While some question the placement of #1, I liked hearing about it. It's almost heartwarming seeing its history. No stupid bullshit happened in between, no squabbling of companies, just two dudes putting everything they can spare into a project they cared about. I respect the hell out of that.
Let me clear up the confusion here about #1. Unreal World was not in "development hell". It's been perfectly playable for many years. It's just always been free to play, and is forever being improved upon. It's been around since 1992 and still going strong. In fact, It holds the Guinness World Record for longest update support for a game. Not development hell, just dedicated developers. Now that i've cleared that up, I'm off to skin some beavers and make a hat.
I'm glad that the last example here was an uplifting one. Not because of some scummy business practice or backroom drama, but a genuine passion project by two people who just wanted to make a game.
I'd consider Elite: Dangerous to be an honorable mention. That game was first announced back in 1998 as Elite 4. Frontier tried for years to make the game, but publishers weren't interested in Space Sims anymore. It wasn't until Frontier went to Kickstarter to help get funding for the game, and they received £1,578,316, which is what they needed for Elite: Dangerous to be made.
Black Mesa (A fan remake of Half Life 1) was first announced in 2005, was available as a free mod in 2012, went on steam early access on 2015, the xen levels were included in 2019 and is coming out of early access on march 5th 2020. So the game has been in development for 15 years.
@@unknowngaming5754 Some of the games that I am making are in dev hell BECAUSE I don't have free time and a lack of plot ideas! (That and I am too busy on youtube and warioware diy where in both of those, stuff is in dev hell as well!)
Kirby's Return to Dreamland actually the same development cycle as Prey/Diablo III. If you count all the cancelled games that Kirby's Return to Dreamland was going to be, the game actually had a development cycle of 11 years! Development for the game started on the GameCube right as development for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards ended. The first iteration of the game was cancelled in December 2006, but development moved to other consoles, like the DS. Several versions of the game popped up from time to time until the final game was announced in January of 2011 and released later that year.
I have one for this list. Limbo of the Lost, first publically shown in 1995, was released in 2008. However, the game was first pitched and initial work was done for the Atari ST in the 1990s before it was discontinued, placing the game's development at 15 years at minimum, 18 at the most.
it's a bit of a stretch to include a game that technically, was released to the public long, long before the stated time in development came to pass. Many games, MMOs in particular, technically never stop development until the day they die. By this standard, Final Fantasy XI is well over 20 years in development, WoW not that far off from that either, and runescape and everquest surpass that.
all those games were finished products upon release and have to be updated because they're online games lol wow does have content added regularly but usually with whole new games you download separate from the first initial release
I wouldn't say Unreal World was in development hell. It's had releases for decades, it's more of a slowly evolving game. Plenty of other roguelikes have been in continuous development, just that most of them haven't had a commercial aspect to them. ADOM 2 is a roguelike that spent more time in what you could consider development hell I guess.
Surprised you never mentioned Limbo of the Lost, whose development started on Atari ST computers and was released in 2007. But honestly there's so much crazy stuff to talk about in that game that an entire episode could be about it.
I don't think UnReal World really counts though - I think the second you release it - its launched/done (and there's evidence they released it in 92 - even if it was free/beta). World of Warcraft has been under constant development for example for over 20 years now, but it didn't make the list - for good reason.
This is kind of a nerdy point, but as a NetHack fan I feel it is my duty to inform the audience that NetHack is the game that has been in active development the longest. Depending on where you count, development started either in 1982 (Jay Fenlason's original Hack), 1984 (Andries Brouwer's Hack, directly descended from Jay Fenlason but nevertheless considered the "canonical" birth of the game as it currently exists), or 1987 (the year Hack became NetHack). With the most recent release version being put out in 2015, that makes NetHack at least 28 years old. Of course that still wouldn't beat Unreal Worlds for the purposes of Larry's list, as it only entered development hell in 2003 after the release of version 3.4.3, and wouldn't see another official release until 2015, a full 12 years later. We thought the dev team had all fucking died or something. Fortunately the dev team has some new members who have been diligently working on the next version since then.
Not sure if your number one really counts ... there are plenty of games that got an initial release and got worked on afterwards for a long time. Nethack for example will hit 30 Years since it's first release this year and it's still in devlopement. 3.6 was released 17 month ago "to prepare for future expansions"
I played and completed Prey on the 360, still one of my favourite games ever. The puzzles were complex and frustrating at times but I loved them! A game ahead of its time.
So we're about to have a new champion, Clockwork Aquario, which began development in 1992, got canceled after a couple years of development when interested shifted away from 2D games, went completely forgotten until around 2015 or so when Westone went bankrupt and found the source files on some old tape backups when they were moving the archives. Turns out the source files were not entirely complete so they reunited the team to finish the game, which will be released this year, roughly 29 years after it began development! Time for an update, Larry!
