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Why AoC failed according to a Ex-Funcom employee
Sceptrum
Member Posts: 37
Now, this is from a discussion regarding an article on Age of Conan in a Norwegian newspaper:
http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2008/08/18/543982.html
This is my own translated version. From the way it's written it seems like an ex-Funcom employee, but you can never be sure, so I won't be upset if you think it is false. 
--------------------------------------
I wrote about it before the game was released...and I'll write it again.
Conan became a failure because of management and primarily because of Gaute Godager who made big changes to the game in 2006/2007.
If he hadn't done those changes, the game would have been released in October 2007 and had a standard that would have surpassed WoW, just with better graphics. We had everything ready and we even had some beta testers praising the game. Everything that remained was to fix bugs.
But no..."wannabe-King" (cant come up with a better word atm and its 3am local time) Gaute had to follow his vision and throw alot of work away, at the same time as team leaders/middle managers were promoted. Middle managers that didn't have a clue on how to lead others, at the same time as they hadn't enough time to do work themselves, besides going to meetings and checking bugzilla to see everyone was working at least 10-12 hours.
Shame as many of the middle managers did a really good job "on the floor", so Funcom/Gaute lost their expertise too.
I left Funcom last Fall...I couldn't take it anymore. The work environment was very bad, everyone complained and felt trampled on by managment, at the same time as everyone had to work overtime without compensation other than a bad meal of pizza or spice (assume spiced take-away food).
I now work in another design company with proper work conditions and I'm enjoying it.
If anyone has to leave Funcom it has to be Gaute and some of the middle managers.
-------
Original comment is in the provided link in the Comments section. Posted by someone called Ex-Dev.
I'll just reiterate, it seems legit, but could very well be false. Im personally inclined to believe it, due to how it correlates with what little I know of Funcom.
RIP Blackguard. May a resurrection come.
Comments
Vanguard:Hyboria it seems.
A lot of older / former AO player felt he would ruin Age of Conan and they were correct on that assumption. He completely ruined Anarchy Online with it's first major expansion with a Fantasy expasion turning the game into another Everquest.
Seriously why would they consider him again just bobbles my mind.
I can't speak for the validity of the post, but I can say this: from what I've seen from Gaute from Anarchy Online beta all the way to the present day, the description of him is accurate.
It's probably true, but that could fit ont he other foot too - it's probably not true. Either way, it seems to me to be realistically legitimate and avoids the usual pitfall of sounding off like a conspiracy theory.
It's a damn shame too...
Wow..exactly what I was thinking while reading....To quote Han (not the one SOE killed for me):
"Illusions of grandeur"
AoC had so much potiental then they started breaking things. If they had just fixed what they broke I would still be logging in. I can handle the balancing (to an extent, not stuff that should have been caught in beta) but to break things and then not fix for weeks. Boggles the mind. Seems to be the trend nowdays and we all pay.
Is it possible to know what changed? Gameplay, zones?
Im really curious about the original Age of Conan that would be released in 2007.
...
One of the reasons things break is due to the reused ao code. They recycled a failed game engine along with the netcode for aoc from ao. They aren't even trying to hide it shield nano ac shield chemical ac as pvp invulnerability.
Black screen with a window box showing
"Attemping to log into Age of Conan....
waiting.....
waiting....
Log in failed, we took your $60 for the retail box, please subscribe to our game so you can actually play the game a year later.
Thanks you."
follow by some weird hardware sound, and system rebooted itself.
I'm not buying the "game engine stinks" argument. AoC actually runs on a very impressive engine that has great collision detection, real-time combat, and stellar graphics. The engine wasn't close to being the reason AoC failed.
It wasn't tested enough, it wasn't complete, and it was far too instanced and linear. I can only imagine a big open world with those graphics, it would have been amazing. Instead we all got a cookie-cutter instance-based game in which your hand is held in everything you do.
Sieges should have been tested before release, that is inexcusable.
Tecmo Bowl.
WoW, I can not agree more. This is what I was trying to tell Funcom. I did not know the netcode they used in AoC came from AO, but it sounds really likely.
Well its a given, most companies cant afford the cost or time to completely code a new engine, netcode and all that. But they should have licensed something instead of reusing that fail engine from a fail game.
Nice find OP, and very reaffirming of what every Anarchy Online Vet guessed once they left Tortage.
IGNs interview with GG from 2005:
rpgvault.ign.com/articles/626/626620p1.html
rpgvault.ign.com/articles/632/632603p1.html
rpgvault.ign.com/articles/635/635649p1.html
Also, do a google for Age of Conan cut classes and prestige classes. Several classes were cut from the game with others being merged into other classes (Lich into Necromancer, and Stormcaller / Scion of Set into Tempest of Set). Prestige classes were totally removed, but I believe a few of their feats were merged into existing classes.
This was done fairly late in development and might go a long way towards explaining why class balance is so horrible.
We don't know why that employee left (if it is genuine).
I can comment on the Food in the workplace there though. From my understanding speaking to several developers and programmers there, FC pays for what they want at work when ordering take away. Not sure if this is just at weekends or after a certain time though I remember someone saying its Norweigan law after some time though I think. I met several guys who ordered everything from Sushi to Pizza.
I saw collaborations between Item design, world builders and quest guys all having a laugh there. These were people who had worked on other projects for different companies before with one guy working on the Ultima series and being good mates in the past with R.Garriot.
Personally everything was pretty professional and the people down to earth and even outside working hours very friendly.
