This took 6 years to develop. - Alan Wake (2010) Discussion

[–] jabbawocky2004 14 years ago

Remedy worked with a team of 45 men to make this game and it had extensive re-works on certain sections.

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[–] Littlebitsofgaming 14 years ago

Yes fine...but that is still no excuse for stale gameplay.
6 years and they could not see the flaws in the basics? It took me less than 1 hour to see the flaws, and I'm 1 person, they had a team of 40+.
I understand they developed a new game engine...great, that takes up time...but still no excuse for the same damn thing each and every "episode" of the game. Shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot.

The very baisics of the game are just so damn dull.
There are games out there that have less than 40 people working on them, a smaller budget yet still have much more interesting gameplay.

The only reason I played this till the end was cos the story was so damn good.
Kind of like Stephen King teamed up with David Lynch.
I want to see more...that is SEE more, not play more.

Oh and going by the credits at the end...they had many more than 40 people working on this title.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is God.

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[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ahmedmouhsen 14 years ago

It took 6 years to develop a franchise aswell, not to mention they had to go through a lot of reworks. And that do take time, stale gameplay? It was great the only thing that flawed imo was the driving parts. They obviously made a lot of research and seems like the majority didn't think that the gameplay was dull. Sucks to be you I guess. :)

'Prepare for unforeseen consequences.'

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[–] Littlebitsofgaming 14 years ago

I guess I'm the only person here that cares about gameplay in a game anymore then?

Hey I could help develop the sequel for them.

Episode 1: shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot.
Episode 2: shine torch, shoot, crap driving scetion, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot.
Episode 3: shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot.
Episode 4: crap driving scetion, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, crap driving scetion.
Episode 5: shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot.
Episode 6: shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, meet final boss and shine torch, shoot.

So maybe it's just me then.
Please do point out some point in the game that justifies 6 years of delveopment in the gameplay ONLY.
There was nothing in this game that made me think...that was worth 6 years of working on.

they obviously made a lot of research and seems like the majority didn't think that the gameplay was dull.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=245293

But though Remedy's six-year game is an undeniable narrative gem, it still feels like it could've added extra depth and variety in the more traditional areas.

Its not the generation-defining game the epic development schedule might've suggested.

Lacks variety later on.
Would've liked more depth in combat.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/alan-wake-review?page=3

A familiar pattern emerges within a few hours. Your mission is always to get from point A to point B, defeating enemies, picking up ammo, collecting manuscript pages and kick-starting generators along the way. Alan's lack of jumping and climbing skills means there's little in the way of exploration to be done and levels are generally linear. There is only a handful puzzles, and all of them are of the "find out how to get over there so you can make the red switch go green" variety.

Had Alan Wake been released three years ago, it would have been easy to recommend the game as a solid, polished action-adventure.

The genre has moved on since then. Games such as BioShock have shown how compelling and original storylines can be told in innovative ways. The likes of Uncharted 2 have offered up not just lush visuals but diverse locations and varied gameplay.

Alan Wake is tired and derivative. Everything about it feels dated, from the linear level design to the red-green switch nonsense to the visual stylings.

There's a weekend's worth of fun here for action-adventure fans who aren't too bothered about innovative concepts and varied gameplay, and don't mind a lot of repetition.

But what to profesional reviews know eh?
I could go on pointing out that infact the majority DID think that the gameplay was dull. (trust me, there are more)
Pretty much every reivew I have read has said the same thing. Yes the story telling is great, yes the narrative is impressive, etc.
But the gameplay is so flat the 6 year development time does not add up.

Seems you guys just can not tell the difference between the story telling and the actual gameplay itself.
Look at it this way. Remove the story from you mind just for a while.
Now look at the game, what do you do?
Walk/run a bit, shine torch and shoot. Walk/run a bit, shine torch and shoot. Walk/run a bit, shine torch and shoot. Find switch and press. Walk/run a bit, shine torch and shoot. Dirving scetion where nothing happens (and that is true most part the driving is you on an open road with nothing in your way), get out car. Walk/run a bit, shine torch and shoot.

Cross Silent Hill with Luigi's Mansion and you have Alan Wake...only slightly more dull.

This is not a game that has been in development for 6 years. It feels like it was made 6 years ago yes.

As I said before, would have made a great TV seires...but not a great game.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is God.

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[–] Sumerah 14 years ago

I agree with you. The gameplay was mediocre:

- Repetitive shine/shoot
- Alan Wake character doesn't move fluidly (can't climb low objects which makes some situations ridiculous, accuracy problems in the platform elements, has to be too close to objects in order to trigger them)
- Puzzles weren't challenging
- Car handling is crap

Despite these flaws in the gameplay, I enjoyed the game very much because of the story and setting.

