Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Don't Hate the Playah
It's been a bit of a rollercoaster with reviews today. I made the mistake of checking IGN right before bed and found what has to be one of the most scathing reviews I've ever read (Seriously, 5.5/10 for graphics!?). That really soured what had been an amazing day for me.
Anyway, I want to wait until the dust settles before talking about the reviews in depth, but as a whole I'm pretty blown away by how much of an effect these reviews have had on me, both good and bad. This is the first retail game I've really felt a significant part of. I received a lot of game credits while working on core tech at EA Canada (we made the online lobby systems used in almost all of their sports titles), but never really had a real emotional investment in any of the products. Developing Prototype has been a very different experience.
I definitely feel the sting now when people bash the game, and get a bit of an ego boost when it gets a good review. It all feels very personal this time.
It's really made me realize how kind of ridiculous it all is; to put this amount of time into a single product, just to have it reduced to a score out of ten with just a few hours of playtime. I've spent 2 years working on Prototype, others on the team have been even longer, and most people will basically decide if this game if worth their time and money with a 30 second trip to metacritic.
And really, that's the point of it all, obviously. We send our games to get reviewed with the hopes that the score is high enough to convince someone to invest in it. In the case of Prototype, sitting at a metacritic.com rating in the high eighties, that's all working in our favor for the moment. None of this is really new to anyone; like most, I've had these thoughts long before working on games myself. And I don't think that has to change or anything; that's not my point.
My point is I've spent all my time over the past two years focusing on Prototype, and haven't really don't anything in the way of personal game projects. I have a lot of ideas that have been sitting on the back burner for a while now, and I the last few days have really re-energized me. I don't want to wait another few years before my work sees the light of day.
So starting tonight I'm going to (re)start some personal projects, and use this blog as a development diary. Having a place to post my progress and get feedback should keep my motivation to do these personal projects long after this initial energy surge has passed.
Labels: prototype
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