Slashdot Mirror
Deus Ex Creator On How a Video-Game Academy Could Fix the Industry
Nerval's Lobster writes "In the fall of 2014, 20 promising video game developers will begin a yearlong (and free) program at the University of Texas at Austin, where they will study under some of the gaming industry's most successful executives. 'The idea is to get the best of the best of the best, run them through a Navy Seals boot camp of sorts and not force them to worry about "how do I pay the rent and buy groceries,"' said program leader Warren Spector, who is responsible for creating well-known games such as Deus Ex. 'Fingers crossed, when we start delivering graduates who can contribute in major ways to the development of future games, that philanthropy will continue.' In a wide-ranging interview, Spector also talked about how his future students will be graduating into an industry in which 'every business model is broken, which is either terrifying or an opportunity depending on how you look at it.' Focus groups, analysis of historical trends, and aggregated game review scores may be comforting to number crunchers, but the majority of game projects still end up as commercial failures. Spector ultimately believes the people who actually make the games are going to make better decisions than the number crunchers. 'We've got to be looking forward and any time you start bringing data into it, you're not," Spector said. "I pitched a Lego construction game in 1989, and guess what: Minecraft is basically a Lego construction game. But at the time I was told "no, that won't work." I pitched a western game and the response was "westerns don't sell." And then Red Dead Redemption came out. Stuff doesn't sell until someone makes one that sells, and no amount of data can reveal what new thing is going to sell. The metrics and data guys, and the publishing guys will never come up with the next big thing.'""
Great, so they can be scooped up by EA and churn out shit like Madden 2013: You Bought it Again.
-- Ethanol-fueled
Spector ultimately believes the people who actually make the games are going to make better decisions than the number crunchers.
The people with the money call the shots. How will a year-long boot camp for programmers make managers and number crunchers listen to programmers when they don't now?
Where they don't have The Bell. They have Taco Bell.
"You think this some kind of fucking game, private?!"
"Yes, yes I do."
Ideas are easy. Everyone has a great idea for a video game. Developing that idea into a functional product is nothing like simply imagining the final product and maybe bits of gameplay and then starting to program it. And he was likely the one being turned down, not his ideas, although it might have seemed that way.
>> I pitched a Lego construction game in 1989, and guess what: Minecraft is basically a Lego construction game.
Sounds like the "Adventure Construction Set" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Construction_Set) - that's was the Minecraft of the 2D world back in the 1980s.
And, statistically speaking, neither will game developers. For every big hit of a game there's dozens more that perform okay enough to recoup costs but any follow-up titles are completely up in the air, and hundreds more that go nowhere.
Just because in one instance a publisher said 'western games don't sell' and was then proven wrong, doesn't mean that everybody thinking they can disprove a publisher when they say their Game X is going to be the next Red Dead Redemption is going to be right.
We can pretty much know this for a fact by looking at all the 'indie' games on mobile platforms and being launched through KickStarter (not counting the ones who are just using it as marketing hoping to attract the actual big money..from publishers). Although at least the latter can give an indication as to what people may be craving, it doesn't mean the end-result is going to deliver.
The problem with trying to figure out how to design and create a popular game is that, as with movies, there's no magic formula for what makes a popular game/movie. In fact, about the only guarantee is that following a formula, any formula, drastically reduces your chances for creating something popular. It's very hard to package up and teach creativity and originality.
People say the game industry needs fixing, but there's tons of great games coming out from both the big boys and the indie scene. Sure, you can complain about Madden 20xx and "Gears of Halo Battlefield Combat" remakes, but then there are other choices you can make. You just need to realize that you're not the person those churned sequels are being made for.
It seems to me that Spector could have fronted the money himself if he thought the ideas were so good. They probably would have been if he was working on them, DX was one of the all-time greats. Unless he had some sort of no-compete contract, he should have gone indie.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The first thought I had was what categories would be eligible for winning a Freeman.
Ezekiel 23:20
Developers should follow a Jedi like approach. You have a master or multiple masters and then one day you will have your own apprentices. Programming is an art, it's just not being a code monkey, everyone has their own spin to make the way they write code unique.
