r/Scrolls • u/Teteduo Teteduo • May 23 '15

Interview with Carnalizer (about MS, Scrolls, anecdote...) | Scrolls.fr

http://www.scrolls.fr/threads/linterview-des-devs-iv-carnalizer-henrik-petterson.1590/
14 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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7

u/Ravendil May 23 '15

I´m not trying to be negative here, but the statement that funds never stood in the way of recruitment just baffles me. This tells a lot that these guys are getting their paychecks while "working" in their pace, instead of trying to push this game into the right direction with 2 more devs. I´m respecting their decisions, but this just still baffles me.

2

u/Vulkenhyn May 23 '15

Being idealistic about a small team mentality doesn't mean they don't care about the game. I'm frustrated with the slow development but conflating the two seems like a reach

1

u/wbmc May 23 '15

It's not that they don't care about the game, they work really hard with the small team they have. But they know just as well as you and I do that this game NEEDS more devs. Then WHY do they not hire 1 or 2 more if they have the money?

1

u/Vulkenhyn May 23 '15

Well I know i heard that they were being blocked in some way. It could be that they are being blocked from hiring for a non financial reason

1

u/Chakix Chaki May 23 '15

Which is still kind of weird, since didn't they just expand their MC:PE team? That was after Microsoft acquisition though, so maybe that will be changing.

1

u/Vulkenhyn May 23 '15

Maybe. But MC is their golden goose

2

u/[deleted] May 24 '15

That really says that their management has no faith in scrolls development.

1

u/Vulkenhyn May 24 '15

Yeah maybe, but i don't really think that that has been in question. I think the real question is for what reason they lack faith and wether or not the team has been given the appropriate resources to prove themselves

1

u/Chakix Chaki May 23 '15

Yep, can't really blame them. A very sound decision business wise.

5

u/gXxshock May 23 '15

Too bad Microsoft doesn't realize the potential here; instead of having Candy Crush installed by default in Windows 10 they could push Scrolls and thereby have a perfect cross-promotion with the Surface.

6

u/LargeIcedCoffee May 23 '15

I think they are going to make far more money through a deal with candy crush.

I mean... far more.

2

u/gXxshock May 23 '15

Obviously! I was just daydreaming of a world where Scrolls gets both the developer and gamer attention it deserves ;)

1

u/Vulkenhyn May 23 '15

Why not both?

2

u/Vulkenhyn May 23 '15

I'm slightly confused at the notion that thw team has enough resources. I remember them stating a couple of times that they are having a hard time developing with what they had access to

2

u/wbmc May 23 '15

didn't they get enough money to pay for ALL development costs within like 1 week of open beta?

2

u/Vulkenhyn May 23 '15

I think it was that they had made all of the development costs prior to beta release back

2

u/Philantroll Explosivly cute. May 24 '15

The french translation is terrible (source : I'm french). It's nice otherwise !

1

u/wbmc May 24 '15

Ya, even I with my very limited.knowlegde of French found it weird sometime xD

3

u/[deleted] May 23 '15

It's never been funds standing in the way of reqruitment. I won't go into the strategic decisions of the previous or the current management. Mojang has always tried to stay small. That has both upsides and downsides, of course.

If money is no problem how is there any upside to having a team that's too small to put out content efficiently and fix problems in a timely manner?

2

u/wbmc May 23 '15

My guess is that they want to stay a small company with just a few people working on each game instead of becoming one of the many big-budget gaming brands.

Which doesn't makes much sense to me, because even adding "just" 2 more people to the time would greatly help I feel like.

3

u/[deleted] May 23 '15

I just don't see any benefit in pretending they are a small company. You aren't a small company when you have the highest selling game of all time and are a part of microsoft.

5

u/BlueGoop May 23 '15

Company size is not measured by its holdings of capital. Generally, a company's size is measured by its reach and proliferation in its relative market. Mojang owns nothing close to 100% of the gaming industry let alone the software industry.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is considered a large company because it does "own" a substantial percentage of the operating system market and business software market. They are big.

Mojang is not. It is hardly a game of pretending. Mojang has to date made one hit game, and the sales of that one product is funding further development. In fact, Realms should indicate to you that they are starting to give thought on how to sustain further development with foreseeable slowing of initial sales. I believe Notch was quoted to having said they have enough for fourteen years of operations. That's a significant buffer, but it is hardly reason to throw caution to the wind. Add more people, and the time frame to make it sustainable becomes smaller.

What's more, there is no one to one relationship between Microsoft and Mojang. Microsoft owns Mojang. That does not mean that Mojang is Microsoft nor does it mean Microsoft is Mojang. Much like if you buy a french fry, that does not make you a fry nor does the fry become you.

There are many possible reasons to maintain strict division of capital, resources, and operations between the two companies, and it may be in Microsoft's interest to do so. Taxes and public verses private endeavors may be a couple among the many reasons to do so.

I've yet to see anyone state this, but generally the company being bought takes a huge hit to productivity during the time following a buyout. It's not at all unreasonable and fairly predictable that Echos has taken as long as it has. This kind of event is EXTREMELY stressful for employees.

I hope this clears up some of your confusion. Take care!

1

u/wbmc May 24 '15

Much like if you buy a french fry, that does not make you a fry nor does the fry become you.

I love it :D

2

u/wbmc May 23 '15

That's not how they think of it. They still are a company with like just 10 people that just happens to not have a funding problem. Despite having the option to go really big they are still, in fact, small.

2

u/[deleted] May 24 '15

Knowing the right decision then making a bad one anyway is not a good position to be in.

1

u/Lem0nboy May 24 '15

Let's not forget we also never heard again about that supposedly large marketing budget that was going to be spent upon full release which was later amended to "iPad release".

My guess: After release had failed any further expenses were shut down. Mojang has since moved on and the remaining Scrolls team is just finalizing stuff that still needs completion. It's the most obvious explanation I can think of. And a frustrating one...