I like how it's not EXACTLY like headlining at Madison Square garden.

If I helped design a AAA game I would be very excited when it hit shelves and be very drunk that night. What wrong with these guys? Come on guys, where is your confidence and pride?

Oh shut up and PARTY!

So, how about that Bioshock anyway? Has it gone gold yet or what?!

I find the movie-ish "Game launch" system kinda annoying, personally. Especially since i've spent most of my life living in areas that aren't launch friendly.

@JACK OF NO TRADES: You say that, but I really doubt that, after spending years of your life working on something, your only emotion upon seeing it come to fruition would be excitement.

@MarkPhoenix:

I hate to point it out, but they say it's gone gold in the Newsweek article. Street date is August 20th.

@JACK OF NO TRADES: Oh its there, but its just like working on a dissertation (something I'm acutely aware of right now). You take pride in your accomplishment and work, but I bet these guys won't want to even see, hear or play Bioshock for the next three months if possible. THEN they can enjoy it.

Also known as "time to start planning first patch release". Oh how I miss working on PC titles... not really. ^^

I'm sure when the reviews start pouring in, they'll be plenty excited & satisfied. At least I'm hoping that's the case.

I imagine what he's referring to is the general "where now" feeling everyone comes to when something important in their lives comes to a close. Once the gamers' reactions comes in that monotony will break.

@MarkPhoenix: Yeah - I've been scouring various gaming news sites for the last few days just to see the immortal words "BioShock Gold!" in a headline. Seems this one went gold stealthily...

@Jakey2.0:

lol.. from the article title, it almost seemed as though it was launched stealthily too.

there is ONE party hat in that picture. yes I'm still angry about that, this is the internet y'know.

That's right. No partying...get to work on some DLC! Gots bills to pay, playa!

I'll throw a party for Ken. If he flies to Ireland.

And then everyone gets it a day before me because I live in Bumsville

hey why not party a little? whats wrong with that irrational?

[i]"...it's like, "Hey, our game has, umm, shipped to retail!" It's not exactly like headlining at Madison Square Garden."[/i]

...unless your game happens to be [b]Halo 3.[/b]

Bad tags..my bad!

I'm curious. When a development team finishes a game, do they just move onto a different game?

@Collins1990:
No usually it goes into PR overdrive mode. You have to do shows and such. Release is only the start of it. There's the demos, maintaining servers if it's multiplayer, bug fixing and enhancements like new levels to keep the game alive a few months more.

The lucky ones are the artists and sound guys who can move on immediately to a new project. The dev team usually move on in stages as maintenance is needed for a few months after the release and we still have to put all hands to the pumps if anything major is found (testing only finds so much sadly)

I think it's a widely known fact that rainbows spontaneously explode in the sky, cows jump over moons, and Christ rises again the moment development is finished. It makes launch day look dull in comparison.

My office basically goes out drinking (we practically invade and own a bar) whenever we push a major release. Sure it's not as fun as holding a full on party (which we have for things like Christmas or GDC) but it's better than just sitting around doing nothing or instantly moving on to a new project (that happens the next day).

The launch has nothing to do with the developer. The partying comes at the end of development, which might mean a month earlier. Partying at launch would be like saying "the distributors managed to print loads of DVDs on schedule, let's celebrate!" It's got nothing to do with you, you've known when it was gonna happen for weeks and it doesn't affect you in the slightest. Sales figures for the first few weeks - that might turn out to be worth celebrating.

I know the first time you see a game you worked on on shelves, there's the sense of pride you'd expect. You kinda want to casually let slip your involvement to people in the store, or the guy behind the till, because that first credit is a kind of proof you're a real games developer. I suspect that gives way to fear later on; as the developer, launch is the first time the game's fate is truly out of your hands.

You see, past launch, everything's up to the marketing division and the gamers. If it all goes horribly wrong then maybe your company's bust, or cutting down on staff. Maybe you'll be out of a job and saying goodbye to all the great people you've worked with for the past few years. Does launch still sound like the perfect time to party?

I wish we had launch parties.

We would only "sorta" get parties if the thing sold over a million copies.

Ah well, what can you do eh?

I'd think the number one emotion felt at launch should be relief. You should feel like a Madison headliner if your game hits top-ten and it isn't a sequel to a million dollar franchise.