Subnautica Postmortem
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- Опубліковано 7 тра 2019
- In this 2019 GDC postmortem, Unknown Worlds Entertainment's Jonas Boetel explains how open development saved Subnautica. Boetel explains what open development is, what it means, and how it affects every part of the independent game making process.
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Subnautica is a game that showed how to properly use the Early Access program.
Darkest Dungeon, Don't Starve and Minecraft (if you can bring in non steam games) worked really well for beta testing as well
Definitely, you can tell that it's a game made for the gamers, EA etc. should take notes.
I actually regret picking it up because I originally pulled the trigger because of the initial promise of multiplayer. Without multiplayer the game is almost entirely useless to me.
@@PotatoWheel It's not a flawless game, but still miles better than much of the junk churned by the big AAA companies these days.
^ this.
I don't like survival games too much, but Subnautica was a gem. I loved it dearly and it will be forever in my heart. This game is really amazing.
👌
Mainly because there was no tedious grind for 200 iron for a knife. At least for me.
Watching this talk made me realize just the amount of effort that went into the analytics of the telemetry. No wonder they knew what to do, they really were watching over the community. I deeply respect unknown worlds for this alone.
I build a lot of custom PCs for my friends and as a way of saying: Thank you for letting my build your PC" I throw in a copy of Subnautica. Everyone one of them has absolutely loved this game.
That is such a great marketing idea. I love it!
When you stare down into the deep dark depths below you for the first time, knowing you *have* to go down there, that's a fear and dread I've not experienced in any other video game. It's worth buying just for that moment alone.
I bought the game in their Earliest Access phase. From the beginning, UWE was very open about development. He mentioned the very early prototype with modular submarines, but he didn't mention that they gave all of their prototype builds to prospective supporters. I actually played them all, and it was wonderful to see the evolution, away from procedural generation and modular vehicles, towards the current state.
I'm the telemetry/analytics guy on my team too. I can also say that the data is most useful to answer speculative questions reactively than to proactively guide development. The aggregate is typically more important than specific bits.
34:20 "Why survive ? Is there really a point ?"
Wow. Er. Need a hug ?
It's a fair enough question. Once you've got a renewable, stable food supply, some armor, and some weapons in Minecraft, what do you do next? You can easily survive indefinitely, and that's not fun for long. You could work through the achievement/advancement tree, or defeat the Ender dragon, but why? You could get creative and build something, but your creativity isn't infinite, and you could have played in creative mode if you wanted to do that. You eventually reach some anticlimactic end when you've run out of stuff you want to do.
Subnautica doesn't even offer Minecraft's level of creative space, so it needs to offer up an end goal. Hence, the rocket. The bacterium makes it more than just a resource-gathering game. With the story, you also accomplish more than your own survival while you're on the planet. Subtract the story and ending from Subnautica, and the most fun thing left is probably base-building, or cruising through the dunes in your shielded Cyclops with some level of impunity.
I'm amazed by how well you fit the final product to the concept art. A lot of companies fail at this, either because of too busy concepting or lack of technical know-how to match the imagination of the artist. This (and 'the feels') is where you succeeded. I had a lot of fun playing this game and plan on replaying a lot. Since this was free on Epic Games at the time, I'm going to buy Subnautica: Below Zero. The mod community is pretty decent too, so it's not really dead yet. Thanks for the talk and the game! Great experience! I didn't even want to leave the planet :D
Leaving the planet sequence was pretty awesome though!
I remember the first time I saw Subnautica on twitch. I was hooked after 10 seconds. Always wanted well made and beautiful rendered underwater survival game and that was it. I’m so glad the devs were aiming at the top tier graphics cards. It definitely was worth it.
The game really isn't all that nice at all and it runs like absolute trash never played a game so poorly optimized , I can run Battlefield 5 at 1080p 144 fps but cant play this shitty ass looking game passed 60fps? the game is good but it would be nice to be able to play over 60fps that's all.
@@chuggynation8275 I get 144 at 1080p with a slightly overclocked 1070, it just lags when loading new areas. But my FPS in Bf 5 are actually lower lol.
@@chuggynation8275 60 fps is the standard and works perfectly fine.
This honestly feels like bait.
"We cannot compete with AAA".
*makes a game better than any AAA title for years*
While I'm not playng the early access because I want to play the finished product, I'm stoked for the xpac. This could easily become a 2 or 3 game franchise.
