Where legends go. The life of wonderful developers after leaving the gaming industry
Not so long ago, Hideo Kodzima said that he would create new games until the end of his days. It is easy to understand him. Who wants to quit your favorite business, which, in addition, brings prosperity, world fame and love of millions?
And yet, not only ordinary employees of the studios, whose dismissals we regularly hear, but prominent developers sometimes part with the game industry. Even the patriarchs, who stood at its origins, gamemeracies, who created universally recognized masterpieces, and the leading scriptwriters of the cult games now and then decide to move away or try themselves in something new.
Why do they leave? Where they are arranged? Does it happen that participation in the development of hits is only a step, and not a career crown? And as some of those who, it would seem, have forever left the world of games, years later they return to it?
We conducted our own investigation, talked with those who became famous first in the industry, and then beyond its borders, and are ready to give answers to these questions. We did not set ourselves the task of telling absolutely about all the developers who somehow parted with the game industry, but chose the most interesting cases and episodes.
Honored rest
The game industry is still very young, and even many honored veterans are full of strength, ideas and with might and main continue to create. It is enough to look at what fire in the eyes tell about their new projects Siger Miyamoto or Warren Spector to understand – they live and breathe games, simply do not think of themselves without them. It is difficult to imagine them and other famous gamemeraciders indulging in sweet idleness.
It is also difficult because prominent developers who simply went to rest are very little. The title of the most honored "pensioner" of the industry, perhaps, should belong to Hiroshi Yamauti – even if he personally he never created games. But it was he, having headed in 1949 Nintendo , turned it into a world -class company. It was Yamauti who was one of the first in Japan to see the great future of the video game, began to sell the prefix in the country of the rising sun Magnavox Odyssey , Then he already entered the American market with his own arcade machines … And, of course, when Nintendo issued its first consoles, the head of the company held a hand on the pulse and personally made key decisions – starting from the choice of the media of the information and ending with the coloring of the prefix. Finally, Yamauti has tracked all the games that the company developed for many years, and it depended on one word, received the project green light or black label.
[[Bullet]] Yamauti remains the largest shareholder of Nintendo.
Only in 2002, having spent more than half a century near the company, Hiroshi Yamauti left his post, losing it to Sator Ivate. For another three years, Yamauti took a place in the Council of Directors and, only fully making sure that he left his brainchild in safe hands, finally retired at the age of 77. At the same time, Hiroshi refused the pension payments that he had considered to him about 10 million dollars, considering that this money can be found more worthy use than to dust on the accounts of a person who is already among the richest people of Japan.
At a much less venerable age, they chose to forget the word "work" Ken and Robert Williamsa. They stood at the origins of graphic adventures, founded the famous Sierra Entertainment And there were among the first who demonstrated how developers can turn their talent for millions of dollars (more about the Williams career, read in Gamemany No. 182).
[[Bullet]] Ken Williams leads a separate blog located at Kensblog.com, which is dedicated to them with Robert Numerous Travel.
The harbinger of farewell of spouses with the industry was the decision to sell Sierra company CUC International. The transaction, estimated at one and a half billion dollars, took place in 1996, and then it was unlikely that anyone could have suggested that Williams soon said goodbye to the world of games. After all, both were barely over forty-the age is by no means pensioning by any standards. True, Ken immediately announced that he was leaving the post of executive director of Sierra, and remained in the company only as a consultant, and even then only for a year. Soon after her husband, Robert left the studio – immediately after completing work on King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity , became, as it turned out, her last game.
[[Bullet]] Bach spent twenty -two years in Microsoft.
Williams decided that after almost two decades of continuous labors, it finally came to relax and live for themselves. Fortunately, over the years, they earned a very decent state, which allowed them to practically not deny themselves anything. Once Roberta's enthusiasm for adventure games led to the birth of the first project of spouses. Robert initiated their new loud enterprise – on their own yacht, the couple went on a trip through the Atlantic. Subsequently, Ken wrote a book based on this voyage Crossing An Ocean Under Power , which itself characterizes as "a guide for dummies crossing the ocean".
Since then, the spouses have been enjoying the fruits of the former success with might and main, they have been traveling a lot and are not at all gathering, despite the hopes of devoted fans, to create games again. However, Ken still continues to do a little business and leads the project Talkspot.Com , which offers simple tools for creating sites.
