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CliffyB Talks Gears of War And Design
CliffyB talks with the fine folks at Gamasutra about the upcoming 360 title Gears of War. Besides some interesting insights into the game, they talk about the designer's game philosophy and the next generation of games. From the article: "No, we're not making Knights Of The Old Republic or anything here. Who these characters are is largely pre-defined, as far as Marcus being an anti-hero, and Dom being his buddy. Part of it is just my own game design philosophy because, for me, whenever I play those games, I always go evil. And I have a feeling that if they made those games, if you could only choose the dark path, and you only thought you could choose the light path, nobody would notice, because it seems to me that everyone who goes for the Force chokes."
I always go good, and never have any trouble doing it. Likewise, anytime I try to be evil, I find it so desperately hard to do that I almost always wind up at least semi-good in the end. Believe me, if the dark path was forced on me, I'd spot it in a heartbeat.
Don't get me wrong, Cliff Blezinsky is a decent designer, and has been from a relatively young age in the industry, if memory serves.
However, it definitely shows the atmosphere and nature of people that make up his world. Myself and most of my friends can play the good or evil path in games that allow those decisions decision. I prefer to pathe my own way, rather than follow a predetermined course of character development, in games like Knights of the Old Republic, and ones that offer even more organic choices like Morrowind.
Being good in a game is not something a lot of people choke on from my perspective. It's fun to play the bad guy and get away with the darker side of human nature that's traditionally supressed in our culture, but there's also something to be said for playing the heroic pinnacle of goodness and saving the world too.