Mike Capps Leaves Epic

[Sir_Brizz]

If they go back to UT they need to be very careful about what they take from previous entries in the series. UT3 had good gameplay but there were a lot of problems with the game outside of the core gameplay. UT2004 was fun but the gameplay was heavily flawed. UT was built for high pings and broke down some when high bandwidth connections started becoming common place.

All of these can be fixed, along with a new design direction, if they really want to fix them. But it would be in their best interest to start a design process with doing some community discovery. Not every idea from that would be useful but it would give them some decent metrics to use to determine what kinds of things would work and what kind wouldn't.

 

[LivingPuppet]

UT3 would've likely succeeded if it had an ongoing public beta that gave players considerable time to play test and submit feedback. I'm not talking about a beta that lasts 2 days and then it's closed or something along the lines of how they handled the beta demos for UT3 and 2k4.

The ideal situation would be Epic making updates to the public beta based on bugs reported and other relevant feedback so players can experience these positive changes being made long before the game goes gold. Epic could've amassed a considerable number of players during that period and with these people knowing that their game is going to be as polished and feature heavy as can be, would've been very likely to purchase the game and play for a long time.

Of course, this would've pushed UT3 to be released in 2008, but UT2k4 was originally supposed to come out in fall 2003 and got pushed to March 2004, which worked in favour of the game. Unlike UT2004, Epic didn't really take a hard look at UT3's overall package and dropped their standards.

Sadly, what UT3 came down to was a game where you had to pay to play a pre-beta out of the box, and as of today, I'd say the game is still in beta status. Also, Epic lost sight that it's not just good gameplay that makes a good UT game and eschewed stuff that would be and should be standard for UT and top-tier shooters in general.

The overall package for each UT needs to be either as good or better than previous games and needs to rival or surpass other games in its genre.

Personally, I would like to see Epic redeem themselves with a new UT or rather a brand new Unreal game with co-op as an optional feature, which is long overdue with a single player story and competitive multiplayer, but yeah, they need to be very careful with it and who they listen to. What one player likes, may infuriate 100 other players etc.

 

[FuLLBLeeD]

What does this mean for Unreal Tournament and Jazz Jackrabbit?

 

[Carbon]

Epic needs a return to their roots: a real successor to Unreal. This is highly unlikely as these days its all about multiplayer, simplified game play and fast-paced action, things which the original Unreal was never specifically intended for.

Epic needs a reboot, away from the over-sized blood-soaked freaks that have characterized most of their games for the last decade. What a shame they feel the need to begin a new IP with Fortnite. I am sure it will be good (here's hoping) but the potential Unreal experience - the single player experience - was really never fully realized. Hard to believe that first, they dropped the whole thing so quickly and second, how they could entrust such a valuable IP to Legend, who - for one reason or another - really left people flat with Unreal 2. As I have said in many conversations, every time I play Skyrim I get a sense of loss for what Unreal could have become. There is a lot of the same vibe going on and I still feel that Unreal 3 could be a massive hit if done right.

I do hope that Epic looks back a bit more with Unreal. As an IP, it still has a lot of life in it; many young gamers know UT but Unreal is a bit of an enigma from a past era. It still has legs and IMO, is still ripe for exploration.

When Cliff quit and said he wanted to get busy on some other projects, I really hoped that he would take some of those millions and do something great; a real light in what has as of late been a fairly dark tunnel of PC gaming. He is the guy to do it as well; I still think he is a kid at heart and knows how to make a great game. I wish he would ring up Tim Sweeney and ask him to get together; make it simple, make it right and get back some of that real magic that was Unreal. A grassroots reworking. I do dream.

Unreal 3 has so much potential to be both a great game and make some money...a win-win. It isn't just silly nostalgia that makes me say thins either. While it is no secret I am a big fan since day 1, I play a heck of a lot of games (I own pretty much every FPS and many RPG released since '96) and truly see a lot of untapped potential in the Unreal single player game.

 

[DarkSonny]

Epic needs a return to their roots: a real successor to Unreal. This is highly unlikely as these days its all about multiplayer, simplified game play and fast-paced action, things which the original Unreal was never specifically intended for.

Epic needs a reboot, away from the over-sized blood-soaked freaks that have characterized most of their games for the last decade. What a shame they feel the need to begin a new IP with Fortnite. I am sure it will be good (here's hoping) but the potential Unreal experience - the single player experience - was really never fully realized. Hard to believe that first, they dropped the whole thing so quickly and second, how they could entrust such a valuable IP to Legend, who - for one reason or another - really left people flat with Unreal 2. As I have said in many conversations, every time I play Skyrim I get a sense of loss for what Unreal could have become. There is a lot of the same vibe going on and I still feel that Unreal 3 could be a massive hit if done right.

I do hope that Epic looks back a bit more with Unreal. As an IP, it still has a lot of life in it; many young gamers know UT but Unreal is a bit of an enigma from a past era. It still has legs and IMO, is still ripe for exploration.

When Cliff quit and said he wanted to get busy on some other projects, I really hoped that he would take some of those millions and do something great; a real light in what has as of late been a fairly dark tunnel of PC gaming. He is the guy to do it as well; I still think he is a kid at heart and knows how to make a great game. I wish he would ring up Tim Sweeney and ask him to get together; make it simple, make it right and get back some of that real magic that was Unreal. A grassroots reworking. I do dream.

Unreal 3 has so much potential to be both a great game and make some money...a win-win. It isn't just silly nostalgia that makes me say thins either. While it is no secret I am a big fan since day 1, I play a heck of a lot of games (I own pretty much every FPS and many RPG released since '96) and truly see a lot of untapped potential in the Unreal single player game.

