Not just games, but media in general. This is why shit media is made. Because 99% of the time the suits dont understand the business and put mandates on the people actually doing shit.
It is insane that companies keep letting gamemill adapt their IPs into games. Theres no way these games are making them more money than if they were just high quality and enjoyable
Pay the ip owner money for licence. Make cheap trash and put $400million in sales through the 3rd World. Good way to launder money. Something a cartel or politician can easily do.
I'd wager it's a pretty simple outsourcing, "scam". IP holders want to make games, GameMill comes in as the "lowest" bidder, they get money from the IP holders to make the game and then they outsource it to foreign/small devs who they probably only pay quarters on their given dollar, and GameMill rakes in the profit from withholding budget via outsourcing and initial hype. They're not publicly traded, so they don't have to worry about stockholder upset, meaning they get off basically scott-free even if the game is hot garbage. On the IP's part, they probably don't even care as long as they don't spend AAA amounts of money. Look at how expensive AAA is now, why pay that when you've got a publisher with a track record of IP releases? "Good" turn around times, cheap bid amounts, and no stockholders is probably a GOLD MINE to IP holders. Especially when you think about the fact that if an IP holder doesn't release SOMETHING they lose that license, so it's better to dump crud than lose your hold on your IP.
That's because Gamemill is a publisher, NOT a developer. I know very little of them, but seeing all these bad games, they must be horrible to work with. Still makes nasb being good a miracle, though 😂
I wouldn't call it good. I'd call it really really bad but it still turned out amazing, given the circumstances. You can see that the devs put the effort in. They just got screwed over. The sequel is already looking tons better.
MY god, just checked what other games, Nickelodeon All Star Brawl was under them. It honestly just shows that the game was held up by pure unadulterated passion from the devs to make the game but their publisher was being absolute tools.
NASB was even made by the super skilled devs behind Slap City. It shows, the mechanics are good but the funding wasnt there. The devs really wanted to make it better while having to suffer gamemill
After rewatching old AVGN episodes, I can confidently say that GamingMill is the reincarnation of LJN games, especially when you realize that both use big IP’s as a means to sell bad games.
I had the same thought. I also have to wonder if AVGN will break his recency rule again for the Kong game. King Kong is one of James' favorite movies, and he's already covered Big Rigs.
Gamers being surprised a place called Game Mill would mistreat their workers is like King Theoden being surprised a guy called Worm Tounge would betray him.
The video convinced me that Game Mill and Charles have a wholesome relationship with each other. That was genuine excitement from him at 6:54. Possibly the most excited I've seen him all year for any game at all.
Like Charlie said, someone at GameMill must be incredibly persuasive. I like to imagine they're just trolling big companies by persuading them to give them access to their licenses and then just taking a big ole smelly crap all over them.
Or maybe, just maybe people seek out GameMill because they promise a cheap and fast game. Higher ups hear how much a AAA game costs and don't want to do it so they seek out GameMill for a cheaply made game.
They're probably getting the licenses because they offer to do the games cheaper than anyone else will, they don't develop anything themselves it seems, they just publish, so they're outsourcing all the development work to small independent studios, often in poorer countries. I also doubt the movie studios care too much about the quality of the games, it's just extra marketing for the IP in their eyes.
It reminds me of when devs at Nintendo had one year to make Majora's Mask. Admittedly they had an arsenal of things to reuse from Ocarina and planned DLC, but still, pumping out a whole game like this in one year was surely stressful af. It's a miracle that it turned out as good as it was.
In that case the developers had a personal interest in making the game, If they did a good enough job they could stop working on The Ocarina of time sequel they had been struggling on/didn't want to make (We later got it as 'Master Quest' on the 3DS)
@@ma.2089plus the complexity of a Game for current gen is going to be way bigger than a Nintendo 64 game, soo is kinda of imposible to do a good Game in such short period of time, unless It's a really short one
@@benhart3160 pretty sure. But these companies are heavily protective of their ip's image. So they reson theyd contract out to game mill, a notoriously troubling developer, is beyond me
The fact that the company that published this Kong game is the same company responsible for Big Rigs so many years ago is simultaneously the most and least surprising news I've heard in a while.
Oh god, Big rigs is the true worse Game ever, is soo bad that can be good, but the Ia on that Game literally doesn't work, no physics, you can noclip most scenarios, barely any content, is just something that i could end Up doing by me not knowing how to programe
Big Rigs was actually developed by Stellar Stone, who went under in 2005 after releasing a SEQUEL to that game (which nobody knew about until Rerez covered it), Midnight Race Club - Supercharged. I think GameMill were the owners of that company, but I really don't know much about Stellar Stone in general
The thing is, as an amateur 3d modeler with an interest in the gaming industry workflow, it is pretty easy to see that the whole game is not a problem of skill or talent, but rather a problem of time, everything in the game is pretty much what I would call a "placeholder" for something to refine and add to in the future, the models, the environment, the story, the animations, the cutscenes, the gameplay, its like an artist's rough sketch, a half finished storyboard, you get the idea. The biggest asset to a 3d artist is time, with time, you can accomplish literally anything. So depriving an amateur studio of time will lead to a result like this. Especially when it is for a movie title with a massive IP and reputation. If I were working at that studio I'd be wanting to blow my brains out, "make king kong model, rig, textures, and animations in like 2 weeks), I'd want atleast a month for just the model itself. And I know that a professional could make a great model in a few days, as an amateur, it'd take me longer to get the same quality, 3d artists are both in great demand and are in great supply, the best go to the top and work in the biggest studios or VFX pipelines for movies, the average and below average work in small studios to get experience, so someone like me would likely be working in there. You can actually see placeholders in the game itself, like the infamous cutscene with a literal storyboard placeholder still in the cutscene, waiting to be replaced with an actual animation. This shows that they know what they are doing, they just don't have the time to finish it. It is easy for people who have no idea about the game industry workflow and pipeline to blame the devs, but as usual this isn't a problem with the devs, its a problem with the management and higher ups not understanding/not caring. And as usual, people dogpiled on the things that didn't actually matter, like saying free assets would have been better, the problem with that is, most free assets are created by freelance artists who just do it for fun, and either don't have good topology, don't match the artstyle, or as is usual with free assets, are not authorized for commercial products, which is what this game is. Not to mention, using free assets defeats the purpose of working such a job in the first place, experience. All-in-all, it is sad to see what the game industry is becoming, anyone who isn't the best at their profession is condemned to a job like this, being the blunt of everybody's jokes about the game you were forced to pump out at breakneck speed, making shit pay, not being proud of your work at all, and actually having your reputation hurt by the end result of greed and carelessness of the higher ups who just want to make a quick buck. I really do hope that if I make it into the industry, I don't have to start at a place like this.