In recent years, Williamsov decided to follow the example of Robert Bach, who led the entertainment and devices for many years Microsoft , in this capacity the creation and development of both Xbox. In the spring of 2010, Bach, who at that time was only forty -nine years old, announced that he was leaving the company. He did not look for another job, but he could not blame for inaction. Now it is part of the US Olympic Committee and the Board of Trustees of the organization "Clubs of Boys and Girls of America".
On the verge
The list of prominent retirement developers is very small. The industry is much more likely to lose leading experts due to the fact that they decide to change their occupation. Moreover, as numerous examples show, the development of games is a good “school”, having passed which you can become successful in many other areas.
One of the first to try to demonstrate this by their own example was the founder Atari Nolan Bushnell. In 1978, the company was preparing for the release of consoles Atari 2600 And she was in dire need of means to get money. Bushnell had to sell the studio Warner Communications for $ 28 million.
[[Bullet]] Bushnell is sure that the Brainrush project will radically change modern education.
In less than two years, the disagreements with the new leadership led to the leaving Nolan from Atari, and in fact – from the world of video games. True, Bushnell never moved away from him, almost all his further projects were somehow related to entertainment and high technologies. The first new enterprise was the Pizzeria network Chuck E. Cheese , in which customers could not only satisfy hunger, but also have fun, for example, playing Arcades from Atari.
Along the way, Bushnell founded one of the first business incubators Catalyst Technologies , In which in the early 1980s the most diverse projects ripened-from a company for the production of children's toys to a studio engaged in digitizing cards for automobile navigation systems.
A few years later, the undertakings of Bushnella had financial problems, and he, one after another, sold his companies, which, however, did not cool his passions for entrepreneurship, which he is happy to be and to this day. Moreover, among his recent projects are several related to games at once. In recent years, he took part in the creation of resources Anti-Angingames.Com And Brainrush.Com. The first offers special games, designed to help older people keep tenacious memory, and the second is a selection of educational mini-games.
[[Bullet]] Pac-Man entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful arcade machine.
About such a business grip as Bushnell, the creator of the immortal PAC-Man Torah Ivatani could only dream. He came up with one of the most successful games in history, but he himself was not at all enriched at the unfading popularity of the yellow swallow. No interest from games, no multimillion -dollar bonuses Ivatani from the authorities Namco never waited. On the other hand, despite the fact that all his subsequent projects could not even remotely approach the success of PAC-Man, the Torah enjoyed confidence in the company and occupied one of the leading posts in it. Since 2004, Ivatani began teaching, lectures on gamedes to Japanese students, and three years later he left his native company to completely devote himself to the new business. He founded a college of gaming design in the walls of the Tokyo Polytechnic University, where he shares his rich experience with novice colleagues.
[[Bullet]] In 2010, the brand, together with her husband, founded the new Loot Drop studio specializing in games for social networks.
The wife of John Romero Brend Bratuet, known for the original, also went to education for several years Jagged Alliance and the series Wizardry. She always happily agreed to give lectures for gamedesers, and several years ago she completely moved away from creating her own games, heading the faculty of interactive design and developing games in the college of art and design in the savannah. Along the way, the brand came up with several board games, and recently returned to computer. Together with her husband, she founded the studio Loot drop , which specializes in projects for social networks. Last year, the brand, along with another glorified veteran of the gaming industry, Tom Hall, planned to take up a new big game – old -school RPG Shaker , – But it was not possible to raise money for her. This, however, did not discourage the brand and hall, and they promised to present another major project in the foreseeable future.
[Bullet]] Although Crawford failed to raise money for Balance of the Planet, he still hopes to release the game.
I never broke with the world of games, even having started with their development, and Chris Crawford is the author of one of the main strategies of the 1980s Balance of Power And the founder Game Developers Conference. His last games have been released more than twenty years ago, and since then he mainly worked on special software to create interactive stories. In addition, Crawford managed to release several books revealing the secrets of the game design, and last year he tried to take up the old. He went out on Kickstarter With a project of serious environmental strategy Balance of the Planet , But the project did not collect ten percent of the required amount.
[[Bullet]] To create special effects in his short paintings, O’Flarty is used by the well -known Unreal Engine 3.
