[BlueTsunami]

I did a search for Heavenly Sword and I got back massive results I couldn't find anything stating how big the team developing this game is. I'm curious because i'm debating with someone how hard it is for a small scale dev department to develop games for the PS2 and possilby PS3 and it made me think. Not that I'm asking for ammo against him, but i'm honestly wondering how small devs will cope with developing for the PS3.

[DigitalSoul]

The team? Its just one old dude in a tiny room round back. Just like SCEA's localization department.


Seriously, now that you brought it up I'm curious to know as well.....

[Vegtro]

There are about 20-25 employees in Ninja Theory (creators of Heavenly Sword).

You guys should read this. It's one of six diaries: (read them all)
http://www.ninjatheory.com/blinkblin...d=24&Itemid=52

Summary: Life of a game developer is harsh.

[BlueTsunami]

Originally Posted by Vegtro

There are about 20-25 employees in Ninja Theory (creators of Heavenly Sword).

You guys should read this. It's one of six diaries: (read them all)
http://www.ninjatheory.com/blinkblin...d=24&Itemid=52

Summary: Life of a game developer is harsh.

Thanks Vegtro! I'm reading the diaries now. Very interesting.

[Titanio]

The team is quite a bit bigger now, no? Some time ago they were planning to double the team size, unless I'm mistaken.

edit - an Edge profile on the team a few months ago mentions that the team has 34 members and was about to double.

[Metalgearih]

Originally Posted by Vegtro

There are about 20-25 employees in Ninja Theory (creators of Heavenly Sword).

You guys should read this. It's one of six diaries: (read them all)
http://www.ninjatheory.com/blinkblin...d=24&Itemid=52

Summary: Life of a game developer is harsh.

I'd like to point out that it's nine (9) pages long now. Tameem added the last three pages and there is no date on them. The story now reaches all the way to their Sony E3 Conference presentation as a PS3 exclusive demo. MUST READ STUFF!

Thanks for sharing Vegtro!

[DeanoC]

Last count 40-50, still growing...

[BlueTsunami]

Ok. I just finished reading the Diaries up until its conclusion (E3 05') and I can say that I was rooting for Ninja Theory before, now I'm adamant in buying this game. The ideals listed of Team Ninja just makes me smile and the trials and triumphs downfalls and breaks that Ninja Theory have gone through since 2001? wants me to see them suceed very badly.

Reading the diaries gave me the warm feeling in my heart. Good luck Team Ninja, i'll be one to state that i'm already a fan not only of the game but of Ninja Theory itself.

Originally Posted by DeanoC

Last count 40-50, still growing...

Thanks for the answer DeanoC!

[mckmas8808]

Originally Posted by DeanoC

Last count 40-50, still growing...

Not bad. I guess EA stating hundreds of people isn't correct for everybody. So Ninja Theory has double the amount of people that Epic has for GOW. Hmmmm.....

j/k

[bRoNx]

Originally Posted by Metalgearih

I'd like to point out that it's nine (9) pages long now.

ONLY 9? Sh*t, I'm up to Page 4 and I'm already treading the end! Excellent read!

If you haven't already, check it out. Definite MUST READ!

*edit: sp*

[rabidrabbit]

Doesn't EA have quite a lot more titles in development simultaneously than for example Epic (two games?) and Ninja Theory (one game?)?

I'd like to know how many people are in the team actually developing for example the next gen Madden game in EA. Of course if you look at the credits in some EA games, the list of people that were somehow associated with the game is long, but I think there are quite a lot of people who are not part of the development team as such (producers, excecutive producers, people of EA from different continents that deal with marketing mostly etc...)

I wouldn't be surprised if the teams actually developing the games weren't that much bigger than those of smaller houses.

[Titanio]

Well I know some publishers were talking about teams going over the 100 mark. But I guess the team may look different at different stages of the development cycle - e.g. from middle-to-end there may be more people on board (some temporarily?).

[Farid]

Originally Posted by Titanio

Well I know some publishers were talking about teams going over the 100 mark. But I guess the team may look different at different stages of the development cycle - e.g. from middle-to-end there may be more people on board (some temporarily?).

You can also count in those "hundreds of people" the people that do the outsourced work (Sound, MoCap, CGi, etc...).

I'm talking in general here, I don't know what NT, specifically, is doing in-house and what they outsource.

[Brimstone]

Originally Posted by Vegtro

There are about 20-25 employees in Ninja Theory (creators of Heavenly Sword).

You guys should read this. It's one of six diaries: (read them all)
http://www.ninjatheory.com/blinkblin...d=24&Itemid=52

Summary: Life of a game developer is harsh.

That's a very good read.

[Bohdy]

Originally Posted by Vegtro

There are about 20-25 employees in Ninja Theory (creators of Heavenly Sword).

