17 year old secret message found in Dungeon Keeper

And this is why I could never be on a game developer team.... at least not one where you have to work that many hours.

Screw crunch time with stupid hours like that.

Lack of sleep also leads to messing up stuff a lot easier. And we wonder why games have such a huge number of bugs when released. Whoever pushes these type of work schedules needs to be shot.

Take your time and do it right.
 
I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who let their work destroy their "health and social life" while working stupid long hours. Go cry me a river.
 
Hate much?

Think about our main complaints with getting a PC only game these days. One with a dedicated group really giving a crap about the product. Not all cut up by management that have no clue what gamers want. Soul sucking, console number lusting vampire$.

Nice to see this. It is old school. Not enough of it these days. Game design as an artform. Not a number generator.
 
Sorry.. but.. not seeing how this is some "secret message". Nowhere in the original post does it say this was hidden on purpose or that it wasn't know about at an earlier time. It is basically just an acknowledgement on everyone who probably contributed to the game or helped out who did, albeit written by someone exhausted. Kind of like what Bob Geldof did in the 12" version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" when he says..

"This record was recorded on the 25th of November 1984. It's now 8 AM in the morning of the 26th. We've been here 24 hours and I think it's time we went home. So from me - Bob Geldof, and Midge, we'd say, 'Good morning to you all, and a million thanks to everyone on the record. Have a lovely Christmas. Bye."
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Now something that WAS a secret for a long time was the ending of ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" when the ending "vocals" was assumed to be "Mister Blue Sky-yi" but it actually was "Please turn me over" as it is the end of side three, and the listener is being instructed to flip the LP over. This was just confirmed a couple of years ago, so that was a "secret" for over 30 years!!
 
Well now, that is cool! I have some code with Easter Eggs in it that 100,000's of people have looked at and no one has found. It was written right about 1997 and is in use today. Normal people saw it every day. Too bad I didn't get to code something as cool as a best selling game, my is corp. software.

I think any programmer that writes anything even mildly cool does something like that. :D
 
I don't think it's a coincidence that this has come up so close to the Destiny release.
spaceman said:
Hate much?

Think about our main complaints with getting a PC only game these days. One with a dedicated group really giving a crap about the product. Not all cut up by management that have no clue what gamers want. Soul sucking, console number lusting vampire$.

Nice to see this. It is old school. Not enough of it these days. Game design as an artform. Not a number generator.
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To be fair to the game developers who make crappy games, I think a lot of them also work just as hard, but they are plagued by unrealistic goals, deadlines and poor overall direction.

Unfortunately, hard work from individuals is not enough to guarantee success.
 
Bah, why are you guys being negative about this? Just chalk it up to a guy putting his soul into something and saying that.
 
seems 51% positive ... it paints a bit of a grim picture but if you have a passion for what you did and are proud of the outcome, that pushes the needle to the positive side a bit imo.

PS: I still have my copy of DK right here 4 feet from my desk in my collection of favorite games. Possess chicken mode FTW ;)
 
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GOD'SlittleSERVANT said:
Jesus christ, so much hate on this forum. Sad thing is, it's normally 30 + year olds.
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Here's some free Insulting 101 education for you; it's not an insult if you have to explain it.

Also, the only instance in which it may, and I say may, be worth sacrificing your health, relationships, and sanity for is if you run your own business. If one is employed as a coding drone and puts in all those hours and make all those sacrifices for a job then one needs to get their head checked.
 
Whew! Lucky he didn't spill some vitriol in those hidden comments or this story could have gone a whole different direction. lol

worm
 
What a great game that was! Kinda sucks to hear that it was so tough on the developers but I'm glad I was able to thoroughly enjoy this game many years ago.
 
Pretty cool story. Imagine what people will find hidden in the code of games like Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc. in the years ahead.
 
not sure if everyone remembers but alot of us ultima online fans soon found out 1-3 years later from multiple sources complaints from EA on horrible conditions, many of which were post on hardocp and other sites (100+ hour work weeks, mass firings etc).

Some of us boycott EA all together. Yes we can quit at anytime, but then you remember you still need to pay bills/feed family etc. Work/life balance in IT is getting better but some companies burn out good quality team members. For those new to IT sometimes you have to suck it up a few years! :)
 
Skyrim: "F*ck it, the community will sort out the bugs" (Actually, that is in every Bethesda title)
Mass Effect: "After hours of playing the ending over and over again, I still don't get it. Maybe they will change it before release."
 
Thuleman said:
Here's some free Insulting 101 education for you; it's not an insult if you have to explain it.

Also, the only instance in which it may, and I say may, be worth sacrificing your health, relationships, and sanity for is if you run your own business. If one is employed as a coding drone and puts in all those hours and make all those sacrifices for a job then one needs to get their head checked.
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This happens more than just the game development world. I'm sorry, but not all of us are independently wealthy and can afford to stand up when bullied into miserable working conditions by our owners. Especially after the 2008 market crash, companies take the approach of "You should be lucky you have a job at all" when they extend hours and cut pay, vacation, and benefits.

When there are more people who want to work in an industry than there are jobs available, power goes to the company. And in the video game world, this happens to be the case. A single position can have tens of thousands of applicants.
 
Nytegard said:
This happens more than just the game development world. I'm sorry, but not all of us are independently wealthy and can afford to stand up when bullied into miserable working conditions by our owners. Especially after the 2008 market crash, companies take the approach of "You should be lucky you have a job at all" when they extend hours and cut pay, vacation, and benefits.

When there are more people who want to work in an industry than there are jobs available, power goes to the company. And in the video game world, this happens to be the case. A single position can have tens of thousands of applicants.
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That's a typical I-am-the-victim attitude.
The solution is simple. Don't stay in a field where thousands of applicants line up to work 16 hour days while millions of good paying jobs go unfilled. See: http://profoundlydisconnected.com (just as an example)

Don't like you job? Do something about it.
Having a shitty job is 100% user error.
 
Thuleman said:
That's a typical I-am-the-victim attitude.
The solution is simple. Don't stay in a field where thousands of applicants line up to work 16 hour days while millions of good paying jobs go unfilled. See: http://profoundlydisconnected.com (just as an example)

Don't like you job? Do something about it.
Having a shitty job is 100% user error.
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I don't disagree that working a job you hate is a miserable existence, but people do it for a variety of reasons, especially if their money/time isn't only their own.

Simply saying "Don't like you job? Quit and find something new" is pretty obtuse if you look at the reality of many peoples lives. It only assumes that people are in bad jobs because they lack ambition, but doesn't take into account the numerous obstacles people face, including: the need for a steady paycheck, geographic limitations, lack of required skills, and fear of failure, to name a few.
 
vikingod said:
I don't disagree that working a job you hate is a miserable existence, but people do it for a variety of reasons, especially if their money/time isn't only their own.

Simply saying "Don't like you job? Quit and find something new" is pretty obtuse if you look at the reality of many peoples lives. It only assumes that people are in bad jobs because they lack ambition, but doesn't take into account the numerous obstacles people face, including: the need for a steady paycheck, geographic limitations, lack of required skills, and fear of failure, to name a few.
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If you fear failure, you have already lost. Failure is a part of life, you need to learn to deal with it and move on. As to the rest, they are all overcomable, some more easily than others, granted, but overcomable.

Excuses are a dime a dozen. Successful people don't bother, they just get on with being successful. It's easy to say "i can't do this because of X." But then look at the people who have lost limbs, are deficient in a sense (blind, death, etc.), they seem to be able to rise above.
 
Great story. But just makes me wonder how many games out there that developers put these kinds of things in that no one will ever comb through that code and find.
 
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