Quote:> We all know start-ups in this industry have an horrendous
> time 'making-it'.
> It is also known that despite big names, big money, or
> success in another industry - all these things do not
> guarantee the success of a start-up in the game biz.
> Of course, you have to marvel when you look at Tom
> Clancy's RedStorm Entertainment and their game
> 'Rainbow Six'. It's a feaking mystery and a great
> case study for a 'postmortem' on gamasutra.
> How did Clancy and friends acquire such talent
> AND expertise to produce such a quality FIRST title?
> Hired desperate, sleep-under-desk, workaholic
> college kids? Got industry veterans to jump ship?
> Picked up experienced talent after other companies
> laid off employees because they were in the red?
> Published the game by some hot development house
> (wasn't inhouse?)
> Seriously, anyone have some insight?
Hmmm. Finally, a question I feel _fully_ qualified to answer ... .
Thanks for your kind words, first of all. You just made my day.
I actually did write a postmortem that ran in _Game Developer_ last
spring. I think Gamasutra might have run a condensed version too.
Actually, most of the _Rainbow Six_ team were not industry veterans.
About a third of the engineers and half of the artists had never
worked on a game before. The lead engineer (me) had only done one
game before, and while the producer had run small game projects he had
never lead anything of _Rainbow Six's_ scope. The lead artist had
never worked on a game before. Needless to say, we made lots of
mistakes ... .
It succeeded because:
1.) We worked like dogs.
2.) We had a solid design that we stuck to.
3.) We got really, really lucky.
--
"No live organism can continue for long to exist
sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even
larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream."
** Opinions expressed are my own and not those of Red Storm **
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