You are literally my all time fav youtuber! Not only is your content amazing but for such a big channel you still manage to reply to every one of your subs! Thanks for the add on facebook. Your channel is awesome
The ad I got before this video was a BlueHost ad. The guy in the ad had handcuffs, was in a body-bag, and was trying to pull a stunt in which he got out of the bag. He failed, and fell in the pool. I think he drowned. Everyone else in the ad was freaking out. The ad ended on a happy note, I think, since there was happy music at the end. The end showed the body-bag. I have no idea why it ended like that.
The fact you are talking about the ending of an advertising, with more than 10 people having liked your comment, justifies the ending. That is exactly what they wanted.
Silicon Knights office was near where I lived. I remember my dad going there for his job as a natural gas technician and telling me all about their office building. Apparently it had a massive fountain in the entrance. He knew I liked video games so he was trying to get me hyped up about them, saying maybe I could get a job as a tester or something when I was older. Thank god they went under before I got older or else I may have become a tester, not knowing how painful it is to be one.
What makes Final Fantasy XV's development hell even worse, is that in the time it spent in development hell, both iterations of Final Fantasy XIV (both the horrendous "1.0" and the critically acclaimed "A Realm Reborn") were released, A Realm Reborn's first expansion, Heavensward had been released a year prior to XV's launch and the second expansion, Stormblood was in development, which released the year after XV did. Given the fact there is some DLC for Final Fantasy XV that got scrapped by Square Enix, despite being planned and in development, and all support for the game has ceased, yet Final Fantasy XIV is still going strong with planned content and updates, it's safe to say which was more successful.
The one game that was in development a very long time (13 years) but seldom mentioned in these "top" lists of games that spent a long while in development, is Nioh... it was teased at E3 2004, released 2017...
Now 5 years later after this video's uploaded, some mad lads leaked a bunch of old Duke projects, and that includes: DNF (1996, 2001), assets of DNF 98, Duke Nukem: Endangered Species (which later became Vivisector), DN3D: Reloaded (Interceptor's remake of Duke 3D), and even a script for a supposed Duke Nukem Movie. I'm still waiting on the playable DNF 98 being leaked.
Honestly, I really wouldn't include URW on here. A game that is essentially a very dedicated hobby, that was deemed worthy of release after only two years of development, doesn't fit the criteria. Probably worth of an honorable mention, but the only reason it can count 26 years is because they didn't put a pricetag on it sooner. Otherwise, plenty of other popular indie games would qualify ahead of Duke Nukem Forever, simply because they're still being worked on. Besides, this game isn't in "Development Hell". Continuous tweaking and updating isn't "Hell" especially when it's a hobby of two guys who can do whatever they want. Furthermore, two dedicated guys is less impressive than convincing a studio to not drop a project after a decade with no payoff. Part of what makes Duke Nukem Forever impressive is that it just kept going. People whose job it is to do the opposite of waste money, kept giving it money. This is why I kind of assumed you weren't going to do any indie projects here. It's much easier for them to qualify, as there's nothing stopping one dedicated guy from working on it for however long he wants, and since indie games are often developed as hobbies, there are no deadlines or return on investments to worry about.
I think Metroid Dread can slide into this list, with roughly 15-16 years of development hell starting in 2005 initially because of technical limitations before other reasons kicked in. Eventually, they went with a new development team MercurySteam, who made the well received Samus Returns and the game got out on October 8 2021.
I have the special edition of Duke Nukem Forever, with the dice and Duke bust. It's the reason I now have a section of the computer room called The Shelf of Shame.
I wonder, can you do one on "Longest time spent translating a Japanese game" I can tell you right now, the #1 spot would be The Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky SC. It took 4 years to fully translate the game. Then again, the game itself had over 740,000 words in it (just to put things into perspective, War & Peace has around 530,000 words)
Giordan Diodato It's amazing how many of the series they're translating! At this rate they're putting one out every 1.5 years. We don't deserve them. Hopefully they'll catch up to the series eventually (and I'll finally play the first game, it's been untouched in my Steam library for ages...).
the first Legend of Heroes, which is Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (or Dragon Slayer VI) isn't on Steam... Unless you meant the first Trails game, then yes it is on Steam.
For those of you wondering why Kingdom Hearts 3 wasn't on this list...Well, it was first announced back in 2013...so basically it STILL won't make this list, as it was only 6 years until it finally got released....Not that much of a development hell
Regarding Duke Nukem Forever, I found an old espisode of a Finnish gaming TV show called Tilt a few years ago. It told me to look forward to DNF "next summer". Ironically, when I watched this episode, it was indeed the year the summer of which it came out.
URW has been quite playable for a long time (more playable than many released games to be honest), even if never getting much of a full "official release". It's also one of those "screw around and kill time" type games, after figuring out certain mechanics you don't have to take it as seriously. (So depending on what you do you can play as casual or seriously as you want.)
So on a whim I looked up the #1 and UnReal World is STILL in development. It’s last update, at the time of commenting, was on October 7, 2019 with the words, “(and constantly under construction.)”
number 1 doesn´t sound like development hell to me but rather like something for a list games will developed by their perfectionist developers forever.
I am now interested in playing Unreal World, a game I had never heard of until now. I'm a sap for games that the devs put that much love and detail into. ... After I'm done with persona 5.
