Quoth Warren Spector: "I think that this is kind of a Golden Age…"
That Warren Spector…he just seems to be all over the gaming newsfeeds these days. Not that this is really a surprising trend; with Epic Mickey garnering as much attention as it has been, the man is very much a hot commodity these days.
He’s also been in the gaming industry for a long time, and it’s arguable that his opinions and insights do carry some weight. Certainly, some of the design elements he has championed have endured: he was an early champion of presenting game players with plot-affecting/altering choices. And he really likes the current state of the gaming market:
“Actually, I think that this is kind of a Golden Age,” Spector said in a Gamescom interview. “I can make a Wii-exclusive game featuring Mickey Mouse. Someone else can make an all-original $100m MMO. I’ve got friends who are literally working alone on indie games that have no prospect of profit or commercial success. I’ve got guys working on iPhone games.” Spector noted that a widening audience and abundance of platforms makes it easier to find a fit. “There’s something for everyone, which means there’s something for every developer to do that’s meaningful for them, that will ignite their passion.”
…
“Gaming is in a very special place right now and we should be reveling in it, enjoying the parts that we love and letting other people enjoy the parts that they love. The more people who game, the better for everyone.”
I can’t really disagree with his assessment.
Long, boring post, please ignore:
Interesting perspective, and it made me feel a little better, honestly. Most of the forum comments were forgettable, except this one:
“the golden age will be when i can develop for all platforms without the need for double my budget.”
While “for” should have been “to” and “double” should have been the number of graphics libraries needing porting to, it points to the financial pain felt by many game developers and artists in what has become a corporate frenzy of asset acquisition, hype and “IP” or copyright involvement. I’m all for sequels, but holy shit. At least the Ultima IP owners have relaxed a bit, until someone makes money.
There are two sides to the industry: The players who love the games (happy) and the developers who want creative control or money (striving). Most devs work for multi-billion dollar companies or subsidiaries owned by them.
Spector has seen success, so it’s easy for him to breathe in the spotlight. Other artists are less successful and hopefully are moving to independence though collaboration with like-minded devs. Many in the industry are frustrated by either not making enough money or not being treated seriously enough creatively.
It is a Golden Age in many ways. Now, more than ever, our most focused energies can attain profound results. Serious graphics libraries like OpenGL are cross-platform and supported by most consoles and phones. Programming languages from BASIC to C++ are free and have nice IDE’s for debugging. There is no reason not to make a mod or a game from original code. Hack a savegame file with a hex editor if you like, and write it down when it works.
While games have become more complex, games are still games. Old games aren’t always better than new games, yet chess and baseball still rule. Fundamentally the best games haven’t yet been written, and will probably be by a single person with a good idea. Mr. Spector was a part of that, and I’m glad he’s still making great games.
Don’t forget the growing trend in game engine technologies (Unity, Torque, and now Unreal) to make cross-platform development an inbuilt feature!
True. I feel a revolution of epic proportions about to sweep the world, including the gaming community. Passion plays and innocent apps will become welcome.
It’s a stretch of the imagination, but I could see a day when most people prefer to do business online, and not leave their house/room unless they need to. Not a bad scenario, if you have short or sparse hours.
Of course, Lord British would rather he look over his shoulder (Shay Addams) and see the sun rising over the cottages on the far side of the courtyard. (THE OFFICIAL BOOK OF ULTIMA) I had played Ultima from sundown to dawn. When I finally collapsed in bed, I felt as if I were a wandering Paladin falling sleeping on a straw-filled mattress in a convenient hut in the wilderness.
Also from the book, And when I awoke the next morning, rambled into the kitchen and made some toast, I instinctively reached for my silver-pommeled Dagger to spread some butter on it, so deeply had I been immersed in the myth and magic of Richard Garriott’s epic fantasy.
Well, I’d still have to leave my house…it’s generally considered a “very bad thing” (not to mention, in the US at least, a massive regulatory violation) if I can do the work I do for my clients from a remote location.
My ultimate dream is a Unity-based (or, now, Unreal-based) game that I can play on my Mac or PC when I’m at home, which saves my progress to a cloud-based account. Then, when I leave for work in the morning, I can fire up the game on my iPhone, pull down my saved progress over 3G, and continue playing the game on said mobile handheld.
Then, when I get home, I can pick up from where I left off on my phone. Circle of life, baby!