Home People are “trying interesting things” in the indie space, says Deus Ex designer

People are “trying interesting things” in the indie space, says Deus Ex designer

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Spector

It seems that video games are starting to become eerily familiar, reeking of certain machinations that overlap ideas and themes. Most games these days either have you shooting someone in the face or punching a spine into a chiropractic Spanish Fly. But what about those indie games? They seem to be doing alright. And that’s in genres that we don’t even have proper words for yet.

And according to this one person who has probably made a game that went over well, the indie market is where the innovation is at.

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this–I’ll never work in this industry again–but in the mainstream space I really haven’t seen a whole lot of progress,” Deus Ex Designer Warren Spector said in a Gamasutra interview.

It seems like we’re getting more finely tuned, prettier versions of games we’ve been playing for years.

That’s in stark contrast to the indie game space according to Spector, a division of development where ideas are more varied and yield more “interesting” results. “Thank god for the indie space; there are people trying interesting things there,” Spector said. Right now, Spector is himself working on something that will most likely be finely-tuned and quite pretty: System Shock 3. It’s a sequel being developed with several other legends over at the OtherSide studio, one which Spector has several ideas for.

“I see a variety of places where we could make some strides that would help take games to the next level,” Spector said.

The biggest one, for me, is more robust characters and character AI. We’ve gotten very good at combat AI, we’ve made great strides there, but I don’t think we’ve done much in the world of non-combat AI and interacting with people –human or otherwise. We haven’t done a lot with conversation, and establishing emotional relationships with characters in games.

So I’d very much like to play with that.

There’s one other thing that Spector would like to play with: Giving players the freedom and ability to create their own stories, in the same manner that Dishonored developer Arkane did with their cult favourite stealth-slasher.

“Also, while I’ve seen some efforts, especially from the guys at Arkane, to sort of extend the design philosophy of Origin and Looking Glass–that whole ‘immersive simulation’ and its philosophy of empowering players to tell their own stories. I’d like to go further with that,” Spector explained.

It’s nice to see more people trying, but I think there’s a ways we could go as well, in terms of empowering players to tell their own stories. Those are the directions I’m going to try to go in. We’ll see if I can pull it off.

That’s a  fair enough argument. Mainstream is however, where the money is, and it’s a part of the industry that has to cater to more people than what indie games do or aim for. That, and I really like shooting stuff.

Last Updated: February 23, 2016

No Comments

  1. Yes!
    Smart man.

    Reply

  2. Ottokie

    February 23, 2016 at 10:09

    Indies are the new AAA titles

    Reply

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    February 23, 2016 at 10:16

    I know I’m pretty tired of the paint-by-numbers bAAAysplosion games – they’re fun to play for a few mindless hours, but they’re shallow and forgettable. The majority of my most highly-rated gaming experiences over the last few years have come from indies. But, you know, those don’t count because they aren’t real games – only AAAs are, because of the money spent making and advertising them.

    Suits like things predictable and to tick all the boxes because they’re loathe to be creative – I can also understand why, funding a massive game that takes risks IS a big monetary risk if it don’t pay off. And most gamers don’t want innovation or change, they just say they do then complain when it happens because they want predictable sequels to the same old stuff they’ve played before.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the "saviour"

      February 23, 2016 at 10:21

      * “AAA”

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        February 23, 2016 at 10:22

        Needs more DLC, preorder DLC, season passes, online passes, subscriptions and micro transactions.

        Reply

    • Captain JJ the "saviour"

      February 23, 2016 at 10:23

      I must agree. Of the games I’ve played the last three years there were a couple of amazing games. Especially in 2014. Only two were “AAA” games. The rest were all from smaller devs.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        February 23, 2016 at 10:31

        You don’t have to agree, no one’s forcing you to be right.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the "saviour"

          February 23, 2016 at 10:32

          XD
          I agree with you too often lately.

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 23, 2016 at 10:33

            Which is odd because I’m not very agreeable.

  4. Captain JJ the "saviour"

    February 23, 2016 at 10:39

    Why is the comments section so quiet today?
    This is a good article! Damn it!

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      February 23, 2016 at 10:40

      I read indie and all the game sounds/music from Ori are playing in my head. It’s soothing 😛

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the "saviour"

        February 23, 2016 at 10:40

        I’ve got Bastion’s soundtrack paying right now 😀

        Reply

        • Ottokie

          February 23, 2016 at 10:41

          I need to start Bastion, it’s been stuck in the backlog for some time now

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the "saviour"

            February 23, 2016 at 10:44

            Worth it. I’m only three hours in, but it’s good fun.
            Not as good as Transistor, but still decent. Transistor remains my favourite.

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 10:45

            This level music from Shovel Knight is my favorite by far

          • Captain JJ the "saviour"

            February 23, 2016 at 10:46

            My work blocks YouTube 🙁

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 10:46

            Those corporate pigs!

          • Captain JJ the "saviour"

            February 23, 2016 at 10:47

            I have three things that are not blocked
            Fiction24 (apparently it’s a news channel)
            Lazygamer (I have no idea why)
            banking sites

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 10:49

            Well at least you got Lagz 😛

            Time can fly when a conversation starts rolling

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 10:56

            Speaking of which, me and CrazyBob did a few VERY successful void runs last night. 3 prime parts, 3 formas and a metric ton of argon crystals

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 10:58

            Who is CrazyBob?

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 10:59

            FOR SHAME!

            He is one of our fellow Lagz troopers!

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 10:59

            And yes, I’m cheating on you

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 11:00

            Hahaha the Division beta is done, so I will be back on the harvester soon

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 11:00

            Only need one more part for the Nikana P!

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 11:02

            I am very low on keys for the T4 and T3 parts, might have to do some key farming first

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 23, 2016 at 11:05

            I’ve got a few, just er… not really logging in that much. Have I even logged in since last time we played together?

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 11:09

            Same here, but that’s only because of all the damn games I want to play. Soon the weak will fall away and only Warframe will remain

            *Pokemon theme music starts

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 11:10

            XCOM 2 and Warframe is mine. There are many others, but those are miiiine

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 23, 2016 at 11:18

            I finished King’s Bounty Warriors of the North on Sat. So on Sunday I dipped my toes into Poker Night at the Inventory 2, Ryse, Eador and the next King’s Bounty – which doesn’t even dent the old backlog haha.

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 11:06

            I’ll join you

          • Ottokie

            February 23, 2016 at 11:00

            I’m just glad we have a 4th again xD

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 11:01

            May the 4th be with us

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 23, 2016 at 11:04

            Another one? Poor Hammer.

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 10:57

            *sends email to [company name redacted] firewall guys about a certain user’s abuse of the system

          • Dresden

            February 23, 2016 at 10:52

            I feel your pain…

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 23, 2016 at 11:03

            Pro-tip: When the narrator tells you the kid woke up, press a key, otherwise you’ll lie in bed forever. It took me a minute to figure that one out. :/

          • Commander Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2016 at 11:06

            Bwahahahaha

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