Well, no one seems to notice that Grimoire: Quest for the Winged Exemplar will be released soon. That game was in development for more than 20 years by one guy: Cleveland Blakemore.
Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar was in development for 20 years and just got released. Whatever you may think of the creator, it's quite interesting.
I think I have another one for your list, though it's not really development "hell" since -- as with Unreal World -- there was no drama involved. It's just a game composed entirely of hundreds upon hundreds of hand-drawn images which were slowly made in MS Paint over the course of about 24 years, from 1993 until the game was finally released on Steam in 2017. It's called "Tarotica Voo Doo," and you can read all about it on its Steam page -- there's even free DLC which consists of a hand-written memoir of its development, as well as some interviews with its creator floating around on TH-cam here and there. store.steampowered.com/app/603280
Well, Unreal World's story isn't so much development hell as it is continuous development. The game has been perfectly playable for years, and the developers just keep further working on it, adding new features or reworking existing ones.
I remember watching the 2001 E3 DNF trailer on a PC games magazine cover disc, it blew my mind and judging from the footage would have been an amazing game for the time.
You mean to tell me a game has been in development since the year I was born, and STILL isn't considered finished by the developers? Damn, that's nuts. And you know, if they really do feel that way the game should have been released in Early Access. If only because the developers just keep wanting to develop the game. Makes me wonder if the previous versions of Unreal World are available to play. Because that would be interesting to check out.
Wow, didn't even know Unreal World got a Steam release, the last version I played was from 2015. Nethack probably needs a nod in here somewhere, given its development was resumed last year after over a decade-long absence. And the only reason they released a build last year was because of a leak of code a few months prior.
Holy crap, Nethack is still being worked on? I last played it around five years ago, and was surprised even then by how recent the development had ceased. I may have to take the plunge and download the ridiculously small file again.
Eeeeeh, even by today's gaming standards, it still wouldn't have made the list. Now, for a separate list of "Games Prematurely Launched for Stupid Reasons", it'd probably claim the top spot if Matt McMuscles' "Wha Happun?" video is anything to go by.
It actually had a pretty short development time of just around 4 years, people wrongfully assume that the game was in development since the teaser trailer dropped, which isn't the case. They only started working on it after they finished Witcher 3 expansions.
@@GiordanDiodato I never said anything about preorders. You might want to watch Matt McMuscles’ “What Happened?” Video on the game; the more you dive into the reasons behind certain decisions, the more what I suggested makes sense.
Y'know, I'm glad this episode didn't end on an example like Duke Nukem Forever. Leaves a good taste in my mouth. Hearing about Unreal World was honestly really cool
Kirby's Return to Dreamland took around 11 years to make as well, if the Gamecube prototype is put into account. Its first trailer dates back to E3 2005, but there's info on it being in development all the way back in mid to late 2000, almost right after Kirby 64 was released! It had 3 different forms, starting as a 4-player Gamecube game that visibly had several ideas that were used in the making of the final game, including a boss that got a cameo as a secret boss in the final game! (In fact, the trailer track is not only the theme of The Arena in the final game, but inspired the main theme of the game too) Then it got two other lost prototypes, and had several conflicting info about its development, some saying it was transferred into the Wii, some saying it was canned for good. Then, in 2010, the Kirby title was revealed to STILL be in the making, and it was finally released to a very positive reception in October 2011. Uhm... extra shoehorned entry, perhaps.
err... No? First of all, Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack have VERY different gameplay from the original platformer series and could easily be identified as anything besides Kirby if they changed the characters and, at most, a single gameplay mechanic. They're spinoffs, plain and simple. Second of all, besides a proto-4 player coop in Amazing Mirror, none of the new features from the GCN demo were used in the two usual platformers. Third of all, both Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad were being developed ALONGSIDE Return. It's not uncommon for main-line console games to be developed alongside portable ones. Finally, i DO have sources and i DID do my research, thank you very much. iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/kirby-dream-land/0/0T kirby.wikia.com/wiki/Kirby%27s_Return_to_Dream_Land#Development
@fingrid uh... no. HAL made other Kirby games at the same time, but that doesn't change the time spent between announcing and releasing Return to Dreamland. That's like saying that Too Human didn't count in the list Larry did because the company also released other games during that decade.
@TJForceIX (actually the game was in development far before it was announced in 2005, according to the Iwata Asks. It started right after the launch of 64 in early 2000. Just sayin')
How about Kirby Return to Dreamland(Kirby Adventure Wii)? It was originally for the GameCube and started development around 2000. That's 11 years, so it could at least be an honourable mention.
Says here DF development was started in 2002 and the alpha was released in 2006, so that's just four years. Already released games under constant development don't count as "development hell" - Nethack, for instance, would be much longer (even if you deduct the decade-long hiatus).
I've been working on this story for most of my life and I've never finished it I just keep on going through it, changing things. Updating the art as I get better. Challenging story elements to see if I can make them better. Etc. I keep thinking I'm getting to a point I can just have a finished story but no. I change something and continue.