Yep! As a student trying to earn a degree in game design... You explained one of the biggest fears I have about wanting to join the industry. I don't know if you know, but at least in the circles I'm in we call it crunch (I assume crunch is what you're talking about time-wise), and it is a **hot topic**. Not only are there unrealistic timeframes, as you mentioned, the people working those timeframes are working EXTREME overtime. For one example, the devs for Uncharted 4 typically found themselves staying in the office for as late as **3:00 AM**. Your life basically becomes "eat, sleep, work, repeat" (assuming you are lucky enough to cram that in). Of course, I'm oversimplifying things, but this studio is just a small part of a much larger problem.
The fact that no one looked at gamemill’s catalog, saw the gigantic red flag that was Big Rigs, and still got the green light to make a Kong game is just beyond pathetic… I feel like the boys at Rerez would have a field day diving into this game
They looked at the numbers, numbers were good and green lit the project. That's how it mostly goes. You can have the shittiest studio ever but if it is in business for 20 years and has some well known titles under its belt, and will port your game to consoles without outsourcing, man, that's basically a dream for IP owner, until the game comes out, then it's a nightmare.
The fact remains: Publisher or Developer, they still made the game under their name. And yes, somehow 20 years later its the same song and dance with them no matter most of the games. @@gambello1195
My jaw dropped to the floor when you said the publisher is the same one responsible for Big Rigs. Like: "They can't keep getting away with it!" Then again maybe they're just trying to recreate the success of their previous title.
There's a genuine disconnect between the people commissioning the game and the publisher. The more people complain the more people buy the product and the numbers are all the executives see.
@@andynava5144 I'm also one too, lol. As somebody who loves Roller Coasters a lot (I went to Tampa and Orlando for Busch Gardens and Seaworld recently), this is hilarious comparison!
That's the infuriating thing, they don't. They SHOULD and we wish they WOULD but as long as there are enough customers with low standards the scam continues.
@AarushKumar-sf1vkThat's bullshit and you know it. They had to make all the assets as this wasn't an asset flip. I doubt you have even played the game and seen how much work they actually put into the game. It's not good and someone could make a better game in that time but the game is going to be simpler.
All the horror stories of publishers has me convinced (as someone who has not researched the topic) that in the not so distant future, most if not all video game developers will self-publish. If only to avoid the seemingly exponential rise of publishers who steal games or force game ruining changes.
This is literally the reason why so many people are spending their money on indie games these days. Not enough time or love goes into most AAA games these days.
They can't have a bunch of people working for 5 years on a game then sell it for only $60. For more time and love to go into a AAA game, consumers like us need to be willing to spend more on it. The $60 standard price is a big part of the problem.
@@xa1551 The fuck kind of mentality is THAT? You just described an abusive relationship. We gotta pay more to get good games filled with the company's love? Say THAT to Halo Infinite, or any AAA game that's not simply a copy pasted Shop update.
@@xa1551 No it's not. That's why studios typically work on multiple projects. The industry has never earned more money than ever before, even after inflation. Games should cost far less than $60 when they're full of mobile style MTXs Executives need to stop getting multiple millions in bonuses simply for existing, and publishers need to stop hiring Hollywood actors no one cares about. Devs could easily be paid infinitely more. The problem is capitalism, not the $60 price tag.
Around 2019-2020 it looked like this company was gonna finally try to go legit. They released some games that were actually not bad such as the Nickelodeon smash game, the cart racing game, and the 1st cobra Kai game. Definitely not award winners but if you get it for a cheap price they’re worth that at least. But they went back to straight up trash after that, instead of getting better like 505 Games and Focus Interactive did, 2 publishers that used to be garbage like Game Mill but they got better and now are pretty solid bets. I guess making better games didn’t translate to more profits so they threw in the towel cuz the bulk of their sales are selling games at Walmart to unknowledgable people.
Didn't know Big Rigs was by them as well. I'm surprised they've stayed in business for so long considering infamous bad game studios (Phoenix Games, Groove Games/Jarhead Games, etc.) usually last for about a decade at most.
I heard GameMill literally outsources their games to what are basically coding sweatshops in places like India and Pakistan. Since they basically pay them pennies on the dollar, GameMill is able to offer rock-bottom prices to these heads of studios and scoop up tons of big-name IPs.
Just wanted to point out that Chile is 100% not on the same level of India and Pakistan in general, but it does have a lower minimum wage than developed countries (right now that's less than $500 a month, a lot more than Pakistan and India and that's considering that the exchange rate of the dollar is in an all time high). With that being said, in this case it seems like GameMill basically gave them not a lot of funding and not enough information about the project. So yeah, I'd say they fucked them over and ruined their reputation.
