Randy Smith interview posted at EvilAvatar...

ZylonBane on 28/6/2006 at 05:27

Quote Posted by Holywhippet

From a design point of view though, climbing gloves are a better decision. You can run out of rope arrows if your aim is off. Even if your aim is good and the rope deploys, sometimes its hard to climb up the damn things anyway.

Oh, genius! By that logic, ladders are better than both of them. Oh wait, players might fall off the ladder and hurt themselves! Better that the entire game takes place on a two-dimensional plane made of Nerf so nobody gets hurt.

Goldmoon Dawn on 28/6/2006 at 17:49

Quote Posted by demagogue

... he's definately enigmatic ... His gaming philosophy that he repeats all the time is one that I naturally tend to share (viz. open-endedness, player freedom, richer interactivity, pushing creative boundaries, etc) ... But anyway, Spector will always I think remain one of those enigmatic minds that I'd probably rather have making games than anything else he could be doing in life.

Any of you guys familiar with Richard Garriot's views on game design and gaming?

Because Warren is merely a chip off that block.

demagogue on 28/6/2006 at 18:02

Yes and no. Yes in the sense that a lot of his ideas you can see incipient in the Ultima world ... pretty free-form, open environment the PC can go at his own pace in his own order. And the style of the world and process of world-building maybe (for lack of a better term), the influences seem obvious.

But your point also just happens to run against probably the main point WS made in this very interview about his design philosophy, which is why it's a little funny you made it here... Spector focuses a lot here on the idea that every player should be required to see all (or the vast majority) of the game world (to not waste resources, to appeal to run-n-gunners, etc) versus WS's philosophy to let them see only 3/4 and allow the last 1/4 to reward player exploration and unique player experience, making the world appear much bigger. And then he says that he has been disputing this with other devs for quite a long time, giving the example that he and RG had massive disputes about it back in the day.

ZylonBane on 28/6/2006 at 18:16

That philosophy would certainly explain Deus Ex's approach to secret areas. While most FPSs have secret passages or at best an occasional hidden goodie room, DX had entire maps that you could walk right past.

snowcap21 on 28/6/2006 at 18:47

hmm, it looks like I'd have to play DX....

back to the original topic: I liked the interview with Randy Smith very much. I think it showed very clear why you (at least I) can admire him very much for his concept of games (and his personality in general), while making it clear that he was probably not the best choice to be made project lead for Thief 3. Too much idealism is normally not the best thing to be focused on, when you have to actually produce something in a certain amount of time.

but I would really love to see someone giving him and some others the means to work on something for a few years without the focus on sell figures.

btw, I wouldn't be too surprised it was actually him, that encouraged some of the not so well recieved changes in the Thief universe - considering that he had probably something completely else in mind for Thief to become.

Tony on 28/6/2006 at 19:04

So who wanted to replace the true darkness with the Hollywood blue?

demagogue on 28/6/2006 at 19:26

Yes, you must play DX.

Part two of Spector's interview is now up: (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=65769) Linky.

Insightful as usual:

Quote Posted by Warren Spector

For my money, it's time we started tackling the non-combat AI problem in as serious a way as we tackle rendering engines and physics simulations. But it's going to be a while before we figure out how to talk to an NPC in any believable way or how to craft a sufficiently reactive character that we believe in them and care about their fate. Valve's approach seems promising but kind of hinges on non-interactive scenes in which NPCs emote for the player. And Bioware may be onto something with what it is doing in Mass Effect. But, honestly, we're still crawling like infants when it comes to human characters and that isn't likely to change any time soon.

Also, can't miss the interest of this bon mot:

Quote Posted by WS

Warren Spector: I know some folks thought Invisible War and Deadly Shadows were "dumbed down for console". And, yes, we did make a conscious attempt to reach out to a larger audience. (Increasing development costs'll do that to you!) However, both teams still set some mighty lofty goals - goals that had nothing to do with making the games accessible to a larger audience. I'm willing to acknowledge that both games fell short of their goals if some of the critics will acknowledge how many risks the teams took and how hard the challenges were that they tried to tackle.

But to answer your question, I don't think it's in any way - any way - necessary to dumb a game down for console or to reach a huge audience.

You just need to execute exceptionally well on a clear, compelling concept.

Gamers aren't stupid and they're not kids (not most of 'em, anyway). You can make serious, adult entertainment, release it on a console and succeed.

ZylonBane on 28/6/2006 at 19:51

Quote Posted by Warren Spector

I'm willing to acknowledge that both games fell short of their goals if some of the critics will acknowledge how many risks the teams took and how hard the challenges were that they tried to tackle.

I will readily acknowledge that the developers of Invisible War and Deadly Shadows took huge risks by making significant changes to games that were both supposed to be sequels. But will Warren acknowledge that this was exceptionally stupid and hubristic of them?

Ion Storm had two of the most-beloved properties in the game industry, and handed them to newbie design teams that thought they could do better instead of just following what was already there.

Tony on 28/6/2006 at 20:01

Hearken to Zylonbane. He speaks truth!

Goldmoon Dawn on 29/6/2006 at 18:27

Yes, Zylon says it best. I feel the same.