The Chinese Room Fires Almost Entire Staff- "We're done with doing walking sims and story stuff" - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote]Just under a year after the launch of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, a "walking simulator" about dealing with loss in Shropshire in 1984, it won three BAFTAs. For its developer The Chinese Room, it seemed things couldn't get any better. Fans anxiously awaited the studio's next big project. They're still waiting. Rapture could be the last major title the studio releases for quite some time. That's because in late July, The Chinese Room husband and wife directors Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry laid off the entire staff - at that point what amounted to eight people - and ditched their Brighton office for home. Here, we reveal what happened, why it happened and what's next. "It's really expensive running a studio," Dan Pinchbeck tells me. "We were 11 or 12 people at that point. You're chewing through £35 - 40,000 a month, which is pretty hefty. Your running costs are very high..." As an independent video game developer, The Chinese Room lives by the seat of its pants. It is the same for so many across the video game world. If money's not coming in, you can't pay the bills. That's why developers often spend as much time pitching projects as they do building games. If there's nothing coming next, it could be hard to keep the lights on - maybe even impossible. The Chinese Room is known for walking simulators. Its breakout hit, Dear Esther, perhaps spawned the label. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture cemented The Chinese Room's reputation for being an expert of the genre. But behind the scenes, Pinchbeck had grown bored of walking sims, and wanted to create something "more traditional and more ambitious". To create something more traditional and more ambitious, The Chinese Room needed money - publisher money. But it's so far failed to convince a company to sign on the dotted line. "We're done with doing walking sims and story stuff," he says. "We wanted to do something more complex, more involved and bigger scale. And that takes a long time to negotiate, which makes it difficult if you are coming to the end of a project, you're burning £35-40,000 a month, and you know you're probably looking at another five or six months worth of negotiations going ahead, where you've got no income coming in." The Chinese Room had little breathing room. It had burnt through most of the studio's capital keeping the development team on between Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and recently-released Google Daydream project So Let Us Melt. It spent time prototyping. It was selected to received a €72,339 grant from Creative Europe for a game called Little Orpheus, but Pinchbeck says that money has yet to come through. There's another game, a survival horror meets RPG called 13th Interior (formerly Total Dark), that is in the early stages. But it doesn't sound like either will come out any time soon. "We looked at it all and we went, we want to continue making 13th, actually we probably just need a couple of us doing that for the time being until that's really there," Pinchbeck says. "We want to chase the pitch for Little Orpheus, which is going to take months. And, we don't have the capital to just keep a team in place, just to keep the lights on in that interim period. "So, as hard as it is, in terms of the long-term future of the studio, let's just wind things down."[/quote] [url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-09-25-the-doors-close-on-the-chinese-room-for-now]Eurogamer[/url]

I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;52721996]I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.[/QUOTE] It's descriptive and works albeit maybe a little sarcastic. It's not really derogatory though, maybe you feel that way because people used to be upset about games that they bought and thought were games and then turned out to be walking sims up until tags on steam stopped this from happening or because it was sometimes used as a way to describe actual games where you spend a lot of time literally just walking (say, DayZ).

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;52721996]I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.[/QUOTE] I like the term because it means I won't end up accidentally buying a game that'll bore me to tears :v: Great story is great but I want some gameplay to go with it. If I'm in the mood for [I]just[/I] story I'll go find a movie or TV show or something on Youtube.

If they are such a well known studio and people like their games they could have gone onto kickstarter or some other crowdfunding website for money from their fans as opposed to some publisher

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;52721996]I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.[/QUOTE] Are you one of those weirdos trying to proffer the term "Atmospheric Exploration"? The only atmosphere being explored here is how long I have to hold the W key until the next scripted event!

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;52721996]I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.[/QUOTE] Considering that with some of these "walking simulators", i can literally get 100% of the experience by watching it on Youtube. If you wanted to give me a story with pretty visuals, give me an experimental film. I don't mind something getting a bit experimental as long as there is something it do, like let me explore multiple choices, or a few minor puzzles or something.

I really liked Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. I hope they keep their artists at least.