He basically gave the whole story in this video. It was nothing more exciting than a guy who wanted the game to have all the new cool features and be released on the newest and best game engine. The only reason it got released at all was because 3D Realms went belly-up and T2 managed to snag up the rights to it and passed it on to another developer, who basically finished up the last few bits and released the game as it was when they got it.
The Unreal World story was actually really touching. There is just nothing quite like hearing about how people discover the thing that they are willing to work on for the rest of their lives. Even more so when they have a friend who shares their passion to share the experience with.
would "Longest games spent in development hell" mean either games that are physically long or have a long playtime? Shouldn't it be "The top 5 games that spent a long time in development hell?
Kirby's Return to Dream Land spent a whoppin 11 years in development, with prototypes being ditched, even kirby's first step into true 3D platforming! (Which is now Kirby's 3D Rumble).
I'd like to see you do a video on Duke Nukem Forever in detail like you'd did with DriverGate. That remains one of my favorite videos and I would love to see you explain it.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Sounds very finnish, just calmly working on some project for 30 years without any drama
That's how we do everything tbh
@@KalmoK yeah I know I'm a Finn myself
While some question the placement of #1, I liked hearing about it. It's almost heartwarming seeing its history. No stupid bullshit happened in between, no squabbling of companies, just two dudes putting everything they can spare into a project they cared about. I respect the hell out of that.
Let me clear up the confusion here about #1. Unreal World was not in "development hell". It's been perfectly playable for many years. It's just always been free to play, and is forever being improved upon. It's been around since 1992 and still going strong.
In fact, It holds the Guinness World Record for longest update support for a game.
Not development hell, just dedicated developers.
Now that i've cleared that up, I'm off to skin some beavers and make a hat.
I'm glad that the last example here was an uplifting one. Not because of some scummy business practice or backroom drama, but a genuine passion project by two people who just wanted to make a game.
I'd consider Elite: Dangerous to be an honorable mention. That game was first announced back in 1998 as Elite 4. Frontier tried for years to make the game, but publishers weren't interested in Space Sims anymore. It wasn't until Frontier went to Kickstarter to help get funding for the game, and they received £1,578,316, which is what they needed for Elite: Dangerous to be made.
Didn't Kirby's Return to Dream Land also take 11 years in development? It was supposed to be on the GameCube, but the development shifted to the Wii.
William Sanborn ii
Black Mesa (A fan remake of Half Life 1) was first announced in 2005, was available as a free mod in 2012, went on steam early access on 2015, the xen levels were included in 2019 and is coming out of early access on march 5th 2020. So the game has been in development for 15 years.
not sure that counts seeing as its pretty much being made by fans in their free time
@@unknowngaming5754 Some of the games that I am making are in dev hell BECAUSE I don't have free time and a lack of plot ideas! (That and I am too busy on youtube and warioware diy where in both of those, stuff is in dev hell as well!)
you cant call that piece of shit a game....
Synthetic Humanoid what?
@@planexshifter it's better than hunt down the Freeman
I still want to play the Too Human that was advertised back in 1999.
I expected #1 to be a disgusting financial and artistic control drama, but it was kind of beautiful.
FredCheckers ikr? You gotta admire that kind of passion
Kirby's Return to Dreamland actually the same development cycle as Prey/Diablo III. If you count all the cancelled games that Kirby's Return to Dreamland was going to be, the game actually had a development cycle of 11 years! Development for the game started on the GameCube right as development for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards ended. The first iteration of the game was cancelled in December 2006, but development moved to other consoles, like the DS. Several versions of the game popped up from time to time until the final game was announced in January of 2011 and released later that year.
I've watched so much Guru Larry, that when I hear a man with a british accent, I reflexively expect him to insult Peter Molyneux.
To be fair, I think they all DO insult Peter Molyneux
I have one for this list.
Limbo of the Lost, first publically shown in 1995, was released in 2008.
However, the game was first pitched and initial work was done for the Atari ST in the 1990s before it was discontinued, placing the game's development at 15 years at minimum, 18 at the most.
Shift Fire Tell Larry Bundy Jr
Metroid dread now makes the cut, lasting 16 years in development hell. Even longer than duke nukem forever!
it's a bit of a stretch to include a game that technically, was released to the public long, long before the stated time in development came to pass. Many games, MMOs in particular, technically never stop development until the day they die.
By this standard, Final Fantasy XI is well over 20 years in development, WoW not that far off from that either, and runescape and everquest surpass that.
all those games were finished products upon release and have to be updated because they're online games lol wow does have content added regularly but usually with whole new games you download separate from the first initial release
I wouldn't say Unreal World was in development hell. It's had releases for decades, it's more of a slowly evolving game. Plenty of other roguelikes have been in continuous development, just that most of them haven't had a commercial aspect to them. ADOM 2 is a roguelike that spent more time in what you could consider development hell I guess.
Oh mister Larry, please never stop bashing Peter on all of your video. It becoming your signature and i like it.
Working on 1 game for 26 years. Christ. That's older than me. And they're still going?! That's one hell of a dedication. I'm honestly impressed.
