VtM: Bloodlines 2 - Cara Ellison left the Project

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PC Gamer reports that after Brian Mitsoda, senior narrative designer Cara Ellison has also left the Bloodlines 2 project:

Bloodlines 2 senior narrative designer Cara Ellison has left the project

Paradox Interactive confirmed that Ellison is no longer with developer Hardsuit Labs.

In August, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 developer Hardsuit Labs announced that it had parted ways with both lead writer Brian Mitsoda and creative director Ka'ai Cluney. Reasons for their release weren't given, but Mitsoda suggested that it wasn't a happy split, saying that he was unaware of any problems, and that his firing came as a complete surprise.

Today, publisher Paradox Interactive confirmed that senior narrative designer Cara Ellison has also left the project, and is no longer with developer Hardsuit Labs. Rumors about Ellison's departure began to swirl after fans noticed that she'd removed references to the project from her Twitter profile; Armello developer League of Geeks also recently announced that Ellison had joined it as senior narrative designer.

"We can confirm that Cara Ellison has decided to leave Hardsuit Labs and is no longer working on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2," a Paradox spokesperson said. "Cara brought fresh ideas to the project and many of her contributions will be present in the game launching next year. We thank her for her work on Bloodlines 2 and wish her the best in all of her future endeavors."

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Thank you for the info, Yemeth!

More information.
 
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Well it is pretty clear something is going on with this project for sure. Mitsoda, Kai and now Cara. Has to be either a toxic workplace or publisher interference. I'm 50/50 on which it is.
 
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bjon045 said:
Well it is pretty clear something is going on with this project for sure. Mitsoda, Kai and now Cara. Has to be either a toxic workplace or publisher interference. I'm 50/50 on which it is.
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Hm, might also simply be a very mismanaged project.
After all, they handed it to a developer with little to no experience in this genre - and then strived to offset that lack of knowledge by hiring the original game's writer (and I assume some other people).
And then fired them o_O

But yeah, whatever is going on, something is obviously not right with the project.
 
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This is obviously a very troubled project and I'm not implying otherwise, but a narrative designer leaving at this stage should have little to no impact on the game. If they're still creating content at this point, the situation is worse than I thought.
 
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I'm still mildly interested in this game, no change in my stance towards it. I don't care about writers being dumped, tbh
Sometimes it can even be a good thing, in terms of the game vision and fun factor.
 
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Yeah something is definitely wrong with the development of the game. You don't sack the Creative Director, and the main writers who were the reason for this game for nothing.

There's also leaks about the game being the same state it was in when announced and not worked on. Just look at the last news-bit for that information. It wasn't good news.
 
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And sometimes writers being canned, creative leads on a project like Mitsoda and Cluney, can be its death knell, if you're interested in quality of tone. Capturing the proper atmosphere and feel for a game like this one, with its cult-classic following, strikes me as crucial.
 
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Well I am trying not to get my hopes up then. The VtM setting has changed from the 90s, with more successful vampire hunters, the SI and something happening in the middle east with the elder vampires and climate change. It would be neat if it gradually incorporated these elements, I guess. I hope it doesn't become another Masters of Orion 3.
 
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Its hard to know for sure without knowing the priorities of Paradox itself and what they value for VtM broadly speaking. From the writers ends we can look at their individual reputations and deduce some of what may have occurred but its all guesswork at this stage.
 
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A lot of Twitter updates but we can't embed those posts on this forum. A new Narrative Lead named Samantha Wallschlaeger from BioWare, and a new Senior Content Designer.

He's Kevin Maloney from Harebrained Schemes. One other thing of note is that half of the staff at Hardsuit Labs was on loan from other Paradox development studios.

There are other new hires as well but it sounds like a hard reboot of the whole game.
 
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JFarrell71 said:
This is obviously a very troubled project and I'm not implying otherwise, but a narrative designer leaving at this stage should have little to no impact on the game. If they're still creating content at this point, the situation is worse than I thought.
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That's just what makes it so odd. What's even the point of firing a writer at this stage of development? There should be no need to replace them.

The company must know what awful PR all this is. So why go ahead with a firing that shouldn't at this stage have much if any material effect on the project? If there are personal.conflicts, it shouldn't be difficult to tactfully sideline somebody whose job is basically done while keeping their name on the project.
 
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With hiring many new writers and designers over a very short period of time they may be rewriting and designing the whole game from scratch (with Paradox blessing and support).
 
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Paradox's CEO finally spoke about Bloodlines 2 it just needs a translation.

Link - https://www.avanza.se/placera/teleg...nte-bloodlines-2-slapps-under-1h-2021-vd.html
STOCKHOLM: Paradox CEO Ebba Ljungerud does not believe that Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 , whose launch time has been extended twice, will be launched during the first half of 2021.

Paradox is the publisher of Bloodlines 2, which is developed by the game studio Hardsuit Labs, of which Paradox owns 33 percent. It was originally intended that the launch would take place in the first quarter of 2020, a time that was later changed to the second half of 2020 and then changed to 2021.

You have left the time quite wide open for when next year the game may come . Is it conscious that you do not dare to promise the first half of the year ?

"I do not think it will come in the first half of the year, but we will see", says the CEO.

The schedule for Bloodlines 2 has been affected by both staff dropouts and the pandemic. The delays led to Paradox making the decision to adapt the game also for the new console generations Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X which have been released recently. This adaptation work has in itself contributed to the delay in the launch.

"To be able to develop for the next generation, you have to have development kits from the manufacturers. And I'm pretty sure that both Sony and Microsoft were affected by the pandemic because they did not have that many development kits," comments Ebba Ljungerud.

Paradox has earlier this year flagged that the pandemic has affected productivity and that there is a risk that, above all, game titles that have not yet been communicated will be delayed.

And with a second pandemic wave now spreading, there was not much breathing pause, was there?

"It depends a bit on which countries we are talking about, but it was a bit of a respite. Now it will be a bit tougher again and it is not great. At the same time we are building long-term and preferably you would not want any delays at all. But it is also a part of the business and something we are used to handling ", says Ebba Ljungerud.

Besides Bloodlines 2 and Surviving the Aftermath , games announced already in 2019 , sees you launch calendar for 2021 little tun n out .

"We do not really know how the delays affect yet and we would like to know internally when we can release something before we announce it. It takes longer and becomes more complicated, but it is not the case that it is not possible. And you look at how the accounting "It looks like it can be seen that we are investing a lot for the future, so there are definitely things in the pipeline. There is a long way to go until next year is over," says Ebba Ljungerud.
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This game is a train wreck.
 
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