Intelligent Systems Details Workforce Growth

[Interdimensional Observer]

https://www.siliconera.com/a-look-at-how-much-fire-emblem-developer-intelligent-systems-has-grown-lately/

IS has revealed it's employees have risen to 169 as of last month. Pre-Awakening, IS stood at 130 employees, and now women make up 31% of that workforce.:

 

IS's employees are divided as follows:

• Graphic Designers – 68
• Programmers – 63
• Planners (Designers) – 14
• Sound Creators – 10
• Hardware Engineers – 4
• General Affairs/Accounting/Sales – 10

 

Oddly, I don't see anyone here designated as a "Writer", are some of those Planners? Or are writers something you don't include as permanent positions? Who is churning out the supports? I wish to know.

 

For a couple comparisons regarding size, some other Nintendo associated/owned developers:

• Monolith Soft- 224 (actually went up to 230+ in recently, but I can't find the exact number).
• Game Freak- 143
• HAL Laboratories- 169 (the same as IS now).

 

Unfortunately, I don't have numbers for Nintendo EPD- it's largest dev team. Nor for any division of Koei Tecmo that might have been responsible for Three Houses.

[indigoasis]

3 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Oddly, I don't see anyone here designated as a "Writer", are some of those Planners? Or are writers something you don't include as permanent positions? Who is churning out the supports? I wish to know.

I'm not entirely sure on this since I don't know how these kinds of things work, but I would assume that the writers are part of the planners. Also, in the parentheses, you put designers, and writers technically design the story in a way, so maybe...? Again, I don't know, but that's what I would assume. 🤔

[starburst]

Still waiting for a “Map Design and Gameplay” department. 😈

[Slumber]

The increasing popularity and expectations of Fire Emblem probably has a lot to do with this. FE takes up way more resources now, and it's probably a lot harder to juggle Paper Mario, Fire Emblem and the occasional WarioWare game now compared to before Awakening(Also probably why they went to Koei Tecmo to deal with the bulk of FETH development).

Edited February 24, 2020 by Slumber

[Hanes]

1 hour ago, starburst said:

Still waiting for a “Map Design and Gameplay” department. 😈

Lol, but it's true, so many maps were reused in TH and over 75% of them were bad

[Deathcon]

46 minutes ago, This boi uses Nino said:

Lol, but it's true, so many maps were reused in TH and over 75% of them were bad

Tbf most of them were paralogues and the such and the only ones that were reused in the main game were the same place in story. For example CS chapter 1 and chapter 4.

[Fabulously Olivier]

Honestly, I'm not a stickler for map design as long as the game has map design.

 

Something like Gaiden/SoV does not have map design, IMO. It's like what would happen if you ran a FE game through a procedural generator and went with it. 

 

Three Houses at least always strikes me as having thoughtful map design, even if they haven't yet figured out how to compensate for the insane attack ranges of bows and Thyrsus magic. 

 

My favorite maps are the Path of Radiance maps, as I have most of them memorized by heart.

 

 

But back on topic, I'm happy for the expanded dev team. Hopefully that brings the franchise to new heights.

Edited February 24, 2020 by Etheus

[starburst]

1 hour ago, This boi uses Nino said:

Lol, but it's true, so many maps were reused in TH and over 75% of them were bad

I know, right? And you fell short at 75 %.

I played only Blue Lions because I could not stand some members of the other houses. But unless you tell me that it is the New Revelation and that another route has infinitely better map design and gameplay, I will not take my chances.
Dark times indeed.

Oh, well, hopefully one of these 169 employees will make up their mind and see the light. 🤞

[eclipse]

I'm more worried about the lack of a QA department!  Luckily, most of the bugs we've seen in recent games don't outright break everything (hello Tales of Vesperia on the Switch), so perhaps they just aren't counted?

