Man does interviews all the time with members of the community. Mainly streamers but it's impressive. You can find an interview with him with streamers damn near on a weekly basis or like every other week.
They are a small studio, not a big company that squeezes their studios for the last penny they can get out of it. This is what games were like in the beginning. Passion projects with funding, not cash cows
I love how open they are with their community but its extremely sad to see how much shit gets thrown at them because they are so transparent and people dont see exactly what they want to see from them due to it; case in point, BSG's recent tweet showing their pretty much finished AUG models and nearly all the comments being people complaining about servers - when it should be obvious they are experiencing issues, its peak player count for any game around Christmas to New Year season (plus the game is still in beta). I hope they dont let the mindless complaining drown out all the love they get from the larger community.
Fantastic, I absolutely love to hear Nikita give his unfiltered opinion, things he says gets misunderstood, and I can honestly say the community has gotten into a better state the more Nikita interacts with it.
@@ProvocativePixels obviously this guy and the other 135 people that liked this are new. Lol. He used to be super active on reddit too until the community got a bit toxic and pissed him off.
something i feel like no one is talking about is how much nikita's english is getting so much better. Shows that he is trying to learn it to communicate better with the majority of his player base.
No one's talking about it because they don't really care. And a huge chunk of his playerbase doesn't speak russian so it'd be kinda stupid business wise to not learn how to speak english because almost everyone understands english at least on a basic level.
@@arcticowl1091 literally the top comment on this video is talking about how it is incredible that Nikita communicates with their community as much as he does. People obviously care, you just obviously don't. Also no, considering there are 7.8 billion people on earth and only 1.3 billion understand english, "almost everyone" does NOT understand english. So you're pretty much just wrong on every level except that the majority of his player base doesn't speak russian. That doesn't mean that he HAS to learn english at all. He CHOOSES to learn english because he WANTS to be able to talk to people about his ideas accurately. And thats commendable and wanted to point it out. Now please take your negativity elsewhere.
@@arcticowl1091 writting shitpost in Inglês and using it as the way to communicate for two straight hours are different matters, dear edgy speaker. Also I can feel throught the wording that you never tried anyhow resultative learning of any foreign speech.
@@cazidesh8617 I indeed never have seen any remark about the way Nikíta speaks. And I've been finding this to be very strange: no smartasses explaining that he has an accent and his accent is Russian, because, wow - his 'R' is rolling(it seems that no European language does it, with the exception of everything besides French and English). Yet I do, I do can remember seeing this under very many vids where 100% native Æ-phone was trying to speak with 'russian' accent(by putting in random words (cringely spoken)) or where a representative of russian-speaking world was speaking for some time - either good or bad.
its truely a passion project, i know nikita didnt ever really plan on making tarkov, but i bet deep down he really is happy things went this way, russia 2028 is a great concept but i dont really see it coming that soon. i really think nikita underestimates how much people really love the game
@@Opachki69420 I still think they can take all of the assets/maps for tarkov and add on a single player overtop. If they have the ingame traders and AI done that should be able to be reused with 1/2 of rework along with adding the quests. But it will be 2 years imo before we get any idea what's going to be coming out.
I've always felt so terrible for Nikita, the community has beaten him up so much, he doesn't look bad in the video but all eyes are on him, everything is blamed on him, he has a dream for a game that not everybody agrees with, I don't even agree with it, but it isn't my game so I simply take breaks or stop playing. I hope the game becomes what Nikita wants and I hope it does amazing, he's hands down the best company owner / game developer out there.
Me too. I was thinking that same thing. He looks so beaten down and ultimately, they are just trying to create a great game but Tarkov has such a toxic playerbase. I also feel bad because I know how badly he wants to work on Russia 2028 and I almost feel like this game is a chore for him now. Poor guy...
I think you may be overthinking this. You are correct, it is his game and his decision but as soon as he charges people up to $170 (CAN) to "beta test" people have the right to complain. It's no longer just a passion project that he does in his spare time, but a service he is providing.
@@samuellefischer9596 Honestly, it's too soon for Russian 2028. With the AI as immersive as right now (close to none, they're just shooting range bots without any particle of life in them) they would never would be even close to the level of scripted AI of Metro or Fallout games, not even talking about the really cool examples of immersive AI like Stalker or Fear 1. And hell, good immersive AI is a core of a good single player shooter/action rpg, look at how boring are Ubi singleplayer game.
@@willprox440 I think you’re conflating the AI of single player games with the AI of online multiplayer games. Immersive, impressionable AI doesn’t typically fit in online games (aside from world/story building through notes or journals or whatever) because it’s extremely taxing on the server. I can’t think of a single online game that has AI that’s very complex.
