Bodycount creator claims ‘quality is in the hands of the developer’
Stuart Black, creator of the upcoming Bodycount and famed FPS Black, has belittled the input of publishers to the overall quality of titles.
In an interview with The Guardian promoting Bodycount, Black stated that he believed individuals are not given enough consideration in the process of game development.
“Not enough attention is given to that,” he said.
“We talk too much, way too much, about publishers. Publishers don't make any difference to the quality of the title, they just chose the titles to produce - quality is in the hands of the developer.”
Black went on to add that he did not like the process of studios using multiple development teams for different projects.
Advertisement
“I'll pick out, just in broad terms, EA – I don't think there's a lot of respect for individuals on teams, the team members are building blocks that they can just mix and match,” he added.
Elsewhere in the interview Black described Bodycount as being influenced by pop singer Lady Gaga, and said of the story of the game that: “I don't care about plots and plot machinations as such.”
“The very nature of interactivity is counter that kind of stuff – you need enough story, enough of a reason to justify what you're doing, but it's all about the doing.”
Really? so they dont determine early goals for milestones? what about technical proof of concept and gameplay proof of concept? What about publisher review of titles in the same genre? early publisher alpha/beta playtests?
"Publishers don't make any difference to the quality of the title, they just chose the titles to produce"
what mythical publishers are these that don't at the very least ...interfere?
Oh, you mean the mythic Publishers who actually report income in a clear cogent format, then pay all royalties actually owed and perform promised competently and deliver on their lengthy contractual lists printed to justify take-aways?
Ahhh! Those Publishers.
Telling someone to change the font color from white to yellow is not exactly contributing to quality...
And Mark,
Developers determine milestones, within their design doc and solicitation docs.
Publisher's want milestones. as attached to payments to break down what they have to lay out across time. And then there are those who predictably miss payment deadlines, though the project steadily advances...
