Game Developer's Top Deck 2008
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Ace of Spades: Rob Pardo, Blizzard EntertainmentAnd, to round off the deck, two Jokers:
Not only has World of Warcraft shown the world that there are at least 10 million dedicated PC gamers out there, it has undisputedly proved the mass appeal of MMORPGs. Pardo was instrumental in creating this phenomenon, and with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and a massively successful BlizzCon, 2008 continues to be a banner year for the company. And that's notwithstanding the upcoming dual hammer of StarCraft II and Diablo III, plus the company's next MMO, of course.
8 of Spades: Mark Jacobs, Mythic Entertainment
Jacobs has presided over an already-impressive 750,000 subscriber haul for his studio's newest MMO title, Warhammer Online, not distracted by the Dark Age of Camelot creators' acquisition by Electronic Arts. Not only that, he's opinionated and passionate in public -- unusual for an executive in today's PR-removed market.
Following the removal of 400 people farming for gold on Warhammer's servers, he posted on his blog: "I hate goldfarmers with every fiber of my being." Whether right or wrong (and probably right), this kind of public passion is often lacking in today's game biz.
6 of Spades: Ken Levine, 2K Boston
After BioShock debuted in late 2007, the reverberations of its unconventional original IP success impacted the industry more than you might guess. The game has one of the more sophisticated narrative structures of any released so far, in its integration of visual, oral, and textual storytelling into the actual gameplay.
With 2K Marin working on the sequel, and the movie version fast-tracked, plus creator Levine now working on a mysterious new project, his influence has not diminished.
Ace of Diamonds: Dr. Ray Muzyka & Dr. Greg Zeschuk, EA BioWare
Over the past decade, Ray Muzyka's and Greg Zeschuk's BioWare has turned the previously niche genre of Western computer RPGs into a mass-market phenomenon. From the groundbreaking Baldur's Gate to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and beyond, BioWare gets it.
And now that Mass Effect is enjoying impressive sales on the Xbox 360, Sonic Chronicles has reinterpreted an icon, and "that MMO" has been announced -- well, the multi-hundred million-dollar purchase of BioWare Pandemic by EA is vindicated, right?
Queen of Diamonds: Chris Chung, NCSoft
The MMO market is a hotbed of exuberant investment and wildly optimistic publicity. The undeniable success of World of Warcraft has convinced many companies that a new gold rush is on with nearly limitless opportunities to print money. The reality is a little more complex, and it's been interesting to see how Korean powerhouse NCSoft has dealt with it.
Arguably its greatest Western success has been with Seattle-based ArenaNet and Guild Wars, and that's why, after some missteps with Tabula Rasa, Chris Chung is essentially running Western business for the firm. So with a sequel coming, and a pledge to flourish in the subscription MMO space, Chung seems perfectly set up to execute on a portfolio of competitive MMOs -- something not many others can say.
10 of Diamonds: Emil Pagliarulo, Bethesda Softworks
The Fallout series has a long history of dealing with the weight of fan expectations. Now that the franchise has transitioned to a new developer in Bethesda, lead writer and designer Emil Pagliarulo has to walk a fine line between staying true to Fallout's post-apocalyptic roots, and making its Oblivion-esque open-world RPG evolution accessible to a console audience.
By what we've seen so far, the Looking Glass school of game design graduate has the chops to do it, making it one of holiday 2008's key games.
Denis Dyack, Silicon Knights
Denis seems to have gotten a bit of a reputation as class clown of late, thanks to his forthright views on subjects as wide as the one console future, marketing games, and, of course, Unreal Engine. But what gets him on this list is his unfortunate trolling of the famously firey game forum NeoGAF.
Dyack stated his opinion that the forum is hurting both society and the game industry, and challenged forum members who had yet to play his then-upcoming Too Human to voice their hatred, to stand and be counted. Then when the game came out, there would be egg on their face.
The game's middling critical reception, combined with an angered mass of forum flamers, didn't help to prove him right. What's unfortunate is that some of his more outlandish statements have masked the largely excellent points he has on a variety of subjects, from journalism to the nature of flow.
Peter Molyneux, Lionhead
In general, there's the world-changing game Peter Molyneux talks up prior to a release, and the eventual game you get. While the result is always satisfying, there's generally a rather amusing disconnect there.
The designers at Molyneux's studio have set out a host of ambitious goals for Fable II (even as Molyneux himself is more careful to manage our expectations this time) -- and the entire experience hinges on getting the AI right.
From what we've seen, the underlying logic that drives contextual choices in Fable II's dynamic does indeed open up some new modes of expression in game design. But can any Molyneux-developed game ever match up to the expectations laid out for it by its creator, prior to its release?
Perhaps a happy medium behind the hype and reality is what makes it work, but with Peter already starting to hint at revealing another project, even before this one is out, the delightfully charismatic Molyneux circus continues.
