The Design of Dead Space - Part 3

I loved this analysis about the evolution of the Dead Space saga. Honestly, you did a great job showing the shiftingfrom a survival horror game into an action game. It would be great to have similar videos with other videogames (for example the evolution in the way the storyline is presented in Uncharted)

Dr Tenma

Yeah, I'm with you here. I really like TR2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider... but I weep for the cool climbing / puzzle solving / archeological games they should have been.

Game Maker's Toolkit

BTW the analysis seemed to be pretty focused to me. There was an obvious thread going through all 3 parts and it reached a nice conclusion. In fact, some of the Boss Keys episodes digress more (because of pressure from the audience).

Vesselin Jilov

This is exactly what happened to the Tomb Raider series. At least the publishers had the sanity to allow for several smaller "Lara Croft" projects that still carry the spirit of the original.

Vesselin Jilov

Also great episode and I really liked this three part series even though I only played half of dead space 1. keep experimenting and doing what you love mark.

I remember a couple months ago watching a round table of TV Networks presidents talking and one thing that really struck me was something that the guy in charge of HBO said, which was "even if something doesn't make money it always good for the brand to have something that is a well made product." I think he was talking about the tv show the wire. That even though it did not have a lot of viewers it still helped HBO's brand of having great stuff. I really wish more game companies took this approach as well.

It's sad what happens to those interesting (horror) franchises. The same was done to Dead Rising, Resident Evil (6th), etc. and most of the time, the game that brings back the true nature of the franchise works way better than the sellout action oriented ones (REVII)

Well, this gonna be good :V I'm obviously commenting before watching, but I'm already hoping you'll get to other series like this. Bioshock comes to mind, what with the incremental additions in one installment and then a third installment that wasn't sure if it wanted to be something totally new or keep a grasp on the gameplay elements cemented in the series... Eh, just keep up the good videos, please. Love them. :)

Loved this series Mark. Thanks :)

There are various comments about EA ruining Dead Space etc, but they were also the ones who allowed it to be made in the first place, so it's swings and roundabouts there. I think that each of the 3 games have their place and provide some degree of entertainment, but are also flawed in their own way. Though DS1 might be the closest to horror, the aspect that Mark praises (or at least marks as important to its feel) is the awkward controls. I feel that this is tricky thing to balance and while Isaac's DS1 controls do add to the atmosphere the difficulty they add is frustrating and arguably poor game design - it's as artificial as increasing difficulty with bullet-sponge enemies. DS1 has an interesting idea in making your weapons engineering tools at heart but ultimately chickens out on the concept when ultimately they all end up as different kinds of damage-dealing guns. (Compare/contrast the tools/weapons you are provided in this year's Prey).

I liked the format very much. I think being a defunct franchise it feels very much as a post-mortem/evolution of. It helps to understand the reasons some games change so much. Silent Hill would fit right in. (Survival Horror problem?). The other aspect you tackled that people rarely do was the case commercial one. Expensive franchises needs big numbers. Why EA didn't try to expend less and focused in the best game for their core audience? (Because EA) An example comes to mind in the movie business. Deadpool would only work with a narrow audience. So Fox spent less on the movie but still made good money with it. Games should follow this path sometimes too. Well. Anyway. I liked your approach and I never felt like I was watching a review. You analyzed the conceptual design of a series. And that's huge. Congrats and thanks.

Kris Arruda

I really enjoyed the multi-part series analysis, looking at the franchise as a whole and it's transition from horror to action game. It's interesting to see how some of the secondary elements, like the inventory system, survived through each iteration while the core mechanics like the combat kept going further and further away from the original horror vision. If you were to do another series breakdown (which I hope you'll consider!), instead of separating the videos into one for each entry in the series, it might be interesting to see each video follow a specific core element through each game of the series and how it changes. Anyway, well done on the videos and looking forward to your look at Skyword Sword!

Very interesting to see a three-part franchise analysis. It makes you wonder if the way the franchise ended could have been avoided in some way or was more or less inevitable with EA at the helm.

mcwizardry

Wonderful conclusion to this 3-parter! For me, the first two episodes felt more like belated reviews than your typical big-picture discussions but it all made sense once I watched this one. I have never played a Dead Space game so I wasn't as aware of the transition toward strict action gameplay, and I love your take on it. Now I'm curious though. If Dead Space refined its original design, do you think they would have reached the $5M mark? If not, what is the solution to the ROI problem? Smaller design budgets? After all, maybe the gamers looking for this niche are so hungry, they won't be bothered by non-AAA graphics/cutscenes? Or is EA simply the wrong publisher for a game like this, and devs need to be content with a smaller profit?

Jeremy Williams

Even though I've got literally no interest in playing a Dead Space game, I found these videos really fascinating. I really liked how you were able to let those of us who are too wimpy to look into the world of horror games and appreciate the design choices that are made, and feel disappointed when they fail to be innovative. Also, on your last point, I can't help but add an example that I feel nobody else would think of - the Harry Potter games from EA. The full story's a bit too in depth to go into in a Patreon comment, but the basic trajectory is that the series went from being a Zelda-esque Hogwarts simulator to a third person shooter with wizard spells instead of guns. It's actually genuinely depressing to see a franchise with such potential get wasted away by bad studio decisions.