You're such an iconic part of the Tarkov community you ought to have your own item in the game. Lol. Idk, maybe a special armband that is worn on your legs when equipped.
People expect so much from such a small team it's insane and surely gets to Nikita a lot. Like EFT makes good money but BSG is still a indie developer with a very small team compared to the task they have. It's a AAA title basically but without the initial funding and manpower to create it, it's fascinating how much they have achieved over the years. Tarkov is unique on the market and probably will stay it for a loooong time (hunt etc are not the same) and we should be thankful for that even with the current flaws.
And then you look at games like the most recent BF or CoD that should have more experienced teams and more funding from the start and even those have a ton of issues and often a lack of content. Tarkov does a lot of things right so I think people conclude that they could easily do it even better but it's def not as simple as that. If you play any game for hundreds or thousands of hours you will see things that are not perfect or lack a fleshed out design, that's just how it goes. I think people sometimes forget how few games that tick as many boxes as EFT does are out there today.
I think they are not really indie anymore as they knocked it into AAA territory. That being said, I think they set the standard so high for shooting mechanics that games like Battlefield and COD now fall completely short and feel dull. Modern Warfare was good with it's realistic reloads and some weapons handling but then they fell for the Battle Royale trap again and the game got lost in the sauce.
Like Nicholas says, I don't think they are as small as people think; BSG has just shy of 100 employees. They are, however, self-published. GTFO on steam, a survival mission-based game was created by 4 people. That is a true "indie, small developer" game that people assume Tarkov is.
BSG is pretty much a local (russian) company that has a very limited pool of possible staff. Nikita talked about the situation at GDC 2016/2017 in very detail and you should look at it. For example the lead weapon animator pretty much learned the whole thing in the studio itself, he is so talented now but he would never had the chance in any western studio. Getting developers from around the world to work at BSG in russia is surely basically impossible, so they would be remote but even that is sometimes very difficult with the language barriers in the developer team.
Much love to Nikita and the rest of BSG, they've made one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played and I cannot wait to see where they continue to take it!
I like hearing about their learning experience throughout the development. They've really come a long way. And honestly, their approach makes sense to me. Best way to learn is to just do it. You can't figure out what you need to learn and improve if you don't just get started with it and figure out what you can do already.
As someone who’s owned the game for a little over a year and only this wipe getting into it, I agree. In the short time I’ve been playing the game, especially over Christmas/New Years, they’ve been more vocal and open with their community than any other development studio I’ve seen in recent history (aside from even smaller indie studios, perhaps). As developers with a community of this size (almost 1 million people in the subreddit), I commend them for their honesty.
I remember in the closed beta EOD days everyone was playing slow, methodical and tactically and then the Twitch drops brought in all the COD players and it's like its a totally different game now...
Video is incredible Veritas. Well put together. I hope this video helps put the frustrations BSG goes thru and puts a lot of stuff into perspective. The game is amazing and it will be amazing when it’s full released with the passion these guys have. Nikita is the man and I’m happy he spoke to you in particular because you ask important questions and get data to support arguments. I’ll say it again, incredible video and Q&A.
i actually like the flipping off bug for scavs, gives people with poor aim a chance to line up a shot and practice with a bit more time (especially if they stand still in the open as soon as they see an enemy so they can aim the best they can)
There’s a bug that causes scavs to flick you off? I was killing a scav a couple days ago and he flicked me off but I thought it was a player scav who was pissed off lol.
it's not a bug they're supposed to flip you off. Scavs are not professional soldiers, they're looters, robbers, and petty thieves. They're disorganized, undisciplined, and extremely caustic. Of course they'd flip you off before filling you with buckshot.
@@HandsFreeProductions he says in the video that the flipping off when you’re standing right in front of them shooting is a bug in the AI priority list.
This was super insightful and reassuring. I appreciate you going deep on AI. After watching the splinter cell AI talk you recommended I couldn't help but wonder the direction the devs were taking pve. Its easy to get mad at BSG for these kinds of things but the problem is more nuanced then meets the eye. Thanks for posting this and thanks to Nikita for having this talk!
Its amazing how Nikita is so engaging with his community even going as far as to do an interview with you to give us insight on the AI scavs and the development process.
Love that you're asking these questions and sharing the response, loving the inside look into what's going on beneath the surface of the game. Hearing Nikita talk about his vision of the game is one thing, but hearing him back it up with story, lore and REASON is the best.
What a wonderful conversation, it’s nice to see a big shot In a team like that talk so openly about their game. Nikita’s a cool dude. And shout out to you V! I appreciate your love for the game and community, i don’t think you get enough credit but you’ve helped this game grow a lot and also love the content. Pog cast has also been some of my most enjoyed tarkov content (:
Thank you man, your videos are so informational and exactly what we want to see, you really put some serious hours into them and bring well thought content to the community, and we all thank you for that. Can't wait for more, thank you !
