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Retro Studios tweets job listing for an Art Director for Metroid Prime 4
- Thread starter Crushed
- Start date
This isn't Retro's fault, this is Nintendo's for always treating Metroid like an unwanted pet that it constantly outsources to third party studios with a hit-or-miss track record instead of giving it love internally like the other franchises.
Yeah, in our case it was a matter of the scope and direction of the project changing from the initial stages to when we went into pre-alpha. The former art director's vision for the game wasn't really in line with the vision of the rest of the company, so they left for greener pastures and we all floundered for months until a new art director was found.
That's a shame. Hopefully it's not because of frequent crunch or a toxic work environment or anything like that
Interesting, that must have been a fun time /s .. We had 3 producers come and go during development of a title I worked on and I agree that on boarding of such key personnel is a nightmare and is something that never goes smoothly. if you are lucky no other team members thinking they smell smoke and abandon ship then the process of getting them up to speed and get them familiar with the inner workings of a company and get them familiar with the team takes a long ass time
Ok they could be replacing the art director they had
And the switch 2 assuming you mean an actual switch 2 not a Nintendo style upgrade is 4 years away at least I reckon
And the switch 2 assuming you mean an actual switch 2 not a Nintendo style upgrade is 4 years away at least I reckon
They tried with the prime trilogy, but it never paid off, sales had been.mediocre even so the games had been critically praised.
As this listing was up from November 2018 (before MP4 was announced by Nintendo to turn over to Retro) it may be this game hasn't even had an art director yet.
Hm. It's gonna be a while. I hope the game is worth it. Have a bad feeling about it (troubled development, did retro even want to do it, how safe are they going to play it and do the current devs even have the skillset for it etc) but you know nothing's for sure and you can always hire new people and get something.
I just wonder what's been going on there. I do hope to see DKCR3 with K.Rool on the switch one day too.
I just wonder what's been going on there. I do hope to see DKCR3 with K.Rool on the switch one day too.
I pray every day that this will be a fresh take on the Prime and Metroid formula.
Still want that Bounty Hunter game they wanted to do with MP3
Still want that Bounty Hunter game they wanted to do with MP3
Metroid has never been one of their biggest sellers, though. And it was never an EAD/EPD production, either.
This is old as fuck. They've had an Art Director posted up since January. They're having a hard time hiring an Art Director.
There was a rumor (don't remember where from) that they pitched a demo to Nintendo.
After Other M's backlash, I wonder if Nintendo would be okay with it, because I know they shot the idea down for MP3.I pray every day that this will be a fresh take on the Prime and Metroid formula.
Still want that Bounty Hunter game they wanted to do with MP3
"She's not REALLY a Bounty Hunter."
That still blows my mind...
It's not too late to give it to FROM, nintendo.... then retro can make donkey kong like my dreams.
Or let FROM develop donkey kong. I'd play it.
Or let FROM develop donkey kong. I'd play it.
that's promising if true!
Oh yeah, it was fun times for sure. It ended up that we just didn't get enough time with an art director in place before we went to release the game, which hurt us in all sorts of ways. I'm not sure having an art director earlier would have saved the game, but it at least couldn't have hurt.
Hey, on the bright side we will actually see Sakamoto's long-delayed Metroid 5 in the meantime.
Okay, I saw enough replies on the first page that I feel like I need to explain some things to yall,
Hiring happens at all times during the lifecycle of a project, before, during and after. Don't let fancy words like "art director" make you think they don't have talented art people taking on the role for now and making substantial progress, as a matter of fact AAA games have multiple ADs on a variety of roles. You have one AD for characters, one for technical art, one for animation, environments, one for the studio, even. At any point one can fill in the role of another until its time to fill the vacancy.
I think a very common misconception is that without an AD you don't have an artstyle or youre not making art progress ... that is NOT necessarily the case! Art direction is usually set by the lead artists in the game and approved by studio heads, the AD is there to present work, champion it and make sure its consistent and delivered on time, its important work .... but those tasks can also be done by other people in the interim, think of it more like an Art Ambassador than anything else.
It's an important title, to be sure, but also very misunderstood. Hiring one in the middle of a project is not (by default) a sign of trouble, it could mean somebody changed jobs, it could mean they increased the budget, it could mean the previous guy wanted to focus on a different area, it could mean they're trying to lessen the amount of work done by the leads, it could mean they need somebody else to represent the team in meetings so production can get more work done, etc, etc and ... yes, it could mean the previous guy sucked so they need a new one but that's the one everybody always jumps to and I'm just here to give you some more perspective than that. Making assumptions out of job openings is not a good look.
Hiring happens at all times during the lifecycle of a project, before, during and after. Don't let fancy words like "art director" make you think they don't have talented art people taking on the role for now and making substantial progress, as a matter of fact AAA games have multiple ADs on a variety of roles. You have one AD for characters, one for technical art, one for animation, environments, one for the studio, even. At any point one can fill in the role of another until its time to fill the vacancy.
