Game development comes with its own set of hurdles, and even acclaimed titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 can’t avoid these hardships. This has become more apparent in the modern gaming landscape, considering how much more expensive developing games has gotten and the constant fear of whether or not the title will resonate with the audience.
Dungeons and Dragons is a massive franchise that many gamers are familiar with, but simultaneously, it’s still a niche brand that may not have connected well with mainstream players. And with a layered title like Larian Studios’ Game of the Year, there’s always the possibility of something going wrong.
Doubt Played a Major Role in the Development of Baldur’s Gate 3
The triumph of Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t come out of nowhere, as it took the game nearly three years to come out of early access and get a proper release. During that phase, there was a lot of feedback pouring in from the PC player base, which gave the developers more than enough time to make the necessary tweaks to the title and ensure that its launch was accompanied by the minimum number of problems.
That resulted in director Swen Vincke continuously thinking about every aspect of the game, making sure that everything was exactly where it needed to be, and having some doubt about its reception.
“I was running the game in my head continuously and convincing myself,” revealed the Larian Studios founder and CEO as he discussed his state of mind during the early access phase of the developer’s hit. Vincke stated that the title took up the majority of his mornings and evenings daily, as he kept “playing it from beginning to end” and wondering how he could improve upon the game’s numerous offerings.
One can never really predict how players are going to react to certain features in a game before it launches, so the director was always asking himself one question: “Are people going to enjoy this?”
With a Game as Big as Baldur’s Gate 3, Things Can Always Go Wrong
“There are so many things that can go wrong,” stated lead writer Adam Smith, who called implementing the sheer scope of Baldur’s Gate 3 quite “complicated.” When a game is as big as what Larian managed to achieve, if even one aspect stops functioning like it is supposed to, it causes “a cascade effect” which results in everything coming to a static halt.
A large quantity of content is always appreciated, but if the quality is not up to par and certain elements keep crashing, then the number of quests or features do not really matter.
According to Smith, there were multiple points during the development of Baldur’s Gate 3 where the end goal was nowhere in sight, but although there were clear doubts among the developers, they still created an extremely memorable gaming experience that brought Dungeons and Dragons to the mainstream forefront.
Was Baldur’s Gate 3 also your favorite game of the year in 2023? Let us know in the comments!
