The Hub of All Blame: A Postmortem

[Reign]

Another new kid here.  Have absolutely no interest in Vanguard but this is like watching a car wreck happen in front of you - can't help but slow down and watch.  Aside from anything, I still remember fondly how Brad was quite, um, negative about Age of Conan while singularly demonstrating how little he understood of the game and Funcom's plans for it. (Source)

Is it [AOC] something that is made to challenge WoW in 2007 like Vanguard?... Doesn't seem to be. Doesn't have to be either to be a great game. But it does have to be to be compared with games like Vanguard, WoW, EQ 2, and others as if they were the same genre of game.

Good work, Schild.

You know- I've seen a lot of knuckle headed posts by Brad over the past few years, and I was one of the minorities in the Official VG boards telling him & the vanbois, in public, that his game lacked innovation and that AoC was going to quench the market thirst for that innovation instead of Vanguard re-hashing old elements. Then what does Brad do? Picks up the Hater-aid and starts gulping....I have never seen this post about AoC, but I am VERY suprised he didnt take a lot of criticism and 'boos' from a lot of the community for saying something like that about AoC at that time....I mean I look at it and I'm suprised a storm didn't follow him with that statement across multiple community sites...

Hes basically, in an underhanded way, telling Funcom they are not developing an MMO, and already putting Vanguard up with WoW. So, because it has instancing it's not an MMO??? He knows for a fact VG and WoW are going to be mentioned in the same breath?

Please....CoX is basically an instanced free-for-all mixed in with common PvE and PvP zones for all players to gather in, and I dont think you see many people NOT calling it an MMO- Hell, its much more massively-multiplayer than Vanguard ever will be, and I expect AoC to at least have double the CoX subscriptions....

Im glad he's eating his own BS right now, because, and hopefully its not just me who sees it, but he really seems to show his ass in that article by putting an un-released (at the time) game over one he obviously doesnt know anything about, and a game that, in the end, will make Vanguard look like a joke in terms of next-gen flavor and innovation.

Dont hate because Turbine and Funcom proved that your glorious vision sucked afterall Brad...my lord, what a son of a bitch cocky asshat he is....

I dont care what you do- you don't go around putting down other people's projects when you're in the industry as game developer- its piss poor manners, especially when you're in a CEO position like Brad was, and you burn bridges at a rapid pace. I guess the cockiness and 'can do no wrong' attitude finally caught up with the bastard.

[Morfiend]

Then what does Brad do? Picks up the Hater-aid and starts gulping.

I think this is the most awesome thing anyone has said so far today. Im just not sure if its awesome in a good way.

[Slayerik]

Then what does Brad do? Picks up the Hater-aid and starts gulping.

I think this is the most awesome thing anyone has said so far today. Im just not sure if its awesome in a good way.

I give it 2 thumbs up.

[Signe]

I like that Smedley bloke.  He seems a happy go lucky sort.  Smeeee Heeee!

[Modern Angel]

[HaemishM]

Smed is a douchebag just like Brad.  Smed is just better at it.

No, no, no. How many times must I say it?

Brad's the douche. Smed's the pigfucker.



See?

[Yoru]

Then what does Brad do? Picks up the Hater-aid and starts gulping.

(Hatorade graphic)

Fucking art.

[T.King]

I wish you had asked him if he every played WoW....

Other than that, good stuff.  While  I don't think he's lying at any part of the interview, I do think he just didn't know what was going on in his own shop.  For example, the one QA person.  He may have thought there was more than one but was too far removed from day to day operations to actuallly know....

I believe Brad McQuaid played World of Warcraft. During my time at Sigil Games, there was talk about how well WoW's Quest System worked.

If there is anything I have to add, it's that there were some very poor decisions made.

~T.King

[Xilren's Twin]

I believe Brad McQuaid played Word of Warcraft. During my time at Sigil Games, there was talk about how well WoW's Quest System worked.

If there is anything I have to add, it's that there were some very poor decisions made.

~T.King

I take it your board name is the short version of "the king of understatement"?

[Murgos]

Did everyone in this thread work at Sigil but me?

[Mandrel]

I believe Brad McQuaid played Word of Warcraft. During my time at Sigil Games, there was talk about how well WoW's Quest System worked.

If there is anything I have to add, it's that there were some very poor decisions made.

~T.King

I take it your board name is the short version of "the king of understatement"?

[Cadaverine]

Did everyone in this thread work at Sigil but me?

Eh, even back when I was naive, or insane, enough to want to work in game development, I'd like to think I would have been wise enough to avoid working at Sigil.