These are the perspectives that I love being shared. It brings understanding of the nature of the game relating to the programming. It also helps to understand that if they touch one thing, it can influence or break other things. Thank you Veritas and Nikita!
What a great interview! Nikita thanks a lot for a great and detailed explanation about scavs and dev. process behind it. And thanks to you Veritas for great questions and effort to leverage your connections to make this educational content. Enjoying as always.
Amazing job with the game! Loved hearing from the devs and what their thoughts are, the interview was very well done and edited, all around a joy to watch.
Thank you BSG and Nikita for all of your hard work. I am new to tarkov it’s my second wipe but I got a gaming pc just for tarkov. Also CSGO but I watched a ton of tarkov on RU-vid and needed to play it
Much appreciated! Props to Nikita for taking the time out of his busy day to do this. Props to you too for adding in commentary and editing the convo! :)
This was an awesome experience! If anything I love Tarkov even more. Perspective is a fantastic mediator, and it's so great to hear from the big man himself.
This just makes me more excited for what BSG does. I get there are technical limitations, but they've done nothing but impress me so far. Keep up the good work BSG & Veritas.
Thanks for the video! Always great to see what's happening in BSG from Nikita's POV. It explains many things we're facing as players. It's really helpful.
I have been playing eft for about a year now and watch a lot of streams of people and see a lot of hate with this dev but honestly this guy is prolly one of the best devs I’ve ever seen in the 33 years I’ve been gaming. I come from a dayz background and cod background where convos like this would never happen. Can’t wait to see the future of this game honestly and other games to possibly come!
Thank you so much for content like this. I, and I'm sure many others in the community, appreciate the hell out of you for looking so deep into the nitty gritty details of the game. Much love Veritas.
Thanks for the video, good stuff, and big thanks to the big 🐕 himself for taking the time to talk with you. That Division 2 AI tree looks absolutely fricking nuts.
Love the previous video and this interview with Nikita! It's awesome to hear your thoughts pre and post discussion and, of course, Nikita's on the state of the game. Something I've been curious about is an interview (or similar deep dive video) on the map design. I'd be very curious to hear how they approach designing, populating, filling in, etc of a map. I think it's a skill they've really improved over the past couple years and might enjoy bragging about. Just an idea and keep up the great videos!
This was a good video, I'm glad you're asking hard questions of him but not in a negative way. Keep up pushing for better AI, Tarkov is trying to push boundaries and conversations like this are the little pieces that need to happen to keep pushing it.
Seeing how much Nikita cares about the game and how he's team builds this idea in his head is so rare these days, you can see the love for both the game and his team and how far they come. I am excited for the future of Tarkov and cant wait till 1.0!!
They are doing great imo it's hard to take this game as "beta" with how fleshed out alot feels but there are many different pieces still waiting to be placed so I know it'll grow
Really enjoyed the video Veritas, thanks for sharing your conversation with Nikita. Thanks Nikita for giving Veritas this time and providing so many answers the community wants to hear.
Yo Veritas thank you so so much for this Video! That was so interesting and gave me a lot of Information I was waiting for. Thank you!!! Please more of these Interviews!
I always thought the Scavs flipping you off, even when not shooting instead means certain death, was hilarious and intentional. I love that it's not intentional and actually it's some weird thing where the AI incorrectly decides that flipping you off is a higher priority than defending its life. It's just such a Tarkov thing that the game itself is deciding that the most important thing for it to do is to tell you to go fuck yourself lmao.
I really enjoy the beforehand summaries of conversation that you have before each topic as it not only makes the focus clear and allows me to be attentive to specifically what you detailed, but also keeps me in focus throughout the full course of the topic because sometimes Nikita’s language barrier can make sentences run-on a little bit (which is no big fault, his English is still really good for a second language speaker).
Nikita and BSG are a breath of fresh air as developers in this cruddy gaming industry. The amount of play time I got out of eft is amazing. Will happily buy any game from them.
over 10k hours myself. 5 years of eod and their dedication still impresses me with each interaction. BSG is unlike any company out there. They care about your time and you can see it.
