Lessons From the Fall of Luc Bernard

Luc Bernard is bound to be remembered. After Destructiod published a highly critical review of Eternity's Child, his first major title, upstart indie developer Bernard engaged in a vicious flame war with Destructoid members in the comments section of the review and eventually admitted that he was intoxicated. A few days later, he wrote an entry for his personal blog announcing his exit from game design and his intention to publish no further projects after the WiiWare release of E.C.

With his career aborted, Bernard's legacy seems clear. He will be an inside joke and a "remember when?" for hip, self-referential gamers, and Eternity's Child will be fetish object aficionados of campy, botched games.

But are clique-ish comedy and so-bad-its-good nostalgia the only gifts that Bernard's career have given the gaming community? No, it holds some valuable cautionary lessons as well, particularly for those who advocate for electronic gaming as an art form.