Tavernking
Don't believe his lies
Tyranicon
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Are there any true geniuses in RPG development?
- Thread starter Tyranicon
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Tyranicon
A Memory of Eternity
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I'm just a failed novelist who don't want to go back to the wagie cagie.
Anonymous Wife Scholar
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Do not worry anon it is okay anon because you are a good strong friend anon anon and I do love many cute wifes anon! I do! You are a good strong friend anon!
Van-d-all
Erudite
Maybe Tarn Adams.
InSight
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genius (n.)
late 14c., "tutelary or moral spirit" who guides and governs an individual through life, from Latin genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit, incarnation; wit, talent;" also "prophetic skill; the male spirit of a gens," originally "generative power" (or "inborn nature"), from PIE *gen(e)-yo-, from root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
The sense of "characteristic disposition" of a person is from 1580s. The meaning "person of natural intelligence or talent" and that of "exalted natural mental ability, skill in the synthesis of knowledge derived from perception" are attested by 1640s.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/genius
4 plural usually genii : spirit, jinni
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genius
A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability, creative productivity, universality in genres, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of new discoveries or advances in a domain of knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius
engine (n.)
c. 1300, "mechanical device," especially one used in war; "manner of construction," also "skill, craft, innate ability; deceitfulness, trickery," from Old French engin "skill, wit, cleverness," also "trick, deceit, stratagem; war machine" (12c.), from Latin ingenium "innate qualities, ability; inborn character," in Late Latin "a war engine, battering ram" (Tertullian, Isidore of Seville); literally "that which is inborn," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + gignere, from PIE *gen(e)-yo-, suffixed form of root *gene- "give birth, beget."
Sense of "device that converts energy to mechanical power" is 18c.; in 19c. especially of steam engines. Middle English also had ingeny (n.) "gadget, apparatus, device," directly from Latin ingenium.
*gene-
*genə-, also *gen-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/*gene-?ref=etymonline_crossreference
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While the link between genius and engineer is shabby unlike genius and engine which booth share the "gene" root word, one can deem any engineer a genius. en-gen-eer(engineer) , gen- ius(genius) and en-gen(engine) all verbally sound similar and all associated/linked with a form of CREATION. Not many such as ordinary citizen in civilization, can claim to be skilled and capable as even the lowest engineer based on hard the exams are to become one.
By that logic/reason/basis, any software developer is a genius and video games are a domain of software development thus CRPG by default include a genius excluding games made thank to their engine such as RPGmaker which make none-geniuses/engineers capable of creating video games.
If factor spiritual connection of the words they may be even more of them but not in a good/positive way based on how often one can find repulsive behaviors as sexual relationship between males/men shown in a world where they are acceptable. Muslim claimed that a man can do extra-ordinary(outside the norm) things including being a good poet due to being posses by a Jihn. Video games(CRPG included) become a medium in which they are concentrated, being attracted to it.
One need to ask what advancement have they made, done or allowed other people to do. What have they gave birth to as Nicola Tesla did to our times.
In CRPG genre the genius would have been these that managed to encompass more from the table-top experience or more specifically the imitation of human social interaction into a computer/video game format. By answering what new (significant) things they have brought to the table(the CRPG genre) that was not done before, line of question.
These would have been the genius in SSI (goldbox series) or Tim Cain with Black Isle and Troika (Fallout(1997), Temple of Elemental Evil,Bloodlines the Masquerade, Arcanum of Steamwork and Magica) makers of Baldurs Gate,Planescape Torment and including these geniuses who made DeusEx(2000).
The basic(which can be wrong due the lack of experience and knowledge about other games):
Planescape Torment for being the 1st to implement its settings.
Fallout who's system from what one read here was based on GURPS, was perhaps first of its kind implemented in CRPG along with other things.
Temple of Elemental Evil both the campaign, settings and incorporating/including most DND rule set.
Was there before SSI Goldbox games, any DnD based CRPG which was not mostly/only dungeon crawling?
Was there a Whitewolf tabletop game made into a CRPG before Troika's Bloodlines, a Video game that simulates(relatively to other video games) interactions (social included) with vampires, before? If no, then there you have a work of genius, or at least some degree of it.