But another eminent developer is one of the founders Ion Storm , And subsequently the art director GEARS of WAR Jerry O’Flartort – I decided to go into more cinema. In 2007 it became known that he was leaving Epic Games and will become the director of the film based on the animated series Thundercats. Alas, the project died at the preparatory stage, so O’Flarty had to limit himself to less ambitious productions – he shot several clips for Linkin Park and participated in the creation of rollers with living actors for the mechano-symptu Hawken. So the full parting with the games at O’Flarty has not yet happened, however, and he had not yet made a loud name in the new field.
Star path
Michael Stacpol says what it feels like to return to the game industry after a twenty -year break
The name of Michael Stacpol, is likely, will not tell young fans of computer games anything. He began his career as a downside of 1977, when Steppola himself was barely twenty years old. More recently, I went out Dungeons & Dragons, Her triumph has become a catalyst for the rapid development of board games, and Stacpopol has plunged into their development. In particular, he actively participated in the creation of a role -playing game in those years Tunnels and Trolls , and also released his own system Merceenaries, Spies and Private Eyes.
Soon, the developers of computer games became interested in a young designer with a solid track record. Several studios invited him as a consultant, and then Stekpol was noticed by Brian Fargo himself, who called Michael and his colleague Ken Saint Andre to the team working on a post-apocalyptic role-playing game Wasteland. As Stacpol recalls, the game turned out to be so bright and revolutionary just because the designers worked on it as if on a hunger. First of all, they thought about the gameplay and only then looked back at technical restrictions and came up with how to overcome them. In addition, Wasteland precisely at Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes inherited the basic mechanics based on skills.
Stacpopol worked with the company for several years InterPlay And he performed a designer The Bard’s Tale 3: Thief of Fate , as well as a pair of games based on the "Star Way". But at the same time, Michael began to try his hand in fiction. The first fame was brought to him by books on the universe BatTletech , And soon he began to create his own worlds and gradually completely went into literature. Moreover, the author of Stacpol was surprisingly prolific – today he has about forty novels on his account, and now he is known primarily as a science fiction writer, not a game designer.
Nevertheless, when Brian Fargo took up the Wasteland sequel and began to again assemble the old star team of developers, Steppol could not stay away. Especially for our magazine, Michael told what it was like to return to the industry after almost a twenty -year break and take up the continuation of the game that celebrated a quarter -century anniversary.
Michael, you were a very successful game designer when you decided to try yourself as a writer. Was it difficult to dare to take this step and leave the world of games in which you have already made a name for yourself?
Given that I wanted to become a writer for many years, the decision was given to me without much difficulty. But even if you discard the fact that I went for my old dream … Yes, there are many games whose characters cause us genuine emotions and empathy, but the screenwriter almost never has the opportunity to focus on the evolution of the character of the hero. For me, this is the most important thing in history. In books, I can focus on the development of the images of heroes, and therefore it is more interesting to write to me than to engage in game design.
You returned to the development of games after almost a twenty -year break. Which, in your opinion, has changed in the industry over the years, except for technology?
Of course, now there are much fewer restrictions, but at the same time, the requests of the audience have also increased. Soundtrack, advanced graphics, full voice acting – now there is practically no way to do without it. It is much more attentive than twenty years ago, to monitor what competitors do and try to use the usual gaming mechanics in a new way. In general, according to my sensations, the scale of projects and the time that takes them has increased significantly, and at the same time increased the intensity of the team's work. Today, the process of creating games is very reminiscent of the shooting of a Hollywood blockbuster, and becoming part of this system is very difficult.
What is the most difficult thing in creating a continuation of the game that saw the light a quarter of a century ago?
Perhaps the need to please both old fans and the new generation. Of course, we must maintain the spirit of the original game, but at the same time make the sequel relevant for the day of today. For example, during the first Wasteland, players understood the value of such “artifacts” as video cassettes. Today, for the majority, they are nothing more than a memory, but given when a nuclear war occurred according to Wasteland chronology, we cannot take and add gadgets like iPod’ys to the game world. Or take our political jokes on the Reagan administration – today few will appreciate them. Therefore, now we have to plunge deeper into history and culture in order to find allusias, which, on the one hand, will understand modern players, on the other hand, they will make it possible to understand the old -timers that this is the same world that they loved twenty -five years ago.