[QUOTE=TestECull;52722035]I like the term because it means I won't end up accidentally buying a game that'll bore me to tears :v: Great story is great but I want some gameplay to go with it. If I'm in the mood for [I]just[/I] story I'll go find a movie or TV show or something on Youtube.[/QUOTE] Well there are a few cases like The Stanley Parable that are walking sims, but have to respond to the audience's choices in a way only a video game could.

[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;52722064]Well there are a few cases like The Stanley Parable that are walking sims, but have to respond to the audience's choices in a way only a video game could.[/QUOTE] It's still a walking sim and that's still something I'd like to know when buying it. [editline]27th September 2017[/editline] Even if The Stanley Parable is really good.

[QUOTE=Adarrek;52722039]If they are such a well known studio and people like their games they could have gone onto kickstarter or some other crowdfunding website for money from their fans as opposed to some publisher[/QUOTE] Their pedigree as the guys who make 'games' would probably not lend them much benefit, they probably figured

It's kinda fucked up that they just laid off all the staff like that just because they wanted to make different games.

Oh fuck, they were one of my fav indies :( A machine for pigs hit me super hard way back. And everybody's gone to the rapture is gorgeous. Even dear ester helps me chill out a ton, I go through it whenever I am super anxious. They and a few other studios inspired me alot to work towards having a job in the industry. Genuinly sad rn, fuck.

[QUOTE=Loth;52722102]Oh fuck, they were one of my fav indies :( A machine for pigs hit me super hard way back. And everybody's gone to the rapture is gorgeous. Even dear ester helps me chill out a ton, I go through it whenever I am super anxious. They and a few other studios inspired me alot to work towards having a job in the industry. Genuinly sad rn, fuck.[/QUOTE] Go play Dear Esther then [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Why Reply" - Mezzokoko))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;52722110]Go play Dear Esther then[/QUOTE] I will. What's your point. [QUOTE=Marphy Black;52722040]Are you one of those weirdos trying to proffer the term "Atmospheric Exploration"? The only atmosphere being explored here is how long I have to hold the W key until the next scripted event![/QUOTE] Wow someone likes a game I don't like, instead of not buying said game and playing games I like, I must call him names. Very adult.

[QUOTE=Loth;52722102]Oh fuck, they were one of my fav indies :( A machine for pigs hit me super hard way back. And everybody's gone to the rapture is gorgeous. Even dear ester helps me chill out a ton, I go through it whenever I am super anxious. They and a few other studios inspired me alot to work towards having a job in the industry. Genuinly sad rn, fuck.[/QUOTE] Idk why people are rating you funny, as if Chinese Room have done anything inherently bad. I didn't [b]hate[/b] Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs but it was definitely a huge missed opportunity by being way too focused on storytelling and not enough on atmospheric horror. There was a ton of potential with the whole monster pig aspect and it was fucking horrifying to have a rampaging pigman chase after you. But there was like... two parts in the whole game where you confronted them.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;52722040]Are you one of those weirdos trying to proffer the term "Atmospheric Exploration"? The only atmosphere being explored here is how long I have to hold the W key until the next scripted event![/QUOTE] [QUOTE=megafat;52722056]Considering that with some of these "walking simulators", i can literally get 100% of the experience by watching it on Youtube. If you wanted to give me a story with pretty visuals, give me an experimental film. I don't mind something getting a bit experimental as long as there is something it do, like let me explore multiple choices, or a few minor puzzles or something.[/QUOTE] "Atmospheric Exploration" makes sense for VR though.

Who fucking cares how it's called. People read books, watch shows. If you dont like it just ignore it play something else. I play stuff from dwarf fortress to deus ex to dark souls and i'm glad chinese room made cool shit I enjoy. If you dont dont play their stuff lol.

This layoff story isn't really about the money it seems, but more of that they overworked themselves and found out that they don't want to drag themselves through another hell working on the same stuff again. So, they are pretty much just taking a break, really. Can't relax when staff costs money.

[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;52722110]Go play Dear Esther then[/QUOTE] Jesus Christ could you guys be any more disrespectful to these devs and the people who enjoy their games? No one would dare shit on other niche games but because "walking sims aren't real games!!" then it's okay? Not that that statement is any true.

