Interview Warren Spector Interview on IGN Unfiltered

[Infinitron]

Tags: Deus Ex; Deus Ex: Invisible War; Ion Storm; Looking Glass Studios; Origin Systems; OtherSide Entertainment; System Shock; System Shock 3; Thief: Deadly Shadows; Thief: The Dark Project; Ultima Underworld; Underworld Ascendant; Warren Spector

With Matt Barton's show seemingly on semi-hiatus, IGN Unfiltered has unexpectedly become one of the best sources for in-depth RPG developer interviews. This month they interviewed Deus Ex creator and industry veteran Warren Spector. This time, the interview was published as one long 65 minute video. It runs the gamut of Warren's career, starting from his beginnings as a D&D enthusiast who one day had a fateful meeting with Richard Garriott. The interviewer spends some time on Ultima Underworld, System Shock and Thief, but the bulk of the interview is dedicated to two topics - the development of the original Deus Ex (interesting) and Warren's lifelong relationship with Disney (not so interesting, but Warren strongly disagrees). Did you know that when Warren received the offer from John Romero to join Ion Storm, he was literally moments away from signing a contract with EA to develop a Command & Conquer RPG?

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The interviewer spends only a few minutes on Warren's latest work with OtherSide Entertainment, but he does have a couple of things to say about it. First, like of all Warren's games, System Shock 3 will do something that no other game has done before, and he's already figured what that is. Second, Underworld Ascendant's vertical slice will be coming out "soon" and it looks totally different and much better than what we've seen until now. We shall see, Warren, we shall see.

 

[Jazz_]

Fairly interesting but for the most part he said what he had already said in other interviews/talks.
His obsession with Disney shit is kinda creepy tbh.

 

[Bohrain]

System Shock 3 will do something that no other game has done before, and he's already figured what that is.

Gay sex with hats on?

 

[Junmarko]

With Matt Barton's show seemingly on semi-hiatus

When you put getting a haircut on hiatus, you can safely assume most things in said person's life will be on semi-hiatus.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

C&C RPG would have been something!

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Growing increasingly pessimistic about Otherside's potential output.
And I used to be a Looking Glass fanboy.

 

[cpmartins]

I see they couldn't find an image from one of the Thief games he was actually a developer in. Fuckin A.
edit: Nevermind. It's ign.

 

[luj1]

he was literally moments away from signing a contract to develop a Command & Conquer RPG

 

[Fenix]

There is no single thing that is worth to talk about. (c)

 

[Chainsaw Gutsfuck]

Spector has been consistent on his approval for systems that allow the player to overcome encounters in ways the designer hadn't anticipate(see for example @ 31:58–34:16), which is actually quite different from the way immersive Sims were designed.

Creating encounters that allow for multiple solutions is certainly what these games strived for, but Spector's approach practically boils down to letting the player break the game in ways unforseen from the designer. Concepts as game balance, difficulty curve, necessary for creating a compelling play experience, cannot be implemented if the designer can not anticipate possible exploits of his systems.

One of his favorite examples is a bug in Deus Ex were you could stick grenades to walls and then hop on them, creating a ladder; What fascinates him is that the exploit seems to make sense with the gameworld's internal logic.

Letting the player using his tools in unorthodox ways is definitely interesting design, but the designer has to be aware of this, otherwise we end up with an exploit that can be used as a successful tactic to bypass game content. Spector's approach can very easily lead to broken design.

 

[Ash]

Spector has been consistent on his approval for systems that allow the player to overcome encounters in ways the designer hadn't anticipate(see for example @ 31:58–34:16), which is actually quite different from the way immersive Sims were designed.

Creating encounters that allow for multiple solutions is certainly what these games strived for, but Spector's approach practically boils down to letting the player break the game in ways unforseen from the designer. Concepts as game balance, difficulty curve, necessary for creating a compelling play experience, cannot be implemented if the designer can not anticipate possible exploits of his systems.

One of his favorite examples is a bug in Deus Ex were you could stick grenades to walls and then hop on them, creating a ladder; What fascinates him is that the exploit seems to make sense with the gameworld's internal logic.

Letting the player using his tools in unorthodox ways is definitely interesting design, but the designer has to be aware of this, otherwise we end up with an exploit that can be used as a successful tactic to bypass game content. Spector's approach can very easily lead to broken design.

I agree wholeheartedly. Emergent gameplay can be great, but it can also just be a plain bug or a glitch. I consider LAM climbing (and grenade jumping and grenade riding) in Deus Ex a glitch that doesn't really add anything positive. This is something that should be caught in development/playtesting and ironed out or adapted sensibly, not discovered post-release and hailed as a feature.

There are better examples of emergent gameplay in these games. Ones that don't potentially ruin challenge in many instances, nor influence build choices, balance of paths and C&C in a negative way etc.

 

[ciox]

LAM climbing is such a strange example anyway, Half-Life had it with laser tripmines 2 years before Deus Ex and it looks functionally identical. You are even pushed towards it since the easiest way to get past an enemy laser tripmine at some point in the singleplayer campaign is to just jump right on top of it to avoid the laser, since they stick out much more than LAMs.

But Half-Life is supposed to be one of those bad, mindless, linear games that are the opposite of immersive sims, so it doesn't exist as far as these discussions go.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

If creating encounters that allow for multiple solutions is Spector's trademark, and as he says, he's most proud of Deus Ex for it, then his work is certainly not very influential. What games have that?

Hitman, the last DE... where else? Obviously Fallout, but it came before DE.
Bioware's dialogue lines? Deus Ex did choices during the action, so no

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

pardon me?

whats there to disagree... wtih?