OPINION: Capcom's Okami credits omission shows developer respect still low
Ever quibbled about your job title when it comes to the crediting section of your game?
You wouldn't be alone: it's an issue that many complain of. But the real disservice is when jobs are left totally uncredited - such as recently-revealed case of Capcom, whose Wii port of Okami fails to credit the original Japanese team, Clover, at all.
We've posted up an opinion piece about the issue, and in particular Capcom's reasoning behind the omission, in which it claimed that Clover had not been 'directly' involved in the port.
But is that a fair comment? Can the work of a company be divorced from its workers? And does working on the 'original version' of a late port really not warrant any sort of crediting?
For more on the issue, check out our opinion piece - and let us know your comments.
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Are they saying that they don't have the technology to remove a logo from a pre-rendered movie? I don't see why it was pre-rendered in the first place, surely rendering scrolling text on the fly isn't too tricky?
It's an absolutely nonesense situation. In academia, if you work builds on someone elses (which almost invariably it does), you reference the previous work. In films, many have a credit near the top of "Adapted from a short story by...", or "Based on a true story", because they're morally obliged to acknowledge the prior work.
From a technical point of view, if the original Okami was written well, a lot of the code could probably be reused. The PS2's main processor was single core, so although the graphics, controls and file handling might have to have been rewritten, some of the original code, maybe for the main game logic, AI and physics. Plus there was the game design, and presumably the architecture of the Wii version was someone what similar to the PS2 version.
Therefore, Clover had a clear involvement, and should have received some credit, whether as a company, or as the individuals that worked on the original.
I have written software professionally for 20+ years. Do I get 'credit'... nope. Do 99% of workers out there get 'credit' nope. I'm always fascinated by the Hollywood types who think that their egos need to be patted 24x7
Guys you got paid and nobody except you reads the credits anyway - well unless there is a cool reason to do so like in Portal...
We have worked on several games that we have not recieved any credits for..and thats fine...as long as we get paid for our work
Credits are important in games. They help solidify past experience and especially THANKS for helping make this title. A lot of professionals in the industry make games because they love it, some salaries really stink - so credits are more important for that reason than any. They are equally as important for people starting out in the industry as it helps them become established.
I was part of a whole team who helped make a game however due to NDA I can't disclose which and what, but it will be interesting to see if all the work we put in will be credited or not because the publisher will still make their money off our sweat and blood and tears.
Give Credits where it's due!