One hundred roads
There are few well -known developers who would have been able to engage in creativity exclusively throughout his career. Responsible leadership positions, which have to solve business issues in full swing, are almost always successful. Is it worth it to be surprised that retired developers often find themselves in business?
This is what happened to one of the founding fathers of a series of role-playing games Wizardry Robert Woodhead. Saying goodbye to games, he worked as a programmer for some time and took part in the creation of a pair of early antiviruses for Macintosh , and then Robert decided to do business.
[[Bullet]] Robert and Natsumi turned their wedding into an adventure game, the course of which depended on the solutions of the guests.
In 1988, he founded the company Animeigo , who became one of the first in the United States of the distributors of anime and Japanese cinema. Woodhead moved to the country of the rising sun for several years and married a translator Natsumi Wecki, who is now heading the company's company. Moreover, it seems that Wekki copes well with his work-of all the pioneers of the American anime market, only Animeigo managed to stay in business to this day. Robert himself is now mainly busy with network projects like a service that helps to promote sites Selfpromotion.Com. And in his free time, a former developer, along with his sons, makes combat robots who even took part in national competitions.
The path of Woodhead – Andrew Grinberg, which was more unusual for the former gamemeraseer, chose a path for himself. He left the studio Sir-Tech After the conflict with her leadership, which even resulted in a trial. This did not stop Greenberg for some time to stay in the industry and become one of the authors of the series Star saga. But the story of the departure from Sir-Tech continued to finish over Greenberg, especially since many of his colleagues found themselves in similar unpleasant situations. This was unlikely to engage in jurisprudence and become a specialist in the field of patent law. Greenberg recalls that when he began to work, complete chaos reigned in the field of computer law, and he tried to bring at least a little order.
[[Bullet]] Harding admits that he does not really like to work. Here travel, play or wander around the network is another matter.
I found an equally original career for himself after leaving the world of games and Matt Harding. He gained his first fame as a journalist of the publication Gameweek Magazin , and then worked in Activision And Pandemic Studios over games like Battlezone , Dark Reign 2 And Destroy All Humans!. However, he almost did not engage in the last – Matt only came up with a basic idea, but then decided that he should not spend two years of his life on creating a game that boils down to the murder of everything that moves.
Harding went to travel and starred in the dancing with local residents against the backdrop of all kinds of attractions. Videos Where the hell is matt? became a hit of YouTube, collecting more than 60 million views. This brought him not only fame, but also financial dividends when Visa invited Harding to cooperate to help in preparing an advertising campaign Travel Happy.
[[Bullet]] Bioware also had the third founder – Augustine https://sister-site.org/slots-dreamer/ Yip – with whom Greg and Ray studied together at the Alberta Medical School. Shortly before the release of Baldur’s Gate, Augustine chose to return to medical practice.
A similar lesson chose for himself one of the founders BioWare Greg Zeschuk after leaving his native studio. He immediately announced that he was going to spend more time with his family and friends, and his new projects will be connected with the fact that he, like games, loves with all his heart, with beer. At the beginning of this year, the first issues of a weekly web show came out The Beer Diaries , in which Zeschuk interviews famous brewers, simultaneously tasting their products. Here you think about whether the creation of first -class games should be called the work of a dream?
Another of the founders of Bioware, Ray Muzik, who left the company at the same time as his friend, chose less extravagant activity for himself. Muzika said that he had achieved the games in the world of everything that he could dream about, and wants to try himself as a businessman and investor in other areas, as well as do something socially useful. In particular, he founded an investment company Threshold Impact and joined organizations Inovia Capital And The A100 , supporting technological startups.
Scandalous farewell
In 1994, programmers John Karmak, John Romero, Gam -designer Tom Hall and artist Edrian Karmak founded a company whose significance for the world of computer games is very difficult to overestimate, – ID Software. The first three always remained in sight, and their names are still in hearing, but Edrian, on the contrary, preferred to stay in the shadows and made the general public only when he left the company in 2005, slamming the door loudly in parting.
It was originally announced that Karmak wants to devote himself to painting and this is what his departure from ID Software is associated with this. However, a few months later, Edrian announced that he was actually fired in order to force him to sell his share of the company for the price of much less real value. The offended artist went to court, but in the end the conflict was quietly settled without any proceedings, and Edrian finally disappeared from the radar of the gaming industry.
