For years BioWare was seen as the pinnacle of game development studios, then everything went downhill with Mass Effect: Andromeda.
For years BioWarewas seen as the pinnacle of game development studios. Their flagship series, Mass Effect, was hailed for its nuanced storytelling and thrilling combat. Even slightly less popular titles like Dragon Age were beloved by video game fans and they even found a way to make a Sonic the HedgehogRPG. However, then everything went downhill in what seemed like an instant. It all started with Mass Effect: Andromeda.
BioWare was already in hot water with fans before the release of Andromeda. The ending of Mass Effect 3 left players so unsatisfied BioWare had to craft an entire DLC to placate them. Many hoped that Andromeda would be a fresh start for the series. However, As Kotaku writer Jason Scheier revealed in an in-depth chronicle of the game’s development cycle, numerous mishaps lead to Mass Effect Andromeda becoming one of the biggest high profile failures and recent video game history.
10The Team That Made The Original Trilogy Didn’t Work On It
For the most part, it’s an industry standard for the same development studios to handle every mainline entry in a franchise. There are exceptions, like 343 Industries taking over the Halo franchise or Call of Duty having several teams create titles to keep up the production schedule of one game a year, but it mostly is avoided.
However, when discussions about making a Mass Effect 4 started BioWare decided a new team should develop it so they could give a new take on the franchise. While the headquarters in Edmonton had led the development of the original trilogy, BioWare Montreal was given the reins to what would later become Mass Effect: Andromeda.
9It Was Killed By Frostbite
One of the most difficult aspects of video game development is creating the engine the game runs on. As expectations and industry standards grow for graphics, game designers struggle to keep their engines ahead of the game. Since they are often designed in tandem with the game itself it’s an incredibly difficult process. For many it can feel like crafting a sculpture where the material and tools used to create it change week to week.
It’s the reason so many games release riddled with bugs. Mass Effect: Andromeda was no different, even though the engine the team used had already been made. EA, who owns BioWare, has an engine for all of its studios to use called Frostbite. The advantage of having a shared framework is that nothing has to be made twice. If one team makes a lantern another team can borrow it for their game. However, there was one big problem; Frostbite wasn’t made with an RPG like Andromeda in mind.
8Animation Teams Were Understaffed
One of the biggest problems with being saddled with Frostbite was the team had to make an entirely new system to design animation since one hadn’t been adapted to the engine at that time. That wouldn’t have been an enormous problem but several factors led to it being a perfect storm of calamity for the cinematics department.
Many of the major factors that hurt the animation were common for game development. Excessive work hours and management are difficulties practically every studio deals with. However, the scope of the game far outweighed what the team could actually create. Because of that, the finer details of the story had to be rewritten multiple times. Many left while the game was in pre-production and their roles were never filled.
7The Creative Director Departed From The Project
It isn’t uncommon for a director to leave during development nor does it always spell doom for the project. Amy Henning left work on Uncharted 4 and Neil Druckman, creative lead on The Last of Us, was brought in to complete the game. That game was released to resoundingly positive reviews but the BioWare Montreal team wasn’t that lucky.
Casey Hudson, who had been the executive producer of every mainline Mass Effect title to that point, left in the summer of 2014. Jason Schreier’s article says multiple sources gave multiple reasons for Hudson’s exit but it was clear his absence hurt the final product.
6Some Developers Loved Working On It, Others Hated It
To say working on Mass Effect: Andromeda was a torrid process is an understatement. Despite that, many enjoyed working on the game. Others weren’t huge fans. Some designers, such as those on the animation team, described it as “one of the worst years of their life”. Those that enjoyed it mainly loved the pre-production phase where the possibilities of what the game could be were endless.
Their goals were lofty and impressive. Had things gone differently it could’ve been an amazing game. However, putting those ideas into practice was where things started to go wrong.
5It Was Almost Exactly Like No Man’s Sky
Even before No Man’s Sky was announced, Bioware Montreal dreamed of making a game with a near-infinite series of worlds for a player to explore (This is also what No Man’s Sky attempted to do, but with much more success). Andromeda would have accomplished this by having the game’s engine procedurally generate planets without developers needing to design them themselves.
Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Worries like if a quality story could be told or if procedurally generated planets would even be fun to explore held the team back from realizing their vision. Eventually, they decided 30 planets would be made with a mixture of procedural generation and traditional game design. However, when the game released the number of fully explorable worlds had been whittled down to only seven.
4A Vertical Slice Wasn’t Completed On Time
How games are made can vary rapidly from studio to studio. The general process is that a level or sequence is made that represents what the final game will look and play like (A vertical slice is the industry term for this). These are used in trailers and hands-on previews at gaming conventions. It is a vital element to the marketing and development sides of game development but BioWare Montreal never made one until much later in development than normal.
Vertical slices are normally finished when a game finishes pre-production. In fact, the mark of a video game leaving pre-production is when a vertical slice is completed. However, that didn’t happen for Mass Effect: Andromeda.
3The Story Was Hurt By A Lack Of Pre-Production
Aside from the controversial ending, the Mass Effect Trilogy was best known for its fantastic storytelling. Not only did Andromeda’s writers have to deal with the stress of meeting high expectations but, like most aspects of the game, they were massively hindered by the game’s poor pre-production phase.
Since it took so long to decide how many planets the game would have writers were constantly having to rewrite their story. Major elements such as the ending were known from early on but the middle never had enough time to fully crystalize.
2It Released To Worse Reviews Than The Company Feared
Near the end, the BioWare already saw the writing on the wall. While they knew the game wouldn’t have a warm reception. As most AAA studios do, a near finalized version of the game was sent to mock reviewers that would judge the game’s value without spoiling or leaking it to the public.
However, when the game was released to the wider public it became the laughingstock of the gaming community. Poor animations caused by the understaffed animation department and bugs caused by the difficulties with the game’s engine led to a far worse response than BioWare feared.
The team immediately jumped into action to fix what they could but its fate was already sealed. The game’s failures were only amplified when it released alongside immediate crowd-pleasers like Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn.
A series of problems that BioWare could and could not control led to a game whose only legacy is memes ridiculing its bugs and awkward animations. It’s indisputable that dozens worked hard on this game and its tragic their efforts weren’t rewarded.
Originally Publish at: https://gamerant.com/