Mate. Cliff is gone no more involve in any new ut nor unreal game project ( I doubt seriously if someday will arise a new ut or unreal in this status of things currently...)

 

[[SAS]Solid Snake]

The fear for anyone to do another Unreal or Unreal Tournament is the immense pressure of living up to everyones expectations.

I really enjoyed both games back then, but even now, it still scares the crap out of me when I even try to design an Unreal or Unreal Tournament in my scrap book.

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

If it was Unreal, either "reboot" or Unreal 3 with really gritty feel to it and I don't mean the same feel as UT3, not any overdone muscular characters, but dark, unknown, yet fairly realistic game with great gameplay and suspense. I have quite few ideas in mind how it would work well and even be a bit innovative and daring in some aspects, something some games are afraid of to make such a leap. But without risc the FPS games are really lacking behind and it has all became so generic since early 2000s.
You will never please all players, but the game should be decent. They already didn't care about story or anything else in UT and I think that was a bit of mistake, UT first introduced some incostistencies with the timeline and Unreal, like suddenly nali like places are on earth or dom cryptic is built by some "dude", while the intention was that it was on Na Pali, the crypts might not have been released with Unreal, but they were planned to take comeback in expansion pack and Unreal PSX, which never came to be, but this kind of stuff which was probably written by new people on board who didn't pay any attention to the roots. Not to mention ISV Kran members still surviving (fractal) even though they would be dead by that time(unless they froze them bla bla). It's all so random and stuff, kinda like Doom 2's maps which don't match the story. Of course UT was in the end meant for multiplayer and they even said in interview that some story is there but "nobody cares" or along that, just like with Mortal Kombat.

 

[HugoMarques]

Story in UT is like story in pr0n. Everyone always wants something just because it makes it feel more complete but in the end nobody really cares about it.

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

Story in UT is like story in pr0n. Everyone always wants something just because it makes it feel more complete but in the end nobody really cares about it.

Yea, but it matters in the end, because then you get those sequels and everything which try to build up on the story and you have people telling you this and that and that it's canon and all that crap. But it all contradits each other. And it was a mistake they tried to bring that stuff in UT, if it was without those back stories and stuff the map descriptions. One can just ignore them at best. But in the end if Unreal and UT are counted within the same universe, then they fucked up already with the first UT title. I think it should have stayed standalone expansion pack for Unreal and not a game that pretends to have about no ties with Unreal and go mainstream. Just like with Doom2, expansions and user mods made it a better game in the end and all that stuff. If any new Unreal is made it should ignore all the UT stuff and I don't care about what the fanboys think in this case. It should just stay standalone, Unreal 2 tried too hard to include some UT references mostly on popular demands. And I think it hurte
d the game even more, the Liandri angels stuff for example, while they are not bad as representation of Liandri stuff goes which in UT stuff means terminator like robots usually..I think if some of these missions got replaced with more finished cut content where there were all those cool alien races which ended up being dumped in favor of the human stuff and making the game shorter and linear - it would be much better game on itself. This might sound like a very extreme view, but I've came to this conclusion after a very long time. That UT, no matter how much fun we had with it, already ruined the "series" on itself or was the start of that. Deny it how much you want.

 

[Carbon]

Mate. Cliff is gone no more involve in any new ut nor unreal game project ( I doubt seriously if someday will arise a new ut or unreal in this status of things currently...)

True enough. Just being fanciful.

The thing that I can't get my head around - and this is why I am no titan of Capitalism - is why Epic, with all of their millions of profit - can't do something big for us plebs. Would Unreal 3 be a losing venture? Maybe (though I actually don't think so, if marketed correctly), but if there is ever a franchise that needs a true sequel, it is Unreal. Unreal 2 was just a bummer in that sense. I am not going to knock it around anymore; that has been done to death, but it wasn't what a game such as Unreal deserved, that much is for sure.

Doing so could bring the whole thing full circle; create renewed interest in the classic original and take it to the next level and a new generation of gamers.

But again, I am fanciful.

 

[Kantham]

I don't think this will affect their game output.

I THINK THE GEARS OF WAR PC REVIEWS ARE BULLSHIT, WAAH WAAH.

For sure it will.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I THINK THE GEARS OF WAR PC REVIEWS ARE BULLSHIT, WAAH WAAH.

For sure it will.

They won't be making Gears-alikes anymore. Just saying. Look at the Samaritan demo and the Infiltrator demo. These are the types of games Epic will be making going forward and they have a distinct lack of dudebros.

 

[Rambowjo]

To be honest, at first I thought CliffyB and Mike leaving would be bad, but then I realised that they are the ass hats that forced those terrible games. Now there's only the core left.
Sweeney shall begin his dark work.

 

[Kantham]

They won't be making Gears-alikes anymore. Just saying.

That wasn't my point. My point was mostly that we may see more PC ports in the future.

 

[Psychomorph]

They won't be making Gears-alikes anymore. Just saying. Look at the Samaritan demo and the Infiltrator demo. These are the types of games Epic will be making going forward and they have a distinct lack of dudebros.

Endboss will be a dudebro. You just can't change bad habits.

 

[Rambowjo]

Endboss will be a dudebro. You just can't change bad habits.

Dudebrobot.

 

[WHIPperSNAPper]

Wasn't this guy the guy who was responsible for the UT3/Midway disaster? Good riddance!

 

[Ulukai]

My source says Jazz Jackrabbit 3.

 

[Psychomorph]

Let me guess, next time Epic leaves Epic?

 

[Gambit84]

Let me guess, next time Epic leaves Epic?

Pretty likely.