The art of telling stories
All 2012, it went to Bioware under the sign of personnel losses: back in February, long before leaving the company Zeschuk and Muziki, it was left by the screenwriter Drew Karpishin. He joined the Canadian studio in 2000 and immediately joined the team Baldur’s Gate 2 , And later he acted one of the main screenwriters Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , Jade Empire and first two parts Mass Effect.
Arriving in BioWare, Karpishin already wrote his debut novel – company Wizards of the Coast held a competition in search of new authors for books in the universe Forgotten Realms , And Drew was among the winners. I have a names in her ranks of the writer, albeit a beginner, the studio entrusted him to compose a novelization Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal. After the release of the first two novels that saw the light in 2001, Karpishin temporarily suspended his writer's career and resumed it only five years later, when he was called to write books on Star Wars. Obviously, the people responsible for the fate of the distant galaxy impressed his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
[[Bullet]] Karpishin’s account is already ten novels. All – according to the popular intensity universal.
Since 2006, he, continuing to compose scripts for BioWare Games, writes books with might and main – the novelization of the same saga George Lucas, as well as works on the universe of the Mass Effect. It seemed that Karpishin managed to perfectly combine work in the studio with his own work, but he considered it differently and in February last year left the company to completely devote himself to writing.
Soon, the Mass Effect 3 release was released, the final of which caused a wave of fan indignation, and the theory became very popular with fans that the initially Karpishin conceived everything completely differently, and his successors could not withstand the quality bar. The writer himself from such speculations rejects, not without self -irony, noting that many of his novels also criticize the greased endings. However, Karpishin did not completely break with games. Now he is working on fantasy trilogy Children of Fire , whose action will unfold in the world invented by the author himself. But this did not prevent Drew from writing a novel Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation , which came out at the end of last year.
Karpishin's desire to focus on literary work is easy to understand. In BioWare, he remained just one of the members of the big team, albeit important. But in the role of a writer, he can gain his own glory, which no one will have to share with anyone. A great example of this is the career of Raymond Benson. At first he ended up in the industry industry, but he was soon called to engage in computer. The studio was the first to notice him Mindscape , Where he composed scripts for text adventures based on the films about James Bond and Stephen King's novel "Fog".
After that, he left the industry briefly and devoted several years to teaching, but in the early 1990s Benson got a family and, in order to better provide it, returned to the development of games. He headed the scriptwriter team Ultima 7 , and then as a leading designer worked on Return of the Phantom And Dark Seed 2. For a second time to say goodbye to Benson's games prompted an offer, from which he simply could not refuse. He always adored James Bond and back in 1984 wrote a real encyclopedia of agent 007. And in 1996, Benson was chosen as the new author of Bondiana, and Raymond, of course, could not miss such an opportunity.
[[Bullet]] Benes of Benson includes books based on series such as Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Homefront and Hitman.
Today, Benson has several dozen novels on his account, completely took place as a writer and is mainly known in that capacity. At the same time, a strong ties still connect him with the world of games. He has not been writing novels about Bond for a long time, but game novelizations come out of his pen with enviable regularity.
Naturally, retired developers can find a new calling not only in the literature, but also in other areas of the entertainment industry. "Dad" Wing Commander Chris Roberts never hid that he loves cinema no less than games, and not to notice it was very difficult. As soon as the technology allowed, in Roberts’s games, videos with living actors immediately appeared, and not by any, but real Hollywood stars of the scale of Malcolm MacDauell and Mark Hamilla. Moreover, Roberts personally undertook to direct Wing Commander’s film adaptation … But this only confirmed the old Maxim about the cake that began to drag boots: nothing good came out of this venture, and the film was as bad as the games were good.
An unsuccessful picture actually became the swan of the song of the Wing Commander universe, especially since Roberts himself was already engaged in a completely new project. Napoleon would not be shy. Space Simulator Frelancer He promised us thousands of star systems, almost limitless freedom and the ability to in the most radically affect the appearance of the universe with his actions.
It sounded great, but Chris did not calculate the strength of his team: the budget grew up, the deadlines were moved again and again, and many ideas could not be realized in any way. It became clear to Millennium that the resources of the studio Digital Anvil Not enough to bring the game to mind, and in order to save it, Chris sold the company Microsoft , And he stepped aside, limiting himself to the role of a consultant.
