Difference between revisions of "CartridgeCulture/To do"

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==[[Rocket Science Games]]==
 
==[[Rocket Science Games]]==
 
*[https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/loadstar-the-legend-of-tully-bodine/ Source article]
 
*[https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/loadstar-the-legend-of-tully-bodine/ Source article]
−
The company's initial business strategy was to immediately invest heavily in hiring a "celebrity" development team (to compliment the Hollywood concept). [[LucasArts]]’ Brian Moriarty was one such developer, and additional staff was recruited from Industrial Light & Magic. Blank recalls [[Peter Barrett]]'s credentials being a major factor in convincing staff to join.
+
The company's initial business strategy was to immediately invest heavily in hiring a "celebrity" development team (to compliment the Hollywood concept). [[LucasArts]]’ Brian Moriarty was one such developer, with additional staff recruited from [[wikipedia:Industrial Light & Magic|Industrial Light & Magic]]. Blank recalls [[Peter Barrett]]'s credentials being a major factor in convincing staff to join; having developed the [[Cinepak]] format, Barrett was an expert in video compression, and his presence helped instill confidence in a new company building itself around the tepidly-received concept of [[full-motion video]].
  
−
With their Hollywood staff, Rocket Science Games went all-in on [[full-motion video]], beginning their existing not producing games but the development hardware needed to create games; specifically, Hollywood-style big budget "interactive movies", with their target platforms being the [[Sega CD]] and [[IBM PC]]s. As Barrett was an expert in compression (having developed the [[Cinepak]] format), his knowledge assisted the company greatly in the quality of their video playback. All this investment occurred while FMV games were in their decline, and with the company aware that this genre generally sold quite poorly; they were assured in their presentation surpassing previous attempts at making FMV profitable.
+
With their Hollywood staff, Rocket Science Games went all-in on [[full-motion video]], beginning their existence not producing games but the development hardware needed to create games; specifically, Hollywood-style big budget "interactive movies", with their target platforms being the [[Sega CD]] and [[IBM PC]]s. Like Hollywood, production was exhorbitantly expensive, with titles routinely costing the company a few million dollars each. All this investment occurred while FMV games were in their decline, and with the company aware that this genre generally sold quite poorly; they were assured in their presentation surpassing previous attempts at making FMV profitable.
  
 
Blank recalls that Rocket Science Games was focused almost entirely on appearances and little on actual gameplay, claiming none of the executive staff were gamers, and that the Hollywood presentation was fooling the company into ignoring the lack of gameplay. At some point, Rocket Science Games hired their vice president of marketing directly from [[Sega of America]], who, after only two weeks with the company, began to voice strong concerns about the lacking gameplay; the games lacked the addictive power to keep gamers wanting to play.
 
Blank recalls that Rocket Science Games was focused almost entirely on appearances and little on actual gameplay, claiming none of the executive staff were gamers, and that the Hollywood presentation was fooling the company into ignoring the lack of gameplay. At some point, Rocket Science Games hired their vice president of marketing directly from [[Sega of America]], who, after only two weeks with the company, began to voice strong concerns about the lacking gameplay; the games lacked the addictive power to keep gamers wanting to play.
 
{{quote|''[[Loadstar]]'' wasn’t developed for actual video game players as much as it was to impress the likes of shareholders and investors: Folk with no interest in actually playing games, but rather in how they can be marketed and make them money.|''Game author Cassidy''|ref={{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20221105112525/https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/loadstar-the-legend-of-tully-bodine/}}}}
 
{{quote|''[[Loadstar]]'' wasn’t developed for actual video game players as much as it was to impress the likes of shareholders and investors: Folk with no interest in actually playing games, but rather in how they can be marketed and make them money.|''Game author Cassidy''|ref={{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20221105112525/https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/loadstar-the-legend-of-tully-bodine/}}}}
 +
The company's disregard for gameplay was reportedly so severe that the game ''[[Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine]]'' was produced without any playtesting. Once the programmers had finished bringing the game to a relatively bug-free state, that version was immediately finalized, with Rocket Science Games so confident in their expensive presentation that they felt no need to actually playtest it for balance or fun.
 +
  
 
*Marketing was soon increased, and attracted the attention of Sega Enterprises [and a partner in Bertelsmann Music Group] for $12mil in investment (in exchange for US/EU publishing rights).
 
*Marketing was soon increased, and attracted the attention of Sega Enterprises [and a partner in Bertelsmann Music Group] for $12mil in investment (in exchange for US/EU publishing rights).
−
*The Sega CD version of Loadstar was produced without testing whatsoever. There was QA on the part of the developers, and the first version they created that had no obvious bugs was turned into the final gold master. There was zero playtesting before release. Sega Test simply required the game to run for a certain number of hours without crashing. It passed, but Sega Test reportedly hated the game.
 