Great interview, though.  It never ceases to amaze me just how much of a self-righteous twit Brad comes across as in his responses, or his novellas disguised as forum posts.

[WindupAtheist]

Hatorade aside, Reign's flogging of Brad's AoC comments is warranted now that we're looking down on the smoking wreckage of VG.  Back at the time we all ragged on how horribly unprofessional it was of him to trash the competition, and of all the stupid words Brad has to eat, these merit special consideration.

Hey Brad, betcha AoC has more than one QA guy.  Haw haw.

[T.King]

I believe Brad McQuaid played Word of Warcraft. During my time at Sigil Games, there was talk about how well WoW's Quest System worked.

If there is anything I have to add, it's that there were some very poor decisions made.

~T.King

I take it your board name is the short version of "the king of understatement"?

More than you know. :)

[Yegolev]

I see you have two whole posts here, T.King, yet I am 90% sure I recognize your handle.

[Watchmaker]

T.King did the artwork for what were probably the most popular UI skins back when I played EQ. 

[T.King]

I see you have two whole posts here, T.King, yet I am 90% sure I recognize your handle.

LOL I get that a lot. I've been behind the scenes for a while now, keeping a low profile. :)

[T.King]

T.King did the artwork for what were probably the most popular UI skins back when I played EQ. 

I also worked at Sigil Games in the early days of development, then did some work for SOE before moving on as a Senior Artist for next-gen console games.

~T.King

[Signe]

I see you have two whole posts here, T.King, yet I am 90% sure I recognize your handle.

LOL I get that a lot. I've been behind the scenes for a while now, keeping a low profile. :)

We don't discriminate against short people here.  We're very torlerant on F13.  Anyway who told you different is probably dead by now.

Really.

[Furiously]

We don't discriminate against short people here.  We're very torlerant on F13.  Anyway who told you different is probably dead by now.

Really.

Or a zombie.

[squirrel]

[ppenguin]

I'm surprised some people actually found Vanguard "beautiful"... The graphic of this game seriously lack any sense of art direction. You go into a cave, you get ugly rocks with pure black shadows hoping normal map would do all the works... I did play this game for a little while but because I liked the grouping mechanics. I just tried not to let the graphics bothers me. The problem Vanguard has in terms of graphic, it's like giving a 5 year old kid a grade A profession oil painting set... You have all the next gen power and stuff, but isn't putting them to good use. A real artist will come up with something much better with just a 12 color pencil set.

It reminded me so much of a project I used to work on, where my project manager WAS also the lead programer. Once he wanted to try code an engine for a tree.
He first asked me to provide him with some leaf textures that are totally random in direction. So I copy and paste a single leaf around in photoshop, giving them random orientation and size, and send back to him.

"Oh so you can use single leaf to do something like this! In this case, I'll just code my engine to do it."

I was like, wtf, why did he even keep artists on his team then? This happenned to everything. We even had a meeting where he just showed the "source code" to artist team... being so proud of it.

For some reason this just reminds me so much of Vanguard...

[Yegolev]

T.King did the artwork for what were probably the most popular UI skins back when I played EQ. 

I also worked at Sigil Games in the early days of development, then did some work for SOE before moving on as a Senior Artist for next-gen console games.

~T.King

OOOOHHH... T.King icons.  Yes.  I am on track again.

[Azazel]

I believe Brad McQuaid played Word of Warcraft. During my time at Sigil Games, there was talk about how well WoW's Quest System worked.

If there is anything I have to add, it's that there were some very poor decisions made.

~T.King

I take it your board name is the short version of "the king of understatement"?

It's Tomas King, the UI/digital artist and interweb board nice guy. Also known as Greybur the Shaman, from either <Sojourners> or <Exemplar> who could be a rude cunt.


Obligatory, but serious "Well Done, Schild" note.

[Samira]

I don't pretend to know what was actually running through his head so I won't comment there.

Brad's explanation for lack of QA personnel is absolute bullshit. QA isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. If your toilet broke and the landlord refused to fix it, you wouldn't just let it go, right? You'd sue him, or move out, or maybe even pay for a plumber yourself. Because no matter what, you need a toilet. There's no debate.

How can you say Brad will get another chance after this incredibly expensive and public debacle? I'm not saying that he'll never work in the industry again, just that he won't be in an executive or lead design position.

Agreed, on all points. I've done software QA. It's beyond vital, even in an application that is far, far simpler than a MMOG.

I feel sorry for the guy, but he does not need to be in a position of  control over other peoples' professional lives.

Brad McQuaid epitomizes the saying that "The perfect is the enemy of the good." He's too much of a perfectionist to work in the corporate world.

