About delays and Animal Crossing

Posted by Lana Meeren on February 21, 2020 in Animal Crossing New Horizons, Blood Sweat and Pixels, crunch, Cyberpunk 2077, delays, FF/ Remake, Nintendo, video games, videogame industry,

A new Animal Crossing render and a picture of the sweetest stray cat ever

Around 4 weeks ago I wanted to talk about delays. The FF7 remake and Cyberpunk had just been delayed, being the latest followers of the trend that seemed to go around since the end of last year.

Then my partner informed me that there was a small kitten outside that they frequently saw when out to smoke. It seemed tiny, was shivering and pestered the humans around it. 

So we gave it some tuna since that was the most appropriate cat food we had on hand and discussed if we should catch it. 

The tiny thing had returned multiple days and was clearly a stray. Its eyes were infected and it was very skittish. The nights outside were cold and we live in a region with lots of predators. 

So we caught the kitten, suffering quite a lot of scratches for it, and put in our bathroom. 

So, what now? 

There’s a tiny cat in the bathroom hiding away in the last corner beneath the heater. 

We improvised a litter box and fed it some more tuna and went out early the next morning to buy real cat food. We asked around if someone was missing a tiny cat, and got a friend to drive us to the vet the day after. 

The vet confirmed what we had suspected, we had caught a stray and probably saved her from death by either the hypothermia or starving. The eyes would be okay buy it would take time for them to heal. The kitten was also a lot older than we thought, about six months already, she had just stayed tiny due to the malnutrition.

So we kept the cat. We went and bought lots of supplies. A proper litter box, a scratching post and so on. The next morning we woke up to our bathroom covered in cat excrements and vomit. A visit of the emergency vet later we learned that her tiny stomach was probably overpowered by all the new food and lots of trash that she had been eating days ago. 

She got antibiotics and strictly one food for around a week. It was what he could do to help her, the vet explained, she had to get through the rest herself.

And she did. She recovered and began to grow like a weed once she was able to properly deal with the normality of food.

We still had tons of work left, we had to cat-proof our entire flat. Since we didn’t think we adopt a cat soon we kept stuff around, not considering a juvenile cat exploring.

It took us the better part of a week to get the tiny flat ready and a few more days to let her in new rooms and watch her explore, ready to jump up and clear any hazards that we might have overlooked or not even considered to be such.   

So far it has worked remarkably well. The cat is one piece and most of the furniture too, her worst habit is fighting herself in the mirror.

But between all that worry for the cat and some exams I had to take my time for writing fell short. 

I got to game and read a little since we had to get her used to our everyday activities, but I just didn’t find the time to sit down with anything but learning material for too long. 

When I wanted to write this originally my main topic was going to be game delays. It seems ironic but even more fitting now so I decided to keep it.

There have been plenty of those in the last months, starting with Animal Crossing which announced its delay last year at E3. By now most of the anticipated releases this year have been moved. Some like the Final Fantasy 7 Remake moved only a few weeks, others shifted to the end of the year.

In general, the feedback from fans across the different franchises was usually positive. While people sure are disappointed that they have to wait longer, most people who are into games know about the issues the industry has with crunch. And even if in general not bothered by the gruelling hours' developers have to work for months on end, people still want the best product.

 Sometimes even a few weeks more time can ensure a seriously less buggy game on release and a smaller day one patch as well. But with long delays, people mostly hope to spare the teams the crunch as much as possible.

And I’m sure in many cases, while not alleviating the issue completely it’s at least better. But the reality is the crunch will still take place. Some times for even longer periods than originally planned and in such making it worse. 

Something we were harshly reminded of by the statement issued by Adam Kicinski, the chief executive of CD Projekt Red, who openly talked about it in a call with the investors of the studio.

Now, this is the point where I originally planned to rant about crunch and how despicable I found that statement.

First and foremost because I think the people who dedicate their lives to make my hobby more awesome each year deserve the best working conditions possible and also because I believe a healthy work-life balance is something that literally will save you years of regret and keep your health intact.

Since then, however, I started reading Jason Schreier's “Blood, Sweat and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made”.

And even the first few chapters have already changed my view on the issue.

I still think crunch should be avoided as much as possible. But I can believe a bit more that people are getting so very passionate that they put this work in because they want to create the best game they can. 

The book also made me understand the circumstances under which developments take place better, and sometimes mechanics, story beats or design work just doesn’t work out the way they got planned. A lot of changes then have to take place in a short time span, which leads to crunch again. The problem has so many causes it’s hard to rule them all out.

I think it’s a good thing that the reaction to delays has changed with video game fans, at least in my personal bubble people seem so much more relaxed about it than they were years ago. But I think it’s important that people are still aware that crunch work will be involved in making their new favourite games even if the company takes more time.
Just the awareness will change how people react to the game and how the studio might try to avoid it.

Because I still think the industry should strive to eliminate crunch as much as they can.
The current system has established it as something that’s just necessary to finish video games, be it on schedule or delay. And while it may not always be avoidable, I think the original goal should always be no crunch at all and the least amount possible in cases where that doesn’t work out.

I don’t think that it’s a failure of leadership if crunch happens, but I think it’s one to accept it as given. The videogame industry is younger than most media industries we have grown up with and it has a lot of chances to do things better. Here’s to hoping that with time the industry can find better management and planning options and avoid crunch. I think both fans and developers can only profit off that in the long run.

But onto to happier shores, literally, if you so will.

Isabelle is finally here too! She'll be helping out with the resident services

Yesterday, Nintendo finally offered us a glass of water in the information drought that seems to be going on with them. About 25 glorious minutes of footage from the much-anticipated Animal Crossing game “New Horizons".

It seems the delay of the game seems to be worth every extra day we have to wait for it!

They repeated some of the info we already knew for a good part of the travel ad styled info trailer but also showed quite a bit that hadn’t been shown beforehand.

For instance, we will be able to travel to different mystery islands, being able to collect resources and treasures there. The islands will be chosen at random so there seems to be quite a selection of options.

The return of the Able Sisters (Label going by her original name again!), Nooks Cranny and the museum were also confirmed.
Of those the museum was definitely the one that took my socks off! It looks amazing and I’m already very dedicated to fill it to the brim to experience the full glory.
It’s like a real-world museum where it’d be nice to hang out and not the dusty boring thing it sometimes came across as in older games.

Our islands will offer more customization options than any town before. The path-making feature is just the start, you literally will be able to reshape the landscape and change the course of rivers and tear down cliff-sides.
All while planning exactly how your neighbourhood will look in the end.

The next 28 days will be quite the wait after this treat of a trailer.
I’m going to try and finish the Last of Us during that time. The contrast will probably make Animal Crossing New Horizons seem all the brighter.
My friends are excited to, the fruit trading business is about to get started in serious when we play online.

There will also be new content added to the Nintendo Switch app, like voice and text chat and the ability to scan old designs from New Leaf and Happy Home Designer to add them to the new game. How useful this will turn out remains to be seen. So far I don’t know anyone who’s a big fan of the app since there are simply better alternatives.

I can’t wait for the 20th of March. I will open the game as soon as the clock turns midnight. Hopefully cuddled up with the cat.