Because DeusEx which predates it, on under-surface, DNA, genre level, have simulated a choice & consequence with no dialogue box/options, the options were implied as inside the airplane and based on action/behavior. DeusEx(2000) contributed more greatly/significantly to the RPG genre, it shown an advancement.
If any of these developers of the above work and like them still work in the industry, than there is in present, true-geniuses in RPG development.
There is also Sven and these who made Divinity Original Sin, multiplayer with environmental elemental interactions, use a candle on oil ground and watch it inflame.
A developer from Za/Um on Disco Elysium would fit the mark as well on basic of:
A. that incorporated a new setting(into video game)
B. the Mental Council
C. reminding/proving that Role Playing where not exclusive to combat/adventuring roles, combat was never a core factor in Role playing as some claimed on these forum. Try to imagine a fighting games without combat. That is a genre example where combat is core, fundamental, cant exist without it, yet RPG's can because its was not basic/fundamental to it.
The reason/explanation some assume it were aside "because marketing told them so", are adventuring(activity of taking risk, putting oneself into danger) as portrayed in DnD and some books, involve a masculine activity, that many players would not seek to experience themselves thus they are more/generally interesting/attractive to Roleplay in/as per settings, compared to roles of doctors ,nurses,police , banker, lawyer dad & mom, detective(probably quite rare among the examplesl) etc, which can be easily encountered in daily life.
late 14c., "tutelary or moral spirit" who guides and governs an individual through life, from Latin genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit, incarnation; wit, talent;" also "prophetic skill; the male spirit of a gens," originally "generative power" (or "inborn nature"), from PIE *gen(e)-yo-, from root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
The sense of "characteristic disposition" of a person is from 1580s. The meaning "person of natural intelligence or talent" and that of "exalted natural mental ability, skill in the synthesis of knowledge derived from perception" are attested by 1640s.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/genius
4 plural usually genii : spirit, jinni
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genius
A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability, creative productivity, universality in genres, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of new discoveries or advances in a domain of knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius
engine (n.)
c. 1300, "mechanical device," especially one used in war; "manner of construction," also "skill, craft, innate ability; deceitfulness, trickery," from Old French engin "skill, wit, cleverness," also "trick, deceit, stratagem; war machine" (12c.), from Latin ingenium "innate qualities, ability; inborn character," in Late Latin "a war engine, battering ram" (Tertullian, Isidore of Seville); literally "that which is inborn," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + gignere, from PIE *gen(e)-yo-, suffixed form of root *gene- "give birth, beget."
Sense of "device that converts energy to mechanical power" is 18c.; in 19c. especially of steam engines. Middle English also had ingeny (n.) "gadget, apparatus, device," directly from Latin ingenium.
*gene-
*genə-, also *gen-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/*gene-?ref=etymonline_crossreference
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
While the link between genius and engineer is shabby unlike genius and engine which booth share the "gene" root word, one can deem any engineer a genius. en-gen-eer(engineer) , gen- ius(genius) and en-gen(engine) all verbally sound similar and all associated/linked with a form of CREATION. Not many such as ordinary citizen in civilization, can claim to be skilled and capable as even the lowest engineer based on hard the exams are to become one.
By that logic/reason/basis, any software developer is a genius and video games are a domain of software development thus CRPG by default include a genius excluding games made thank to their engine such as RPGmaker which make none-geniuses/engineers capable of creating video games.
If factor spiritual connection of the words they may be even more of them but not in a good/positive way based on how often one can find repulsive behaviors as sexual relationship between males/men shown in a world where they are acceptable. Muslim claimed that a man can do extra-ordinary(outside the norm) things including being a good poet due to being posses by a Jihn. Video games(CRPG included) become a medium in which they are concentrated, being attracted to it.
One need to ask what advancement have they made, done or allowed other people to do. What have they gave birth to as Nicola Tesla did to our times.
In CRPG genre the genius would have been these that managed to encompass more from the table-top experience or more specifically the imitation of human social interaction into a computer/video game format. By answering what new (significant) things they have brought to the table(the CRPG genre) that was not done before, line of question.
These would have been the genius in SSI (goldbox series) or Tim Cain with Black Isle and Troika (Fallout(1997), Temple of Elemental Evil,Bloodlines the Masquerade, Arcanum of Steamwork and Magica) makers of Baldurs Gate,Planescape Torment and including these geniuses who made DeusEx(2000).
