The development of Outward did not require XNUMX-hour workweeks. His secret: know his limitations, adapt and stick to what was planned.
In recent months it has become public that many Western companies resort to crunch continuously and without trying to avoid it in order to have the games ready and with as much content as possible. Red Dead Redemption 2, Anthem, Mortal Kombat 11, and Fortnite updates were developed with workdays that reach one hundred hours a week for months or years. That didn't happen with Outward.
Fair treatment of the workers who created Outward
In an interview with the Gamasutra portal, Guillaume Boucher-Vidal commented that in the study they did not need to squeeze their workers, and less being a small team. The game is a highly detailed fantasy RPG in which additional stories are created when our character loses his life. That on other teams would have translated into several months of crunch.
In Nine Dots it didn't happen because they realized their limitations. At first, I saw that they were good at making monsters but the scenarios were more difficult for them and they adapted the ambition of the game to their limitations. Outward was not going to have a huge world that would have cost them a lot and in contrast it would be populated with monsters.
They also ruled out making numerous prototypes to experiment and test mechanics to make the game more fun. They stuck to pre-production documents so as not to fall behind projected lead times. This way, they did not invest time in developing concepts that would not materialize or later would not work. All efforts were focused on following Outward's original plan and nothing else. Of course this is just an example and is done in a small studio. It would be necessary to see if this philosophy of only designing what is documented and what falls within the possibilities of the creators would achieve that a larger game can also be developed while respecting labor rights.
Source: PCGamer