After the release of Freelancer, which turned out to be much less bold and revolutionary than Roberts planned, the game designer decided to tie up with games and in 2004 again went to conquer the "Dream Factory" ..
Unlimited vacation
Two key employees at the end of last year under the end of last year Epic Games. In early October, the news of the departure of Cliff Blazhinsky, who worked in the studio for two decades and became a public face, thundered in early October. The reason is banal – even the most interesting and favorite work exhausts over time, and the usual vacation no longer saves, here Cliffi Bi and took a long break. As Blezhinsky himself admits, now he is sleeping until noon, lying around the pool all day, riding riding or just walking with a dog and watching American football on TV.
True, for a long time to indulge in idleness not in his character, and therefore he not only rests, but also tries himself as an investor, and also thinks about ideas for new games simultaneously. Yes, Blezhinski does not hide that his return to the game industry is only a matter of time, but what will it be – the cliff does not yet know. Own studio or work on a large publisher? Another blockbuster of scale GEARS of WAR or a small experimental project? Personal computers, new generation consoles or portable devices? Only one Cliffi Bee does not doubt: it will definitely be the author’s work, a game in which the corporate handwriting of its creator is immediately recognized. In general, something like BIOSHOCK From Ken Levin.
And in December, Michael Capps also resigned, who had been the post of president of the company for about ten years. The birth of a child was distinguished by such a step, Capps decided to devote all his time to the baby and so far forget about work. However, Michael remained a member of the Board of Directors of Epic Games and the studio consultant, so that, it is likely, when his son grows up, Capps will return to active activity.
Traveling there and back
The Hollywood stage of the biography of Chris Roberts can hardly be called impressive. True, he no longer allowed such deafening failures as Wing Commander. Instead, Chris took up producing and in this capacity worked on the films “The Punisher”, “The Happy Number of Slevin” and “Armory Baron”. The track record, frankly, is not the most outstanding. In the world of computer games, Roberts was a star, and in Hollywood he got the role of a craftsman rather. Is it worth it to be surprised that he thought about returning?
[[Bullet]] Several years ago Murphy did not think that he could return to the development of games.
In 2011, Chris founded a new company Cloud Imperium Games Corporation , Having promised to release the spiritual heir to Wing Commander and Frelancer. A year later, Roberts turned to fans for the support of the project Star Citizen , And they did not let down, having sacrificed a total of more than eight million dollars. It remains only to hope that the gameparateer is enough to realize all that he conceived ten years ago when he took on Frealacer.
It is much more complicated than most colleagues, after saying goodbye to the games, one of the “two guys from Andromeda” – Scott Murphy. Primarily because he left the industry by no means of his own free will and was not ready for this. At the very beginning of 1999, Sierra Entertainment, which he gave about fifteen years of his life, began to massively dismiss employees, and Murphy was among the first to be without work. He was a self -taught, formal education of Scott was limited to a standard school course, and adventure games that brought him fame, in those years most publishers seemed to be a dying genre. As a result, Murphy had to return to his native Alabama and, in order to help the family, take up a variety of unskilled work.
[[Bullet]] more than 150,000 people donated money for Star Citizen.
A few years later, discussing a possible return to the development of games, Murphy said with annoyance that in the modern industry with its strict requirements and formalism there was no place for him. However, the readiness of players to finance the projects of their favorite authors changed the position of Murphy, and his story, although sad, got a chance to get a happy finale. Last spring, “Guys with Andromeda” announced reunion and went to Kickstarter with a new adventure game, which was collected about half a million dollars – a little more than required. So almost ten years after the forced resignation Scott Murphy still returns.
[[Bullet]] The first game of Shaya, called the Frog, was released in 1983, when the Gamdeseman was only sixteen years old.
How successful the second coming to the Roberts and Murphy industry will be, despite their successes in raising funds, we can only guess. And here is the creator Another World And Heart of Darkness Eric Shayi has already proved that spending several years outside the industry, and then triumphantly returning to it is quite possible. At the end of the last century, he moved away from the development of games to devote time to other types of creativity – drawing and photographs. Only in 2005, Shayi reminded himself of fans of games, taking part in the transfer of Another World to Game Boy Advance , and then to other mobile platforms. But Eric’s full return took place only six years later – with the release, albeit not impeccable, but still a very outstanding simulator of God From Dust. After that, Shayi immediately took up the next project, about which, however, until he prefers not to spread ..
