It’s about having a focused vision and making the right choices during development.
Mass Effect 2 didn’t meet sales expectations, despite its critical acclaim.
Still, Moran maintains that Mass Effect 2s production was special.
Whereas on Mass Effect 3, it was more of a rush to ship it, he adds.
Other writers provide concrete examples of this.
I was the only Mass Effect 3 writer not located in Edmonton, Pollner tells me.
Anticipating any and all possibilities regarding the space and prefs was a very challenging task and super risky.
But I think the thesis statement for why is that the Mass Effect trilogy was an incredibly demanding endeavor.
The checks that were written for it, the complexity of the experience, was insanely massive.
The team worked their asses off non-stop for so many years, on back-to-back-to-back games.
The prospect of doing the same thing again was not only exhausting to imagine, but totally impractical!
When you’re talking about triple-A development, the original trilogy is actually the anomaly, not Andromeda.
We used a few tricks to create and maintain a strong culture, Kieken says.
We were pretty explicit on our mission and core values.
We lost quite a few folks because of that.
I’ll take working smart over working hard anyday.
Games are complicated and long developments.
If you want strong results in the end, you need other tools than brute force or sprinting.
Next:How Mass Effect Inspired The Games Industry And Beyond