The only thing holding up GameMill right now has to be Nick All Star Brawl since they were lucky enough to have a great enough dev to make a fun enough game to actually get a decent looking sequel. Almost everything else has to be bought by a few psychopaths if that's what is keeping them alive
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 is good too, and is incredibly polished to boot! Which is surprising, considering that its developer, Bamtang, is also responsible for the terrible Avatar game that just came out. Maybe that team should just stick to kart racers lol
seeing charlie’s smile sparked a gleam in my eye and a slight palpitation of the heart. my grandmother was watching as well and now she can walk again. my goodness, may charlie inspire millions once more
So from what I have observed, we see a pattern: 1) Very short development time. Within a year usually 2) In house rushed assets to meet the one year deadline 3) Minimal writing 4) Weak engine My guess? They are producing games on a shoe-string budget, around 500k-1M including salaries. Then they go to IPs that have no real interest in making video games, and flash them what I imagine is a generous profit share. They see that it is far more generous than competitors, so they accept it and let Game Mill make the game. When you think about the IPs they get, they are usually pretty weak in the gaming market; how many King Kong games are there really out there? And since they shoe-string the budget, they can give a generous profit share and still make good enough money off their games to fund the next one and then some
Peter Jackson's King Kong from the GameCube blows this one out of the water, and that was in the 2000s! What on Earth is wrong with gaming these days?!
@@mayuko7042 I'm saying that it's not even the dev's fault, it's that when people offer cheap labor the fact that companies go for it means they didn't even put the effort of a wet fart into hiring the people who make that decision
They make games on shoestring budgets, charge them full price or damn near close and thwn get money from ironic gamers and bad game streamers like Charlie.
This is such a problem in so many industries. They overwork tf out of the workers just for so called "productivity" but really its making things much worse. You want real productivity? Give your workers initiative. Give them reason to love what they are doing.
So many, so many, SO MANY games could have been so much better if their development wasn't shrunken down into a year. An example I always think of is both Final Fantasy 2 and 8, both games coming after hugely successful predecessors pushed them to just try and make more money faster, but both bombed. They both had good ideas that never had the time to be fleshed out and made to naturally add to what came before. The more you know about 8 the more you realize it actually could have been even cooler than 7, the pressing for time and money destroys everything
Kotor 2 was on this list 2. At least obsidian had the foresight to sneak in assets for content they had to cut for the pc release so modders could finish the game
The developer of Big Rigs shut down 2006. Game Mill is a publisher because developing even bad games needs some kinda effort. But yes, they should have been not around anymore
I feel like the devs are cursed to stay there because they have no success at job hopping to a decent company - once headhunters see gamemill name they instantly lose interest on those devs
I feel like the course of gaming history would change if game companies didn't rush their devs, sonic 06 would have been incredible if this was a reality
I know all Devs have the talent and/or drive to make a good game but it's the higher up in corporations just are way too thirsty for money and rush things out
The big thing about games and branding is that video games used to never affect the IP of the main product itself, but it was, in fact, addional promo material for it. (Kinda like mangas get an anime to help boost sales). Nowadays, games have a lot higher expectations, Gamemill type of "games" don't really serve a purpose anymore, as they really just hurt the IP.
@@CingKlown_lol bro you could just look it up but it’s going through someones history and every thing they ever did and doing extensive research but it’s mostly a tax term for the IRS making sure they aren’t getting screwed over for any money
Having had a colonoscopy while awake with no anaesthetic, it sounds like Charles knows what he's talking about... Worst experience of my life, and I've had a heart attack...
Even bad publicity is good publicity. I garuntee that kong game got more attention because it was so bad rather than if it was just mediocre. They know what theyre doing.
@@tehf00nThis whole story confirms its not greedy devs, also how does that work when the devs are literally working for higher ups and the publisher? The ground floor devs making this game aren't greedy bro
Games during the 80s and 90s that had one year of dev time and came out great have two main attributing factors to those successes: 1) they were mostly sequels made using pre-existing assets from the previous game. And 2) hardware back then wasn’t as beefy as it is now, making overall development easier. Sometimes it was 3) another team entirely was making it, and released it one year after the most recent game. The reason COD annual releases, as bad as they’ve become, are doable is because multiple dev teams were working on the games, each one having like 3 years of dev time from what I’ve read.
"GameMill" seems to remind me of the word "Diploma Mill" where a college just hands out Diplomas to just anyone who is willing to pay for it, regardless if they deserve it or not.
I prefer the graphics quality of a Rusted, Mildly Stained, and Heavily Used Berry Red Handheld 1998 Nintendo CGB-001 Game Boy Color with Faded Lettering, an Uncomfortably, and Somewhat Suggestively Sticky B Button, and a Broken Left D-Pad Button.
It’s almost as if the game industry right now is hostage to money-hungry company heads that impose insane deadlines where the devs are whipped into making subpar garbage then are blamed for the poor work.
This whole Rise of Kong situation kinda hurts, as the game devs are from Chile, as someone wanting to be a game dev from Chile, it can give bad online reputation, and also a pride thing Some people will fully blame the devs even if the blame is mostly by the publishers (GameMill), some news on Chile where all over the poor devs at the start, so yeah, its a pain
as someone who has gotten a fully awake booty hole flossing I truly pity you for having to go through something even more traumatizing like playing something like this. Your dedication to us is inspiring and your will power is indomitable
5:16 Best example of this is ironically the lego games. Those are filled with so much detail and love put into the product. The skywalker saga was there biggest gamea and everyone loved it. Just goes to show a little love can go a long way.
I love Nickelodeon All Star Brawl and am incredibly excited for the sequel, but a lot of the games’ flaws or criticisms make more sense the more you keep in mind GameMill is their publishing company. Like, with this track record, it’s a miracle the game actually functions.
Learning more about Gamemill, and it makes me respect the developers of NASB. It may have issues, but now knowing what they deal with I understand they fought to make it fun.