The basic(which can be wrong due the lack of experience and knowledge about other games):
Planescape Torment for being the 1st to implement its settings.
Fallout who's system from what one read here was based on GURPS, was perhaps first of its kind implemented in CRPG along with other things.
Temple of Elemental Evil both the campaign, settings and incorporating/including most DND rule set.
Was there before SSI Goldbox games, any DnD based CRPG which was not mostly/only dungeon crawling?
Was there a Whitewolf tabletop game made into a CRPG before Troika's Bloodlines, a Video game that simulates(relatively to other video games) interactions (social included) with vampires, before? If no, then there you have a work of genius, or at least some degree of it.
Because DeusEx which predates it, on under-surface, DNA, genre level, have simulated a choice & consequence with no dialogue box/options, the options were implied as inside the airplane and based on action/behavior. DeusEx(2000) contributed more greatly/significantly to the RPG genre, it shown an advancement.
If any of these developers of the above work and like them still work in the industry, than there is in present, true-geniuses in RPG development.
There is also Sven and these who made Divinity Original Sin, multiplayer with environmental elemental interactions, use a candle on oil ground and watch it inflame.
A developer from Za/Um on Disco Elysium would fit the mark as well on basic of:
A. that incorporated a new setting(into video game)
B. the Mental Council
C. reminding/proving that Role Playing where not exclusive to combat/adventuring roles, combat was never a core factor in Role playing as some claimed on these forum. Try to imagine a fighting games without combat. That is a genre example where combat is core, fundamental, cant exist without it, yet RPG's can because its was not basic/fundamental to it.
The reason/explanation some assume it were aside "because marketing told them so", are adventuring(activity of taking risk, putting oneself into danger) as portrayed in DnD and some books, involve a masculine activity, that many players would not seek to experience themselves thus they are more/generally interesting/attractive to Roleplay in/as per settings, compared to roles of doctors ,nurses,police , banker, lawyer dad & mom, detective(probably quite rare among the examplesl) etc, which can be easily encountered in daily life.
Last edited:
ELEXmakesMeHard
Learned
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- Jun 19, 2021
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- 807
Behold the brains behind ELEX! Visionary renaissance men! 
That's a problem with modern discourse being shit, not with the great men theory being false
I can vouch for that.
FriendlyMerchant
Guest
PIEEEEERREE!!!!!! WHY DO YOU KEEP WIPING MY PARTIES! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!
plem
Learned
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- Dec 4, 2021
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Warren Spector
I remember an interview with Tim Caine where he was asked who's the smartest person he ever met in game development, and he said some unknown programmer. there's probably a few number geniuses around that we don't hear about because they work with boring programming stuff.
I remember an interview with Tim Caine where he was asked who's the smartest person he ever met in game development, and he said some unknown programmer. there's probably a few number geniuses around that we don't hear about because they work with boring programming stuff.
Anonymous Wife Scholar
Arcane
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Give me cute Knights of Chalice wifes!
PIEEEEERREE!!!!!! WHY DO YOU KEEP WIPING MY PARTIES! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!
FriendlyMerchant
Guest
Give me cute Knights of Chalice wifes!
PIEEEEERREE!!!!!! WHY DO YOU KEEP WIPING MY PARTIES! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!
You find one almost immediately in Chalice 1
Anonymous Wife Scholar
Arcane
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Thank you Merchant anon! Good strong 1% wealths friend anon! I do love you anon! I do! You are a good strong friend anon!You find one almost immediately in Chalice 1
Not an RPG, but the guy who made "Ghost of a Tale" is a good candidate. So is the hyper-aspie making Exanima/Sui Generis. That one is definitely an ARPG.
KeighnMcDeath
RPG Codex Boomer
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Doesn't this change as new innovations and technologies come and go? I'll assume this is current geniuses. What do you all consider the best RPG innovations throughout the ages? And by whom?
Last edited:
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- Jul 13, 2021
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- 615
As for the great men theory, I'll quote a great man who wrote the single greatest work of history of all time, Edward Gibbon: "History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."
