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Harvey Smith, Ex-ION Storm Staffer, Profiled

Posted by Zonk on from the the-people-behind-the-games dept.

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.""

2 of 14 comments (clear)

  1. Amazing. by keyne9 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    '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.
  2. This man ruined DX: IW by Jonny_eh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.