EA Learned From Mirror's Edge Mistakes

[Blind Sight]

I really liked Mirror's Edge, I thought the design choices for the environments were excellent. When you've been stuck playing games that go for the gunmetal grey and dirt brown approach too much, seeing a colourful, beautifully rendered world is like stepping out of Detroit and finding yourself in Disneyland.

I wouldn't mind multiplayer in a Mirror's Edge game, mind you, the approach of 'let's just throw together a six hour campaign because everyone will just play multiplayer' isn't going to cut it. Some of us are anti-social gamers, we don't want/have time to waste hours in multiplayer matches.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

That was a rather thoughtful statement on EA's part. Do they have a better PR department, or what?

 

[JediMB]

According to Gibeau, there were problems with pretty much every part of Mirror's Edge. The learning curve and difficulty were all wrong, the story wasn't up to scratch and the game lacked any kind of multiplayer.

[...]

While no one is likely to argue with Gibeau about the importance of polishing a game before it gets shoved out the door, it's a little troubling to hear him say that games that seem better suited to single player, like first person parkour games [...] need a multiplayer option in order to succeed.

While I don't think a multiplayer mode would have made Mirror's Edge a bigger success, I do see the appeal in parkour-competitions in (semi-)randomly generated, or even player-generated, levels.

I'm really not much of a multiplayer gamer, but I think that could be a lot of fun.

 

[random_bars]

Looks like EA has a habit of rushing games... They did the same with Brutal Legend. Although at least there the multiplayer had already been pretty much finished and was the main focus of the game, so the short length of the campaign didn't make much of a difference.

 

[MarsProbe]

It makes me sad that the lack of multiplayer is viewed in this game as a mistake. Seems that the culture of the need for every game to have a multiplayer mode is still very prevalent.

I was delighted that the closest thing resembling multiplayer were the times trials (especially those odd environments made up of floating platforms set high above an ocean, or whatever that was).

Though if we did see a Mirrors Edge 2 with multiplayer, I would probably forgive them (provided the singleplayer was still the primary focus), as it would mean we were getting another Mirrors Edge.

 

[MassiveGeek]

Wait, if they learned this from Mirror's Edge, why are they only applying it for Dead Space 2?

I want a damn Mirror's Edge 2! D:

 

[Mr.Pandah]

The only problem i had with Mirror's Edge was that it was too short, a sequel with more of the city to run around and maybe a level editor would be perfect.

This...I really enjoyed the game. I was actually on top of the leaderboards for a while for the time runs a while back. Those were a blast to play as well. I wish they stopped putting this game down so much. Poor sales doesn't mean the game sucked all the time. Mirror's Edge, in my eyes, was a fantastic game, and I love the whole feel of it. Once you get that flow going...it was unlike any other game I've experienced.

 

[EllEzDee]

So it really was just a beta test then. Does this mean us owners get a discount on Mirrors Edge 2?

 

[SomeUnregPunk]

EA Learned From Mirror's Edge Mistakes

New ideas can work, says EA Games president Frank Gibeau, but they have to be presented just right in order to do so.

Despite a lot of positive reviews, first-person parkour game Mirror's Edge [http://www.amazon.com/Mirrors-Edge-Xbox-360/dp/B00149PCAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291112502&sr=8-1] suffered from poor sales when it came out in 2008. Gibeau thinks that this is because the game was released before it was really ready, and that while the concept was fun, the execution wasn't good enough for the game to be a success.

According to Gibeau, there were problems with pretty much every part of Mirror's Edge. The learning curve and difficulty were all wrong, the story wasn't up to scratch and the game lacked any kind of multiplayer. He said that Mirror's Edge had taught EA that for such a bold concept to succeed, the developer has to take it as far as it can go. "You have to execute," he said. "You have to spend more time on a game to ensure it's polished, and you need to have the depth and persistence of an online game."

He said the lessons learned from Mirror's Edge had helped shape the sequel to another underperforming game: Dead Space [http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Space-Playstation-3/dp/B000X1TC0U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1291112733&sr=1-1]. The sci-fi survival horror was much more successful than Mirror's Edge, although still didn't meet expectations. Gibeau said that for Dead Space 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Space-2-Xbox-360/dp/B00309U0M6/ref=pd_bxgy_vg_img_a], it was important to refine the concept, making the story and character more engrossing, and making the game work in a multiplayer context. This resulted in previously-silent protagonist Isaac Clarke gaining a voice, and the addition of a human versus necromorph - the name for Dead Space's monsters - death match mode. Gibeau said that EA didn't plan to abandon either IP, adding that while there was a lot of risk involved with new ideas, if done right, they had the potential to be huge.

