Command and Conquer Generals

Kevin Tomaya writes: "GameSpot has posted a really in-depth story about a brand new Command and Conquer game that is in all 3D. It's called C&C Generals and has the US and China fighting against a terrorist organization. The article is like that Metal Gear Solid 2 story they did last year. It takes you through the whole genesis of the project and introduces the development team."

Comments

In Depth?

[nzhavok]

Well that certainly was a very in-depth article, at least it didn't leave me wondering if the powerpoint presentations had bullet points or not.

The prospect of a new and better C&C frightens me, I remember how addicted I was to C&C and RA. The addiction was only partially staved of by a little bit of StarCraft and Total Annihilation. I'd just come to terms with the fact I was probably going to lose 6 months of my life from Warcraft III they tell me there's another C&C coming along. Well I suppose the only hope for me is that it'll follow in the footsteps of Tiberian Sun.

Credit to game programmers

[QuantumG]

I used to think it was terrible the way games programmers never got any credit. You'd play a game and about the only indication there was that Activision didn't write it was one little spash screen at the start. Movies start with credits and nifty spash screens that make a big deal out of the actors, the director, even the people who write the music but games are generally considered to be a product of the distributor by most. Then an article like this comes along and you really can see why that is. Those head shots of the programmers should be reason enough to lock them in a basement and feed them caffine up and until the game is on the shelves and then get them another project, quick!

Re:Credit to game programmers

[Geoff Keighley]

As the author of the article I wanted to briefly comment on this post. I certainly try to give credit where credit is due -- In the case of the C&C Generals article, I ended up interviewing about 12 people on the team of 40. Not 100% of the team, but keep in mind that 40 is a pretty large team. On a smaller project like Black & White (team of about 12 key people) it's easier to speak with everyone.

Most of the key people were interviewed and shown in photos, even if they weren't the main focus of the story. (i.e. the terrain was created by Todd Williams, who is quoted in the story and his picture is shown). Keep in mind that I'm not always given access to everyone on a game development team. When I was in Tokyo for Metal Gear Solid 2, I was only allowed to speak with the most senior people on the team, all programmers/designers/artists who had worked with Mr. Kojima for over a decade. Companies aren't always willing to put every employee in front of the press.

However, I would like to say that I've failed with the article if you feel I've reduced the "efforts of an entire team...to one person's efforts." Yes, Skaggs and Bonin are quoted frequently, but that is to maintain some consistency throughout the piece. As a narrative endeavor I have to have some common themes running through the story, and after all, Skaggs and Bonin are the heads of the project. Yet I also tried very hard to at least recognize the efforts of the other key individuals on the team, such as Alhquist (game editor) and all the designers, key artists, etc.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Excellent game.

[Steven_Wostoen]

I was invited over for a sneak-preview earlier this year by Mark Skaggs, and I'll tell you one thing: the rotation potential (of the 3D) graphics on this game, especially the scenery, is two generations of anything currently available on the market.

A lot of thought has also been put into the units and plot of the game, it hasn't been an ad-hoc composition of cliched parts as many games in the last few years have been in terms of storyline/plot.

The C&C Generals team are really friendly guys, and work in a relaxed atmosphere, which is important in any game production unit. I'll have to give a thumbs up to this game, and highly recommend it. The guys have worked hard on it and deserve success with it. Unfortuantely I have a feeling that the User interface won't go down extremely well with most consumers, but I understand them trying to break away from the traditional style of UI driving.

Anyway, it should be a cracker of a game.

Westwood and Gamespot fake screenshots

[SMN]

I hate to break it to you, but Westwood has a history of faking development screenshots and lying about what features have already been implemented. They did it for Tiberian Sun and they did it for Renegade, and all of the gaming magazines and websites (including Gamespot) will happily fall for it when they get a chance to have "exclusive" news. And the poor saps reading this probably won't realize they've been duped until it takes 4 years for the game to come out (Renegade) or the final version of the game has inferior graphics and fewer features than the article says WW has _already_ developed (Tiberian Sun). I'll believe this when I see it.