Also, if y'all have that much contempt for IS, I'll gladly kick you off the forums.  Surely there's another game series that'll tickle your fancy?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Anybody else see the increase as a bit small? I'm definitely not an expert on how many people it takes to make a game, but I know that number has been steadily increasing across the industry, as is the ratio of women to men involved in game development. An increase of 39 over a nine year period seems pretty small to me. Especially since the beginning of our data range was the DS era. We're talking about the difference between a company struggling to pitch their game to the west and a company trying to release three games at once in a simultaneous release on an HD system. Fire Emblem Three Houses was also delayed twice, that we know about. I'm not suggesting hiring more people is the answer to everything, but it's immediately apparent a game like Fire Emblem takes more effort to make in most areas than it did ten years ago. If one area of the game suffers (like map design), it was probably a result of focus shifting to other areas (like teacher simulation, or the ever important fishing minigame).

[starburst]

22 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Also, if y'all have that much contempt for IS, I'll gladly kick you off the forums.  Surely there's another game series that'll tickle your fancy?

I know that you addressed us all and not only me, but I will take the bullet.

You know, a couple of months ago, I thought about creating a thread about why I believed that I probably did not like Fire Emblem as a series but only Conquest.
Instead of criticism, it was going to be about the realisation of it. It has happened to me in other spheres, like enjoying specific albums or period of a band, but not liking it as a whole; or particular seasons of a TV series; or selected works of a writer.
I could not put those ideas into an interesting read, and never created the thread.

While thinking about this idea, I toyed with the GBA games to get more resources for comparison. I had fun, it simply was not the same thrill. And these days I am toying with the DS games, which I think you recommended me months ago, when I asked about other games with great gameplay.
All that being said, well… I am about to start Chapter 22 of my second campaign of Conquest this month. What can I say.

I guess that I have nostalgia, in the classical sense. It hurts not being able to relive the same thrill, enjoyment in other games of the series.

And because Three Houses is like the opposite, I pick on it. I should not be that vocal.

[eclipse]

12 minutes ago, starburst said:

And because Three Houses is like the opposite, I pick on it. I should not be that vocal.

You're going to have your likes and dislikes.  You're human.  It's fine.

But if you notice that you're spewing more dislike than like, then it's time to figure out why.  It's better for your mental health if you concentrated on things that you enjoy, instead of dwelling on what you're not happy about.

[Fabulously Olivier]

I for one hope that I was not one of those addressed in this situation, as I actually have a great deal of respect for the developers and (most of) the franchise.

 

I reserve for Intelligent Systems a level of admiration that I hold for very few other developers (such as Nintendo, Sony, CDProjeckt Red, and modern Capcom). And that list is unfortunately shrinking as companies such as Blizzard and Bioware started shitting the bed.

[starburst]

10 minutes ago, eclipse said:

But if you notice that you're spewing more dislike than like, then it's time to figure out why.  It's better for your mental health if you concentrated on things that you enjoy, instead of dwelling on what you're not happy about.

That is true, in life in general. Through the years, mental hygiene (I hope that it conveys the same meaning in English) becomes both a liberating process and a necessity.

I should also mention how difficult it is to express a non-serious tone in a different written language. Not that I do not complain or criticise, but on numerous occasions there were jokes.

[Hawkwing]

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Oddly, I don't see anyone here designated as a "Writer", are some of those Planners? Or are writers something you don't include as permanent positions? Who is churning out the supports? I wish to know.

It might take a while, but looking through the credits for each game and seeing if there are names that pop up consistently under story and support writing positions might answer that question.

Given that the art director of Awakening and Fates was one of the directors of Shadows of Valentia, I wouldn't be surprised if some positions switch around from game to game, and that probably includes writers.

***

Anyway, I'm glad to see IS grow over the years. I just hope they reign in their ambition for the next title, as it is easy to tell that they bit off more than they could chew with Fates and Three Houses.

[Fabulously Olivier]

2 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

It might take a while, but looking through the credits for each game and seeing if there are names that pop up consistently under story and support writing positions might answer that question.