This is such a huge problem on the gaming industry,they gotta stop overowrking devs and forcing games out
Replying first so bots don’t
They wanted money before even making a real game, all they had was the name and the (now gone) hype for the movie
@CrewmateComplexXPno your fucking not
Not just games, but media in general. This is why shit media is made. Because 99% of the time the suits dont understand the business and put mandates on the people actually doing shit.
@@Pinwheelman.You beat them too it. Thank you for your service
Rip the Devs I hate when that happens to them. They always rush them and give them a cheap budget. I’m glad people don’t blame them.
Penguinz0 inspires me... My parents said if i get 50k followers they'd buy me a professional camera for recording begging u guys.❤
Why are y'all subscribing to these bots 💀
@@thewiseoldfoxI would never
I don't think Game Mill cares. I think they only care about stacking their resumes than quality. I wouldn't feel bad for them.
Then the devs get death threats from all the fans
It is insane that companies keep letting gamemill adapt their IPs into games. Theres no way these games are making them more money than if they were just high quality and enjoyable
Well, for that quality? They have to come cheap.
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
I read that this is somehow based on some King Kong novel rather than the films. Which gives me major Rings Of Power and Gollum vibes.
Pay the ip owner money for licence. Make cheap trash and put $400million in sales through the 3rd World. Good way to launder money. Something a cartel or politician can easily do.
I'd wager it's a pretty simple outsourcing, "scam".
IP holders want to make games, GameMill comes in as the "lowest" bidder, they get money from the IP holders to make the game and then they outsource it to foreign/small devs who they probably only pay quarters on their given dollar, and GameMill rakes in the profit from withholding budget via outsourcing and initial hype.
They're not publicly traded, so they don't have to worry about stockholder upset, meaning they get off basically scott-free even if the game is hot garbage.
On the IP's part, they probably don't even care as long as they don't spend AAA amounts of money. Look at how expensive AAA is now, why pay that when you've got a publisher with a track record of IP releases? "Good" turn around times, cheap bid amounts, and no stockholders is probably a GOLD MINE to IP holders. Especially when you think about the fact that if an IP holder doesn't release SOMETHING they lose that license, so it's better to dump crud than lose your hold on your IP.
The fact Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was made by the same studio doing all of these, and ended up being good, is honestly a miracle.
Thank Ludosity, the developers of the game.
That's because Gamemill is a publisher, NOT a developer. I know very little of them, but seeing all these bad games, they must be horrible to work with. Still makes nasb being good a miracle, though 😂
Yeah, probably the best rated Game Mill game.
I wouldn't call it good. I'd call it really really bad but it still turned out amazing, given the circumstances. You can see that the devs put the effort in. They just got screwed over. The sequel is already looking tons better.
If you give a blind person a gun they'll eventually hit something. Hell they might as well be gold miners in the wild West
This studio is the equivalent of maxing out the charisma stat because no matter how hard they fall, they're always able to attain more famous ip's
MY god, just checked what other games, Nickelodeon All Star Brawl was under them. It honestly just shows that the game was held up by pure unadulterated passion from the devs to make the game but their publisher was being absolute tools.
TBH The Nick Kart Racer isn't half bad either, and the NASB sequel looks to be a proper iteration
dw, they realized its potential and are now forcing the developers to churn out sequels non stop
ugh that makes so much sense. i was so excited for that game, the hype was so much fun, but then it came out and it was too janky to enjoy
This is what happens when corporations get involved. To them it’s all about money and nothing else. Is peasants are even a thing in their minds.
NASB was even made by the super skilled devs behind Slap City. It shows, the mechanics are good but the funding wasnt there. The devs really wanted to make it better while having to suffer gamemill
After rewatching old AVGN episodes, I can confidently say that GamingMill is the reincarnation of LJN games, especially when you realize that both use big IP’s as a means to sell bad games.
I had the same thought. I also have to wonder if AVGN will break his recency rule again for the Kong game. King Kong is one of James' favorite movies, and he's already covered Big Rigs.
There's an ljn every year.
Data Design Interactive was the real successor imo lol
Yess, I just commented about this, good to see you Lads
AVGN recently admitted there are at least 3-5 good LJN gsmes. GAMEMILL is UTTER GARBAGE
BIIIG MOTHAF**KIN RIGS!!!
Gamers being surprised a place called Game Mill would mistreat their workers is like King Theoden being surprised a guy called Worm Tounge would betray him.
Bro I just watched LOTR and this is exactly the comment I needed to see.
The video convinced me that Game Mill and Charles have a wholesome relationship with each other. That was genuine excitement from him at 6:54. Possibly the most excited I've seen him all year for any game at all.
Like Charlie said, someone at GameMill must be incredibly persuasive. I like to imagine they're just trolling big companies by persuading them to give them access to their licenses and then just taking a big ole smelly crap all over them.
Or maybe, just maybe people seek out GameMill because they promise a cheap and fast game. Higher ups hear how much a AAA game costs and don't want to do it so they seek out GameMill for a cheaply made game.
They're probably getting the licenses because they offer to do the games cheaper than anyone else will, they don't develop anything themselves it seems, they just publish, so they're outsourcing all the development work to small independent studios, often in poorer countries. I also doubt the movie studios care too much about the quality of the games, it's just extra marketing for the IP in their eyes.
Grifters is the word he was looking for instead of scam. It's a grift.
It reminds me of when devs at Nintendo had one year to make Majora's Mask. Admittedly they had an arsenal of things to reuse from Ocarina and planned DLC, but still, pumping out a whole game like this in one year was surely stressful af. It's a miracle that it turned out as good as it was.
In that case the developers had a personal interest in making the game, If they did a good enough job they could stop working on The Ocarina of time sequel they had been struggling on/didn't want to make (We later got it as 'Master Quest' on the 3DS)
Yeah 1 year to make Majora’s mask isn’t bad cuz they reused a lot of stuff from Ocarina.