[QUOTE=Carlito;52722097]It's kinda fucked up that they just laid off all the staff like that just because they wanted to make different games.[/QUOTE] They said they couldn't afford their employees anymore because publishing deals take too long to negotiate.

[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;52722110]Go play Dear Esther then[/QUOTE] Why even reply? Youre just instigating. Never heard of any of these games and I never played Amnesia but it's sad to see a small company that made a relatively popular game disappear

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;52721996]I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.[/QUOTE] But that's what they are. Sure the term was initially meant as a joke but it's actually fairly descriptive. There's good walking sims out there. I think the chinese room made some of the least interesting games in that genre because they were kind of the first to do it on a full scale and it shows.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was a steaming pile of dogshit tbh. Dear Esther only worked as a short and sweet concept piece, and structurally was already starting to fall apart when they expanded it for the full version. Compare EGR with something like The Witness which incorporates its environmental and recorded storytelling into actual multilayered gameplay. The latter is way superior since your actions give greater meaning to the information being relayed to you. It functions better as an interactive experience than literally just *walk here for story*. This is also why The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide are superior experiences despite being very similar to EGR. They offer some limited feedback, interaction, and branching choice in ways that compliment the narrative slowly being formed. For some reason The Chinese Room had come to the wrong conclusion that compelling interactive works are ones that remove as much interaction as physically possible. I'm glad they finally realized that's super boring.

[QUOTE=DOG-GY;52722328]Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was a steaming pile of dogshit tbh. Dear Esther only worked as a short and sweet concept piece, and structurally was already starting to fall apart when they expanded it for the full version. Compare EGR with something like The Witness which incorporates its environmental and recorded storytelling into actual multilayered gameplay. The latter is way superior since your actions give greater meaning to the information being relayed to you. It functions better as an interactive experience than literally just *walk here for story*. This is also why The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide are superior experiences despite being very similar to EGR. They offer some limited feedback, interaction, and branching choice in ways that compliment the narrative slowly being formed. For some reason The Chinese Room had come to the wrong conclusion that compelling interactive works are ones that remove as much interaction as physically possible. I'm glad they finally realized that's super boring.[/QUOTE] This also very much sums up how I felt about A Machine For Pigs, a $20 game that somehow managed to be less engaging than a lot of free custom stories for the first game.

There's something that intrigues me. About 1h of music that's at least pretty good is an ok product. 2d and 3d art are ok products sold on their own. A book is an ok product. But if you put them together in a game engine, in a cohesive universe, and dare calling that a game, it's not ok and some people treat that as an insult. It truely feels like the genre has a negative stigma around it that's really weird to me. Stuff like dating sims or graphic novels on steam are as limited and niche and never get the same kind of criticism, and aren't as hard to make. Sometimes I just love a different experience to chill out and get immersed in a story at my pace. It's comparable to reading an animated 3d comic books id say. Everybody's gone to the rapture had an awesome story, great graphics and music and that's enough for me. I wouldnt play it everyday but i'm glad it exists. Stuff like the Vanishing of ethan carter or What remains of edith finch is amazing.

If I'd want a walking simulator, I'd leave town and go for a hike somewhere. At least it's healthier.

[QUOTE=WillerinV1.02;52721996]I really wish the term walking sim would go away. Its used in such a derogatory way most times.[/QUOTE] It's pretty accurate for many 'games,' if I'm going to be fairly honest. Dear Esther or Gone Home are perfect examples of this (DE especially), and even Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs was depressingly close to that title compared to it's predecessor.

This isn't as terrible of a thing as people think. The studio isn't dead, they are just going back to a skeleton team for the next title. Running an operation of any kind where you have people on the payroll is hard. If you're thinking of it from a consumer's perspective yes it's sad, but from the perspective of the owners who want to keep the studio running in the future to make new games it's really the best option. Sure kickstaters are viable but people are increasingly becoming skeptical of them and if the game doesn't do well after the kick starter you've pretty much killed your fan base and spot on the industry floor. This was the smartest move.

[QUOTE=Peon Greenjoy;52722411]If I'd want a walking simulator, I'd leave town and go for a hike somewhere. At least it's healthier.[/QUOTE] Going for a hike is healthier than playing any video game, not just walking simulators.