[Raguel]

The whole QA thing reminds me that I actually applied for a job with Sigil. I can't remember if it was for QA or something else (I can't think of anything else I'd qualify for :P)  but about 6 months after I emailed my resume, I got a phone cal (somewhere around March of last year)l. By that time I already had a decent job, so I passed on the interview. Since that new job didn't work out, I obviously thought I made a serious mistake.  :-(

[Morat20]

It's Tomas King, the UI/digital artist and interweb board nice guy. Also known as Greybur the Shaman, from either <Sojourners> or <Exemplar> who could be a rude cunt.


Obligatory, but serious "Well Done, Schild" note.

Bah. There are no nice guys on the internet. There are no nice girls, either. We're all flaming assholes here. It's what the internet is for. :)

[SnakeCharmer]

I'm still LOLing

[DraconianOne]

I have never seen this post about AoC, but I am VERY suprised he didnt take a lot of criticism and 'boos' from a lot of the community for saying something like that about AoC at that time....I mean I look at it and I'm suprised a storm didn't follow him with that statement across multiple community sites...

From the AoC community side, there just seemed to be a bemused raising of eyebrows.  As one of the Funcom devs, Athelan, put it:

I don't want this to start into some cross forum flame war between Vanguard and Conan people, but I am somewhat surprised by how little Brad actually knows about the game (Conan) and so a lot of his assumptions are actually incorrect or correct but only in a very small context. In any regard I will look forward to surprising him.

General consensus was exactly that - he was talking out of his arse.

EDIT: FWIW - the AOC community response was mostly in this thread.

[Hokers]

After reading the linked thread into the AoC forums I had 2 thoughts:

Might want to look at AoC a bit closer than I had.

Forum Trolls now have websites and fanbois???

[wraith808]

I have an RSS feed that searches for my s/n on different sites, and was reminded today of a post on FileBlog, and my response on this very subject.

David Perry in an interview suggests that the day of the in-house tester may be gone:
  http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4954&Itemid=2

And the reply I posted:

"Eventually I moved into development, but I've never forgotten the lessons I learned in my days in QA. I learned that it was not something that could really be effectively taught, and it was not something that could be done effectively by someone that didn't have the background and mindset for it. Just like programming (although hacks in each area can fake it), QA is an artform -- to be able to winnow out not just the obvious bugs that 80% of people can and will find, but the other 20% that while they may not show their head often, will ruin the users day if he does find it. Then to be able to reproduce it. And then be able to document and explain it to a Developer that doesn't want to believe it's there because he can't reproduce it. Or those bugs that everyone *does* find, but no one knows how to reproduce or communicate what it is effectively...

Games that are not professionally tested are just like any other software that isn't professionally tested: prone to bugs and annoying nagging problems that keep the software from being all that it could be. No piece of software is 100% bug-free, but if you want to get it as close to that number as possible, you'll have to have someone who is dedicated to finding that bug. And it's even more crucial in games, where a "beta tester" is nothing more than someone who wants to play a game in advance in most situations -- not someone who will dedicate the time to rooting out a bug that he sees one time. The more likely response will be 'Oh, someone else will find it...' and the game will suffer for it."

So yeah, as management, Brad had a duty to make sure that no matter what happened internally or financially, the game was tested thoroughly, and that's what I hold him to task for, because it's obvious to anyone with half a brain that there were definitely some show stoppers in the game, which led to the sorry state Vanguard is in right now.

[HaemishM]

Forum Trolls now have websites and fanbois???

You must not have read my blog. 

[CharlieMopps]

I know I'm a noob here and all... but I have to step in and Call Bullshit when I hear it. Brad told me personally, via in-game chat around November of last year that the games' minimum system spec was supposed to be a Radeon 9800pro and 1gig of ram. I laughed and said "Ok, but what framerate do you really think we'll get with a setup like that" and he said "30FPS easily" 

They borked the engine, simple as that. When I first joined beta the game ran very well on my 9800pro. At the time there were about 20 people on at peak times of the day. Then they had this big patch one day, and at the same time invited a bunch of new people into beta... population jumped to around 80 and the servers started crashing... my framerate tanked. Not sure what they did in that patch, but it's what borked the engine. The game was ruined ever after that. I went out and got a $400 vid card to no avail. When they started selling pre-orders I'd had enough.  I told a couple of the developers that if they didn't get the engine fixed the game was going to tank... I'm not a prophet guys... just have common sense.

Thanks for wasting 2 years of my gaming life so you could swindle M$FT Brad.

[Murgos]

Prophet.

[Furiously]

Hmmm - I thought maybe he works for a dood bank.