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What happened to the Original CoH Dev Team?

4 Dec 2012, 18:19 PM
#1
avatar of Ronald Dumsfeld

Posts: 80

The way I heard the story the most talented people on the original Relic CoH Development were lured away by the promise of unlimited financial backing for another startlingly innovative, ground breaking game.

What happened? Anyone know?

ed: spl :(
4 Dec 2012, 19:38 PM
#2
avatar of MajorBloodnok
Admin Red  Badge
Patrion 314

Posts: 10665 | Subs: 9

http://www.smokingguninc.com/about/

Note how the Art Director lent her name to those humungous buildings on Wrecked Train and Sturzdorf
4 Dec 2012, 21:50 PM
#3
avatar of Rogers

Posts: 1210 | Subs: 1

Yeah they formed their own studio, no idea what they are working on.
4 Dec 2012, 22:06 PM
#4
avatar of Matanza

Posts: 102

4 Dec 2012, 22:55 PM
#5
avatar of WiFiDi
Honorary Member Badge

Posts: 3293

looks like instead of making awesome games there helping nasa and making cellphone games. well in the industry the real money is in cell phones and tablets. so sad they are wasting there talents on cell phone games.

the trade off you get unlimited funding but you can only make cell phone games.
21 Jan 2013, 20:03 PM
#6
avatar of Ronald Dumsfeld

Posts: 80

It's interesting this? Isn't it?

I used to think vCoH had been touched by genius. Now it appears obvious that the original game was merely the result of serendipitous chance. They really didn't have a clue what they had done. OF, ToV, CoH:$, 2.602 were not the result of the pathetically clueless scrabbling around for ideas we all though at the time. It was the continuation of what came before. Except without the luck. Fair play to the original Devs that bailed. Their kids have shoes on their feet and the bills get paid. They have never done anything even remotely comparable since and they must know it.

All of which ought to be good news for those of us waiting for CoH2. Despite the apparent odds against it stands as much chance of being good as the original game. CoH wasn't the result of talent, skill, dedication or hard work. It was like Napoleon said about his Generals. He didn't care how good they were. Only that they were lucky.
21 Jan 2013, 20:22 PM
#7
avatar of TychoCelchuuu
Senior Caster Badge

Posts: 1620 | Subs: 2

That's pretty much how I feel. The additions and changes from the original CoH to OF, ToV, CoH: O, and even lots of what we've seen for CoH 2 (like the UI or the resource system or the cold mechanic) suggest that the people left at Relic have basically no idea why CoH was amazing and they have no idea how to recapture that magic. People shit all over Blizzard for not changing enough with Starcraft II but that's just because Blizzard is trying to recapture what made Starcraft so amazing. It's hard work and they're having trouble with it, but at least they haven't added anything like the Brits.
21 Jan 2013, 20:34 PM
#8
avatar of IpKaiFung
Benefactor 115

Posts: 1708 | Subs: 2

Can't expect people to read the credits, very few people left relic so here we go

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/company-of-heroes/credits

I'm going to highlight a few of the people who have left

John Johnson, Angie Radwan-Pytlewski, Mike Echino and Drew Dunlop - at smoking gun, made kinect adventures

Josh Mosqueria - at Blizzard, made diablo 3

Jay Wilson - at Blizzard, made diablo 3






21 Jan 2013, 20:42 PM
#9
avatar of TychoCelchuuu
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Posts: 1620 | Subs: 2

In terms of numbers it wasn't a lot of people but in terms of importance on the team, they lost the producer, the art director, the lead programmer, the lead designer, and a designer (plus a senior designer from Relic who maybe didn't work on CoH?). So a lot of the heads of CoH went away. And even apart from how many or who left, it's clear that the original dev team did something that nobody has really been able to recreate. So even if most of the original CoH people are still there, they've clearly lost sight of (or never had a good vision of) the best stuff about CoH.
21 Jan 2013, 20:48 PM
#10
avatar of Kolaris

Posts: 308 | Subs: 1

I don't think it was just chance, I think the industry and the RTS genre was at a point where something very much like CoH was inevitable. Some of the original team might have seen it, even if they weren't gifted at game design (and I'm not saying they aren't).

