Redfall Developer Gets Mocked For The Game's Terrible Launch

The Environment Artist for Redfall recently stated how she had to bear mockery and harassment due to the game's terrible launch.

[SullysCigar]

As much as this game looks like trash, that's just the kind of art style Arkane use. It's very Telltale Games, to my eyes, and it's not something I enjoy.

It's not the worst part about Redfall and it's obviously not okay that this environment artist has been harassed over it. I'd be interested to know why the textures, literally at your feet, take 20-ODD SECONDS to load in though.

[just_looken]

the texture load is normal for unreal engine go back to 360 launch or the old doom games on ps3 all unreal engine titles have suffered this issue.

Development teams have also found ways to fix this issues of course but not all know how too.

[SullysCigar]

Unreal Engine 4 isn't some new-fangled thing out there confusing developers. If a developer can't utilise UE4 properly at this stage, that's a them problem, not an engine one.

Maybe if they'd released it on Unreal Engine 5 - like everyone expected for YEARS - instead of saying they ran out of time, they'd have ended up with less graphical bugs and performance issues. We'll never know, now.

[just_looken]

LOL actual devs have said its a unreal engine issue even digital foundry said in there recent redfall video.

But again i am wrong...........

[SullysCigar]

^ Don't be so defensive, man, I never said you were wrong that texture load is a known issue for UE4 - that's well documented. My point is UE4 isn't new and it's a development staple, so devs should be able to circumvent the issue in 2023! It's not as if this is Arkane's first time using UE4 - there's NO excuse.

For anyone curious, here is the Digital Foundry video @just_looken was referring to.
If you want a laugh, watch 10:15-11:15 - thank me later!

https://n4g.com/news/254935...

[jznrpg]

Plenty of Unreal Engine 4 games that ran much better and looked much better.

[EazyC]

It worked in Dishonored because that game was HEAVILY stylised so it gave off this gothic/industrial vibe. In their other titles it looks so soulless though.

[Aussiesummer]

nah the dishonoured titles looked way better than this trash. She helped make a game look like it's from the 360 era.

[Obscure_Observer]

"My point is UE4 isn't new and it's a development staple, so devs should be able to circumvent the issue in 2023! It's not as if this is Arkane's first time using UE4 - there's NO excuse."

Lol.

You are desperate af. Even DF said it´s NOT Arkane´s fault. But hey let some untitled random folks on the internet with ZERO game development knowledge tell the professionals they´re wrong.

It´s not Arkane's first time using UE4 in a game, but it´s Arkane´s first time using UE4 in an OPEN WORLD game, which obviously will present new and unexpected challenges and issues that might prove hard to circumvent if you´re not The Coalition or Epic themselves.

You can blame Arkane Austin for 90% of Redfall issues but texture rendering in open world games powered by UE4 is not Arkane´s fault as John Linneman was very specific in his statement.

[jznrpg]

It’s clearly their fault for using UE4 having known issues and if they were ignorant of how it worked they should have went another route.

MS bought them a couple years ago why didn’t they help? We are hands off even when our studios need help? That’s the excuse?

These are PROFESSIONALS not some kids trying to make a game. Have a standard for professionals.

MS has excuses and the worst is their fans do too.

[SullysCigar]

Even if every point you just made wasn't in some way desperate spin to protect poor old Microsoft, they could have avoided all this if they'd used UE5 as intended, no? But, as they said, they "ran out of time" to do that. Just add it to the list of things they ran out of time for here.

Instead, we found out shortly before launch it was stuck in UE4 - and as it turns out, they stepped on every rake UE4 brings. But it's not their fault. LOL

[sadraiden]

Arkane games have never had this lack of charm, personality, or life in their worlds.

Also, Arkane Austin developed Redfall. The only other game they developed was Prey, which looks brilliant but before the MS takeover.

But of course, there's gonna be a million and 1 xbox fanboy fuckwits who don't know how game publishing works as an industry, and thinks that Redfall flopped because of untalented Environmental Artists. Better start sending death threats.

[-Foxtrot]

By her colleagues, friends and even relatives…

I literally thought they were going to spin it for a moment, you know when someone says they are being harassed on twitter (which obviously is not cool) but then there’s a 180 where people start making excuse for the product aswell.

They had me for a moment

[Kaii]

May 4th - "Delighting in the failure of others, no matter how you feel towards a company, seems mean spirited."
"I feel sad, confused, and disappointed."

May 2nd - "Five years of blood, sweat, and more blood have culminated in the release of Redfall.

It’s exciting to see folks dive into the game, share their thoughts, both positive and negative, and having feedback!
Thank you for playing ❤️
(now I’m gonna sleep for five years)"

ordinary people shouldn't get harassed over dumb shit when the studio head can't leave his office and say why we released this early and why it's in its current state, you can't even throw criticism at QA when companies now don't give a crap about quality.
I'd liked to of seen the version before they announced the delay and compare it with what we've got currently to get some comparisons & because management across the board In these studios sucks ass, looking at you 343.