Given that the art director of Awakening and Fates was one of the directors of Shadows of Valentia, I wouldn't be surprised if some positions switch around from game to game, and that probably includes writers.

***

Anyway, I'm glad to see IS grow over the years. I just hope they reign in their ambition for the next title, as it is easy to tell that they bit off more than they could chew with Fates and Three Houses.

And Radiant Dawn. Honestly, it's one of the main recurring issues with the franchise.

[Hanes]

6 hours ago, Deathcon said:

Tbf most of them were paralogues and the such and the only ones that were reused in the main game were the same place in story. For example CS chapter 1 and chapter 4.

I mean that's fair but between routes? There's a bunch of reusal as far as I'm aware

[Book Bro]

Good to see that they've not only grown but seemingly have focused on hiring women. 

I love their ambitious approach to games and would much rather see them continue to try new and bigger things, even if they aren't executed perfectly, than settling with safe or generic games. Can't wait to see the next thing they've been working on.

[NinjaMonkey]

So this means we'll get a decent Paper Mario game this generation, right?

2 hours ago, This boi uses Nino said:

I mean that's fair but between routes? There's a bunch of reusal as far as I'm aware

Since Koei Techmo are the ones responsible for making the game, surely that's where the blame lies? After all, Koei Techmo are the kings of reusing assets (as can be seen in their Dynasty Warriors games).

[Slumber]

5 hours ago, Etheus said:

And Radiant Dawn. Honestly, it's one of the main recurring issues with the franchise.

Radiant Dawn had a much more focused vision than Fates and FETH. I think Radiant Dawn's sole issue was probably lack of manpower to put as much content as they wanted in the game before release.

I do hope IS goes back to making more focused, streamlined games. As much as I like FETH, there is a lot of mechanical fluff in there, and trying to tackle FOUR campaigns in a single game obviously had its downsides. And I think Fates would have been much less of a controversial game if they were able to combine all of the strengths of each route into... well, one route, rather than trying to focus on one specific thing for each.

There's also the problem of IS making each of these routes too different. It's at the point where each Fates route and each Three Houses route is effectively their own game. Even as a megafan of the series who has stuck with the series through its highs and lows, it's really fatiguing to play through 3-4 games with the exact same gameplay mechanics.

IS is probably at a state where they could comfortably handle one big, linear story like Radiant Dawn now without needing to cut corners or content.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Slumber

[Sentinel07]

Good to know. :)

I imagine something has to be going on since KT handled much of Three Houses.

[Book Bro]

On 2/24/2020 at 9:07 PM, Slumber said:

Radiant Dawn had a much more focused vision than Fates and FETH. I think Radiant Dawn's sole issue was probably lack of manpower to put as much content as they wanted in the game before release.

I do hope IS goes back to making more focused, streamlined games. As much as I like FETH, there is a lot of mechanical fluff in there, and trying to tackle FOUR campaigns in a single game obviously had its downsides. And I think Fates would have been much less of a controversial game if they were able to combine all of the strengths of each route into... well, one route, rather than trying to focus on one specific thing for each.

There's also the problem of IS making each of these routes too different. It's at the point where each Fates route and each Three Houses route is effectively their own game. Even as a megafan of the series who has stuck with the series through its highs and lows, it's really fatiguing to play through 3-4 games with the exact same gameplay mechanics.

IS is probably at a state where they could comfortably handle one big, linear story like Radiant Dawn now without needing to cut corners or content.

This I do agree with. It's clear the trend of needing games to be "open world" has led to the current stream of FE games with world maps and/or different routes. I like what they did with 3H, but I don't want that to be the only way FE works from now on. There's obviously pros and cons to each type of game design, open vs linear, and while I feel the openness of 3H worked for part 1, in part 2 it didn't mesh so well with the story. So it would be nice if the next game took a simpler approach in this sense.