Water world exploration is so clever. It's chill beyond measure and terrifying beyond reason.
While the reason for no guns was political, it could not have been a better choice.
I cannot describe how satisfying it felt to make my first Cyclops. One of the best feelings I've ever had in a video game.
I hope the community keeps this project going and healthy.
4:45 Looking from a different point of view, they did not compete with AAA. They didn't make a better first-person shooter, or a better MOBA, or a better card strategy game. They made something different. No guns is also a point of difference, fitting the "blue ocean" strategy, since the market is pretty saturated with games that rely on guns.
My first playthrough, I never even built a cyclops. Took one look at the resource requirements and went, "Oof, for a big glorified Seamoth? No, thanks." Then I found out you can build in them from some Reddit post, and I found my second playthrough with my cyclops mobile base even more enjoyable than the first.
6:05 The way I like to say it is "It's better to be loved by few than liked by many."
Jonas comes across as such a down-to-earth and humble person.
Great talk and a one of the best games I've played. Deserves all the success it got and more
Thank you for this great talk and for delivering this amazing game. Best concise gaming experience I've had in a very long time.
Richard Benson No joke, first game I actually enjoyed for years.
No guns
*Massive alien gun shoots down a spaceship*
That was blatantly just a very focused reactor exhaust port... :D
Or maybe a laser communication device?
Soulbite ah yes, a communication device. Communicating: “die”
Could have been called "How to make money without ripping off your customers."
Although he did touch on this, the biggest boon to Subnautica's success was the story. It's an old gaming trope: You've crash landed on a planet and you need to build a tech tree to get a rocket to escape. That's exactly the story of Factorio. In Minecraft does anyone ask why they're suddenly in a world with no supplies and you have to start from scratch? But in Subnautica you discover that the reason you crash landed, which is a usually throw away cheap cliche to start a story for almost every other game of the genre, is the whole point of the game. When I first saw that alien "building" it was awesome. When I realized that it's a gun and it's shooting down anything that gets close, including my ship, The Aurora, it gave me a story which began before I started playing the game. I know why the aliens were here. I know why the Degasi group crashed. Now I know why I'm here and why I have a totally different problem to solve before I can solve the "build your rocket ship" problem.
That is the brilliance of Subnautica.
Its like the game rift with building mechanics. I've played 10+ games just like it but with no building mechanics. Maybe I just like a more active story or more control over my environment. I was hoping for something a little more like WOW Cataclysm's underwater area with building mechanics added in. Just take out all the multi player stuff and swap the wazoo spells for something realistic. Instead I got shot down and slowly un nerf'd but not really. Instead I basically got rift with building mechanics, like a cross between rift and Minecraft. If that's what they were goin for then great, I just like more action. And not in the way of weird wildlife I have no way of defending myself against. Was that supposed to be humans level of tech once we were space faring. What is an alien gun doing shooting down perfectly good running star ships that are just close? And with a space faring civilization there would be adequate countermeasures and sensors to not get shot down or most likely even fired upon. "were detecting a massive energy spike from the planets surface captain". sound framiliar??? Ever think about how to shield a starship from space dust that's flying by at unfathomable speeds. Just a spec of paint traveling 18,000 mph can pierce the bullet proof glass on the international space station, and It has happened. That's only 18,000 mph, if were traveling space you can bump that by a minimum of a factor of 10. So the ship you arrived on can for sure take on space debris at a minimum of 180,000 mph. It would most likely require some type of forcefield shielding even to make it back home from missions. It would take nuclear size megaton explosions to stop a ship like that. Ohh and if its a laser then lol. Heat shielding for re entry also happens to be a perfect laser defense, spreading all that heat and dissipating it.
Not to mention, if you had a massive alien canon. And you did shoot something moving near orbit velocity and were able to disable it. you would eject it from orbit, not crash land on the planet. Maybe if the cannon were on a moon. But we already know. THATS NO MOON!
You cant break science, science breaks everything standing in its way.
Is this the guy who made the crashfish
I'd like to have a word with that guy
Subnautica was the first game (of many that tried) to successfully get me into open world survival. The pillars of sci-fi exploration survival with the balance of progression they achieved I just had not experienced before. It was really satisfying to see the analytic methods applied to design decisions and while I can't bring myself to sully the fresh experience of a new fully released game this has really given me a new appreciation for those that can co-create with the developers. I will gladly sit upon the crest of the target audience distribution curve for such a cohesive experience.I'm really glad unknown worlds persevered through that effort, happy that Boetel has had the chance to share this with us, and extremely excited for Below Zero's release and what I'm sure will be an irresistible urge to gift even more copies to people than I did of Subnautica.