Also, at any one time, there can only be two evil game developers allowed.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
What about when big name veterans dont have to bend to the whims of publishers. Its not all fine and dandy. Look at the shit double fine is in right now. Raised 3+ million dollars when they only needed 700k, and still managed to not complete their game, but are now way behind. When you dont have a publisher breathing down your neck to get the product out and to worry about profits you end up with shit like this and duke nukem forever.
Our Economy on the whole needs more Apprenticeship like schooling.
Colleges (I think partially due to the GI Bill, for WWII and Vietnam War, combined with trying to dodge the draft) have seem to have taken the near monopoly on Higher Learning after High School. It isn't that College and University education is bad, but it isn't for everyone leaving a gap in labor. As well lowering the value of a College education.
Apprenticeships, vocational training, and other alternate forms of education should be a larger part of our modern economy. A lot of people go into Computer Science, or Computer Engineering degrees to be Programmers and System Admins. Those don't need Degrees they can be learned via an Apprenticeship program. Also not IT jobs but other white collar jobs, like Accounting, Marketing, Sales, Advertising, Management... Doesn't need College degrees but experience and learning from skilled workers.
However the problem was the Baby Boomer created a culture of Cut Throat type of thinking, where if the Apprentice passes the master it is seen as a threat on his job, and the idea of working you way up in an organization is no longer the case, we need to jump from job to job in order to advance in life.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Established "vets" like the ones mentioned in the article are a real problem. Most only have one real success under their belt, with a whole string of mediocre or outright crappy games to follow. The idea that they are somehow the lone voice of quality in the industry is just crap. The fact is, these entrenched vets with name recognition are the ones sucking up funding so they can spend 2 or 3 years developing their current pet project that has no more or less chance of success than anyone else's. Setting up a school specifically to breed more of these kinds of people will only result in more "rockstar developers" who are convinced that they are the best qualified for create a new game, and publishers will probably throw money at them as a result.
Make sure that they understand that they are going to have to already prove themselves as being able to design and code a completely working and feature complete game from engine to art before they can be accepted in to the program, attend class and study under supervision for at least 80 hours per week, live strictly off of one item from the dollar menu per meal, give them a proper browbeating every once in a while, constantly remind them they are easily replaceable with other students just itching to get in to the program, and then never let them complete a project by tossing them on to other loser projects. But it's all okay because the student breakroom looks like a teenage gamer's wet dream.
Nobody is going to fix the industry. The industry functions quite well just the way it is, grossing more than Hollywood for years now. If we're talking about the precious industry, that financial success is the only thing that matters.
Now if we're talking about ART... That's a whole different problem. Art is anathema to the industry. But this is also true of Hollywood, so we can assume the same sort of results fairly reasonably. Art will still happen, in spite of the industry, not because of it. It will be accidental. It will be serendipitous. It will be the result of one madman with a vision. It will NOT happen because of some hothouse training program.
Those of us who have been in the industry think of something else entirely when talking about fixing the industry. The radical instability of development houses is what needs fixing. Nowhere else in the world is there so little code reuse, and so little retention of talent. Maybe the customers could get some of the things they want, like more reliable ship dates, and better code quality if that were fixed. That's a whole different problem from endless sequels and poor design though.
With budgets growing out of control so quickly, what the hell do you expect them to do?
Learn to budget? Seriously, you don't just "lose" $200M by accident.
Live within their means? They could try not spending absurd amounts for the rights to have some big name involved, for example. Good games will create their own brands, as we've seen time and again.
Try alternative business models instead of making often futile and always customer-hostile efforts to fight piracy within the current model? Try radically different pricing models. Learn from both the successes and the failures of subscription models and in-game purchases and DLC and building extensible games with modding communities around them and all the rest.
Tell the console makers to take a hike? Without games, consoles are nothing, but no individual console represents more than a modest fraction of the market. Why should any studio make a AAA game title and then agree to make it an exclusive on a certain console, unless the maker of that console is basically offering to treble their revenues?