While no one is likely to argue with Gibeau about the importance of polishing a game before it gets shoved out the door, it's a little troubling to hear him say that games that seem better suited to single player, like first person parkour games, or sci-fi survival horror need a multiplayer option in order to succeed. That said, if you want people to feel like they've gotten value from their purchase, and perhaps more importantly, not trade it in after they're done with it, there has to be something there to make them hang on to it - a role that multiplayer modes can often fill.

Source: Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/36479/Mirrors-Edge-fell-short-says-EAs-Gibeau]


Permalink

I'm guessing that Mr. Gibeau got word of Freejack

http://freejack.gamerkraft.com/fj_splash.aspx?lang=en&id=226&fromads=

the multiplayer parkour race type game with an anime twist?

If you want people to want a sequel to that IP to work better than your competition then you going to have to give us a spawling city to use as our jungle gym.
Perhaps do what Dirt2 did and use a procedurally generated landscape.
Allow us the mobility without hampering us that Mirror's Edge 1 tended to do.

Treat it like a puzzle game and market it as such.


I agree with Mr. Gibeau. The story didn't really fit with the gameplay that people desired.
You show us a parkour type of game but take away our freedom of movement and forcing us to use one or two different paths to move forward. You had some of that restored with the DLC but at that point it was too little and too late.

 

[koroem]

So god damn tired of people claiming games suck because they have no multiplayer. A GOOD GAME DOES NOT NEED MULTIPLAYER TO BE AMAZING. Not every game needs to be Call of Duty or Halo. FFS. Next thing you know, they will end up spending extra resources to develop a multiplayer mode that has the unfortunate circumstance of being released just weeks before the next big FPS comes along their inevitable 6 month cash cow cycle and steals all the players and purchases then they will claim the game a financial failure and kill the franchise.

 

[Digikid]

Mirror's Edge was perfect the way it came out. I understand that they'd want to crank up the sales, but I personally don't see what went wrong.

I agree. All the people that complained about do not know jack about good games. Mirrors Edge was an excellent game. Could have been longer but ah well.

 

[JakobBloch]

Hmm I think Mirrors Edge would benefit greatly from a well developed multi-player added.

The greatest (and logistically hardest) addition would be a random map generator. This would open up racing to whole new possibilities. A level editor would be second on the wish-list. Many other ideas could be out there. Capture the flag suddenly gets interesting when you are running along rooftops. Runners vs Blues (combined with the random map this would be huge). Bag-drop. A simple game of tag. When no one is suppose to die, creativity should get a nice boost with deathmatch being impossible.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

I found nothing wrong with mirror's edge apart from the length. Sure it wasn't always clear which way to run...but figuring that out was the pleasure of the game.
It was in all honesty one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've had.
I'm afraid EA will turn it into a more cinematic experiences, and corrupt the simple joy of running around rooftops jumping across 50 foot spans.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

I have to agree with multiple posters above me. The only problem that I had with mirror's edge was that it was too short, just extend it without making it seem padded out and I'll be happy with a sequel.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Under-performing? I had no idea, I bought both games really early on.

Oh and please don't multiplayer it up EA, we just want a bigger single player.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

What they should have learned from the game is to not release a game with potentially game-breaking bugs without some kind of plan in place for patching. At least, the Steam version has this problem. I am literally stuck in the chase scene with what's-his-name because Faith refuses to grab onto that one pipe.

Also, I hate this idea that a game has no value if there's no multiplayer component. If multiplayer were really that important, wouldn't all games just be nothing but?

 

[ultrachicken]

I'm overjoyed to hear that they're continuing Mirror's Edge, but I don't really care for Dead Space.

Go innovation!

 

[Reaper195]

I get the story part...it was somewhat lacklustre. The learning curve was steep, but not steep enough to not be able to play it unless you are retarded. An open world/map editor would have been wickedly neat, but multiplayer?

Jesus Christ...I'm getting tired of people ragging on single-player focused games for not having multiplayer. Yes, a competitive dash game would have been cool, but not any form of co-op. I'm pissed off enough as it is that EA bowed to the whinging masses and added multiplayer into Dead Space 2....because the first was obviously needing one (No, it needed to simply be better. And scarier. After the second dead body on the floor coming to life, I simply shot everything from a distance with a slightly upgraded rifle).