Und hier ein kleiner zusammenschnitt:
von Zago_BeeblebotI saw the game in development over 3 years ago at Sir-Tech in Ottawa. Everyone working there was miserable. All the software was pirated and people were working 80+ hour weeks for 40k. The Lead Artist quit. The game had so many bugs, even at THAT point. That was THREE YEARS AGO. The game is now about 5 years out of date. Look at the screen shots. Looks like a bad version of Doom or Duke Nukem. The game will never be sold. Sir-Tech is toast; the employees knew this years ago and the best bailed, the ownership simply refused to inject the capital needed to make a business run. Plus... Ottawa? Running an international gaming business from Ottawa? What were they thinking.
The real question is... well... what the hell were they thinking? Frankly, I've never played any Wizardry game, and had never heard of it before meeting an employee of Sir-Tech. You can't sell a gmae if no-one knows about it.
von GumbyTheBorgI agree about Zago's assesment of Sir-Tech. I've been there, done that and he is totally right. I know this since I was Lead Programmer and one of the Game Designers for Wizardry 8 when development on the title first started. I quit a year after development on Wiz8 started, that's in 1997. It is true that the Lead Artist also left during development of Wiz8, but he stuck around longer than I did, I guess he wasn't as smart as I (dude, if you reading this, I'm just making fun of you). The worse part was that fucking punch clock (can you believe it, they had a punch clock....)
von AnonymousCowardA couple of thoughts from posts by Zago and Gumby.....
I've been hoping someone who was familiar with Sir-Tech's operations would pop-up here.
If Sir-Tech was running their business the way you the two of you are implying, it would explain a lot.
A punch clock says a great deal about the mentality of the executive....I have never heard of such a thing and I don't know of any developer who understood the value of their talent putting up with that.
I head up software development for a company here in Ottawa. If I tried that, I'd lose all my people and only be able to bring in people desperate to put up with that crap.
They use pirated software? Yikes. Ingredient to shut them down forever: (1) Call the company whose software has been pirated. (2) call the RCMP ( they handle piracy up here ). This is a favored ploy of the disgruntled employee.
von Aereshi>A punch clock says a great deal about the
>mentality of the executive....I have never
>heard of such a thing and I don't know of
>any developer who understood the value of
>their talent putting up with that.
The Siroteks and Curries didn't value their developers at all. Low pay, no medical/dental benefits and they had to pay for their own water!
>They use pirated software? Yikes.
Yes they did.
>Ingredient to shut them down forever: (1)
>Call the company whose software has been
>pirated. (2) call the RCMP ( they handle
>piracy up here ). This is a favored ploy of
>the disgruntled employee.
People who left there didn't report the piracy because they didn't want to cost the jobs of the people left there.
>Anyone else have dirt on Sir-Tech?
How do you think the Siroteks and Curries managed to keep Sirtech Canada afloat since they closed down Sirtech Canada? They cut costs through low salaries (starting salaries for some were $25K Cdn), no medical/dental benefits (always promised), cheap office rent (in the 2nd floor of a warehouse in an industry park owned by the father of Norm, Rob and Linda), and pirated software.
They were always surprised when someone quit on them and they didn't do anything to keep those who left, even after those who had resigned told them upfront what was wrong with the company (first and foremost, mismanagement).
Take a look at the Wizardry developer profiles and look at the type of desks the developers worked on. They were fold out tables! And developers were cramped in rooms and even in the hallways.
Seriously folks. Do you think the Siroteks/Curries have a future in the gaming industry? They have run out of publishers to approach (rumors has it that Rob Sirotek asked for way too much money with publishers -- why else do you think that Talonsoft refused to published the JA2 expansion pack?) and they have no more money to self fund Wiz9 and JA3.
Sirtech is dead. Move on. There are plenty of other games out there
von Aereshi>The real question is... well... what the
>hell were they thinking? Frankly, I've
>never played any Wizardry game, and had
>never heard of it before meeting an
>employee of Sir-Tech. You can't sell a gmae
>if no-one knows about it.
The game has been in production for five years and it shows in the screenshots.
The last Wizardry game came out over 8 years ago. Only the hardcore Wizardry fans will remember or have played it. Do you think that Wiz8's old school gameplay (first person party in the same vein as the classic Eye of the Beholder) will go over with the gamers who made RPGs like Baldur's Gate so popular? Do you seriously think that Wiz8 will do well against the likes of NWN? Look how well Wizards & Warriors sold.
BTW, ask Robert Woodhead (the creator of Wizardry) how well he was treated by the Siroteks.
Wie schon gesagt, ich kann nichts über die Echtheit dieser Vorwürfe sagen, aber wenn sie stimmen, dann ist schon vieles erklärt.
