Troubled production meant most of Mass Effect Andromeda was developed in just 18 months

[midian182]

While the game does have some fans, Mass Effect: Andromeda is generally regarded as a disappointment. Anticipation for BioWare's title reached huge levels in the months before its release, but arrived to mostly average reviews and so many technical problems that the company was forced to announce a series of patches. So, what went wrong?

Kotaku's Jason Schreier says the problems are the result of its troubled five-year development. His feature on Andromeda’s production is extensive and worth reading, covering the many issues it faced during production.

Interestingly, the plan was for Andromeda to use procedural generation to create a galaxy populated with hundreds of worlds. One developer described the vision as “No Man’s Sky with BioWare graphics and story.” Technical challenges meant the game never ended up going in this direction, but the idea was in place right until the end of 2015.

EA’s Frostbite engine was also a thorn in dev team’s side. While powerful, it was designed for first-person shooters like Battlefield and wasn’t capable of handling some basic RPG functions, such as parties and inventory management.

“Whenever you’re trying to do something that fits the engine—vehicles, for example—Frostbite handles that extremely well,” said a developer. “But when you’re building something that the engine is not made for, this is where it becomes difficult.”

The 2014 departure of Casey Hudson, an executive producer on the original Mass Effect trilogy, had a massive impact on the production of the game. Director Gérard Lehiany, who had been leading the story team, also left not long after, causing more disruption.

The biggest revelation is that “almost every” developer Schreier spoke to said the majority of Andromeda was developed during its final 18 months - though some employees dispute this. "It really wasn’t until Mac Walters came on board—and that was very much a reaction to the state of the critical path—he was really brought on board to give it direction and get it into shape,” one said. "Before that it was quite rudderless."

Ultimately, it seems that in an attempt to surpass what is arguably the greatest game trilogy of all time, BioWare bit off more than it could chew. Sadly, the lukewarm reception means the franchise has now been put on hold.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/69628-report-troubled-production-meant-most-mass-effect-andromeda.html

 

[Burty117]

Why were trying to make it like No Mans Sky anyway? That just wouldn't work in the Mass Effect universe...
Such a shame, a fantastic franchise ruined this way.

 

[DDG4005]

I'm not surprised. Even back when the game was announced it seemed as though the folks at EA were trying to capitalize off the Mass Effect trilogy without a plan for moving the franchise forward. This also explains why none of the decisions from the trilogy carry over; there was no structured game to carry over to.

This is disappointing to read since the Mass Effect trilogy is well regarded (even with the third game's ending) and now the franchise is on hold, which is a polite way of saying it's dead.

 

[BSim500]

"No Man’s Sky with BioWare graphics and story."

So "5 trillion random worlds with not much to do" combined with "all your companions are bi-sexual nymphomaniacs who harp on about their sex lives and gender identity whilst you're trying to save the universe"?

"EA’s Frostbite engine was also a thorn in dev team’s side. While powerful, it was designed for first-person shooters like Battlefield and wasn’t capable of handling some basic RPG functions, such as parties and inventory management."

Coming from the same dev who once created the Infinity, Aurora and Eclipse engines, it's pretty sad to watch just how much of the core coding skill-set has been lost and dumbed down post-EA acquisition.

"Sadly, the lukewarm reception means the franchise has now been put on hold."

Is it really that sad? Bioware RPG's are historically at their best more at the start of a new franchise than when trying to extend it to keep up with the general AAA over-sequelization trend. There are plenty of other franchises I'd rather just replay the earlier games with HD texture packs than have a string of bad "for the casual audience" sequels (one reason I'm utterly delighted there won't be a Thief 5...)

 

[mcborge]

It's a shame EA couldn't get there act together on this game. I guess I will just have to stick with commander Shepard.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

A good thing then that I was no fan of the franchise. Mind you there hasn't been very many games released in the past few years that I've really looked forward to and the few that I did were an abortion of a PC port (or so they said).

 

[EClyde]

18 months is plenty of time. What? These guys think they are government employees?

 

[ManuelV]

18 months is plenty of time. What? These guys think they are government employees?

I'm not sure if 18 months is plenty of time to make an aaa game so massive as andromeda.

 

[dirtyferret]

"EA’s Frostbite engine was also a thorn in dev team’s side. While powerful, it was designed for first-person shooters like Battlefield and wasn’t capable of handling some basic RPG functions, such as parties and inventory management."

Coming from the same dev who once created the Infinity, Aurora and Eclipse engines, it's pretty sad to watch just how much of the core coding skill-set has been lost and dumbed down post-EA acquisition.

I've read stories on how developers have stated the Infinity engine was a complete train wreck. While it may look good on the screen, what's going on underneath was a complete mess.

 

[dirtyferret]

I personally thought Mass Effect was one of the most over-hyped series ever.

Mass Effect 2 was a great game and deserves all the fan fare it receives.

Mass Effect was a bad port, re-used story, and was painful to play with mouse and keyboard at times.

Mass Effect 3 brought nothing new to the table from 2, in fact limited by console RAM Bioware kept animation to a minimum and never expanded it for the PC.

 

[Bakgrind]

Even though I really enjoyed the game there is nothing really surprising about the article when you consider that during the games development there was ever changing vision of the core game combined with the revolving door of employees during Andromeda's production it's a wonder that they got a working game to release at all.
And if the article wasn't completely accurate and most of it was pure speculation it doesn't really matter because on our own we can see how hectic and unfinished it was with a lack of quality in certain aspects of the game were.

It just seems that Bioware really hasn't gotten a handle on how to manage its projects while being a bigger power house gaming studio since it was acquired by EA. First game released under EA was SWTOR which by all accounts failed to meet expectation and the only way it is profitable now was due to the cartel market.
Then ME 3 releases with a lot of controversy followed by Andromeda has me really concerned not just for their secret IP Dylan ,but Bioware as a whole.

 

[EClyde]

I'm not sure if 18 months is plenty of time to make an aaa game so massive as andromeda.

Maybe all they need do is make a good game.