I think a very common misconception is that without an AD you don't have an artstyle or youre not making art progress ... that is NOT necessarily the case! Art direction is usually set by the lead artists in the game and approved by studio heads, the AD is there to present work, champion it and make sure its consistent and delivered on time, its important work .... but those tasks can also be done by other people in the interim, think of it more like an Art Ambassador than anything else.
It's an important title, to be sure, but also very misunderstood. Hiring one in the middle of a project is not (by default) a sign of trouble, it could mean somebody changed jobs, it could mean they increased the budget, it could mean the previous guy wanted to focus on a different area, it could mean they're trying to lessen the amount of work done by the leads, it could mean they need somebody else to represent the team in meetings so production can get more work done, etc, etc and ... yes, it could mean the previous guy sucked so they need a new one but that's the one everybody always jumps to and I'm just here to give you some more perspective than that. Making assumptions out of job openings is not a good look.
Nintendo outsources alot, thats kinda ther secret weapon.
And which games are we talking about here?
Metroid Other M: Sakamotos lacked 3D experience, so he approached Team Ninja.
Metroid Samus Returns: MercurySteam wanted to make a 2D Metroid, Sakamoto was up for it
Metroid Prime Federation Force: Okay, I give you that one. To be fair, it is obviously filler and Next Level Games can do better normally.
Metroid Prime 4: We don't exactly know.
So in short, they went for more experienced developers, a developer who really wanted to do the game, a established partner and god knows. Screw Nintendo?
Yeah. That's why I brought up one time I don't think they've even started anything on this game earlier this year.
It's well-documented that Metroid Prime 2 had an extreme case of crunch because its initial development plan was scrapped entirely and they had to build nearly the whole thing in a matter of three months.
All three of the Prime games were developed in less than three years and had massive crunch. It's the reason so many people left after MP3.
So retro what have they being doing since DK TF like nothing? Unless a game they were making was cancelled
Cranky Kong diminishes everything you do, says games in his day were better. The front he puts up in the DKCR games is a complete lie. He hasn't changed.
Oh god, i had to double check that this thread was started today.
2022 it is then. I dont get it. Metroid's art assets and 3D look is very much established. They just need to continue on the same trajectory.
2022 it is then. I dont get it. Metroid's art assets and 3D look is very much established. They just need to continue on the same trajectory.
Curious - why is that? I could assume a number of reasons I guess - Not everybody wants to live in Texas (I personally don't); also seems like Nintendo rules the studio - working with a company remotely like that probably has a ton of challenges
Nice post. Their Art Director left in January. He was Art Director then went to Director for Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. It was weird, looking from the outside, for him to leave Retro. He was there for like over a decade.
Yeah I was wondering if this is why they haven't hired an Art Director in like 7 months. I really wished someone could find out how that studio is being ran and what are the issues.
Is it because of Nintendo? Is it because of Michael Kelbaugh?
Development was just restarted on this game with Retro as the devs, what, 6 months ago? There was no way in hell it was showing at next E3. 2022, maybe.
That's not a blanket statement that holds water. In many cases the artistic vision for a game comes together long before the technology to deliver on it. More so as time goes by. Not that I think this is a disaster by any stretch (the need for a complete reset on the project is already disaster enough), but I suspect it means we'll see something in which the game is more derivative than I might have hoped for.
I didn't buy a Switch until Metroid and Fire Emblem were announced, and neither one came along as quickly as I had hoped. At least Three Kingdoms is just around the corner!
edit: I decided to not answer this, Its mostly based on feelings and rumors, not facts.
If anything, Nintendo makes it a very stable place to work
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There were rumors that Retro was trying to help save what Bandai was making since June 2018... So they may already have fished through everything there was that time. The way the video was presented me it sound (to me) like they were keeping NOTHING. I feel like generally it would be a bad idea to use ideas from a failed project, especially from a studio like Retro who are obviously perfectionists and have a very distinct style... It would seem odd that they would want to use anyone else's work as a foundation for their own game (outside of using the IP itself). Obviously you would have a better idea than me though. Can you speak to this at all as a developer?
As for the second point, that makes sense. I completely understand how a great artist wouldn't necessarily make a great art director, but I figured an art director would most definitely be a great artist. But again, I trust you know better than I. In any case... Whoever ends up as the art director certainly has quite the task on their hands...
Having announced Metroid Prime 4 way too fucking early was the worst mistake Nintendo has ever done after the Wii U. It's like this project got instantly cursed or something. At this point I'm not even sure if Retro could pull this massive project out and live up to the awesomeness of the trilogy. Anyways, see you all in 2023 for the teaser trailer!