As to whether or not that particular approach to writing history has been left behind, that is a matter of historiography which is itself the inevitable consequence of the navel gazing philosophizing endured between stretches of regular appearances of great men around whom events are warped and shaped. This actually is from my perspective related directly to the reason why we are experiencing such an insufficiency of great men, in that I do not view genius as a personality trait but rather in the daemonic sense, as something that happens "to" a person in brief moments of rare and profound insight. That spirit as manifested through an individual who functions solely as a receptive vessel is reflective of the spirit of the age, and given that we are in an age of decline that spirit has long since been exhausted and it does not return, it is replaced as new cultures with (to all who came before) entirely alien purposes to be realized.
Video games, being the product of multiple participants, are generally incapable of realizing such an awesome power, although it has happened. But if we're talking on the truly innovative scale, the way in which an architectural style is defined, or a musical style, it has not really happened in decades and this comes down to the limitations of perspective forms which was rapidly evolved within the media the way it is within the individual organism; a hyperactive recreation of that which unfolds slowly across multiple cultures over centuries and millennia, so you have the ancient Egyptian profile view in the early platform and other 2D games, the first stirrings of perspective in the mosaics of Pompey in the first "3D" games where height is not determined by distance and a juxtaposition of overlapping planes are presented, the advent of perspective with the ascent of Mount Ventoux by Petrarch and the birth of modern painting in the Italian Renaissance reflected in the first-and-third-person 3D games, abstract art such as that of Picasso wherein four dimensions are simultaneously visible but perceptible only to the "minds eye" and the expressive renderings of early virtual reality, &c.
At this current moment, I have not seen anything to such a remarkable degree happen in video games for a long time, and I assume it is because of this very limitation and the industry as a whole falling in line with corporate interests, but then I don't pay much attention anymore. As far as I can tell it is similar to the state of the other major forms of electronic entertainment, where reliably saleable and familiar formats drown out the willingness to fund innovation, and what little there is that is considered innovative is really just endless remixes of former styles, as the potential for truly new has long since been exhausted, the way now nobody sings they just "talk" sing, or mumble rap, or hipster voice affect, or noise rock avant garde afro jazz cuban space fusion synthpop dub, &c.
As to whether or not that particular approach to writing history has been left behind, that is a matter of historiography which is itself the inevitable consequence of the navel gazing philosophizing endured between stretches of regular appearances of great men around whom events are warped and shaped. This actually is from my perspective related directly to the reason why we are experiencing such an insufficiency of great men, in that I do not view genius as a personality trait but rather in the daemonic sense, as something that happens "to" a person in brief moments of rare and profound insight. That spirit as manifested through an individual who functions solely as a receptive vessel is reflective of the spirit of the age, and given that we are in an age of decline that spirit has long since been exhausted and it does not return, it is replaced as new cultures with (to all who came before) entirely alien purposes to be realized.
Video games, being the product of multiple participants, are generally incapable of realizing such an awesome power, although it has happened. But if we're talking on the truly innovative scale, the way in which an architectural style is defined, or a musical style, it has not really happened in decades and this comes down to the limitations of perspective forms which was rapidly evolved within the media the way it is within the individual organism; a hyperactive recreation of that which unfolds slowly across multiple cultures over centuries and millennia, so you have the ancient Egyptian profile view in the early platform and other 2D games, the first stirrings of perspective in the mosaics of Pompey in the first "3D" games where height is not determined by distance and a juxtaposition of overlapping planes are presented, the advent of perspective with the ascent of Mount Ventoux by Petrarch and the birth of modern painting in the Italian Renaissance reflected in the first-and-third-person 3D games, abstract art such as that of Picasso wherein four dimensions are simultaneously visible but perceptible only to the "minds eye" and the expressive renderings of early virtual reality, &c.
At this current moment, I have not seen anything to such a remarkable degree happen in video games for a long time, and I assume it is because of this very limitation and the industry as a whole falling in line with corporate interests, but then I don't pay much attention anymore. As far as I can tell it is similar to the state of the other major forms of electronic entertainment, where reliably saleable and familiar formats drown out the willingness to fund innovation, and what little there is that is considered innovative is really just endless remixes of former styles, as the potential for truly new has long since been exhausted, the way now nobody sings they just "talk" sing, or mumble rap, or hipster voice affect, or noise rock avant garde afro jazz cuban space fusion synthpop dub, &c.
buffalo bill
Arcane
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Nifft Batuff
Prophet
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John Carmack. He programmed some RPGs too.
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