Subnautica, one of the best games ever.
-Can't change my mind.
It was ok. Lacking a core direction. Strong yet limited building, lack of story. The lack of story led me to want to build, the lack of building led me to want more story. Missions and adventure, and hey maybe a gun for the little space faring guy. I'd rather play with a blaster than some repulsor thingy. Ever notice in sci-fi movies they send in a trained military guy with the science crew. Ever notice that even the most up tight space tv show involved phasers and proton torpedoes on an exploration vessel. Ya come prepared or break my immersion plz.
I also wish there were more games where I shot things with a gun.
@@brandonhoffman4712 Did you finish the game?
Sounds like brandon got pricked hard by the "no gun" spike xD
@@yeti25934 Clearly he did, I personally love using the “repulsor thingy.”
Subnautica was my favorite game in a long long time. However I have doubts about Subnautica: below zero because as many have pointed out, there's no fear of the unknown anymore and I'm comfortable in the Subnautica world now. I really hope they have the game start on familiar grounds and then have the story drastically change it into a new environment. If they don't, they'll never make it as good as their original game.
Iteration based on customer desires and usage, not based on what your managers or directors want.
That is some valuable advice and I can practically feel shots being fired at numerous studios. I love it.
AAA CEOs are probably shouting "HERETIC!" towards their screens watching this video.
Although there is the caveat at the end where he said they didn't add multiplayer, harpoons, or guns no matter how much the players asked because it just doesn't fit what they're trying to create., and detracts from the scariness if you have the tools to fight back.
Hah! That Harry Potter sketch.
Very insightful presentation, the guy is charming and nice.
Great talk, thanks for having Jonas on and posting it to UA-cam!
Subnautica was strangely addictive. Got it in early access when it was barely playable due to frame rate issues and other problems. Watched it grow and get better throughout a few years of development and thoroughly enjoyed what it became. Amazing game. Great job UWE 👍🏾
I thought postmortem was a thing done to already dead things. Subnautica is still alive.
Just a manner of speaking yes. Call it After Action Report if you wish.
a postmortem is usually about "dead" things. However it can also be about something that is done. Since they are moving on to subnautica 2, i would say it's appropriate.
But it _is_ dead - From the view of development. It stopped being developed a long time ago. It's time to examine the product and take lessons learned forward. There is nothing wrong with calling this a post-mortem.
It literally means after death. It is not the best word choice for multiple reasons. Probably referring their dev process.
It's really more of a historical term in the gamedev community. We've been using this term to describe "what went right, what went wrong, what did we learn" for years.
Great talk. I don't even work in the game industry but I learnt more in this talk than most of the other talks from everywhere, not just GDC.
One of the best games I've played in recent years, normally I am not a fan of survival games as they are just boring without an end goal (which is most of them) but this game really did surprise and deliver an epic journey with a good end and a nice story.
The world is very believable and well crafted offering tons of variation. If you buy one game, make it this one.
one of the best experiences ive ever had playing a game, so it makes perfect sense it comes from such wonderful people, thank you for sharing!
My god what a great talk
Great seminar. It would be great if we got a co-op feature in Subnautica.
Very insightful for an up and coming independent game developer like myself, and it completely jives with what I learned while getting my masters in game development. One of the best postmortems I've seen/read. I hope more developers learn from this as well.
@@fireface8377 you mean, I have to work now? Ok, I'll get back to my self imposed workflow, trying to create a genius work that will transcend.... jk, lol. That's enough now, I've taken enough time away from my work hours! Back to the grindstone! Lol
This guy is so soft spoke (in a good way), it could be an ASMR.
Great talk, so much to learn. I really enjoyed the game and at the time never seen anything like that.