About the game changes though, more about keeps were learn't in 2006 even in this picture we can see one from E3 2006: A lot of stuff was very raw looking then.
In 2007 there were many things that changed.
Tortage was orginally totally single player - beta feedback was to change this. Not to mention the days when you got off your boat and then was just 1 direct line to the city - beta feedback made the whole introduction 10 times better.
Combo directions were 6 and then got put down - due to beta feedback
PvE cities zones were to have NPC counterpart cities, with defendable PvE cities by siege weapons - these didn't work out as planned and got cut early on.
In its raw form in late 2006 bloodmoney was in but you couldn't really do anything with it, they 'toyed' with the idea for many months after before leaving it out.
Formation Mouted combat (something that I bragged about a lot) went by the wayside too. I could understand the reasons why though.
Remember seeing Conan on horseback? He should come out of the castle more I think.
Female models went thru lots of changes.
Developers Diary part 1 shows some insight too: www.youtube.com/watch
And this is a marathon of all released AoC Vids: www.youtube.com/watch
I remember the day this game was announced. I couldn't wait to learn more about it. Then over the course of development more and more cool ideas went away and the game turned into what it is now.
Such a waste.
Tecmo Bowl.
We knew that the game was going to be zoned from the outset though. But the real question is if the content of the last newsletter comes out in decent form in the next few months, feedback from players is ok, would you give it another look at or was you burned too much?
We knew that the game was going to be zoned from the outset though. But the real question is if the content of the last newsletter comes out in decent form in the next few months, feedback from players is ok, would you give it another look at or was you burned too much?
While I feel ripped off and misled by the massive advertising concerning AoC, I am not one of these gamers on a crusade to shut down Funcom.
I will not be playing WAR. I will not play WoW. The next game I am going to play is Fallen Earth.
Funcom announced early that there would be zoning in the game. They did not inform us until late in development exactly how restricted the world environment would be. I wanted drunken brawls that were promised. My box right now reads DX10 available.
The game is too restrictive. All that said I actually enjoyed my time in AoC. The combat is refreshing and the graphics are great. If Funcom could provide me a more open environment with the same combat, better PvP, and fix the numerous bugs that infest the game, then I would resub in a heartbeat.
At this point I just hope to see AoC survive after the new releases in the near future. The concept for this game is great and unique. Funcom dropped the ball in so many areas and I feel that the future looks bleak for it.
So I suppose the short answer is no.
Tecmo Bowl.
We knew that the game was going to be zoned from the outset though. But the real question is if the content of the last newsletter comes out in decent form in the next few months, feedback from players is ok, would you give it another look at or was you burned too much?
While I feel ripped off and misled by the massive advertising concerning AoC, I am not one of these gamers on a crusade to shut down Funcom.
I will not be playing WAR. I will not play WoW. The next game I am going to play is Fallen Earth.
Funcom announced early that there would be zoning in the game. They did not inform us until late in development exactly how restricted the world environment would be. I wanted drunken brawls that were promised. My box right now reads DX10 available.
The game is too restrictive. All that said I actually enjoyed my time in AoC. The combat is refreshing and the graphics are great. If Funcom could provide me a more open environment with the same combat, better PvP, and fix the numerous bugs that infest the game, then I would resub in a heartbeat.
At this point I just hope to see AoC survive after the new releases in the near future. The concept for this game is great and unique. Funcom dropped the ball in so many areas and I feel that the future looks bleak for it.
So I suppose the short answer is no.
Avery, you have WAY too much inside info man. Seriously, you met them and they just blirted out the fact they order sushi and pizza? Come on now.
Anyone else find this to be strange?
Gamer Plus+
lol next thing you know he's going to be telling us how some of their wives have the best cherry pies... (and not the food variety, I'm talking Warren's "Cherry Pie" song
)
Not really, I went with my father to many business meetings with Brokers, these guys are supposed to be the most tight lipped people in the business. After about two hours they came back to my table and told me and my father all their dirty little trade secrets that got them rich. About how they took extra money from two investors to get their new cars outside. We had just met them too, its not even like we talked to them all the time.
People like to brag its human nature. Why do you think so many of these fraud companies get caught. Im sure Enron was really hiding their riches well too...... in strippers bras, and bags of cocaine.
-Jive
Well, over-time food (from Spice, Room Service, Dolly's Pizza) was one of the few (albeit mediocre) joys there, so if anyone was trying to emphasize the positive, that would probably be mentioned.
In no way shape or form did AoC fail. It may not be what alot of people wanted, and it may have its problems.. but there are still hordes of people playing it vowing never to go back to an Auto-Attack game again.
Well, over-time food (from Spice, Room Service, Dolly's Pizza) was one of the few (albeit mediocre) joys there, so if anyone was trying to emphasize the positive, that would probably be mentioned.
Wait, you worked for FC?
Gamer Plus+
hey there Deviate? or Chill_Factor now? I get confused as one was 33yrs old the other 37.
Maybe you find it strange because you didn't follow the game before release?
I went to their HQ with many other people. I asked quite a few questions, I also have 2hrs worth of camcorder footage there. They have a great team of people and some real dedicated guys / talented guys. Don't hate on the dev's / programmers, it's some of the lead's in direction that put it all together.
If you look on tentonhammer you will see some interviews there which I set up too and the names of the devs we chatted with.
Video Podcast, added on Feb 10, 2008
Video Podcast, added on Feb 10, 2008
Video Podcast, added on Feb 05, 2008
Video Podcast, added on Feb 05, 2008