It cannot but rejoice that talents such as Roberts and Shayi, without whom the game world has impoverished, are again ready to give us their new creations. Of course, it’s a little sorry that not all “retirees” are ready to follow in their footsteps and some talents of the industry probably lost irrevocably. But in any case, their old masterpieces will forever stay with us.
Handyman
Andy Gavin, founder of Naughty Dog, talks about literary experience, about the possibility of returning to industry and about why the games will never replace the movie
In 2004 studio Naughty Dog celebrated the twentieth anniversary and said goodbye to her founders – Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin. By that time, both were no longer just successful developers, but also experienced businessmen, so it is hardly surprised that almost immediately partners organized a new business, starting the application Flektor , helping users of social networks exchange photos, videos and other information.
In 2007, the company acquired Fox Interactive Media , And Rubin and Gavin were soon founded a new studio – Monkey Gods , – Enharged development for social networks. After a couple of years, friends parted: Rubin took the presidency ThQ , which, alas, could not save from collapse, and Gavin by that time retrained in the writer.
In 2011, Gavin's debut novel was released – dark fantasy The Darkening Dream , And last December, the second book arrived – Untimed , fiction about travel travel. In the last issue of the magazine (the article “A dog was eaten?») We told you about the wonderful evolutionary path of Naughty Dog, then we interviewed Gavin, in which he answered several of our questions about his career, books and games. From the very beginning, we planned to use part of the interview in this material.
You have repeatedly said that from a young age you dreamed of becoming a writer. Why didn't you try yourself in this field at once, how did you leave the Naughty Dog?
To write, a certain supply of emotions and energy is required, and immediately after leaving the studio, I was extremely exhausted. When you work for more than ten years at 80-100 hours a week, this outcome is unlikely to be surprised. By the time I felt that creative forces were returning to me, we had already launched Flektor, and I had to wait for time to write books.
Experience in the game industry helped you in your literary undertakings?
I admit, I found it not without surprise that the composition of the book is not so much different from any other creative process. Like the developer, the writer often has to return to the already finished material and make editing, as well as monitor many small details. So my previous skills were definitely useful to me.
Is there a chance to see your books in Russian?
I would really like my novels to translate as many languages as possible. But, given their number, I can’t pay for transfers on my own. And even more so I can not evaluate the final quality, because, for example, in Russian I know five words-those that were remembered from films or news. It remains to wait until some Russian publishing house is interested in my books and buy the right to release them.
And you don't miss the world of games? They would not want to do development again and, say, make a new part of the adventure of Crash Bandikut?
I still play a lot – especially in World of Warcraft , And, I admit, I have a few ideas from which good games could turn out. But their implementation will require a large team, and now I feel quite comfortable, working alone on my books. As for Crash Bandikut, they constantly ask me questions about him, but the rights to him have not belonged to me for a long time. I would be happy to see a new game about Crash worthy of his glory, but it will appear or not – I'm afraid it does not depend on me.
There is a point of view that books, cinema and television series will eventually take about the same place that the theater is given today, and the locomotive of the entertainment industry will be exclusively games. What do you think, such a prospect is real?
Perhaps I will argue. Games and works with a linear narrative, whether books or films, with all the apparent similarity are very different.
In linear stories at the forefront is a drama. By this – in a broad sense – I understand the conflict between the desires or goals of the hero and the circumstances in which he finds himself. In good stories, this attracts internal growth or character development.
In the games in the first place is gameplay. Yes, we love worlds and characters, they are, of course, important, but, in general, it depends on gameplay whether the project will be popular. And the gameplay, in fact, is tied to repetitions, which is not at all bad and often gives us a lot of pleasure … But it is contrary to the traditions of narration in literature or cinema, where staticity is unacceptable.
Of course, in terms of the story of the game, they have recently taken a big step forward, and the boundaries of the possible continue to move up. In such series as Uncharted , An excellent plot is organically combined with fascinating gameplay. But there are many types of stories that you simply cannot tell in the format of the game. Try to imagine The King’s Speech in the form of a game-“Shock the controller to reduce stuttering”-it is unlikely that something will come of it.