StarCraft: Orcs in space go down in flames - Page 4

On September 28 2012 08:08 HawaiianPig wrote:
The more I read these blogs the more it's clear that game development in this era was dominated by extremely skilled individuals facing the growing pains of a burgeoning industry. It seems it's resulted in a lot of accidental hit games.

I mean... I especially love that Starcraft was rebooted on account of fear induced from a fake demo. Fantastic.

But more specifically, every time I read a story like this, about the development of older games, I always notice one key theme: that developers were in the business of making games and not in the business of making games.

Although guys like Allen Adham would push development cycles into strict timeframes or push for the development of more casual games, it seems that the sterile "maximize sales at all costs" approach would not bleed into the actual content of a game. There was no "What if soccer moms played this game?" focus group in order to make the game more accessible.

There was simply: "Make an RTS game set in space"

And that's what we got.

On September 30 2012 07:59 EdSlyB wrote:
Holy shit! Fake demos O.O
Even W3 had one.

That's a great blog. I read the previous entry but not the most recent. Thanks for make me notice it.

On September 29 2012 05:21 Osmoses wrote:
I love this blog. And what I take away most from it is the power of small yet talented groups as opposed to large and beurocratic businesses when it comes to making games. Blizzard, like many other game companies, made gold. Now they, like many other game companies, make shit. But lo and behold, the small-scale indie-scene is on fire.

On October 01 2012 11:05 jobebob wrote:


I don't see how Blizzard makes crap games nowadays. I think it's more an issue of nostalgia clouding your views. SC2 is a great game hands down. D3 is a great game hands down. WOW is a great game hands down.

The one thing that has changed is the amount of money required to make a AAA game--i.e when 100mil is on the line, you can bet your ass business people (sadly) will be involved. Indie games are low risk thus can take a chance, which in turn is giving us some truly awesome games.

On October 02 2012 01:54 JieXian wrote:


you're absolutely right. I don't see how our generation of radio music is crappy. I think it's more of an issue of nostalgia coulding your views. Bieber is a great artist hands down. Minaj is a great artist hands down. Gaga is a great artist hands down.

The one thing that has changed is the amount of money required to market nobody into an AAA fame level artist. You can bet your ass business people are involved with a shitload of cash involved. Indie bands are low risk thus can experiment with different sounds, which in turn is giving us some truly awesome shit.


Equating them is an unfair exaggeration but I couldn't stand it because that's who you sound like.

On September 30 2012 00:10 Biff The Understudy wrote:

Yep.

People were trying to make a good game. So it was a great success and they made a lot of money. Now people try to make a lot of money and therefore to make a good game. Can't blame them. They have shareholders, huge financial investments on their shoulders, enormous competition... Of course the former option produces something potentially extraordinary, the other one produces... well, you know.

The best game I have seen in the last years is Dwarf Fortress. It's a completely non-lucrative project. No marketing, no shareholders pressure, no commercial strategy. Just guys trying to make something as good as possible. And if less people plays it because it is not user friendly, well, fuck it, it doesn't even matter.

More money =/= better perspectives of awesomness. Often, it's exactly the opposite. People should remember that, including when thinking about esports. And that's also something I witness every day in my field, which is music. Britney Spears, or Lady Gaga are supposed to make money and be succesfull, so they do their best to make good music. Ray Charles, Wagner or Bob Dylan wanted desperately to make good music, and they eventually became succesfull. I think we will remember Dylan for being a great artist, and ady Gaga for being very popular. It doesn't even matter that Wagner made money, and it doesn't really matter what kind of music Britney Spear does.