Development Hell is an extremely similar concept to Vaporware so it is unnecessary.....also the way it explains developmental complications leading to delays is subjective.
They are completely different. Development Hell refers to when a game's development cycle gets fucked up for whatever reason. Vaporware is the non-official cancellation of a game or just a seemingly endless development cycle.Vaporware is usually the product of Development Hell.
@EpicSteve: Both describe long delays in the development period for whatever reason so saying they're completely different is untrue....and its not a non-official cancellation its more like an indefinite hiatus...games have come out of it before so it doesn't always lead to cancellation....Development Hell is too subjective to be a concept....how can we know if certain complications in the development period are actually causing delays?.....at what point do we determine that these complications are actually significant enough to be considered Development "Hell"....its too subjective.
I think concept itself is too subjective and doesn't differentiate itself from vaporware in the non-subjective ways but if the mods want it to stay it'll need some clean-up and be re-written....a lot of the pages that are considered in Development Hell are also considered Vaporware for example.
I don't think it's really that subjective at all. If a game has a really long development cycle then that could be considered development hell, even more so if complications arise (i.e. delays, new engines, etc).
" I don't think it's really that subjective at all. If a game has a really long development cycle then that could be considered development hell, even more so if complications arise (i.e. delays, new engines, etc). "
@Unknown_Pleasures said:
how can we know if certain complications in the development period are actually causing delays?.....at what point do we determine that these complications are actually significant enough to be considered Development "Hell"....its too subjective. "
i would say a game is in development hell when the developers come out and say that the game they have been working on for some time that was set to be released soon gets a massive delay, or when it is delayed and they state its because they where not happy with how the game was shaping up. they are still working on the game and still is fully expected to be released at some point.
i think vaporware is when the game has not been canceled but has been put on hold indefinitely and all work on the game appears to have stopped. the developers may at some point continue work on the game but is not expected to be released any time soon.
an example of development hell would be final fantasy 12. it had delays and development problems but its a final fantasy game, its going to get released. an example of vaporware would be starcraft: ghost. it has not been officially canceled and blizzard has stated they still intend to release it but work appears to have stopped on the game.
Development Hell may be a bit subjective, but considering it has a very set definition for film - when a project is hit with numerous publicized delays and direction changes that radically alter elements of the film - there's no way we couldn't apply that same logic to games. Consider some great examples of development hell:
Too Human - game existed in some form for ten years; was constantly rewritten, altered, and scrapped before finally coming out. And even then, the game hit massive setbacks and delays based on the UE3 problems and SK's subsequent lawsuit against Epic.
Splinter Cell Conviction - see the reasons outlined above. Was supposed to come out in 2007. It got massively and radically altered numerous times before finally coming out in April (and it sucked, but that's another discussion for another time!).
Splatterhouse - announced late 2008. Was supposed to be Namco's other Surge game before they took it away from Bottlerocket in February 2009 and pushed back the April 2009 release. Finally resurfaced in trailer form this E3 and still doesn't have a concrete date.
Obviously a common theme amongst these three is that their problems were publicized and we all knew what was going on, which I think would be a good necessary condition for the concept.
" They are completely different. Development Hell refers to when a game's development cycle gets fucked up for whatever reason. Vaporware is the non-official cancellation of a game or just a seemingly endless development cycle.Vaporware is usually the product of Development Hell. "
What determines when a game has officially entered development hell, though? A game can see a significant delay and still see release, but it's not indefinitely in development. Vaporware is just another way of saying that a game is canceled. I don't even know why Giant Bomb should have a vaporware concept when it could just as well be an alias for the Cancelled Game page.
" They are completely different. Development Hell refers to when a game's development cycle gets fucked up for whatever reason. Vaporware is the non-official cancellation of a game or just a seemingly endless development cycle.Vaporware is usually the product of Development Hell. "
What determines when a game has officially entered development hell, though? A game can see a significant delay and still see release, but it's not indefinitely in development. Vaporware is just another way of saying that a game is canceled. I don't even know why Giant Bomb should have a vaporware concept when it could just as well be an alias for the Cancelled Game page. "
Vaporware is different than canceled game....Vaporware is a game which hasn't been officially canceled but news hasn't been heard from it for a long time like Half-Life 2 Episode 3 or Timesplitters 4.
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