it all has to fit in with the original design of the ship itself.
So quite a bit of time.
The problem with these people is they come up with too many ideas. So perhaps it is over ambitious... but it's wanting perfection, too.
On another note, Galleon has been in development for AGES. That's usually a bad thing.
Usually because it's not a good idea to begin with... and getting more ideas from it is hard. Eventually you'll get so fed up, and just release a substandard piece of software.
Could be wrong though, Galleon could be great. Pirates rule.
Delays are a fact of life with new consoles. It happens on all of them. I wouldn't read to far into it.
***The_King nods in agreement!***
TurboNutter has hit the nail on the head, it's nothing major, just a fact of life when it comes to console games - and PC games for that matter!
TurboNutter has hit the nail on the head, it's nothing major, just a fact of life when it comes to console games - and PC games for that matter!
I dunno, Maybe just down to the fact of thier are just so many new possibilities with new technologies.
New ways of doing things, ways which can sometimes lead to confusion. Oh sometimes games are just completly scrapped and then started all over again. Happened with Conker:BFD, and somthin similar happened with the Gamecube version of Metroid didnt it?
New ways of doing things, ways which can sometimes lead to confusion. Oh sometimes games are just completly scrapped and then started all over again. Happened with Conker:BFD, and somthin similar happened with the Gamecube version of Metroid didnt it?
Well what Turbo said is very true but it is only the GC games that in in their delyed process right now. Ninty are apparently rushing out the GC over here, maybe even a late Febuary release, we'll see if this will happen or not but it might well do just that!