This was a ground up game. It was going to be awful.
@@ma.2089plus the complexity of a Game for current gen is going to be way bigger than a Nintendo 64 game, soo is kinda of imposible to do a good Game in such short period of time, unless It's a really short one
@@silvertriforce2574Same thing with New Vegas, and how they were comprised of the OG creator team for Fallout. Who knew passion made art better??? 😲🙄
If I recall the director had nightmares of the game bombing but I don't remember if the was oot or majora's
Okay that sucks for the devs but there is no timeline where this game wasn’t going to be MEGA ass
Replying first so bots don’t
Edit: I was too late 😢
Real
Penguinz0 inspires me... My parents said if i get 50k followers they'd buy me a professional camera for recording begging u guys.❤
First
they took the money knowing how long they had. It's their fault.
The most impressive feat of game mill is their ability to aquire these massive IPs
Not really familiar with how it all works but is that purely down to the money they are offering to aquire the IP's?
@@benhart3160 pretty sure. But these companies are heavily protective of their ip's image. So they reson theyd contract out to game mill, a notoriously troubling developer, is beyond me
@@benhart3160 I dont know how they would get the money
As a dev it makes me so sad seeing other devs get overworked like that mentally it can slap you silly sometimes so to be overworked is ass
The fact that they watermarked their own website tells me everything I need to know
@@brandondenny226 really 😢
@@Pinwheelman. Great, now you're not a bot but an NPC.
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
@@BigStrongACG2023 JUDGEMENT DAY IS BETTER! LOL!
They what? Lol
AVGN has LJN, Caddicarus has Phoenix Games, and Charles has GameMill. Every gaming UA-camr needs a bad studio to hate on.
the good ol' Laughing Joking Numbnuts
Scott the Woz has Data Design
people nowadays have the entire triple a industry, not just one studio.
Saberspark has Wownow Studios
Angry Joe has EA
The fact that the company that published this Kong game is the same company responsible for Big Rigs so many years ago is simultaneously the most and least surprising news I've heard in a while.
They're like that villain that disappeared after the first season of a TV show only to make a surprise reappearance many seasons later.
Oh god, Big rigs is the true worse Game ever, is soo bad that can be good, but the Ia on that Game literally doesn't work, no physics, you can noclip most scenarios, barely any content, is just something that i could end Up doing by me not knowing how to programe
And their magnum Opus, Garfield Cart.
Big Rigs was actually developed by Stellar Stone, who went under in 2005 after releasing a SEQUEL to that game (which nobody knew about until Rerez covered it), Midnight Race Club - Supercharged. I think GameMill were the owners of that company, but I really don't know much about Stellar Stone in general
GameMill genuinely makes the games you’d see a character play in a movie or TV show
The thing is, as an amateur 3d modeler with an interest in the gaming industry workflow, it is pretty easy to see that the whole game is not a problem of skill or talent, but rather a problem of time, everything in the game is pretty much what I would call a "placeholder" for something to refine and add to in the future, the models, the environment, the story, the animations, the cutscenes, the gameplay, its like an artist's rough sketch, a half finished storyboard, you get the idea.
The biggest asset to a 3d artist is time, with time, you can accomplish literally anything. So depriving an amateur studio of time will lead to a result like this. Especially when it is for a movie title with a massive IP and reputation.
If I were working at that studio I'd be wanting to blow my brains out, "make king kong model, rig, textures, and animations in like 2 weeks), I'd want atleast a month for just the model itself. And I know that a professional could make a great model in a few days, as an amateur, it'd take me longer to get the same quality, 3d artists are both in great demand and are in great supply, the best go to the top and work in the biggest studios or VFX pipelines for movies, the average and below average work in small studios to get experience, so someone like me would likely be working in there.
You can actually see placeholders in the game itself, like the infamous cutscene with a literal storyboard placeholder still in the cutscene, waiting to be replaced with an actual animation. This shows that they know what they are doing, they just don't have the time to finish it.
It is easy for people who have no idea about the game industry workflow and pipeline to blame the devs, but as usual this isn't a problem with the devs, its a problem with the management and higher ups not understanding/not caring. And as usual, people dogpiled on the things that didn't actually matter, like saying free assets would have been better, the problem with that is, most free assets are created by freelance artists who just do it for fun, and either don't have good topology, don't match the artstyle, or as is usual with free assets, are not authorized for commercial products, which is what this game is. Not to mention, using free assets defeats the purpose of working such a job in the first place, experience.
All-in-all, it is sad to see what the game industry is becoming, anyone who isn't the best at their profession is condemned to a job like this, being the blunt of everybody's jokes about the game you were forced to pump out at breakneck speed, making shit pay, not being proud of your work at all, and actually having your reputation hurt by the end result of greed and carelessness of the higher ups who just want to make a quick buck. I really do hope that if I make it into the industry, I don't have to start at a place like this.
Yep! As a student trying to earn a degree in game design... You explained one of the biggest fears I have about wanting to join the industry.
I don't know if you know, but at least in the circles I'm in we call it crunch (I assume crunch is what you're talking about time-wise), and it is a **hot topic**. Not only are there unrealistic timeframes, as you mentioned, the people working those timeframes are working EXTREME overtime. For one example, the devs for Uncharted 4 typically found themselves staying in the office for as late as **3:00 AM**. Your life basically becomes "eat, sleep, work, repeat" (assuming you are lucky enough to cram that in).
Of course, I'm oversimplifying things, but this studio is just a small part of a much larger problem.
Like Miyamoto said; "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
Developers and publishers need to listen to him.
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
but most nintendo's games are bad.., does he rush them?