 
*Misallocation of funds resulted in games that cost nearly 10s of millions of dollars selling literally a few thousand copies.
 
*Misallocation of funds resulted in games that cost nearly 10s of millions of dollars selling literally a few thousand copies.
 
*By the end of 1996, RSG underwent heavy restructuring and abandoned plans to become a publisher, focusing solely on development. A staff of 100 was downsized to 35, including gutting most of upper management and focusing the studio around the developers. Blank and Barrett left during this restructuring, with Barrett, while on his way out, placing some of the blame on Sega and the Sega CD, claiming "they had backed the wrong horse". A number of games were cancelled, including a sequel to Loadstar (for which the live-acting filming was reportedly complete) and a roller coaster simulator titled ''DarkRide''.
 
*By the end of 1996, RSG underwent heavy restructuring and abandoned plans to become a publisher, focusing solely on development. A staff of 100 was downsized to 35, including gutting most of upper management and focusing the studio around the developers. Blank and Barrett left during this restructuring, with Barrett, while on his way out, placing some of the blame on Sega and the Sega CD, claiming "they had backed the wrong horse". A number of games were cancelled, including a sequel to Loadstar (for which the live-acting filming was reportedly complete) and a roller coaster simulator titled ''DarkRide''.

Revision as of 08:14, 30 January 2023

Back to: CartridgeCulture.

To do

  • Clean up Contributions articles.
  • Add LaserActive to NEC Retro.
  • Mail to Gaming Alexandria: Sega VR book, Nicole Miller items, GameWorks Vegas papers.

Rocket Science Games

The company's initial business strategy was to immediately invest heavily in hiring a "celebrity" development team (to compliment the Hollywood concept). LucasArts’ Brian Moriarty was one such developer, with additional staff recruited from Industrial Light & Magic. Blank recalls Peter Barrett's credentials being a major factor in convincing staff to join; having developed the Cinepak format, Barrett was an expert in video compression, and his presence helped instill confidence in a new company building itself around the tepidly-received concept of full-motion video.

With their Hollywood staff, Rocket Science Games went all-in on full-motion video, beginning their existence not producing games but the development hardware needed to create games; specifically, Hollywood-style big budget "interactive movies", with their target platforms being the Sega CD and IBM PCs. Like Hollywood, production was exhorbitantly expensive, with titles routinely costing the company a few million dollars each. All this investment occurred while FMV games were in their decline, and with the company aware that this genre generally sold quite poorly; they were assured in their presentation surpassing previous attempts at making FMV profitable.

Blank recalls that Rocket Science Games was focused almost entirely on appearances and little on actual gameplay, claiming none of the executive staff were gamers, and that the Hollywood presentation was fooling the company into ignoring the lack of gameplay. At some point, Rocket Science Games hired their vice president of marketing directly from Sega of America, who, after only two weeks with the company, began to voice strong concerns about the lacking gameplay; the games lacked the addictive power to keep gamers wanting to play.


“ Loadstar wasn’t developed for actual video game players as much as it was to impress the likes of shareholders and investors: Folk with no interest in actually playing games, but rather in how they can be marketed and make them money. „

— Game author Cassidy[1]


The company's disregard for gameplay was reportedly so severe that the game Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine was produced without any playtesting. Once the programmers had finished bringing the game to a relatively bug-free state, that version was immediately finalized, with Rocket Science Games so confident in their expensive presentation that they felt no need to actually playtest it for balance or fun.


  • Marketing was soon increased, and attracted the attention of Sega Enterprises [and a partner in Bertelsmann Music Group] for $12mil in investment (in exchange for US/EU publishing rights).
  • Misallocation of funds resulted in games that cost nearly 10s of millions of dollars selling literally a few thousand copies.
  • By the end of 1996, RSG underwent heavy restructuring and abandoned plans to become a publisher, focusing solely on development. A staff of 100 was downsized to 35, including gutting most of upper management and focusing the studio around the developers. Blank and Barrett left during this restructuring, with Barrett, while on his way out, placing some of the blame on Sega and the Sega CD, claiming "they had backed the wrong horse". A number of games were cancelled, including a sequel to Loadstar (for which the live-acting filming was reportedly complete) and a roller coaster simulator titled DarkRide.
  • Cadillacs & Dinosaurs was developed alongside Loadstar, with Loadstar finishing development after C&D.

Redirects to delete

  1. ↑ https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/loadstar-the-legend-of-tully-bodine/ (Wayback Machine: 2022-11-05 11:25)
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