[masterfox]

Developer: I feel sad, confused, and disappointed.

General Consumer: Oh poor thing, now give my 70 effing dlls back!

Imaging an architect that created a design for a structure and convince investors to buy and build the structure, but then after building a huge part of it, it collapses, other architects check the design and found a huge flaws in the diagrams, the buyers pissed off cause the original designer secretly didn't mention about this flaws.

Buyers: We are going to sue this mofo!!
Original designer: Oh how cruel they are!! they are hurting my feelings!!

Yep this Arkane developer is acting like that Arquitect :D

[porkChop]

What kind of analogy is that? She's an environmental artist. She's not a programmer or a gameplay designer. The game not working properly isn't her fault.

[Jin_Sakai]

The game visuals are nothing to ride home about either. Regardless, the game is has mediocre written all over it.

[porkChop]

"Regardless, the game is has mediocre written all over it."

Agreed. I know that, I've played it. I know first hand how bad it is. But still. Like she's not even talking about gamers. She mentions peers and colleagues. So basically other devs have been talking shit. That's not ok, especially considering the state of the industry and how many games have been launching with major issues. Saying stuff like "they deserved it" is pretty messed up especially when it's coming from another dev you look up to.

[Knushwood Butt]

Actually there's a high-rise building near where I work that's half built. It was found that key integrity checks were falsified, and key values are several millimeters off. All work has ceased and they have to re-start from near scratch. There are huge sums involved,
Still, good that the fraud was found and called out.

[SullysCigar]

Or... maybe the build HAS been finished and just hasn't loaded into view yet?.. o_O

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I think there is deserved criticism imo

[gold_drake]

criticism and harassment is not quite the same thing tho.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

True that's why we support criticism but never harassment

[Aussiesummer]

Maybe she can't distinguish between the two.

[jznrpg]

Did they change the title to mocked I swear it said harassment at first . Overreaction either way she is getting it from family and peers

[BrainSyphoned]

The environment design looks pretty decent and the frozen wave could be a cool thing. Not willing to waste my time stuttering through her work though.

[SullysCigar]

I thought the frozen wave was cool too. The concept that is, certainly not it's execution, which is naff and dated like the rest of the visuals. I'd like to see something similar better implemented in a future game, though, for sure.

[CBaoth]

see now I found the wave an ill contrived story arc mechanic. It felt like another hackneyed solution to the "why don't the people just leave" question. Wasn't needed - especially in a VAMPIRE game. Really thought the game could've had potential had they drawn on their strengths. The aesthetic from Dishonored would've worked if they had set the game around New England circa 1700 (Salem). Vamps were behind the Witch trials as a way to misdirect the general public while they searched the secret catacombs under the town for an artifact to daywalk. Insert any number of generic plot points. We could've had some real novel weapon designs a la Order 1886 (build on the crossbows motif and shit because ya know at the end of the day we're fightin VAMPS ffs)

[EvertonFC]

She should listen to Phil, if you cant stand the heat in the gaming space you`re in the wrong industry, Phils words.

[jwillj2k4]

It was setup to fail by Phil. He said their internal reviews loved it. He signs off on it being 70 dollars. He saw the game before release (when it was even worse) and knows damn well it shouldn’t be anymore than 40.

[gold_drake]

yeh that statement was super weird.
like if they tested it internally, they should have seen the mess it was.

[Viljong]

People sure are enjoying and celebrating the fail of redfall.

[EvertonFC]

Pointing out a games short comings isn`t gamers enjoying the failure of a game.

[ModsDoBetter]

Absolutely.

They do so under the good guy guise of “Xbox gamers deserve and should demand better” whilst doing nothing but belittling Xbox gamers - makes sense.

[EvertonFC]

You are talking about 1% of gamers who come to gaming websites

[Destraride]

the game is quite disappointing, as long as it is given constructive criticism then its fine but people take it too far
I think the general attitude should be the opposite instead of celebrating the fall of games

[ModsDoBetter]

100% agreed.

A lot of recent games are disappointing as I feel that more often than not, developers/publishers rely on the fact they can push out fixes via patches and are eager to please investors and shareholders so the games get rushed out the door and fixed later.

There is no way the testing that Redfall went through didn’t show these issues.
There’s no way the testing TLoU PC went through didn’t show those issues.
There’s no way the testing Jedi Survivor went through didn’t show performance issues.

Battlefield 2042, Cyberpunk (though that one was the investors pushing for it to be released), Halo MCC, GTA Definitive, the list goes on.

[Destraride]

i am happy i know my place among indie games because AAA games are such a hit and miss these days
I don't wish them to fail but things really need to change among the corporate structure of game development, in my opinion.
appeasing rich middle aged men investing in your games instead of the audience who will play them will always often back fire

[goldwyncq]

Mocking the Environment artist? That’s like blaming the receptionist working at a hospital for a botched surgery.

[SullysCigar]

Not really. It's more like blaming the receptionist working at a hospital for a botched appointment booking.