Nintendo's games' aren't bad, atleast they aren't rushed and made with cheapiness.@@lionofthebluevale7170
@lionofthebluevale7170 bait used to be believable
@@geckopecko I liked your comment
The fact that no one looked at gamemill’s catalog, saw the gigantic red flag that was Big Rigs, and still got the green light to make a Kong game is just beyond pathetic…
I feel like the boys at Rerez would have a field day diving into this game
They've gotta be working on it
Gamemill is a publisher, not developer, plus i dount one would work at the same company for 20 years, the company that made Big Rigs at that
They looked at the numbers, numbers were good and green lit the project. That's how it mostly goes. You can have the shittiest studio ever but if it is in business for 20 years and has some well known titles under its belt, and will port your game to consoles without outsourcing, man, that's basically a dream for IP owner, until the game comes out, then it's a nightmare.
The fact remains: Publisher or Developer, they still made the game under their name. And yes, somehow 20 years later its the same song and dance with them no matter most of the games. @@gambello1195
As someone who has had a colonoscopy and endoscopy I can say with full confidence that game mill games are a worse experience
My jaw dropped to the floor when you said the publisher is the same one responsible for Big Rigs. Like: "They can't keep getting away with it!"
Then again maybe they're just trying to recreate the success of their previous title.
There's a genuine disconnect between the people commissioning the game and the publisher. The more people complain the more people buy the product and the numbers are all the executives see.
They’re like the RCCA of game development, now we just need a company that specializes in fixing up crappy games like RMC does for wooden coasters
I didn't expect to find a fellow coaster nerd here lol
Now THAT'S a business idea.
No one in programming enjoys fixing shitty code, let alone game devs.
found the thoosie 😂
@@andynava5144 I'm also one too, lol. As somebody who loves Roller Coasters a lot (I went to Tampa and Orlando for Busch Gardens and Seaworld recently), this is hilarious comparison!
Thanks GameMill for helping Charlie pump out content all these years
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
@@BigStrongACG2023yet you have less subscribers than me 🤦♂️
@@BigStrongACG2023JUDGEMENT DAY IS BETTER! LOL!
@@yourtoxic3160 "BigStrongACG2023" is a comment spam bot, report it
i feel like the bots are responding to each other now
the gaming industry HAS to stop squeezing their employees for the biggest buck like this
That's the infuriating thing, they don't. They SHOULD and we wish they WOULD but as long as there are enough customers with low standards the scam continues.
Too bad normies don’t care and will keep pre-ordering. This is what keeps propping this disgusting cycle of abuse.
@AarushKumar-sf1vkThat's bullshit and you know it. They had to make all the assets as this wasn't an asset flip. I doubt you have even played the game and seen how much work they actually put into the game. It's not good and someone could make a better game in that time but the game is going to be simpler.
@@KhanMann66what normies?
@@Unknown_GeniusI'm sorry but what are you talking about 🤦♂️
Holy shit that mention of big rigs just sent me on a huge nostalgia trip
All the horror stories of publishers has me convinced (as someone who has not researched the topic) that in the not so distant future, most if not all video game developers will self-publish. If only to avoid the seemingly exponential rise of publishers who steal games or force game ruining changes.
Yep. This can be seen in the rise and success of indies.
This is literally the reason why so many people are spending their money on indie games these days. Not enough time or love goes into most AAA games these days.
They can't have a bunch of people working for 5 years on a game then sell it for only $60. For more time and love to go into a AAA game, consumers like us need to be willing to spend more on it. The $60 standard price is a big part of the problem.
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
@@BigStrongACG2023first warning
@@xa1551 The fuck kind of mentality is THAT? You just described an abusive relationship. We gotta pay more to get good games filled with the company's love? Say THAT to Halo Infinite, or any AAA game that's not simply a copy pasted Shop update.
@@xa1551 No it's not. That's why studios typically work on multiple projects. The industry has never earned more money than ever before, even after inflation. Games should cost far less than $60 when they're full of mobile style MTXs
Executives need to stop getting multiple millions in bonuses simply for existing, and publishers need to stop hiring Hollywood actors no one cares about. Devs could easily be paid infinitely more. The problem is capitalism, not the $60 price tag.
Around 2019-2020 it looked like this company was gonna finally try to go legit. They released some games that were actually not bad such as the Nickelodeon smash game, the cart racing game, and the 1st cobra Kai game. Definitely not award winners but if you get it for a cheap price they’re worth that at least. But they went back to straight up trash after that, instead of getting better like 505 Games and Focus Interactive did, 2 publishers that used to be garbage like Game Mill but they got better and now are pretty solid bets. I guess making better games didn’t translate to more profits so they threw in the towel cuz the bulk of their sales are selling games at Walmart to unknowledgable people.
they hit BIG with the Nickelodeon IP that is why. GameMill is their ONLY game publisher. However Avatar was an exception due to super late schedule.
Watching Charlie get excited over bad indie games will never cease to amuse me
Replying first so bots don’t
@@Pinwheelman.Congrats bro you did it
@@NateS917 👍
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
here comes the bots@CrewmateComplexXP
The AVGN video on big rigs is one of the funniest game reviews on the internet. I completely forgot that game existed
His reaction to "You're Winner" gets me every time
What is more surprising is that this thing had more than one developer behind this.
I've seen after school pet projects with more polish and care.
Didn't know Big Rigs was by them as well. I'm surprised they've stayed in business for so long considering infamous bad game studios (Phoenix Games, Groove Games/Jarhead Games, etc.) usually last for about a decade at most.
I heard GameMill literally outsources their games to what are basically coding sweatshops in places like India and Pakistan. Since they basically pay them pennies on the dollar, GameMill is able to offer rock-bottom prices to these heads of studios and scoop up tons of big-name IPs.
That tracks. This developer works from Chile.
Just wanted to point out that Chile is 100% not on the same level of India and Pakistan in general, but it does have a lower minimum wage than developed countries (right now that's less than $500 a month, a lot more than Pakistan and India and that's considering that the exchange rate of the dollar is in an all time high).