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[–] Banjo_oz 14 years ago

I've got respect for these folks that they stayed at it for six years, through what was obviously a labour of love. Is it perfect? No... I'd love to say it was a "masterpiece" but it clearly isn't, with the gameplay annoyances and - I agree - very linear and often dull levels. It sometimes FEELS like a game from six years ago, I agree.

But with that comes a great and involving story. How many games these days do you care about the story? Mostly it's "multiplayer this" and "graphics that". Wake was a throwback to a time of great single player story-driven games (graphic adventures like Full Throttle, survival horrors like the original Silent Hill, even FPS gems like Half Life).

With what they learned and the shadow of "six years development" behind them, hopefully the team of AW can put together a wonderful game that combines their storytelling with more gameplay freedom.

For now, I'm just glad to have played something at least close to the old-school
"survival horror" games I've missed since the Resident Evil series devolved into a third person run-and-gun shooter, with a story to match the old-school adventure games and "interactive movies" I miss from the 90's.

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[–] king_of_bob 13 years ago

But with that comes a great and involving story. How many games these days do you care about the story? Mostly it's "multiplayer this" and "graphics that". Wake was a throwback to a time of great single player story-driven games (graphic adventures like Full Throttle, survival horrors like the original Silent Hill, even FPS gems like Half Life).

This is exactly what bothers me about modern games. I've always played games for the story, I don't give a damn about multiplayer for the most part. I get bored playing a lot of games because the story just doesn't draw me in, and a lot of the time the gameplay just isn't enough to do it on its own.

With what they learned and the shadow of "six years development" behind them, hopefully the team of AW can put together a wonderful game that combines their storytelling with more gameplay freedom.

Well they have the engine developed now, so that would cut production time on any sequels(which I believe one was just announced... sort of). As I've said previously, the vast majority of the time this game spent in production was due to the engine needing to be built basically from the ground up.

Personally I think Alan Wake is a wicked game. Sure the gameplay is fairly simple and straight forward, but not every game needs to have a hundred mini games and the like. Alan Wake is a game that's fully aware of what it is, and that is a mini-series with video game elements.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

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[–] BIGBOY1897 14 years ago

Maybe it was repetitive but what game isn't?? The story and the universe it created and the way they told the story is what counts in my book. I would replay Alan Wake many times and try to find all the hidden little elements. Plus like it was said before the money is always a development issue too. But for my time and money Remedy is a GREAT publisher! Max Payne and Max Payne 2 are two of my favorite games ever and while I'm hoping to find games better than them sometime I still haven't Alan Wake is definitely in that ballpark though. Haven't beaten in yet so we will see.

Every man dies, not every man truly lives- William Wallace

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[–] Lord-Z 13 years ago

--"Maybe it was repetitive but what game isn't??"--

All the best ones.

www.madmanoz.blogspot.com

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[–] king_of_bob 13 years ago

Here's your problem; They did not spend 6 years working on gameplay. As I explained in another post, the majority of the time spent on production was spend developing the engine that drives the environment in the game.

And it is a pretty wicked engine I have to say. Google some videos of these guys doing testing on the engine or early in production. They could be playing the game and at the same time be adjusting sliders on the computer and adjusting the environmental effects in the game while it's running.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

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[–] king_of_bob 13 years ago

I'm curious what you mean by "flaws." Do you mean things you didn't like, or actual flaws in the game?

I understand they developed a new game engine...great, that takes up time...but still no excuse for the same damn thing each and every "episode" of the game. Shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot.

That's kind of exactly the format of the game. You could make the exact same complaint of pretty much every game. That they ruin themselves by sticking to their gameplay mechanics.

The very baisics of the game are just so damn dull.
There are games out there that have less than 40 people working on them, a smaller budget yet still have much more interesting gameplay.

It again appears you're talking about your opinion of the game rather than any objective problems with the game itself. But for the sake of comparison, which games are you talking about?

The only reason I played this till the end was cos the story was so damn good.
Kind of like Stephen King teamed up with David Lynch.
I want to see more...that is SEE more, not play more.

Well that's kind of the thing. The story IS more important than the gameplay in a game like this. But to be fair, the game is still perfectly playable. While the gameplay takes a back seat to the story, there's gameplay isn't glitchy to the point of being unplayable.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

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[–] adrian_royals 13 years ago

i wish they took 6 years and 45 men to develop "the signal"

i like alan wake but "the signal" expansion is so terrible i wish i could get my money back, abandoned all hope of story telling, just some whacked out dream the whole time none of it makes any sense. not to mention the gameplay is retarded; after dying twice at the bit where a boat flies down hitting you, then a book cutscene (yes, a flock of flying BOOKS?!?!?! and 3 packs of books hit you, the 3rd finishing you off and killing you, i threw my controller at the wall. died twice and bareley 1 second to move around b4 boat, cutscene, books x2, another hit from boat then 3rd from books killing you.... f*king terrible i'm not even gonna finish with over the top crap like that. if i'm gonna get killed i'd at least like to be able to move around a bit and not just get chained from full health to death

i think the writer took some crack in real life after finishing alan wake and then decided to write "the signal"... worst expansion ever, can't believe i paid for it >:(

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[–] generalchurch 14 years ago

The funding was spotty, they kept dropping then picking up and so on. I am glad it came out and have never been so impressed with a game when it came to story telling. Its a gorgeous piece of work.

