Dying Light 2 development "a mess"

[Seraphim_Rez]

An article was released in Polish about the development of Dying Light 2. According to the article, development has been "a mess", and leadership is forcing employees to stay late and "calling people in "pre-production morons."
 

Below is the link to the original Polish article followed by the English translation Twitter thread.

 

https://polskigamedev.pl/dying-light-2-totalna-rozsypka-vs-tak-sie-robi-gry/

 

Here's the headline and first paragraph by Google Translate (actually not too bad)

" Dying Light 2: "Total disarray" vs "That's how games are done"

They don't have a vertical slice, they don't believe the game will come out this year, they don't know what it is supposed to be ... Well, at least some. Techland employees tell us about the mood in the company, the unannounced game, rumors about Microsoft's takeover and (lack of?) Cooperation with Chris Avellone. "

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Seraphim_Rez

[JavaNext]

Good find, it's interesting to read about how everyone feels about the games' progress and their work environment.

Seems there's a lot of different opinions especially on the creative director Adrian Ciszewski, aka "pyza" and the director Chris Avellone.

The studio seems very devided which doesn't bode well, but only time will tell.

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by JavaNext

[Good_Sir_Matt_II]

I had completely forgotten about that game

[PooPooBlast]

Oh man... This doesn't sound good. This was probably my mostl anticipated game this year. 

 

For sure we can expect a further delay and it will hurt them as development costs continue to accrue, and the more ideas are being scrapped because of opposition between senior management.

 

Makes sense why they keep releasing updates in DL1 so that they can keep fans happy.

[MidnightDragon]

This is still coming?

[Gotakibono]

This is getting out of hand. The Last of Us: Part II and Dying Light 2 were by far my most anticipated games, but the sheer regularity of such workplace horror stories is quickly removing any alluring shine these games had. I mean, I want to play great games, but not at the cost of the developers. 

 

 

[Seraphim_Rez]

1 minute ago, Gotakibono said:

This is getting out of hand. The Last of Us: Part II and Dying Light 2 were by far my most anticipated games, but the sheer regularity of such workplace horror stories is quickly removing any alluring shine these games had. I mean, I want to play great games, but not at the cost of the developers. 

 

 

 

Sadly this was seen as normal for too long and only in recent years are these issues being brought to public attention.
Don't forget Cyberpunk where CD Project says they're still gonna crunch even after the delay.

https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2077-developers-will-be-required-to-crunch-following-its-delay/

 

"One former employee summed it up succinctly as "too much pressure and no life", while another pointed out the poor pay, "...even compared to what other gamedev companies in Warsaw pay.""

 

And don't forget Rockstar's Dan Houser statement about "working 100-hour weeks at various times in 2018"

[DaivRules]

5 minutes ago, Gotakibono said:

but not at the cost of the developers. 

 

Eeek. I'd stop looking behind the curtain, you're going to find this story repeat itself every time you look. It's incredibly common in a lot more places and industries than people realize.

[Seraphim_Rez]

On the subject of crunch, I'm actually surprised people are so outraged at ND's crunch NOW because this was talked about back in 2016 as well I guess it never gained much traction then. Crunch was happening throughout the Uncharted series and the studio as a whole had a rep for it.

[Cleggworth]

37 minutes ago, PooPooBlast said:

Makes sense why they keep releasing updates in DL1 so that they can keep fans happy.

 

Its mad how much they've supported what is now a 5 yr old game. They even have a new paid DLC coming

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-04-29-dying-light-to-get-hellraid-dlc-this-summer

 

 

[AJ_Radio]

Never was interested in the first game. It's just too bad the employees have to suffer.

 

On 5/6/2020 at 9:40 AM, DaivRules said:

 

Eeek. I'd stop looking behind the curtain, you're going to find this story repeat itself every time you look. It's incredibly common in a lot more places and industries than people realize.

 

As somebody who worked Walmart and Dollar Tree retail, I can definitely tell you I've seen this shit happen firsthand.

 

It's in a lot of places. Hollywood studios, telecommunications companies, contractors, retail stores, even internet exclusive businesses. McDonalds, Ford, Chevy, doesn't matter.

[Vampirehunter145]

And there goes another one.

[EcoShifter]

That is a part of the story at best, and there's some poor translations. The developers added some clarification over on Reddit already.

[YROSHIKU]

So basically the game's in development hell, welp won't lie I thought they cancelled that thing.

[SatcomAngel]

Willing to bet it was a poor quote or bad translation. Dying Light 2 is going to be great.