Blockbuster L.A. Noire faces credits crisis

It's one of our biggest cultural exports since Crocodile Dundee but the fanfare surrounding L.A. Noire only further twists the knife for the approximately 130 Australian developers who claim they were not credited for up to four years of work on the game.
The credits that appear at the end of a video game or in its manual might be overlooked by most people but for those who develop the games they are crucial as proof of their contribution.

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The big somewhere ... a scene from L.A. Noire, developed in Sydney and hailed by critics as ‘‘changing the face of gaming’’.

It is rare for blockbuster games to be created in Australia and L.A. Noire's average review score of 89/100 makes it a killer inclusion on any resume. But for many who poured blood, sweat and tears into creating what has been described as the best ever Australian game their effort may never be officially recognised.
It is not uncommon for those who do not stay on the development team until games are completed, even if they have put in years of work, to be left off the credits.
But L.A. Noire developers are now fighting for recognition and have created lanoirecredits.com to draw attention to their plight. They refuse to individually be named in stories, however, worried that the small world that is the Australian games development industry may shun them.

Pioneering new game L.A. Noire.

Set in 1947 Los Angeles, L.A. Noire is much deeper than the traditional action video game as instead of just running around shooting at people players must do things like analyse clues and facial expressions to determine whether characters in the game are lying. The game has inspired fresh comparisons between video games and Hollywood.
Up to four years work but no credit

One of the creators of the lanoirecredits.com site, who did not want to be identified, said he worked at the developer Team Bondi in 2009 and 2010 but left before the game was finalised. He said he was not credited despite seeing elements he created appear in the final retail copy of the game.

The Sydney-made video game L.A. Noire. Photo: Supplied

He has collated a list of about 130 developers who did not make the credits and has listed them on the L.A. Noire credits website. His more complete list has also been adopted by Moby Games, which is like IMDB but for games instead of movies.
The developer conceded that some staff were told that they would not be credited unless they stayed with the company until the game shipped but maintained that it was still not fair or ethical. The list of omissions included one lead engine developer who had worked on the game for four years.
He said this affected future employment prospects as the Sydney game development industry was very small and it was rare to be able to work on a blockbuster like L.A. Noire.

Don't lie to me ... a screen grab from L.A. Noire Photo: Rockstar Games

"In this industry a lot of job applications ask for credits on a shipped title," the developer said.
Developer quit for sanity reasons
Another developer, who contributed to the gameplay of L.A. Noire for just over three years, said he left before the game was completed because "I felt as though my sanity depended on it".

Team Bondi boss Brendan McNamara Photo: Jon Reid

He said he was asked to work 10-12 hours almost every day and on weekends and described working at Team Bondi as being an inflexible and virtually praise-free environment.
"So, after my wife had been pushing me to quit for more than a year, I did," he said.
The developer said he didn't believe being left off the credits had affected him prefessionally but he wanted to be recognised because he had dedicated "25 per cent of my professional life" to the blockbuster game.
"There has been a lot of press saying how incredible this is for the Australian gaming industry, since it is the biggest (and most successful) game made in Australia to date," he said.
"But that has come at the price that most of the people that worked on it will never have proof of having worked there (unless they want to pull out a paycheck)."
Formal credit guidelines not adopted
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has developed guidelines regarding credits for video games, but at present none of the big game development houses has formally adopted them.
The guidelines state that any contractor or employee who has contibued to the production of a game for at least 30 days must be credited and credit is retained by people who leave the company or project prior to the game's completion.
The IGDA would not comment on whether the decision by Team Bondi to leave over 100 developers off the credits list was fair.
"It's important for individuals working in the industry to check their contracts before signing them so they are aware of how and where they will be credited for their work," a spokeswoman for the IGDA Melbourne chapter said.
Credit issues an industry-wide problem
This is not the first time game developer companies have been accused of leaving people off the credits.
Over 55 developers from Rockstar Vienna were reportedly left off the credits list for Manhunt 2, while Mythic was embroiled in a crediting controversy over Warhammer Online.
The Rockstar development lead on Manhunt 2 who protested against the game's credit omissions, Jurie Horneman, has given his support to the L.A. Noire developers on their Facebook page. "As someone who has been left out of credits for 2.5 years of work on one of their games, I salute your efforts and wish you well," he said.
During the Warhammer Online issue, back in 2008, the IGDA did not pull its punches. Chairperson Jen MacLean said at the time that the policy of only crediting those who remained at the end was "disrespectful" to developers and "misleads both consumers and game industry peers".
"The lack of accurate, fair, and consistent credit standards in the industry poses a serious problem for every game developer; by refusing to acknowledge their contributions, studio management limits the professional recognition and opportunity for development that every contributor deserves," MacLean said.
Even back-end coders deserve recognition
One source suggested that some developers were left off the L.A. Noire credits list because their work did not make it into the final game as the game underwent many changes during the seven years it was in development.
But the co-creator of the L.A. Noire credits site said he and many developers he had spoken to were left off but their work still appeared in their game. He also said that many people who did more back-end work on the engine, code and quality assurance were also omitted.
"The nature of game development is that it's very iterative in the sense that obviously what comes out in the final product is built on a base of what happened at the very start," he said.
"Our work is in the game, we see it - we see our fingerprints on things we have done and finished and put in the game, but unfortunately we aren't credited."
Antony Reed, head of the Game Developers' Association of Australia, which represents the game development companies in Australia but not Team Bondi, refused to comment.
The game's publisher Rockster and Team Bondi boss Brendan MacNamara did not return calls requesting comment.