Gaming technology was moving faster around that time than it ever has imo, and most of what made CoH great were simple concepts being either updated in line with technology, or only available for the first time because of that technology.

Some of these mechanics are visible in the first DoW in much rougher form, namely squads, capture points, cover, and morale. Either because of Relic fine-tuning their ideas, technology moving ahead, or a bit of chance, you could say that CoH was a convergence point for a lot of simple ideas that piled up into a great game.
21 Jan 2013, 21:14 PM
#11
avatar of TychoCelchuuu
Senior Caster Badge

Posts: 1620 | Subs: 2

I seriously disagree that most of what made CoH great had to do with technology. The flanking, the suppression, the cutoffs, the CPs as the source of resources, the VP victory mechanic, the low APM requirement, buildings and cover, retreats + reinforcement, squad control... none of these require advanced technology at all. You could have made an RTS 15 years ago with almost all of them with almost no problems.

And CoH's advances weren't inevitable because they didn't have those advances in OF. The Brits damaged the fluidity, the cutoffs, the cover system (by replacing it with trenches that could be built anywhere), the reliance on CPs/map control for resources, and even the suppression mechanic (no mobile MG except for commando HQ glider). And then ToV added Kangaroo Carriers.
21 Jan 2013, 22:11 PM
#12
avatar of OnkelSam
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Posts: 1582 | Subs: 4

another of these "relic is incompetent" threads.... Seriously, now you're even turning the awesome concept of COH1 against them? You mad?
21 Jan 2013, 22:51 PM
#13
avatar of Ronald Dumsfeld

Posts: 80

Lateral thinking Chris. Lateral thinking.

You being an'rtist and that...............
21 Jan 2013, 23:43 PM
#14
avatar of TychoCelchuuu
Senior Caster Badge

Posts: 1620 | Subs: 2

I'm mad at Relic for making a couple shitty expansions to Company of Heroes and I'm trying to imagine what could've caused that other than a lack of understanding about what made CoH good, and I'm coming up empty.
21 Jan 2013, 23:51 PM
#15
avatar of IpKaiFung
Benefactor 115

Posts: 1708 | Subs: 2

ask them instead of speculating then.
22 Jan 2013, 01:22 AM
#16
avatar of TychoCelchuuu
Senior Caster Badge

Posts: 1620 | Subs: 2

Where, on the official forums or something? That place is a madhouse on a good day and I don't think posting "why did OF suck" would really get me a lot of answers.
23 Jan 2013, 20:42 PM
#17
avatar of Ronald Dumsfeld

Posts: 80

Sega.

Potential great synergy with Creative Assembly the peeps behind Total War.

It's life Jim. Although not as you'd know it.


ed:spl :(
23 Jan 2013, 20:46 PM
#18
avatar of NuVioN

Posts: 246

Yeah. I can't wait to see how the game develops in the next month. Speaking of which, closed beta should start soooooooooon! :D
25 Jan 2013, 10:24 AM
#19
avatar of Inuki

Posts: 45

What happened to the DoW franchise? If Sega has that then Relic + DoW + Creative Assembly help (considering how awesomely cinematically Rome 2 looks). We could be in for some stupendous innovation. My only terms for DoW would it feel a little more realistic. Orks chopping tanks a part just looks odd. Unless they start creating these big giant dents with hammers which stop it from functioning instead of just draining health!


Wall of text times
25 Jan 2013, 12:36 PM
#20
avatar of RagingJenni

Posts: 486

I saw a link to a news site that talked about Warhammer 40k being a license owned by Relic and that it moves with Relic to SEGA.

EDIT: Here it is, props to GuruSkippy.^^

"Lawyers for companies like 505 Games, South Park Digital Studios, Viacom, Crytek, Games Workshop, Yuke's, and others — all companies that had business relationships with THQ — were either present in person or on a conference call to acknowledge the resolution of their objections. Many will carry over to new relationships; for example, Games Workshop will "work in good faith" with Sega — the new owner of Relic, the studio that created titles based on its intellectual property — in order to satisfy its objections to the sale."

http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/23/3907840/thq-bankruptcy-vigil-bids
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