When amazing art meets emotional gameplay. What a great game! The wife is scared of underwater but loves the idea of the multiplayer mod. As soon as it gets touched up she will join me in this beautiful game. Also with the community managers needing great ability to communicate why changes are needed this is major when dealing with early access. You can see this with Digital Extremes and the community being so protective of the community manager Rebecca Ford aka Space Mom. Her bringing on the directors on the Dev Streams has been great for their community. UWE has done a great job as well, it is the support of the Devs that brought my gaming friend into their fold and then he shared the game with us explaining the Devs were listening to the community is why 10 of us in our group of 13 bought and played the game. Great early access. You would think so many other developers would do this instead of making it feel like a cash grab.
"if my slides are working...they are not."
Huh, I am reminded of actually playing Subnautica.
"it creates tension in the game without violence" damn had not realized that until now, thats why this game is so different yet keeps you on the edge of the seat most of the time (except when managing your inventory, thats annoying as F).
Incredible talk, thank you.
this was a pretty fun and entertaining look into the development of subnautica
Some people don't really care about the story being spoiled by early access if they constantly get to discover and experience new things. In a way the evolving game is itself a story.
already purchased the DLC for Subnautica below zero, i'm digging it as much as the first game, can't wait until they have a story which ties together properly and door codes with riddles that are easy to figure out in 1-5 minutes, not 5 hours or forum searches.
Great talk for a one-of-a-kind game. Really might be my favorite game of all time.
This information is invaluable! Listen to the community is an advice given by many successful games, from large to small companies.
Will we be getting the design part of subnautica presented by his boss?
Thanks for sharing this! Really interesting.
I was one of those reporters. Back in the day there was an area where it had scrap objects but were not interactable and materials didntnrespawn so like it was important
Great talk and interesting how they saw the game back then, i'm glad that they decided to handcraft the game map instead of using procedural generation, it really gave the whole world a lot of charm and care.
Honestly, i was burned out of crafting survival games but Subnautica's setting, story, mystery and most importantly EXPLORATION really kept me invested in the game.
I had so much fun with this game, just fantastic. I do have a weapons locker though.
One of my favorite games of the last decade.
One of the best GDC talks I've seen.
Then watch Chris Wilson from GGG.
That's also a top 10! The Spiderweb Software one is great too.
One of the most important things... SINGLE PLAYER... the rest is just extra toppings in a great game :D
Great talk. It's no wonder subnautica was ultimately successful given the people behind it and their approach to development.
When it first started I thought he was going to be a reserved uncomfortable speaker but it turned out to be a really nice talk with a lot of good useful information.
Very valuable talk!
Very great talk, thanks!
Congrats on 8-Bit Ryan for being noticed by the devs... also, congrats, devs!
This is an amazing example of a successful indie business plan. I'll try to stick to it when I design my own game.
Awesome game and great talk! Really fascinating.
I've got over 130 hours game time in this game, and still haven't finished it...... I used to be a diver and this game takes me back to those days with its SFX and feel it gives you. Fantastic game and not expensive either.
subnatucia was a fucking amazing game, one of the best steam early access game ever made
Very nice talk. Inspiring.
Insightful and interesting talk. Subnautica is in my top 5 of all games I've ever played. I can't wait to play Below Zero, it's so hard not to spoil myself and just devour any and all content coming out.
Same, especially after watching him explain how Early Access helps them through the development process it hurts me to not be playing Below Zero yet, but I really want a fresh, fully fledged experience.
Excellent talk!
Great guy, great talk, great company, great game!
Great!
I really enjoyed this video/documentary
Such a great game, and a great development approach!
I bought this game because they did everything right, ended up being a GREAT game by the end. great success
Great talk
The dramatic sneezes in the background.
"My name is Jonas, I'm carrying the world!"
10/10 best game of my life! Games like Metroid Prime really pulled me in earlier in my life and I felt that Subnautica captured what I loved about those games yet far better/ more enjoyably! I absolutely can not wait for Below Zero full release! With Subnautica 1 I did not play it at all until the full release and tried to stay away from watching videos while it was being developed. Ive got to say playing the game from the start with basically no knowledge of it was quite the experience. Perhaps something I will never feel in my life again! Thank you so much for this game it was truly an artistic inspiration!
I wish you spoke a little bit on the development of the soundtrack and capturing the game's essence through the music. I wanted to make sure I said how important I felt the soundtrack was to the game! The sounds and music were a huge part of what kept me hooked!
Subnautica was one of the best horror games I played in years. Maybe that's like, a personal thing lmfao, but they really did a good job in instilling tension and fear like they wanted
This game and Portal 1 were my favorite game experiences in the last 15 years.
