Warren Spector: Our Problems Are Creative, Not Technical

10 responses to “Warren Spector: Our Problems Are Creative, Not Technical”

1. 

   SNCplaymore

   April 4, 2012 at 11:15 am

   I wouldn’t mind a standard where every game can run in 60fps, all the shaders, anti-aliasing and motion-blur to be perfectly honest. A new generation of consoles would be great for that, but it’s a bit early since it’ll all have to use current gen visuals. Maybe when that technology will be cheap enough with next gen-graphics.

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2. 

   Fenixius

   April 4, 2012 at 11:40 am

   The problems with creative are because the technical solutions are a pain in the ass or computationally very difficult. Also, designing those technical solutions to creative problems, even when possible, is usually absurdly difficult and expensive.

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   1. 

      Fenixius

      April 4, 2012 at 11:45 am

      For example, there are issues regarding AI in games – we can’t have interaction with realistic characters because the best we can do is have a couple of lines for each specific input, not analogue input and analogue response.

      That, and low-res textures. I’m sick of them. Skyrim looked awful.

      Reply
      1. 

         Jordaan Mylonas

         April 4, 2012 at 11:48 am

         I think there’s a bit of disparity between your and Spector’s working definition of “creative problem”

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3. 

   Jordaan Mylonas

   April 4, 2012 at 11:47 am

   100% Correct

   Formal design theory for video, and even pen-and-paper games is sorely lacking when compared with other artistic fields.
   The industry itself is also a mess, lacking in best practices and formalised production workflow.

   It is an immature medium forced into being a big industry, and there are times when that really shows.

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4. 

   Jiff

   April 4, 2012 at 12:26 pm

   Yep, I absolutely agree. While there are games out there that are creative and bring in new concepts (Katamari, Flower, most things by Suda51), a lot of games today seem to be focused on the tech arms race, and how cool we can make everything look. I think an even bigger challenge is how to get Joe Consumer to actually WANT innovation and good game design.

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   1. 

      Jiff

      April 4, 2012 at 12:28 pm

      …so as to make developers and their publishers comfortable with taking the necessary risk involved with experimentation.

      Reply
5. 

   MrFerret

   April 4, 2012 at 1:28 pm

   This man is why im a game designer.

   http://manuspielt.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/deusex.jpg

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6. 

   DogMan

   April 4, 2012 at 3:23 pm

   I know this is sort of missing the point, but I think if anything we have probelms with both. There’s still plenty of stuff that’s off the table in terms of tech. Look at Dead Rising. It’s got a million zombies on the screen at once and that’s great, but they’re all dumb as bricks. If you want to make a game with thousands of people interacting with each other in complex and meaningful ways it’s off the table.
   You can’t make a grand ballroom full of party guests that think for themselves and interact with not just each other but every aspect of their environment. You can’t make a game with a fully functional, full scale planet. It doesn’t sound necessary but in order to reach games full potential it is. When we’re talking about tradtional creativity and storytelling that’s fine, but sooner or later we’re going to realise there’s a lot more to games than interactive movies.
   Take the sandbox genre. Right now games like GTAIV can only create the illusion of a living, breathing city. They do it well but as the tech grows there’s going to be the pontial to create actual worlds and that’s going to open up so many new avenues that make us realise just how far we were held back by the current level of technology.

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7. 

   Ahtaps

   April 4, 2012 at 6:57 pm

   I like the cut of this man’s jib. Games are starting to take the cinematic route these days and go for style over substance. Back in the day of 8-bit and 16-bit machines, developers did some incredibly impressive things to produce fun and wonderful looking games while working within the confines of otherwise restrictive hardware. If necessity is the mother of all invention and you always have everything you need, what inspiration are you going to have?

   Reply