Better with age: a history of Epic Games

[James]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/4/2 ... epic-games

Very good, but for the people on this forum with ADHD and no interest in videogame design, this sticks out:

Cliff Bleszinski on his new game design PHILOSOPHY:
"I always refer to that .gif that went around [comparing the] first-person shooter design of Doom to where we’ve gotten to: straight hall, cutscenes, straight hall, cutscenes, straight hall, cutscene. So many games these days, with their campaigns, feel like the game designer is chasing you with a sharp pointed stick saying,’You will feel something at this moment.’

My favorite games lately are the ones when you come into a hallway and you are like, ‘Oh, how did that dungeon instance turn out for you?’ ‘Oh, well I went in as a mage and I did this or I snuck entirely through that one,’ or, ‘I haven’t even seen that, where is that.’ As opposed to, ‘Yes, I came around the exact same corner, and I saw the exact same tower fall, and I saw the exact same experience.’ And if you look at it from a production standpoint, the fancy falling tower in the scripted experience is actually much more expensive but it yields far less of the actual gameplay.

So I want to get back to systems interacting. This is something Will Wright talks about all the time and always has. I would sit there, being a 20-something at DICE, being "I’m Cliffy, blah blah blah" with all that young swagger, not listening to his wisdom, and [saying] ‘I’m going to go make a fancy scripted Hollywood experience.’

[I’m] really realizing that there is a direct correlation, bugs notwithstanding, between how good your game is and how many unique YouTube videos it can yield. And that is one of the mantras I am continuing to hammer.

The amount of viral videos we sent around of Skyrim of millions of wheels of cheese going down a mountain or a frozen bear that flies off into space -- it is just golden. You want a game where programmers are like, ‘How did that happen? Did I even code that?’ That is when things are great and we had that in many ways with Unreal Tournament [with] emerging gameplay [like] teleporting and the translocator. I want to get all of our games back towards that in the future."

[Psychotic]

That Skyrim video with the millions of cheese wheels is bloody funny to watch.

[Aidan]

Don't forget the cabbalanche. Absolute Gold.

[Psychotic]

Don't forget the cabbalanche. Absolute Gold.

Just watched this. My first words were, followed by laughter:

"OH. MY. GOD."

Also this:

"In 2012 the world will end. The entire planet will drown in a sea. A sea... of cabbage."

[Siva]

‘Yes, I came around the exact same corner, and I saw the exact same tower fall, and I saw the exact same experience.’

Says the guy who made Gears of War?

I'll have to read the whole thing. Busy right now. Will edit post later.

[Tantalus]

Says the guy who made Gears of War?

My first reaction too.

[James]

I think the point is that he wants to step away from that.

[Tantalus]

I think the point is that he wants to step away from that.

Absolutely, but he's had no experience in that area. I'm more sceptical than totally against it.

[Siva]

If I was Cliff I wouldn't have made a point of my 'new game design philosophy' rather I would let the next game I make based on such a philosophy speak for itself. I mean reading the article he talks about changing but he still comes across as more or less the same guy. If he really is for making less linear experiences in his games then I'm with him on that, but time will tell if these are just hype words or he's actually planning on doing it.

[Tantalus]

If I was Cliff I wouldn't have made a point of my 'new game design philosophy' rather I would let the next game I make based on such a philosophy speak for itself.

That's a great point, he's speaking from a non-existent high horse.

[Aidan]

I believe I have used the following quote before...

"Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see."



Personally, as of recent; I've told myself to stop announcing what I am doing/stop telling people what I'm doing, etc.

It de-motivates me to do that very task, by creating anxiety knowing that other people might expect this (whatever 'this' thing may be), from me as I went around saying so.

I now, quite literally... "JUST DO IT".



Notice how Ubi does not talk about the mechanics of the game much when it comes to the AC series. It's brilliantly structured, and well crafted on a foundation of kickass. Henceforth, there are giant discussion boards about everything involved in even ONE of the games. Do you really think people would talk much about the game philosophy, if a dev went on, and on about something that is currently non-existent, and is currently all talk?

Again, it's all just talk.


(Apologies if this post seems scatter-minded. I'm half out of it today.)

[Psychotic]

I agree, honestly.

The problem with telling people what you're going to do, as you're said, brings forth a false hope for fans. It's basically another form of wishful thinking, and when you don't deliver for whatever reason, people sometimes feel a little ripped off.