Warren Spector on Long Games - interview
(hx) 05:21 PM CEST - Jun,18 2008
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In this keynote from the Game Education Summit, held in Dallas last week,
Junction Point's Warren Spector and Disney Interactive's Mark Meyers took a look
at the issues inherent in the game biz, with Spector admitting he's "so
tired of making games about guys in black leather carrying guns. I graduated
with electrical and biomedical engineering and I never thought I'd be in the
game industry," opened Mark Meyers, now Vice President of Internal Studios at
Disney Interactive. "Up until five years ago most people got into the game
industry by accident!"
Warren Spector, now creative director at the Disney-owned Junction Point
studios, continued: "Building a game is as complex as making as a Hollywood
movie. Do we have the right people and how do we harness creativity without
crushing it? We are in a business that is both software engineer and
entertainment, and we have to balance it. It used to be that you could trade off
gameplay for graphics, but you can't do that anymore." As he has often done in
the past, Spector commented on his frustration with some of the dominant tropes
of video games. "I love working with Disney because I'm so tired of making games
about guys in black leather carrying guns. I don't want to make those any more,"
he said.
"Game costs are going to be $35-40 million, even $100 million, and the
expectations are huge. You have to differentiate yourselves. One-hundred hour
games are on the way out... How many of you have finished GTA? Two percent,
probably. If we're spending $100 million on a game, we want you to see the last
level!" Even on the other end of the economic scale, Spector did not paint a
rosy picture. "I heard people say that casual games are where to go as an indie,
but you still need to differentiate yourself because that's a really crowded
field," he pointed out. "If you don't make it on the front page you don't get
your game seen." |
Updated:12:00 PM CEST Sep,21
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