With that being said, in this case it seems like GameMill basically gave them not a lot of funding and not enough information about the project. So yeah, I'd say they fucked them over and ruined their reputation.
This would make ALOT of sense
@@ItsJustValHereim gonna look at iguanabees next game since it actually looks really fun and like a passion project
The only thing holding up GameMill right now has to be Nick All Star Brawl since they were lucky enough to have a great enough dev to make a fun enough game to actually get a decent looking sequel. Almost everything else has to be bought by a few psychopaths if that's what is keeping them alive
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 is good too, and is incredibly polished to boot! Which is surprising, considering that its developer, Bamtang, is also responsible for the terrible Avatar game that just came out. Maybe that team should just stick to kart racers lol
When I first saw the game, I legit thought it was a cheap mobile knockoff and not a legit game. How the hell was this funded by an official studio??
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
@@BigStrongACG2023 JUDGEMENT DAY IS BETTER
tbh, it was barely "funded" at all by the looks of it
seeing charlie’s smile sparked a gleam in my eye and a slight palpitation of the heart. my grandmother was watching as well and now she can walk again. my goodness, may charlie inspire millions once more
So from what I have observed, we see a pattern:
1) Very short development time. Within a year usually
2) In house rushed assets to meet the one year deadline
3) Minimal writing
4) Weak engine
My guess? They are producing games on a shoe-string budget, around 500k-1M including salaries. Then they go to IPs that have no real interest in making video games, and flash them what I imagine is a generous profit share. They see that it is far more generous than competitors, so they accept it and let Game Mill make the game. When you think about the IPs they get, they are usually pretty weak in the gaming market; how many King Kong games are there really out there?
And since they shoe-string the budget, they can give a generous profit share and still make good enough money off their games to fund the next one and then some
Gamemill probably offered the cheapest offer to be in charge while also trying to get cheap labor to get a bigger profit
Peter Jackson's King Kong from the GameCube blows this one out of the water, and that was in the 2000s! What on Earth is wrong with gaming these days?!
I can't believe they don't even put the effort of a wet fart into their management hiring process
I refuse to believe Game Mill isnt a front for money laundering.
Nothing else makes sense with the given facts.
Bruh what
@@mayuko7042 I'm saying that it's not even the dev's fault, it's that when people offer cheap labor the fact that companies go for it means they didn't even put the effort of a wet fart into hiring the people who make that decision
Looking at their catalogue of games it's a genuine miracle they're still in business
How they have not gone out of business after all the slop they put out is phenomenal
They make games on shoestring budgets, charge them full price or damn near close and thwn get money from ironic gamers and bad game streamers like Charlie.
people buy them for $70s
@@python1972and from people that just have no idea how bad the game is
Because the games are over priced to fill in the gaps of the original budget.
Because if one unsuspecting victim buys the game for the theme of it then they essentially repayed budget of the game
This is such a problem in so many industries. They overwork tf out of the workers just for so called "productivity" but really its making things much worse. You want real productivity? Give your workers initiative. Give them reason to love what they are doing.
So many, so many, SO MANY games could have been so much better if their development wasn't shrunken down into a year. An example I always think of is both Final Fantasy 2 and 8, both games coming after hugely successful predecessors pushed them to just try and make more money faster, but both bombed. They both had good ideas that never had the time to be fleshed out and made to naturally add to what came before. The more you know about 8 the more you realize it actually could have been even cooler than 7, the pressing for time and money destroys everything
Kotor 2 was on this list 2. At least obsidian had the foresight to sneak in assets for content they had to cut for the pc release so modders could finish the game
I like ff8 more than ff7 lol
Whoa, now. FF8 didn't bomb. 9 was the one that didn't meet expectations despite critical acclaim. A lot of people have come to like 8 now.
I heard they’re laying off 90% of their staff and replacing them with ChatGPT.
“You know what sells better to children, a good game”
I am shocked that the company that made big rigs is still around
The developer of Big Rigs shut down 2006. Game Mill is a publisher because developing even bad games needs some kinda effort. But yes, they should have been not around anymore
@@DerFilc still baffling that any company involved with the game is still around
Dedicating the year to make sure it wasnt too good
Replying first so bots don’t
Poor developers man. Working there seems like resume assassination.
I feel like the devs are cursed to stay there because they have no success at job hopping to a decent company - once headhunters see gamemill name they instantly lose interest on those devs
I remember watching the Yogscast play Big Rigs- I never laughed so hard in my life when they went reverse and the truck went hyperspeed out of the map
My digital solutions assignment that I churned out in 3 hours is better than big rigs 💀
company: Release game.
devs: It's not done.
company, pulls out gun: It's done,
devs: It's done.
Company fires the gun anyway
I feel like the course of gaming history would change if game companies didn't rush their devs, sonic 06 would have been incredible if this was a reality
Sonic 06 is already great imo
I know all Devs have the talent and/or drive to make a good game but it's the higher up in corporations just are way too thirsty for money and rush things out
The big thing about games and branding is that video games used to never affect the IP of the main product itself, but it was, in fact, addional promo material for it. (Kinda like mangas get an anime to help boost sales). Nowadays, games have a lot higher expectations, Gamemill type of "games" don't really serve a purpose anymore, as they really just hurt the IP.
Imagine making a game so bad that Charlie does an entire audit of the company 💀😭
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is an audit?
@@CingKlown_lol bro you could just look it up but it’s going through someones history and every thing they ever did and doing extensive research but it’s mostly a tax term for the IRS making sure they aren’t getting screwed over for any money
Having had a colonoscopy while awake with no anaesthetic, it sounds like Charles knows what he's talking about... Worst experience of my life, and I've had a heart attack...