The irony was that after Larry was done talking about ff15. An ad cut in for that awful 15 mobile game
Duke Nukem: 13 years, 13 months, & 13 + 1 days to make!
Surprised you never mentioned Limbo of the Lost, whose development started on Atari ST computers and was released in 2007. But honestly there's so much crazy stuff to talk about in that game that an entire episode could be about it.
Gilgerjeff Ooh do tell!
lparchive.org/Limbo-of-the-Lost/
I don't think UnReal World really counts though - I think the second you release it - its launched/done (and there's evidence they released it in 92 - even if it was free/beta). World of Warcraft has been under constant development for example for over 20 years now, but it didn't make the list - for good reason.
Will there ever be a Fact Hunt where Larry doesn't mention Peter Molyneux?
nope
Some Idiot There already was, he gave Petey a break and made a Sean Murray joke in a previous episode
If there is, it will be the sign of the end of days.
he's also done inafune.
Other chopping block candidates:
Will Wright, Tim Schafer, etc.
Give me more suggestions!
In a few years Yandere Simulator will be on this list as well. Provided it's ever finished, mind you.
You know that game would never be finished because the dude sucks at coding the game.
Lmaoo an indie dev finished the game in 2weeks and named it smthing like blood letter or smthin
@@freezingicy9457
Love Letter: My True Feelings
said indie dev has also fucked off for reasons that I'm not fully sure on but I know aren't fun
This is kind of a nerdy point, but as a NetHack fan I feel it is my duty to inform the audience that NetHack is the game that has been in active development the longest. Depending on where you count, development started either in 1982 (Jay Fenlason's original Hack), 1984 (Andries Brouwer's Hack, directly descended from Jay Fenlason but nevertheless considered the "canonical" birth of the game as it currently exists), or 1987 (the year Hack became NetHack). With the most recent release version being put out in 2015, that makes NetHack at least 28 years old.
Of course that still wouldn't beat Unreal Worlds for the purposes of Larry's list, as it only entered development hell in 2003 after the release of version 3.4.3, and wouldn't see another official release until 2015, a full 12 years later. We thought the dev team had all fucking died or something. Fortunately the dev team has some new members who have been diligently working on the next version since then.
If you are using games in development as a marker for URW, maybe Dwarf Fortress will eventually eclipse it.
How long has that been in development?
The Finnish developers have been working on that game for 26 years, always updating it. It's not really in a development hell.
If you're going to count URW, you might as well count Dwarf Fortress, the ongoing hyperreal feverdream of one C-coding prodigy.
Not sure if your number one really counts ... there are plenty of games that got an initial release and got worked on afterwards for a long time. Nethack for example will hit 30 Years since it's first release this year and it's still in devlopement. 3.6 was released 17 month ago "to prepare for future expansions"
Yeah. If anhthing, the counter stops at 2003
it would probably take me 30 years to ever beat Nethack
I dont smile till i hear "hello you" thank you guru larry
:D
I played and completed Prey on the 360, still one of my favourite games ever.
The puzzles were complex and frustrating at times but I loved them!
A game ahead of its time.
So we're about to have a new champion, Clockwork Aquario, which began development in 1992, got canceled after a couple years of development when interested shifted away from 2D games, went completely forgotten until around 2015 or so when Westone went bankrupt and found the source files on some old tape backups when they were moving the archives. Turns out the source files were not entirely complete so they reunited the team to finish the game, which will be released this year, roughly 29 years after it began development!
Time for an update, Larry!
That last one should not even be included. It is like adding WoW to the list since it has been constantly updated and expanded for a decade.
and so, Duke Nukem Forever cannot be used as an argument against this quote: "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad"
Ehhh, it still can.
You are literally my all time fav youtuber! Not only is your content amazing but for such a big channel you still manage to reply to every one of your subs! Thanks for the add on facebook. Your channel is awesome
You could do an entire video on the history of Duke Nukem: Forever's development history. Similar to what you did on the Driver 3 incident
The joke about a series called Final Fantasy never ending is probably old enough to have had its first divorce by now.
There should be a countdown clock for every time Larry sets us up for a Peter Molyneux joke lol. I love each one.
Orion Ake What video(s) has he done a segment dedicated to in?
Orion Ake 26 seconds in this video #FACTS
0:03 being the set up, 0:27 being the punchline.
But if there was a timer it might take away from the joke
We all know it's coming anyway, might as well build up to it.
Ah, Larry: answering questions I didn't realize I had
With that #1 you could also describe Dwarf Fortress as it's in continual development and started around 2002, so it's been 15 years for that one ...
The ad I got before this video was a BlueHost ad. The guy in the ad had handcuffs, was in a body-bag, and was trying to pull a stunt in which he got out of the bag. He failed, and fell in the pool. I think he drowned. Everyone else in the ad was freaking out. The ad ended on a happy note, I think, since there was happy music at the end. The end showed the body-bag. I have no idea why it ended like that.
The fact you are talking about the ending of an advertising, with more than 10 people having liked your comment, justifies the ending. That is exactly what they wanted.