Interesting talk, nice stuff
Is Charlies video available on YT?
Quite true on my part, i bought it after Frankie did a short video on it.
Great Talk!
Great game! Bought Below Zero in a heartbeat on EA also.
Hot damn I loved this game (despite all the pants shitting horror and terror). I got the early access to Sub2 and just waiting for the final version. Keep up the amazing work man.
The terror is part of why the game is so good, it makes things more exciting when you feel there's actual risk involved.
Ive been with subnautica since 2016... It's really something now
the no guns thing? attrtacted me... finally a game set in modern+ times... without guns... and without multiplayer
It's a great game, thank you so much!
It was an interesting survival game but it suffered greatly from pop in graphics that would really pull you out of it with all the spikes of lag, I'm really hoping they fix that issue with below zero.
Looks like below zero will have more of a interactive story than finding holo tapes style of game, hope it works out.
I played through Subnautica and Below Zero last month. I really loved them and would recommend them. But they're super buggy even today, particularly Subnautica. Clipping issues was the most common (and fish swimming through the air inside your base/cyclopse/island), but the Prawn suit constantly gets stuck in the floor in the last alien base (I was always able to eventually unstick myself with the grapplers). You could also tell that the Unity engine was not the ideal engine for the game. Also inventory management was just a nightmare and it really didn't need to be.
Subnautica just blew my mind. One of the best games of the past few years in my opinion. Probably the best VR experience too.
Same here, it was a long time since a game made me go "Woa! :O" and "Ahh! :D", Subnautica really surprised me positively. At first I thought it was just another Minecraft imitation, but it turned out to be quite a bit more. Lost River really made me gape in awe, games can really evoke emotions when the developers are inspired to make a good game.
This is complete gold
i disagree with the whole "if it violates your vision then of course go with your gut". sometimes your vision and gut are off. Never down play ideas. After all you put in a stasis rifle and a repulsion gun. They are all that were needed.
They already narrowed down and adapted the vision of their game in the early stage with the help of the community, gamers and streamers. They got their metaphorical spikes to stand out and they went with it. If you are constantly challenging and changing the core of the game you don't know what you develop in first place, you end up nowhere if you don't have a path to follow.
I think the lack of firearms or similar weapons brought in a specific kind of interested player / unpaid beta-tester. The contributions of that community were still often toxic and hard to manage (the 2EZ forum hacking incident). But overall, he's right, the balance greatly benefited the development team.
I fear that with a more "conventional" (read: violent) video game, the result of such open development would be very different indeed, in today's toxic feedback atmosphere. The game really having hit on a compelling, winning formula without any legacy IP right from minute 1 probably didn't hurt, either.
i don't get it, did subnautica get flak from pro-gun communities or something? if so that's hilarious. hope it didn't demoralise the devs too much though
1:53 I saw that live :D
this game was pure awsomeness. first time i jumped into the water i was realy affraid what awaits me down there, first time a reaper ate my seamoth my heart nearly stops ^^ going deper in to the abyss is just horrific and frightening. this is by far the best game out there. it kicked the mass effect triology from the throne.
I love this game so much. I stopped playing when I finally got the submarine because I want to wait till a VR version is perfected and play the remainder of the game in VR
Is there talk of going vr?
There is a unofficial vr but one can dream as I feel this would be great in vr
He understands EXACTLY why his game is great. Very, VERY smart designer.
the only problem i had with subnautica was that there was a point for me where i was really exhausted by replaying ... wich turned out in the way that i never finished the game cause i could'nt stand to replay it one more time... but maybe i will get the dlc and give it a look then ^^
Before i watch this, Subnautica is amazing, the title of this vid might suggest that the game is a online game that died. Its getting a big content update relatively soon that alot of people are excited about!
what kind of savage drinks milk in a presentation
absolute legend
This makes me really wish for a game with modular submarines.
Such an incredible game
FEEEEF FEEEF FEEEF
yea that got me hooked
Hi Im here from the 8bitryan subreddit, if you're here too have this time stamp ---> 25:45
Shoutout 4546B 🤘🏾
I wish someone from Respawn Entertainment had watched this talk
I wish somebody from just about every game company had watched it. Every step about creating a feedback loop with your customers makes sense. Imagine if Bethesda followed this principle for Fallout 76. I can almost guarantee that it would not have been such a disaster.
The first and only good early access