Try bringing PC gaming back? There's a lot of emphasis on consoles, mobile gaming and social gaming today, but PCs have more flexibility than all of the rest put together, and even if the new generation of consoles is competitive in raw power at launch it won't be for long. And yet many modern high-profile PC titles are nasty console knock-offs that justifiably get criticised for weak gameplay mechanics and poor controls/user interfaces.
Seriously, there are about a million things that a lot of game studios are doing wrong. Anyone with moderate objectivity and some basic knowledge of the industry and general economics can step back and see them. But the big studios often seem to be run by people who don't want to step back and challenge their views, and until that changes, the rest is academic.
For now, please enjoy EA Super World Championship Series Sports Game 2016, exclusively on your locked-down XBox 3D Kinect Sports Edition, sponsored by Coca Cola and brought to you in generously compensated partnership with the Super World Championship Series League. Unless the DRM servers are down, that is.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Tell the console makers to take a hike [...] Try bringing PC gaming back
Some people like to play together on a sofa instead of in the basement over the Internet, and I've been reassured by several other Slashdot users that the number of living room gaming PCs is negligible.
Why should any studio make a AAA game title and then agree to make it an exclusive on a certain console, unless the maker of that console is basically offering to treble their revenues?
Fighting games, for example, tend to be either exclusive to one console or ported to multiple consoles (and not PC) because it does treble the revenues over making the game PC-exclusive. Not a lot of PC gamers are willing to move the PC back and forth between the computer desk and the living room to play a game that requires a screen big enough for two to four players to fit around. And finally, some big-name games are published by companies that manufacture game consoles.
many modern high-profile PC titles are nasty console knock-offs that justifiably get criticised for [...] poor controls/user interfaces
If console-style controls and user interfaces are inherently poor, then how would anyone make good controls or user interfaces for a local multiplayer game? Giving each player a mouse and keyboard won't work if the operating system won't let a game distinguish "mouse 1 was moved to the left by half an inch" from "mouse 2 was moved to the left by half an inch".
The indie scene is already fixing the industry. The big guys can adapt or die.
The games which I've enjoyed the most recently have been:
- Legend of Zelda Skwyard Sword
- Red Steel 2
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- The Last Story
- Pandora's Tower (finally found a work-around which seems to be consistent for me for the glitch)
In particular:
- motion controls and the interface of Skyward Sword and Red Steel 2
- exploration and vast expanses and lengthy gameplay of Xenoblade
- online campaign and RPG-style grinding of The Last Story
- fascinating story of Pandora's Tower
I'd give a lot for a motion-controlled RPG w/ downloadable content, grinding and on-line play which had a good story which was suited to the on-line environment.
One of the best potential backgrounds for such a thing would be C.J. Cherryh's Morgaine stories (travel is by a series of gates to different worlds) --- I really wish someone would license it.
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
I think EA generally needs more developers than that...
I'm kind of tired of seeing all the credit for huge productions like video games go to a single person.
There's been a couple decades since 1989. Warren Spector has since produced:
Wing Commander (1990), Origin Systems
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions (1990), Origin Systems
Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990), Origin Systems
Bad Blood (1990), Origin Systems
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (1991), Origin Systems
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 2 - Crusade (1991), Origin Systems
Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams (1991), Origin Systems
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992), Origin Systems
Shadowcaster (1993), Origin Systems (Uncredited)[10]
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993), Origin Systems
Wing Commander: Privateer - Righteous Fire (1993), Origin Systems
Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (1993), Origin Systems
Ultima VII Part Two: The Silver Seed (1993), Electronic Arts
Wings of Glory (1993), Electronic Arts
System Shock (1994), Looking Glass Technologies
CyberMage: Darklight Awakening (1995), Origin Systems
Crusader: No Remorse (1995), Origin Systems
Thief: The Dark Project (1998), Looking Glass Studios
Deus Ex (2000), Ion Storm Austin
Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003), Ion Storm Austin
Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004), Ion Storm Austin
Epic Mickey (2010), Disney Interactive Studios
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (2012), Disney Interactive Studios
I'm going to go with "He can certainly do, not just teach."
~Anguirel (lit. Living Star-Iron)
QA: The art of telling someone that their baby is ugly without getting punched.