Most likely. The bizarre nature of the ending is one that's sure to grab attention, after all.
Silicon Knights office was near where I lived. I remember my dad going there for his job as a natural gas technician and telling me all about their office building. Apparently it had a massive fountain in the entrance. He knew I liked video games so he was trying to get me hyped up about them, saying maybe I could get a job as a tester or something when I was older.
Thank god they went under before I got older or else I may have become a tester, not knowing how painful it is to be one.
haha, you might not have been paid from what the rumours have said over the years too!
What makes Final Fantasy XV's development hell even worse, is that in the time it spent in development hell, both iterations of Final Fantasy XIV (both the horrendous "1.0" and the critically acclaimed "A Realm Reborn") were released, A Realm Reborn's first expansion, Heavensward had been released a year prior to XV's launch and the second expansion, Stormblood was in development, which released the year after XV did.
Given the fact there is some DLC for Final Fantasy XV that got scrapped by Square Enix, despite being planned and in development, and all support for the game has ceased, yet Final Fantasy XIV is still going strong with planned content and updates, it's safe to say which was more successful.
The one game that was in development a very long time (13 years) but seldom mentioned in these "top" lists of games that spent a long while in development, is Nioh... it was teased at E3 2004, released 2017...
Now 5 years later after this video's uploaded, some mad lads leaked a bunch of old Duke projects, and that includes: DNF (1996, 2001), assets of DNF 98, Duke Nukem: Endangered Species (which later became Vivisector), DN3D: Reloaded (Interceptor's remake of Duke 3D), and even a script for a supposed Duke Nukem Movie. I'm still waiting on the playable DNF 98 being leaked.
Honestly, I really wouldn't include URW on here. A game that is essentially a very dedicated hobby, that was deemed worthy of release after only two years of development, doesn't fit the criteria. Probably worth of an honorable mention, but the only reason it can count 26 years is because they didn't put a pricetag on it sooner. Otherwise, plenty of other popular indie games would qualify ahead of Duke Nukem Forever, simply because they're still being worked on.
Besides, this game isn't in "Development Hell". Continuous tweaking and updating isn't "Hell" especially when it's a hobby of two guys who can do whatever they want. Furthermore, two dedicated guys is less impressive than convincing a studio to not drop a project after a decade with no payoff. Part of what makes Duke Nukem Forever impressive is that it just kept going. People whose job it is to do the opposite of waste money, kept giving it money.
This is why I kind of assumed you weren't going to do any indie projects here. It's much easier for them to qualify, as there's nothing stopping one dedicated guy from working on it for however long he wants, and since indie games are often developed as hobbies, there are no deadlines or return on investments to worry about.
I think Metroid Dread can slide into this list, with roughly 15-16 years of development hell starting in 2005 initially because of technical limitations before other reasons kicked in. Eventually, they went with a new development team MercurySteam, who made the well received Samus Returns and the game got out on October 8 2021.
I agree.
I have the special edition of Duke Nukem Forever, with the dice and Duke bust. It's the reason I now have a section of the computer room called The Shelf of Shame.
I enjoyed DNF, but that's an awesome idea.
ngl, I really want a Duke bust.
Nice
Also: You could say about Unreal World that we'll never see it...Finnish.
You're missing the 13 years it took for Dark Sector to turn into Warframe.
I wonder, can you do one on "Longest time spent translating a Japanese game"
I can tell you right now, the #1 spot would be The Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky SC. It took 4 years to fully translate the game.
Then again, the game itself had over 740,000 words in it (just to put things into perspective, War & Peace has around 530,000 words)
Giordan Diodato It's amazing how many of the series they're translating! At this rate they're putting one out every 1.5 years. We don't deserve them. Hopefully they'll catch up to the series eventually (and I'll finally play the first game, it's been untouched in my Steam library for ages...).
the first Legend of Heroes, which is Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (or Dragon Slayer VI) isn't on Steam... Unless you meant the first Trails game, then yes it is on Steam.
Giordan Diodato I wasn't talking about the very very very first game, no.
@@hind__ another problem was Trails in the Sky SC wasn't on the Japanese PSN and Falcom had to convert it for PSN
For those of you wondering why Kingdom Hearts 3 wasn't on this list...Well, it was first announced back in 2013...so basically it STILL won't make this list, as it was only 6 years until it finally got released....Not that much of a development hell
Regarding Duke Nukem Forever, I found an old espisode of a Finnish gaming TV show called Tilt a few years ago. It told me to look forward to DNF "next summer".
Ironically, when I watched this episode, it was indeed the year the summer of which it came out.
Is it bad that when I see the notification I literally hear "Hello you" in my head? That's probably ok...
URW has been quite playable for a long time (more playable than many released games to be honest), even if never getting much of a full "official release". It's also one of those "screw around and kill time" type games, after figuring out certain mechanics you don't have to take it as seriously. (So depending on what you do you can play as casual or seriously as you want.)
So on a whim I looked up the #1 and UnReal World is STILL in development. It’s last update, at the time of commenting, was on October 7, 2019 with the words, “(and constantly under construction.)”
