Unlike the film industry, where the superstar system ensures that personalities abound, there aren't many legends in computer games development. One person who does stand out, however, is former id designer American McGee, whose unusual name and raft of quirky, Tim Burton-esque titles ensure that people keep watch on what he's doing.
Currently living in Shanghai and trickling out Grimm, his latest anarchic opus based loosely on the fairy tales of the Brothers of the same name, the gamesblog tracked him down to find out where the other auteurs are, what it takes to be a free spirit in an industry obsessed with the bottom line, and what he's learned living in China.
Explain Grimm to my mum. Grimm is a video game presented like a television show. The "host" is a crabby dwarf named Grimm who's had enough of fairy tales made too sweet by modern day political correctness. He longs for a time when fairy tales meant something, when they had teeth, contained lessons, and could frighten good behavior out of bad children. Each week he re-introduces a well-known tale in its current-day, toothless form. He then invites the player to help him return it to a grimmer state.
The game play of Grimm is designed to be highly accessible - you "paint" darkness on the world by running around. Everything in the world can transform, the rocks and trees to the birds and bees convert from wholesome to horrific. When the work's done Grimm once again presents the tale. But this time things are more to his liking: Justice is served, naivety and bad deeds are punished, and all's well that ends up dead.
In total there are 24 episodes of Grimm, delivered in a unique weekly fashion. You can get the episodes for FREE during the first 24 hours after their weekly launch, just like television. After that you can still play the game using a variety of pay methods, either via GameTap's site or other digital distribution partners.
Your games have a distinctive style and a dark humour that's unusual in games. Where do you get your inspiration? My childhood was bizarre and often scary. I was fed an odd mix of media, real life drama, and travel. I suppose the heavy rotation of Jacques Cousteau and Monte Python took its toll. These days I take inspiration mostly from the artist and creators that surround me at work. We've assembled an eclectic bunch here in Shanghai. People from around the world, with a variety of odd background, all intent on expressing themselves through games. Nothing better than collaborating with a group of interesting and odd people to get truly inspired.
Which distribution model encourages the most creativity? Why? A finance and distribution model that allows an audience time to find a product is best. The current retail box-product model suffers not because of the distribution - but because of the limited availability of shelf space at the retail outlets. Scarcity of shelf space means a game must perform exceptionally well - beating out all other competitors for shelf space - the moment it hits the shelves or be considered a failure. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, relegating good games to obscurity, and limiting customer choice.
A publisher who funds and distributes with digital distribution in mind, creates an environment where creativity can be encouraged. Designers aren't forced to fit into pre-defined genre slots or to focus on "me-too" designs that kowtow to market expectations. Bigger risks can be taken on smaller projects. And successful small projects can be expanded on when appropriate.
In general the industry needs more forms of incubators.
Where do you see the most creativity in gaming coming from? Are there any people/studios you keep an eye on? It seems that a lot of the most successful creativity is being expressed in smaller format games and (as is the case with the Wii) on innovative platforms. Studios that embrace alternates, be it in distribution, development methods, interface devices, or explore other untested concepts in gaming, tend to produce the most interesting content. I'm particularly interested in things coming out of Nintendo, Media Molecule, Telltale, GameTap, Valve, and EA Partners. Each of these groups is helping to reshape various aspects of game development, distribution, interface, and financing.
You've developed a reputation as a creative and Tim Burton-esque developer: an independent spirit with big budget funding. Why is this so unusual in the industry? Independent spirit maybe, big budget funding barely. But the budgets (as long as they aren't painfully limiting) aren't the point. I think my reputation (good and bad) has come from the fact I've been consistently unusual in my approach to development (location, methodology), storytelling (themes, characters), and the presence of my name in association with the game titles. People know to expect the unexpected. Compared with other (perhaps wiser?) developers and studios who strive for consistent, if somewhat repetitive, development and market performance, I'm more interested in testing new ideas.
Looking back at your career, where do you think you learned the most, in terms of the skills you have today? A lot of the foundation came from id - the understanding of the dedication and creativity needed to produce good games. The business understanding came in part from the time I spent with EA, and also in large part from the time I've spent as an independent developer. But the hardest and best lessons certainly came with the development of my last game, Bad Day LA. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and I walked away with a mountain of lessons. Until the point that development skidded off the track and crashed I held in my mind that any problem, no matter how big, could be solved - any broken project fixed. Perhaps true when there's unlimited time and resources - but the reality of the world outside places like id and EA is that things can just break beyond fixing. The realization of that fact has increased my respect for good planning and management as well as my admiration for solid game development teams in general.
I'm still learning a huge amount every day - thanks to being in Shanghai, starting a new studio, and working on some innovative projects like Grimm. Being here is a challenge on every level - culturally, linguistically, and physically. Nothing can be taken for granted, everything must be proven and re-proven - from handling of company finances and planning, to development processes, team building, and interface with the local community. Thankfully, all these challenges are interesting and very rewarding.
You currently live in Shanghai. How have you been influenced by that culture in your game designs and development styles? It's had a tremendous impact on my development style. Living in China has made me more respectful of the limited nature of things: time, resources, and energy. It has impressed upon me the importance of process, clear communication, and strong team culture. And it has really opened my eyes to the chemistry of people - human nature, personality types, and shared expectations. All of this has driven me to take a very personal and humanistic approach to how the studio has grown and our projects are planned.
As the development environment in China is still new and has a lot of growing to do, I think one of the most important things our studio can do to influence the future is to illustrate a more human approach to development. With that in mind we plan and prioritize to avoid overtime and "crunch" work. We emphasize health and rest as keys to higher productivity and creativity. And we encourage openness and communication between people and departments as a way of working more effectively.
Our games are of course impacted by exposure to the environment here. Now that we're starting work on a game specifically designed for the China market I see myself leveraging the past 4 years of language, culture, and understanding into the game concept, design, and creative direction. It's an odd thing to be a foreigner building games for the Chinese market - but so far, so good. We're having a lot of fun, learning a lot, and I hope bringing to life something rewarding for our team and our audience.
What will be the next revolution in gaming? I think we'll continue to see updated interface devices at the forefront of the mini-revolutions in the years to come. Ultimately, I think this is all heading to one uber-revolution in the shape of seamless computer-human interfaces, ala "The Matrix". It'll be great to get away from the dated keyboard/mouse, monitor, speakers way of interfacing with our content. As soon as someone starts offering trial "implant" testing - I'll be first in line. I just hope I don't crash my brain, it would take a lifetime to reinstall everything.
You can get the first episode of Grimm for free from GameTap. The rest of the episodes are available on the website and the remaining episodes will be free for the first 24 hours of release: July 31 (A Boy Learns What Fear Is) August 7 (Little Red Riding Hood) August 14 (The Fisherman and His Wife) August 21 (Puss In Boots) August 28 (The Girl Without Hands) September 4 (Godfather Death) September 11 (The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs) September 18 (Beauty and the Beast)