Nikita fire he was at Christmas dragging everyone in one by one telling the stream who and what they were about and how they have changed the game and helped keep it running and stuff he’s bomb even drunk off his ass he’s still genuine and loves his team and what they’ve created and it shows bsg is fire even if they have hiccups it’s bound to happen with anything
us complaining about scavs to nikita is like hes building a fire and puts some sticks together and we say "it's not hot tho Sadge" and hes like yeah no shit I'm not done lol
Thanks alot for this. You asked alot of good questions. It is extremely reassuring to hear a game developer listen to the people that play their game and is truthful and real with everyone on where everything is going and what to expect. I feel like this is what a AAA game is supposed to be. Not that hot dogshit that the creators of cod and bf and other developers of "AAA" games pump out at a ridiculous rate to make the shareholders happy. Thanks dude!
Fantastic, really helpful for both the player base AND the devs. If you care about the game and it's progression, bang this video on in the background while you do something else, pop it on to 1.25 or 1.5x speed and listen and understand.
NIKITA IS THE BEST! I love this man. And thank you Veritas for giving us access to this amazing discussion! I know that Tarkov is in great hands thanks to Nikita and the team of BSG!
I don't mind the idea of "development hell" in this case. As long as the game is good enough to play. And the Devs are constantly adding features and content. I personally have very little to complain about. I've enjoyed the ride and will probably continue to do so.
I bought the game back in 2017 and it has come a loooong way. Some with i agree some not but I sure appreciate Nikita and the team behind this beautiful project. There is always going to be some haters but dont let it get to you BSG! Keep up the good work :)
I would really love to know what determines the accuracy of a scav. Sometimes they will miss 6+ shots in a row at me while I stand still, other times I get 1 tapped in less than a second before I even realise a scav in on my screen.
Ai difficulty is randomized i think, just like offline mode has like 4ish options for scav difficulty, now how randomized i have no idea i.e if each scav is randomized or only a set amount have a certain difficulty but i feel you man sometimes you just get unlucky, i find if im spotted try to never re peak where you were go around or just leave.
I dont follow the official streams or Podcasts from BSG, so i havent heard Nikita talk in a long time. Its crazy how much his english improved over the last year or so!
Thank you and Nikita for the video. It sounds like they are doing the right things in terms of spiral/iterative development and modular game design. Agree new bosses, factions, and scav hierarchy will be a perfect opportunity to incorporate updated or even new AI models. I think the bigger issue BSG should address is cheating. It seems that there are server-side mechanisms that could be deployed. You can’t catch everything but floating in the air should be able to be addressed by monitoring z-dimension location on a per-area basis or ensuring a gravity model is being observed where if you aren’t on a surface you should be dropping. Also, the clips I’ve seen of players having a HUD showing all high-tier loot, player locations, etc. on the map could potentially be mitigated by only allowing the client to have information for an area of influence. You can’t stop hacks completely but finding ways to limit their ability to do so would be appreciated.
Mad Respect for that Guy...his visions and all that. the fakt that he gets so much hate for BS and STILL takes his time to communicate with u in that privat invirement so to speak is mindblowing for me. he gets way to much hate and more people should understand that we are more qa testers than active players if u can say it liek that...im realy impressed from all that. Much love for ur vision Nikita
When Nikita was talking about Scavs trying to survive at 14:00 , my head was playing "Blow me away" by Breaking Benjamin. Then he said "Only the strongest will survive" and I just started laughing
@@kiritimatiswan1986 i miss all the classic montage music people used to use in videos, those were the days. chevelle and all the other great bands that came around that time
still wondering why V is still below 200k and not pushing 500k-1mill like he should. Love the content as always, I feel like Veritas is my personal scope into the development at BSG to see what’s going on from their end. Keep the quality content coming, I feel this channel will only continue to flourish as the game does!
I think it's because Veritas' vids aren't very youtube friendly. They are amazing content and super important for the community and the game, but their length and niche nature don't sit well with the Almighty Algorithm.
@@Smokeyd187 Agreed completely. I've tuned in to his stream probably a half dozen times because I like to see different play styles and streamers but it really does seem like V is just a douche. There are such wholesome and helpful streamers like ThatFriendlyGuy and Glorious_E that I can't stand to tune into V's stream just to listen to him whine and bash viewers in the first 5 minutes. He's SUCH a negative person. He acts like viewers asking questions are all dumb, misinformed children and not people trying to GET information from a reputable and knowledgeable source. Everyone can get burnt out and frustrated but... all the time? Sheesh.
theyve done an amazing job with the servers. i have had no issues at all now im looking foward to what they do now that the major issues is mainly out of the way
I totally respect Nikita (despite the fact that i shout his name after i die in a really frustrating way in total anguish). Putting himself out there, always up to talking about Tarkov and its issues. Opens up if he faces constructive and fair criticism and kicks youre ass if you get cocky. Staying true to his vision, yet making an effort to accomodate players wishes. There may be was and will be some unfortunate decisions - yet always with a reason that demanded action in some way (you cant hit the nail every time).