Now THAT's dedication.
Bless those 2 developers. They need all the money they deserve from their hard work
The title of the video says development hell, but number one doesn't seem to have gone through any kind of hellish development at all.
Axel Prino Longest time in development.
Duke nukem forever: I thought you died.
Metroid dread 2021: my death was, greatly exaggerated.
"Duke Nukem Forever's development hell is so extensive, it could fill an entire episode all on its own."
- foreshadowing, perhaps?
Beyond good and evil 2 has now beaten duke nukem forever for longest game development.
I thought it's only been like 11 years, though?
they never announced a sequel originally.
@@GiordanDiodato
>They never announced a sequel originally
explain the 2008 trailer.
number 1 doesn´t sound like development hell to me but rather like something for a list games will developed by their perfectionist developers forever.
Yeah, not really development hell, just an evolving game like Dwarf Fortress.
Just like KH3.
I am now interested in playing Unreal World, a game I had never heard of until now.
I'm a sap for games that the devs put that much love and detail into.
... After I'm done with persona 5.
URW developers deserve a gaming award for their effort and patience. Kudos for them, and may they get a lot of money for it.
Well, no one seems to notice that Grimoire: Quest for the Winged Exemplar will be released soon. That game was in development for more than 20 years by one guy: Cleveland Blakemore.
26 years and still going.
Wow, that's incredible.
Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar was in development for 20 years and just got released. Whatever you may think of the creator, it's quite interesting.
I think I have another one for your list, though it's not really development "hell" since -- as with Unreal World -- there was no drama involved. It's just a game composed entirely of hundreds upon hundreds of hand-drawn images which were slowly made in MS Paint over the course of about 24 years, from 1993 until the game was finally released on Steam in 2017. It's called "Tarotica Voo Doo," and you can read all about it on its Steam page -- there's even free DLC which consists of a hand-written memoir of its development, as well as some interviews with its creator floating around on TH-cam here and there. store.steampowered.com/app/603280
Mother 3 started in 1995, it took around 11 years, yeah it wasn't included so I included it here
Well, Unreal World's story isn't so much development hell as it is continuous development. The game has been perfectly playable for years, and the developers just keep further working on it, adding new features or reworking existing ones.
I remember watching the 2001 E3 DNF trailer on a PC games magazine cover disc, it blew my mind and judging from the footage would have been an amazing game for the time.
You should look up Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. Its development cycle lasted at least 20 years, I believe.
Oh my god. The Peter Molyneux joke never gets old.
i find it funny too but i never get it, who is he and what he did?
appabend I was literally just watching one of your videos before this one. XD
appabend Appabend? The fuck? Why are you here and not replying to my comments on your video?
Peter Molyneux has a habit of making false promises, then copping to it long after the fact but promising he won't do it again, then doing it again.
Oh hey! I recently saw your video on Channel Awesome. Very well thought-out and enjoyable. =)
You mean to tell me a game has been in development since the year I was born, and STILL isn't considered finished by the developers? Damn, that's nuts. And you know, if they really do feel that way the game should have been released in Early Access. If only because the developers just keep wanting to develop the game. Makes me wonder if the previous versions of Unreal World are available to play. Because that would be interesting to check out.
I don't think old versions are available anymore, but there is a complete history list here: www.unrealworld.fi/urw_devhist.html
Wow, didn't even know Unreal World got a Steam release, the last version I played was from 2015. Nethack probably needs a nod in here somewhere, given its development was resumed last year after over a decade-long absence. And the only reason they released a build last year was because of a leak of code a few months prior.
Holy crap, Nethack is still being worked on? I last played it around five years ago, and was surprised even then by how recent the development had ceased. I may have to take the plunge and download the ridiculously small file again.
5:49 "...after seeing the film version of Lay's Mxyzptlk"
*Lay's Mizeralabra
Les Misérables
Duke Took'em Forever
larry can you do a episode all about duke nukem forever development history
This shoulda waited for 2020 and Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberjank
Eeeeeh, even by today's gaming standards, it still wouldn't have made the list. Now, for a separate list of "Games Prematurely Launched for Stupid Reasons", it'd probably claim the top spot if Matt McMuscles' "Wha Happun?" video is anything to go by.
It actually had a pretty short development time of just around 4 years, people wrongfully assume that the game was in development since the teaser trailer dropped, which isn't the case. They only started working on it after they finished Witcher 3 expansions.
@@thecornettmultiverse because people threatening to cancel preorders is apparently a "stupid" reason
then again a lot of his titles are clickbait-y
@@GiordanDiodato I never said anything about preorders. You might want to watch Matt McMuscles’ “What Happened?” Video on the game; the more you dive into the reasons behind certain decisions, the more what I suggested makes sense.
Y'know, I'm glad this episode didn't end on an example like Duke Nukem Forever. Leaves a good taste in my mouth. Hearing about Unreal World was honestly really cool
Kirby's Return to Dreamland took around 11 years to make as well, if the Gamecube prototype is put into account. Its first trailer dates back to E3 2005, but there's info on it being in development all the way back in mid to late 2000, almost right after Kirby 64 was released!
