Why I Left Carbine's WildStar
TLDRTim discusses why he left Carbine Studios in 2011. He explains his role as programming then design director, working to create WildStar and building a talented team. However, issues emerged with the art director, who seemed hostile, wouldn't compromise, changed designs, and wrongly blamed Tim. Feedback from testers revealed major art issues. A lack of a shared vision among directors resulted in constant friction. Tim realized this extreme stress and stalemate wasn't worth it, no amount of pay made up for the dysfunction, so he quit - as did other key staff soon after.
Takeaways
- 😊 Tim worked at Carbine Studios from 2005-2011 as a Programming Director and later Design Director on WildStar MMO
- 👨💼 Tim had to quickly build up a programming team and create a new MMO engine from scratch in 3 years
- 😡 After 3 years with no game setting/story, Carbine fired all designers except one and made Tim the new Design Director with 90 days to create setting/classes
- 👍 Tim and his team created 9 new classes and a setting outline that the home office liked
- 😠 The Art Director did not seem to like Tim, treated designers badly, and made unilateral design decisions that caused problems
- 😫 There were increasing tensions between Tim and the Art Director, with the Studio Head not supporting Tim
- 😤 In Jan 2011, the Art Director lied about a design decision, leading to a big argument and offsite meeting
- 😢 After 4 hours of Tim detailing issues with the Art Director, nothing changed - Tim gave up fighting back
- 🤬 The final straw was learning an entire class was removed without Tim's knowledge to meet art schedule needs
- 💔 Tim quit shortly after, followed by several other senior staff also quitting over the lack of unified vision and tensions
Q & A
What game studio did Tim work at that he is referring to in the video?
-Tim worked at Carbine Studios, which was a division of NCsoft.
What was the name of the MMO that Carbine Studios was working on?
-Carbine Studios was working on an MMO called WildStar.
Why did Tim end up becoming the design director at Carbine Studios?
-The previous design team was let go for lack of progress. Tim was asked to take over as design director because they couldn't find anyone else and the studio would have been shut down if he refused.
What was the main source of conflict at Carbine Studios?
-There was a power struggle and lack of unified vision between Tim as the design director and the art director.
Why did Tim eventually resign from Carbine Studios?
-After years of conflict, Tim resigned when he found out an entire class had been cut from the game without his knowledge due to art direction, representing a lack of respect for the design vision.
Who else quit Carbine Studios around the time Tim left?
-The audio director, one of the senior programmers, and the lead concept artist all quit around the same time as Tim, citing similar reasons about the difficult environment.
What was Tim's biggest lesson learned from his experience at Carbine?
-Tim's biggest lesson was that without a singular vision that all directors buy into, a project is doomed to fail, regardless of money or time invested.
How did Tim's experience at Carbine Studios change his attitude towards work afterwards?
-After Carbine, Tim didn't want leadership roles anymore and just wanted to help teams without ownership of projects to avoid that level of stress and detachment.
What does Tim mean when he says Carbine broke him?
-Tim means the difficult experience gave him deep emotional wounds and made him wary of passionately engaging in game development leadership roles going forward.
How does Tim view his recovery and growth from the difficulties at Carbine?
-Tim recovered over time, like something broken that gains a gold-filled crack representing the personal growth from the hardship.
Outlines
😞 Leaving carbine Studios due to lack of vision and conflicts
Tim discusses why he left carbine Studios in 2011 after working there for 6 years. He felt carbine had talented people and good pay but there was no clear creative vision. The head office was upset at lack of progress. Tim stepped up as design director but clashed repeatedly with the art director over design decisions and communication issues.
😟 Taking over as design director to save the studio
The studio head said the studio would be shut down if Tim didn't become design director. Tim created 9 classes and a setting outline in 90 days. He suggested new design ideas like player housing. But he continued to clash with the art director over design control and communication.
😡 Repeated conflicts and hostility from artists
Tim faced repeated hostility from artists about his capabilities as a designer. One artist falsely claimed Tim never took artist ideas. Another artist inexplicably said he hated meetings with Tim. It seemed the art director was influencing the artists against Tim.
😤 Final clashes and decision to resign
After the art director lied in an email, Tim called him out. They had a tense offsite meeting to discuss issues. The art director made some accusations against Tim but refused to change his behavior. Tim resigned after an entire class was removed from the game without his input.
🤕 Lasting impact of the difficult experience
Tim reflects this showed the need for a singular creative vision bought into by all leads. He didn't want to be a lead for years after this. He feels he recovered but has permanent scars from the experience. It broke his passion for games for a while.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡carbine
💡walking away
💡WildStar
💡programming director
💡design director
💡classes
💡art director
💡singular vision
💡quitting
💡repaired
Highlights
I worked at carbine Studios from 2005-2011 before leaving due to difficult workplace dynamics and lack of creative vision
Carbine was filled with talented programmers, artists, and designers but lacked a unified creative vision to bring the teams together
After 3 years of engine development without clear gameplay direction, carbine's management brought me on as design director and gave me 90 days to create game classes and settings
As design director I contributed housing, story elements, character paths and other features that made it into the final shipped game
The art director was hostile, prevented cross-department collaboration without his approval, and made hypocritical unilateral design decisions that caused downstream issues
Despite proofs many of the accusations were false, artists spread rumors I hated them and threw out years of their work
The studio head wouldn't back me against the art director's oversteps and only told me to "fix" the problems they caused
A secret QA strike force playtesting revealed strong design approval but crushing artistic feedback; the art was clearly lagging
Learning the studio head had lied about the QA feedback was the final straw; I resigned immediately along with several other senior leads
At least with me gone only the studio head and art director were left fighting over the creative vision tug-of-war
The biggest lesson was that without a singular creative vision that all directors buy into, no amount of money or talent can save a project
I learned that no amount of pay is worth that level of unresolvable stress; carbine broke me for a while
After carbine I refused to take any leadership roles for years until I had healed and was ready to credibly lead again
Looking back I can see the cracks carbine left and how they eventually filled in and made me stronger
That's why I don't talk much about my time at carbine; it's still painful and frustrating to recall
Transcripts
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