How to make a creative game in 2010: Ensure your CEO never hears of the game - by thiefinthedark
thiefinthedark on 25/6/2010 at 20:03
Came across this article: (
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/25/ancel-working-with-small-team-on-beyond-good-and-evil-2/) earlier this morning, discussing the new Beyond Good and Evil project.
While I am terribly excited for a new BG&E, the article really did alot to further incense me regarding the state of the games industry these days. Namely, the fact that anything half decent inevitably comes from the indie crowd. Reading the article, we can see why:
Quote:
Another factor that is stretching out development time: "On this game, we're keeping the team small," he said, "to preserve creativity and so the game doesn't become a commercial product, so that it has soul." This also has the added benefit of keeping the budget low, limiting the chance that Ubisoft will cancel it. Unfortunately, it also limits the chance that Ubisoft execs will know it exists.
The last bit links to this article (
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/23/ubisoft-na-prez-missed-memo-that-beyond-good-and-evil-2-is-totally/) where the president of Ubisoft was unaware that the project was in development.
What does this say for the state of creativity in our industry? Is it not fairly disgusting that, in order to have an exciting sequel which does not sacrifice what made the original popular, you essentially have to operate in stealth mode now?
Have we become so much like Hollywood's little brother that the best we can do is churn out mass-market slop, axing original or emergent concepts and leaving anything that isn't generic to the Indie developers?
A sad, and almost nauseating state of affairs for what was once a very promising creative industry.
Melan on 25/6/2010 at 20:11
Quote Posted by thiefinthedark
Have we become so much like Hollywood's little brother that the best we can do is churn out mass-market slop, axing original or emergent concepts and leaving anything that isn't generic to the Indie developers?
According to various sources which might or might not be totally reliable, the US game industry now makes more money than movies. Draw your own conclusions from that.
thiefinthedark on 25/6/2010 at 20:53
Quote Posted by Melan
According to various sources which might or might not be totally reliable, the US game industry now makes more money than movies. Draw your own conclusions from that.
I've yet to pay $70 for a movie ticket. You can't derive a model of popularity based on revenues alone. In terms of units sold and audience penetration, films are still leading by far.
Koki on 25/6/2010 at 21:24
BG&E was creative?
Al_B on 25/6/2010 at 21:47
Quote Posted by Koki
BG&E was creative?
Do you mean innovative? There's a big difference between creative storytelling, presentation and artwork and innovating new gameplay mechanics. I've played it for the first time within the last few weeks thanks to some tip-offs in this forum and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a few years old now and I'd struggle to point out anything that hadn't been done before at the time - but there's no doubt in my mind that it was a creative game.
june gloom on 25/6/2010 at 22:20
Ignore Koki. His opinion-making apparatus was delivered broken, and when we tried to RMA it the manufacturer had disappeared.
Jason Moyer on 25/6/2010 at 23:10
I think that's the most coherent thing Koki has ever posted on these forums.
Poetic thief on 25/6/2010 at 23:55
The only down$ide to indies is the obvious one.
But other than that, the benefits of a small, passionate team outside the radar of a CEO business shark (who usually don't even play games themselves) should not be underestimated.
Indie companies and European companies are our last resort for creative/niche games. Even Obsidian (the last of the American companies) might start to change their tune after the reception of Alpha Protocol.
thiefinthedark on 26/6/2010 at 05:35
Quote Posted by Poetic thief
The only down$ide to indies is the obvious one.
But other than that, the benefits of a small, passionate team outside the radar of a CEO business shark (who usually don't even play games themselves) should not be underestimated.
Indie companies and European companies are our last resort for creative/niche games. Even Obsidian (the last of the American companies) might start to change their tune after the reception of Alpha Protocol.
To be fair, I know a guy who worked on AP and it really was a storm of brown icky stuff during development. AP is an example of a great idea gone terribly wrong thanks to a CEO coming along and thinking he should play designer, and be the only designer.
Still a passable (barely) game, but nowhere near the Deus Ex successor it could have been without meddling from the business department.