It had 3 different forms, starting as a 4-player Gamecube game that visibly had several ideas that were used in the making of the final game, including a boss that got a cameo as a secret boss in the final game! (In fact, the trailer track is not only the theme of The Arena in the final game, but inspired the main theme of the game too)
Then it got two other lost prototypes, and had several conflicting info about its development, some saying it was transferred into the Wii, some saying it was canned for good. Then, in 2010, the Kirby title was revealed to STILL be in the making, and it was finally released to a very positive reception in October 2011.
Uhm... extra shoehorned entry, perhaps.
err...
No?
First of all, Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby Mass Attack have VERY different gameplay from the original platformer series and could easily be identified as anything besides Kirby if they changed the characters and, at most, a single gameplay mechanic. They're spinoffs, plain and simple.
Second of all, besides a proto-4 player coop in Amazing Mirror, none of the new features from the GCN demo were used in the two usual platformers.
Third of all, both Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad were being developed ALONGSIDE Return. It's not uncommon for main-line console games to be developed alongside portable ones.
Finally, i DO have sources and i DID do my research, thank you very much. iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/kirby-dream-land/0/0T
kirby.wikia.com/wiki/Kirby%27s_Return_to_Dream_Land#Development
@fingrid uh... no. HAL made other Kirby games at the same time, but that doesn't change the time spent between announcing and releasing Return to Dreamland.
That's like saying that Too Human didn't count in the list Larry did because the company also released other games during that decade.
@TJForceIX (actually the game was in development far before it was announced in 2005, according to the Iwata Asks. It started right after the launch of 64 in early 2000. Just sayin')
How about Kirby Return to Dreamland(Kirby Adventure Wii)? It was originally for the GameCube and started development around 2000. That's 11 years, so it could at least be an honourable mention.
You should actually make a whole video about Duke Nukem Forever. And why was Diablo given such short shrift?
Dwarf Fortess is in development since 2006, so it's been about 11 years too.
Says here DF development was started in 2002 and the alpha was released in 2006, so that's just four years. Already released games under constant development don't count as "development hell" - Nethack, for instance, would be much longer (even if you deduct the decade-long hiatus).
yew but number 1 wasn’t development hell
I've been working on this story for most of my life and I've never finished it I just keep on going through it, changing things. Updating the art as I get better. Challenging story elements to see if I can make them better. Etc.
I keep thinking I'm getting to a point I can just have a finished story but no. I change something and continue.
A great day starts with a new video from Guru Larry!
Also, why not do an episode on Duke Nukem Forever like you did Driv3rgate? Would be real neat to hear what all happened.
kim justice just did a great in depth story on it, check her channel out.
He basically gave the whole story in this video. It was nothing more exciting than a guy who wanted the game to have all the new cool features and be released on the newest and best game engine. The only reason it got released at all was because 3D Realms went belly-up and T2 managed to snag up the rights to it and passed it on to another developer, who basically finished up the last few bits and released the game as it was when they got it.
Larry's not one for making obvious videos. Nobody really covered the Driv3rgate scandal whereas you can find hundreds of videos on Duke Nukem Forever.
There should be a compilation of all the Peter Molyneux intro jokes.
There should be.
I would love to see a full episode done about Duke Nukem Forever
The Unreal World story was actually really touching. There is just nothing quite like hearing about how people discover the thing that they are willing to work on for the rest of their lives. Even more so when they have a friend who shares their passion to share the experience with.
26 years? Damn Larry, that longer than some of your subscribers have been alive, man.
Don't forget "Putty Squad" for the Amiga. Released 19 after the announcement, and even before its remastered version for the next-gen consoles.
It was released on Snes.
Ah, back in the days when finding out that Guiness isn't verifying video game records submitted to them was surprising.
Ah yes, Guinness, the ones who now-infamously gave a platform to Billy "makes-Peter-Molyneux-look-like-Honest-Abe" Mitchell.
26 Years? Bruh, Cube World and Star Citizen are going to exterminate that record. It's only a matter of time.
The first entry is amazing. These 2 guys are the most dedicated people ever!
Elite IV / Dangerous is missing in this video. It were originally mentioned in media by Braben around year 2000, but were released 14 years later.
If Half-Life 3 is ever released, I wonder if it will top Unreal World.
Half-Life 3 will come out in time for my great grandchildren to be telling about the bygone days of yore to their grandchildren.
would "Longest games spent in development hell" mean either games that are physically long or have a long playtime?
Shouldn't it be "The top 5 games that spent a long time in development hell?
I have a theory that Larry secretly loves malapropisms.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land spent a whoppin 11 years in development, with prototypes being ditched, even kirby's first step into true 3D platforming! (Which is now Kirby's 3D Rumble).
still remember when i saw those first screenshot for the ps1 in GIA...remember that site?
I'd like to see you do a video on Duke Nukem Forever in detail like you'd did with DriverGate. That remains one of my favorite videos and I would love to see you explain it.