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[–] was942 14 years ago

Yeah, this game should have been way better. The story isn't even that riveting to me. How long until Dead Space 2??

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[–] NYYanks200304 14 years ago

I think the story is great. For all the hype they gave Heavy Rain when it came to story telling I think this game did it better and even if the gameplay does feel dated (and it does) it's still fun enough. At least it's better than qtes like HR uses. This game is a first effort and it was on again, off again, I'll be interested to see what they could do with a sequel.

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[–] flipperdude 14 years ago

First of all I have to agree, the story was amazing even if it was a bit confusing.

And for all the people complaining about the repetitive gameplay? I know this game is all " Shine torch, shoot, shine torch, shoot. But how is that anymore repetitive than the typical game" Shoot, shoot, shoot" LOL

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[–] jamieleng 14 years ago

This was the first game I played on this generation's consoles so obviously I was impressed with the graphics, especially the lighting effects. However, I too found the combat left a lot to be desired. It's funny as the bullet-time mechanic in Max Payne never got boring, even after two games of it.

Bright Falls would've been a wonderful place to explore if it had been open world.

So sweetbreads are meat & sweetmeats are pastry? What a world we live in.

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[–] chatician 14 years ago

The OP is just picky. I found this game to be intense and fresh every time I picked up the controller. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. Every altercation I had with the Taken I felt a genuine 'oh *beep* feeling. It was amazing. The story was revolutionary, never have I played such an engaging thriller story.

I'll bring the BEARDS.

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[–] Lord-Z 14 years ago

I think the game is pretty good, but it doesn't really bring anything new to the genre. There really isn't much to seperate it from the likes of Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark. From what I hear, their original plans were epic and would have made it unique, but it seems that they bit by bit removed those features, for some reason. And it leaves us with, let us be honest here, just another horror survival-game.

And in a few years, it will probably be called the most overhyped game of all times. Not as a bad game, mind you, just as a game who perhaps got more praise than it honestly deserved.

Don't get me wrong, the game was very well written, there is just nothing new in the gameplay.

www.risingabovetheradar.blogspot.com
www.madmanoz.blogspot.com

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Churlish 13 years ago

Agreed.

Alan Wake's plot and writing is better than that of many novels (several of Stephen King's included), and the game world of Bright Falls and it surroundings is immersive, detailed, and incredibly beautiful -- even in the dark/ominous night sequences. I'm drawn back to the game not just for the story and gameplay, but also because I want to see its amazing scenery again.

As for gameplay, I didn't find it any more repetitious than that of other first- and third-person shooters. Think about it, what is Halo (or Call of Duty, or Gears of War, etc., etc.) except "Go here, shoot some stuff, drive, shoot some more stuff, walk, blow something up," then repeat for 8-10 stages? I enjoyed Wake's combat system a lot, and for the length of the game -- neither too short nor too long -- I never got bored with it.

Needless to say, the soundtrack is awesome as well.

To each your own, I suppose.

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[–] robw1138 14 years ago

OP:

You know, you might have better luck asking the people that worked on the game this question rather than posting it in an IMDB thread. But I suspect that your goal is to simply start an argument.

Having read some of your other posts you just seem to exist for arguments sake and usually come off as a pretentious prick.

That being said you are entitled to your opinion and the rest of us are entitled to either agree or disagree wit it. Or better yet, ignore it altogether.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Churlish 13 years ago

Not much else to say except that I disagree with you completely, and on every level.

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[–] tiger01 13 years ago

It is funny how polarizing this game seems to be. I can definitely see where the OP is coming from, too. You've gotta appreciate the complexity of designing your own engine from scratch though and often, as vg players, we often take for granted how complex game design really is. But, yes, six years is a long time even with delays and setbacks.

I did not mind, so much, the "shine,shoot" bit. Even the crappy driving I could somewhat tolerate. What I could not stand was how linear and small most of the levels felt. A game like the first Tomb Raider was even more open-ended than AW and arguably, its puzzles were better, too. The television and radio shows and stories pages were a great thing, but I just wish it had been a bit more open. I totally agree with the guy who commented about not being able to jump over a small obstacle, but this goes with the linear element, too, I think.

What really made Alan Wake shine was (as mentioned) the engaging story and interesting characters, the atmosphere (running through a dark, Pacific NW forest in the dead of night, wind rustling through the trees), and of course their selection of songs for the soundtrack (yay Poets!).

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