Harvey Smith, Ex-ION Storm Staffer, Profiled

obchrisj writes "Harvey Smith, formerly of ION Storm and now Creative Director at Midway Austin, gets his trials and tribulations profiled in FileFront's latest F! True Gamer Story. Here's a clip: "The hours were long, sometimes putting in as many as one hundred hours a week, and he stayed in QA for a year before moving into development. From there he has worked on a variety of games since 1993, including Deus Ex: Invisible War, Deus Ex, CyberMage, and System Shock. Over the years, he has seen a lot, and believes the emphasis in graphics may finally be slowing down. 'We might be moving beyond the graphical arms race soon, focusing more on player-driven experience,' he said.""

Comments

Amazing.

[keyne9]

'We might be moving beyond the graphical arms race soon, focusing more on player-driven experience'

I certainly goddamned hope so. When companies churn out exceptionally-graphicked games that play like crap, they're still crap. But if you have a good game, then it doesn't matter what the hell it looks like (within the realms of reason).

It's the same reasoning in the movie industry, which has paralells to the gaming people. If you look at very, very pretty movies, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within for example, most people will tell you it's neat looking. Once you delve into the story, it's widely regarded as total junk. It failed as a storytelling device for most people.

This is absolutely no different in video games. I sincerely hope that the industry finally realizes this.

Re:Amazing.

[ZephyrXero]

I agree. The sooner we move past the graphics race and start working on better gameplay, the better.

Re:Amazing.

[code-e255]

Yeah, I agree too. Gameplay > Graphics.

Graphics engines don't really need to become any better than the UT2 / Doom 3 / Crytek /HL2 ones. With those powerful engines and top-quality artists, you can display pretty much whatever you want. I doubt things will get significantly more advanced after the 3rd Unreal engine which is being developed at the moment.

Re:Amazing.

[keyne9]

Some companies have done this. Unfortunately, those are usually the "sleeper" games that few people will play, and the ones that do will rave about. Perfect example: Katamari Damacy. Very simple, very fun game. The graphics look like something a 1st-gen PS1 might have spit out, but it does in no way detract from the game.

The downside is that people will pass it up because it isn't pixel shaded with 4.5d gfx running on the newest and greatest thingamahooie. :)

Re:Amazing.

[Ford Prefect]

Graphics engines don't really need to become any better than the UT2 / Doom 3 / Crytek /HL2 ones. With those powerful engines and top-quality artists, you can display pretty much whatever you want.

From a graphics point of view, the Half-Life 2 engine is actually fairly basic beyond its (admittedly pretty) shaders. It doesn't appear able to do volume-specific fog (as could Quake 3), there's no LOD on non-model geometry, and lighting for model geometry itself is derived from a single point, whatever the size of the model.

But the second part of your equation is the most important aspect - it's the glorious artwork that makes Half-Life 2 look so lovely (to me, anyhow). The engine is 'good enough', and should allow Valve (and modders) to concentrate more on the gameplay and design aspects...

This man ruined DX: IW

[Jonny_eh]

All of the poor design decisions for DX: IW were made by this guy. Go back to QA. Oh and if good graphics aren't important, why does DX: IW run like ass, have small levels, and a weak story + disappointing gameplay. I'm gonna go RTFA now.

Re:This man ruined DX: IW

[Taulin]

I thought the name sounded familiar. Was he the guy in charge of DX:IW then? I guess staring at those walls, like he said he did, really didn't help much after all.

Re:This man ruined DX: IW

[johannesg]

I suspect the small levels happened because they wanted to support the X-Box (with its limited memory capabilities), and I furthermore suspect that this was not something he had control over. But other than that, I agree that Deus Ex: Invisible War represents something of a missed opportunity.

One thing I find in games of this type that as soon as "you can go anywhere and do anything", it also means that it no longer really matters where you go or what you do. In that sense I prefer a strong story-driven approach, with real consequences to your actions. DX:IW failed spectacularly in this regard - no matter what you did, either party would take you back after minimal punishment, thus making the entire notion of choice irrelevant.

Something that probably also turned a lot of people off, although I may be wrong about this, is the evolution of the game world. The original DX world was recognizable ours in the near future (and the missing WTC in the New York levels dramatically underscored this point). The DX:IW world is much further in the future, and too alien and unrecognizable to many players. It just doesn't click the way DX did.

The small levels, the pathetic graphic performance, the dumbing down of the interface, and the somewhat uninspired architecture could have been forgiven if the previous two points had been fixed, but as it is it adds up to an underwhelming experience.

However, I still have hope for future Deus Ex stories. One possible direction would be to return to J.C. Denton's time and play alternative storylines, i.e. look at the world from other viewpoints. One obvious candidate for a hero would be Paul.

Alternatively, just declare DX:IW a bad dream induced by J.C. being hit on the head once too often, and make a _true_ sequel...

Re:This man ruined DX: IW

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm. Personally, I didn't mind the factions or the time/location that much... but the small levels, long loading times, and some of the rest were very annoying.

Personal hopes for a third Deus Ex--the main character androgynous, not part of the Omar, but in an Omar's suit... at least a small part of the game in less-than-Earth-gravity... and Helios's near-utopia existing, but it being physically impossible for the player (presumably a Denton, even if only a descendant) to join it. It's like the Omar--it couldn't be pulled off accurately. ...a slightly better physics system would also help. There's so much potential...

The choice of the (cross-usage of the) Xbox, both for Invisible War and the third Thief, was a very bad decision. Ah, well. ...maybe some day, someone will remake the second Deus Ex, only better.

Re:This man ruined DX: IW

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not the least insightful. Harvey Smith was the lead designer of the original and phenomenal Deus Ex. He knows his stuff.

Things went wrong in the development of Invisible War, as Smith and other developers has admitted, and blaming it on only one person is unfair. I'd say the main problems were the new engine they developed and Eidos, the publisher. Invisible War clearly wasn't given the resources or time it needed.

Re:This man ruined DX: IW

[Corvass]

Actually, Warren Spector was the lead designer for the original Deus Ex, not Harvey Smith.

Re:Fist Sport!

[ZephyrXero]

Read it again. It says MIDWAY not microsoft...lol

War Without End

[CodeWanker]

'We might be moving beyond the graphical arms race soon, focusing more on player-driven experience'

Rotsa Ruck, Dude. That may occur at some mythical company that doesn't compete for investor dollars, publisher access, store shelf space, or floor space in an arcade. The phrase "We focus on game play" translates in the minds of investors, publishers, and buyers as "Looks like ass. Small cult following. Thank you, drive through." Why? Most of the decision-makers in this group aren't gamers, or they want something ultra-sexy running on the monitors in their establishments.

Wish I were kidding, but I'm not. Check the war stories posted by developers on Gamasutra.com for many heart-rending accounts of the graphics arms race and why it'll never end.