Have you seen the environment art in this game? The textures literally take half a minute to load right in front of you. Some never load at all! The constant pop-in, the shadow draw distance is a about 20 feet in front of you. The constant shimmer due to the day/night cycle.

Even on series X, if there's environmental fire or smoke, the frame rate dips to 20fps.

There are plenty of problems in this game that are nothing to do with the environment artists, but also plenty that are. Feedback/constructive criticism is totally due - especially from peers. It just shouldn't be done in a nasty way.

[dumahim]

"The textures literally take half a minute to load right in front of you."

She's an artist, not a programmer. That isn't on her. JFC.

[SullysCigar]

^ Fair enough, I'm a gamer, I see something looks like sh!t and assume 'art', which is clearly what's happening in terms of the feedback she's getting. If that's the case, she should pass on the feedback and doesn't need to shoulder the burden of 'mean words'. JFC indeed.

I'm not sure it's quite that simple though, given she claims to have been mocked by "peers, friends and colleagues", who you would assume would understand her world more deeply than the average gamer.

[jznrpg]

There is some areas I saw proportion issues one where the NPC looked tiny and the TV and Sofa were massive in comparison

[jambola]

Maybe they should mock themselves for buying it

[Aussiesummer]

Your games ugly, boring, broken, it bombed so people took a few jabs, get over it.

[Agent75]

Honest, it looks boring. Wait until it's selling for £10 or less in Computer Exchange.

[Crows90]

Imagine a world where people arent actually passionate about gaming and therefore never have strong ass feelings about games failing...this shit comes with the territory. Just like youll have people gushing over how good a game is youll also have the opposite end of that spectrum.

[rippermcrip]

The forgot to mention what harassment was received. Because people critiquing and mocking the game is not harassment alone.

There is no examples of harassment in the story or her tweets.

She doesn't even make that claim. She is just upset that people she knows we're bashing the game.

[Destraride]

in my opinion saying things like "their resume is f*cked", *what f*cking idiots", and "they deserved this" things like that from her own colleagues come under the umbrella of harassment
and those quotes are her own words mentioned in her tweets and the story

[rippermcrip]

Harassment is pressure or intimidation.

Telling someone they suck or they're an idiot isn't that. Now if you repeatedly do it, then it can become that.

None of this stuff was even directed at her as far as we know. The way she words it is that she can't believe people are making these comments in general.

[SpacedDuck]

I like the art style in this game.

No individual deserves any attacks as it was a studio failure.

[anast]

Criticism is how we grow. Working hard on something doesn't necessarily mean that people will like it. The creative direction on this game was cheap and generic. This is something that should have been seen by all artists involved. It is their job to know the difference between generic and novel. Likewise, it is the devs job to know how to make a game that can run up to modern standards. This game failed in both categories.

[CrimsonWing69]

Look, if you’re willing to get praise for something good you make for the public, get ready to get sh*t when you make something bad for the public.

That’s how criticism works.

[gold_drake]

love how the person, who shared this article, changed the title from "harassed" to "mocked"

two different things my friend.

[Destraride]

What are you talking about? No edit was made to the title, and I've seen this article in the pending place since yesterday
last edit made on the article was yesterday from what the site says. It was "Mocked" since the beginning

[gold_drake]

i swear it said harassed. and not mocked. even most of the comments allude to this. haha.

[Destraride]

You are likely confused by the description under the title then maybe, since it uses both the words mockery and harassment. That's why a few comments that I could find have talked about it
and in my opinion saying things like "their resume is f*cked", *what f*cking idiots", and "they deserved this" things like that from her own colleagues could come under harassment. Though I can see some disagreeing with it since it is often used for other scenarios

[Binarycode]

Regardless.

Unreal engine4 is Jack of all trades, Master of None.

Hopefully unreal 5 will sort many issues. Lumen and nanite look awesome and should help lighting and textures in games.

[esherwood]

Don’t know why people even acknowledge this crap. So what a bunch of losers online are anonymously attacking you, welcome to the internet.

[franwex]

Did she set the expectations to her friends and family that it was going to be awesome or what? Did she made them waste their money? Or did she say that the game was going to be a mess and not to bother with it-that it’s just a pay check?

[Psychonaut85]

Don’t do this people. Why single out an artist. It’s not her fault the game released early. Or that bad decisions were made in design. If you wanna give Phil or Harvey a little shit I can see that, but this is just bullying bullshit.

[darkrider]

Because it's not acceptable that any studio doesn't mastered the old unreal engine.... Ridiculous. I would ashamed with pop in on the story tellers.... Velocity architecture is a cool name, but just that.

[tagzskie]

They didnt deserved this kind of treatment. Every developers doesnt want to create bad product, I wouldnt mind if is happen to phil though, if thats the key to properly handle or manage studios and make great games again.

[isarai]

The devs have the talent, but they are at the mercy of Bethesda and MS. No dev wants to ship out something like this.