Even bad publicity is good publicity.
I garuntee that kong game got more attention because it was so bad rather than if it was just mediocre.
They know what theyre doing.
Yeah but people will watch and then not buy? Therefore there is no point...
Gamemill is truly the greatest studio of all time
How is Big Rigs' publisher even still around 20 years later wtf
Amazing how a little bit of context changes the situation completely.
I honestly love the concept of a game studio that dedicates itself to specifically making games that are "fun bad."
No way in hell no one expects you to turn in a game in a year. Shame on them.
Man thats gotta be a crazy bad publisher
Penguinz0 inspires me... My parents said if i get 50k followers they'd buy me a professional camera for recording begging u guys.❤
or greedy devs.
@@tehf00nhow does that even make sense?
Vneti
@@tehf00nThis whole story confirms its not greedy devs, also how does that work when the devs are literally working for higher ups and the publisher? The ground floor devs making this game aren't greedy bro
Had no idea they made Big Rigs as well. Made me think of AVGN when you brought it up.
The publisher may aswell call themselves "consume don't question"
Gummy worm 🪱
Penguinz0 inspires me... My parents said if i get 50k followers they'd buy me a professional camera for recording begging u guys.❤
Gummy worm 🪱
@@mirjinou7999nice i’ll sub for you😊
@@mirjinou7999get a job bot.
Wow
If you choose to work for a company named "game mill" then honestly you can't expect to make masterpieces
The fact that people are calling GameMill a AAA company is mind blowing lol
7:35 buck has a cute smile. Oh my goodness gracious
“You can be rick! Or you can be… this guy who vaguely resembles Shane… if he was a lobotomite”😂😂😂🤣🤣😭😭
Games during the 80s and 90s that had one year of dev time and came out great have two main attributing factors to those successes: 1) they were mostly sequels made using pre-existing assets from the previous game. And 2) hardware back then wasn’t as beefy as it is now, making overall development easier. Sometimes it was 3) another team entirely was making it, and released it one year after the most recent game. The reason COD annual releases, as bad as they’ve become, are doable is because multiple dev teams were working on the games, each one having like 3 years of dev time from what I’ve read.
"GameMill" seems to remind me of the word "Diploma Mill" where a college just hands out Diplomas to just anyone who is willing to pay for it, regardless if they deserve it or not.
No way this company manages to take one L after another. I thought only ea was able to do so
DIDNT ASK, 😮 MY CONTENT IS BETTER 🎉
5:04 duuuudeee I actually still have my copy of Olaf’s quest and yeah it’s literally just a walking simulator. Absolutely no substance whatsoever.
I prefer the graphics quality of a Rusted, Mildly Stained, and Heavily Used Berry Red Handheld 1998 Nintendo CGB-001 Game Boy Color with Faded Lettering, an Uncomfortably, and Somewhat Suggestively Sticky B Button, and a Broken Left D-Pad Button.
The fact that people still blamed the developers for the game being shitty even though they are being overworked is horrible
Let’s be honest, the devs still put out something a single guy could’ve done in unity in about a month
@@streetwisehercules9956right like you wouldn’t be insane to blame the people who made the shitty game 😂
Oh Big Rigs….. good times
It’s almost as if the game industry right now is hostage to money-hungry company heads that impose insane deadlines where the devs are whipped into making subpar garbage then are blamed for the poor work.
Unionizing is possible and they still refuse to do so.
Everyone Batman needs a Joker, just like every Charlie needs a GameMill
This whole Rise of Kong situation kinda hurts, as the game devs are from Chile, as someone wanting to be a game dev from Chile, it can give bad online reputation, and also a pride thing
Some people will fully blame the devs even if the blame is mostly by the publishers (GameMill), some news on Chile where all over the poor devs at the start, so yeah, its a pain
We really are in the era of broken video games
Thank the gods we have some good games like Baldur's Gate 3 to maintain the balance.
as someone who has gotten a fully awake booty hole flossing I truly pity you for having to go through something even more traumatizing like playing something like this. Your dedication to us is inspiring and your will power is indomitable
My suspicion:
1. This is a tax write off
2. The games are grandparents traps "oooh you like avatar aren't you? Here's an avatar game"
Apparently their licensing guy used to also run licensing for Activision lol
literally the fastest ive ever been
Replying first so bots don’t
@@Pinwheelman. wait what?
I want to express my gratitude to GameMill for their unwavering support in assisting Charlie in consistently producing content over the years.
I never blame developers whenever stuff like this happens its always the big wigs
5:16
Best example of this is ironically the lego games. Those are filled with so much detail and love put into the product. The skywalker saga was there biggest gamea and everyone loved it. Just goes to show a little love can go a long way.
I remember watching his Big Rig vid when I was in elementary school. Now I'm 23 watching him shit on the same company. Incredible
People love to make things bad these days.
Penguinz0 inspires me... My parents said if i get 50k followers they'd buy me a professional camera for recording begging u guys.❤
guys look a verified checkmark that means we all need to like this comment right now 👶
This is epic
yes
Penguinz0 inspires me... My parents said if i get 50k followers they'd buy me a professional camera for recording begging u guys.❤
marta banus
Yes🥲…yes it is
Omg so many bots
I love Nickelodeon All Star Brawl and am incredibly excited for the sequel, but a lot of the games’ flaws or criticisms make more sense the more you keep in mind GameMill is their publishing company.
Like, with this track record, it’s a miracle the game actually functions.
Learning more about Gamemill, and it makes me respect the developers of NASB. It may have issues, but now knowing what they deal with I understand they fought to make it fun.
They made Big Rigs too?! I actually compared that to Kong. That’s crazy.
"This lobotomite that looks like shane" dayum 😂
crazy
crazy
Crazy
Bro is first
in ALL honesty, making an entire game in a YEAR is an incredible feat