You guys should read this. It's one of six diaries: (read them all)
http://www.ninjatheory.com/blinkblin...d=24&Itemid=52

Summary: Life of a game developer is harsh.

That was an incredible read. Just incredible. I'm so glad there was a happy ending!

And my favourite part:

The first thing we decide to do as an independent is to get the bums-on-seats we need to get things moving. And why not: if we don’t expand our bum-cheeks, publishers may not dive in and if we don’t sign a deal, we’re screwed anyway.

[Metalgearih]

What I would love to know is who was the following publisher? I mean every page you read, you see a publisher literally killing the author of the diary. Except for this one below. Can you share the details DeanoC?

Our publisher choice is made very easy:

PUBLISHER #1
“We want you to make the game that you are passionate about”.
“Make it memorable”
“Be ambitious”.

VS

PUBLISHER #2
“We're waiting for our American office”

The above quote is from Diary's Eighth Page. Can you share with us who was the Publisher #1 when you guys decided? I'd certainly like to know, who in the heck in the age of EA laden world asks for such realistic but amazing things from developers.

[blakjedi]

Excellent read. Wish there was better video of the title than the IGN capture.

[Shifty Geezer]

That's SCEE, the publisher they signed with. I want to know who the first Mr. Stoic guy was working for?

And a huge congrats to Ninja Theory for putting up with all that painful struggling and getting where you are. The world's media and finance system is screwy. Whether games, films, books, music, the requirement to appease know-nothing publishers and boot-lick financiers is a slight on the creative artists who are constantly being held back from creating bigger better things by narrowminded imbeciles who think they know better and care about absolutely nothing other than how much profit they can make. Kudos too to SCEE for supporting Ninja Theory in doing their own thing.

BTW : Why is there still no direct feed of the E3 trailer available? And what about other clips of gameplay that you were obviously showing years ago that we never heard about?

[Stillmatic]

Yeah, that was a great read. So much effort, i'm really happy things worked out for the team and NT stuck with it given the amount of stress and pressure. Props to SCEE too

Originally Posted by Shifty Geezer

BTW : Why is there still no direct feed of the E3 trailer available? And what about other clips of gameplay that you were obviously showing years ago that we never heard about?

There's this early prototype footage:

http://xboxmovies.teamxbox.com/xbox/...otype-Footage/

But i'm sure most have seen it, it was doing the rounds a while back.

[NavNucST3]

Originally Posted by DeanoC

Last count 40-50, still growing...

As it stands now, I don't see myself buying a PS3, however, I will buy this game to support you guys. BTW, if you umm,you know decide to port, well then I will buy it twice, lol.

[Qroach]

There won't be any porting. it's a title published by Sony, if I recall someone posted the name trademarked by sony....

[typoEDR]

With 1 day left, we are now back in the UK where Nina gets a phone call. She calls Mike and I into a meeting room, “You guys should sit down.”
“Deal done?”, we quizzed
“No…. They’ve decided that they want to own everything, not just the game.”

It got worse as Nina continued: “They want to take over the company, move us all down to their HQ to work under their managers and our company would cease to exist.”

My heart sank. It's the development equivalent of being hung drawn and quartered. It wasn’t the idea of being owned that got me; after all we’ve been owned by Argonaut for years. It was the idea of the company being completely subsumed - our identity and autonomy vanishing - that disturbed me.

“Let's tell them to stick it!”
“I was going say the exact same thing”, added Mike.
Nina calmed us down, “I'll try and salvage the original deal but it's not looking good.”

I don't know why, but was this Microsoft?

[Edge]

I like to know will this game have a story? I like action, but it would be nice if developers included some emotional depth to their games.

[typoEDR]

Originally Posted by Edge

I can't believe you guys are jumping all over this game. What, the story is great? The graphics move you?

Great graphics, bleh, is that not going to be the standard next generation.

I see one person slaughting hundreds unrealistically, and I see no story, NO EMOTION.

Give me a game with depth, and a great storyline, and leave out the nonsense of a single person killing hundreds.

The developers have lost imagination, and it's all about just killing more the next generation. I love action as much as the next guy, but I'm sick and tired of games with no emotional depth.

Not to 'jump all over' this post, but have you played the game?

You know 'how' it plays? What it feels like? What the story is? A non-playable E3 trailer is not a game, unless that's what you think next-gen games are.

When the game comes out, then posts like these can be written, not a year before.

[Nesh]

Originally Posted by Edge

I can't believe you guys are jumping all over this game. What, the story is great? The graphics move you?

Great graphics, bleh, is that not going to be the standard next generation.

I see one person slaughting hundreds unrealistically, and I see no story, NO EMOTION.

Give me a game with depth, and a great storyline, and leave out the nonsense of a single person killing hundreds.

The developers have lost imagination, and it's all about just killing more the next generation. I love action as much as the next guy, but I'm sick and tired of games with no emotional depth.

Is that conclusion about heavenly sword?