Ape vs. Lizard, Right vs. Left
I don’t know how many of you guys listen to Gamasutra’s GDC Radio, but their latest episode had something that I thought was pretty interesting, especially in light of Bob having recently finished his epic, eleven part examination of God of War. It’s a panel done by GoW’s lead programmer, Tim Moss, which is mostly about programming, but also the relationship between the technical and the creative sides of the project. The insights into the process of creating what is, if not everyone’s taste, on of the biggest games of last year. I would really recommend that it is paired with David Jaffe’s Q and A session with Lorne Lanning (the Oddworld guy), also published by GDC Radio.
Tim Moss vs. David Jaffe
Excellent selection, Charles. I’ve only listened to the Jaffe so far, but it’s an enlightening piece, and not just because it confirms many of my suspicions as to what went into the design of GoW (I knew “Ico” was an influence! I just knew it!). Frankly, a lot of it sounded fairly intimidating and discouraging about the games industry, as it paints a fairly bleak picture of being loathed, despised and altogether disliked by crewmembers when you’re in the position of creator/designer/director. Then again, I guess that means on the plus-side that you don’t need to be very good with people skills. All my life I’ve been loathed, despised and altogether disliked by my peers, so maybe that just means it’d be a natural fit for me!
At the same time, though, I understand your fascination with Flash games better than ever. If we’re going to be a gaming New Wave, we’re going to have to deal with the gaming equivalent of the 16mm material in order to firmly grip our own camera-stylo…