Adventure game development hero Ron Gilbert is having trouble shopping his new story-driven project around, and reckons that publishers are missing a trick by not funding small, low-budget games.
Ron Gilbert was the driving force behind perennial favorites Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and other titles using the versatile SCUMM engine.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Gilbert said his new project, which he's working on from home, is a "very story-heavy, story-based kind of RPG game".
"The thing I'm trying to do with the game right now is kind of meld it with an RPG. So what you've got is the kind of large world exploration that you have in an RPG that you don't really have with an adventure game. You've got the action, some light combat, you know, Diablo-style combat going on with it, but it is also infused with really good adventure-game-style puzzles and adventure-style sensibilities to the storytelling," he explains.
"So what you can do there is take those puzzles and that storytelling that really appeal to people on a certain level, but you can fuse it with the kind of action and mindless play mixed in. I think you can really broaden that audience, and really get to the people who are buying and playing games today."
It wouldn't break the bank to turn it into a full game, Gilbert says, but right now nobody's interested. "You sit down with a publisher and the minute you mention anything like an adventure game or something story-based or adventure-game-like in any way, the meeting's basically over," he says.
"I think a lot of it is that they cannot point to anything like this that is successful in the market today," he adds.
The new unit comprises over 500 developers representing the entire World of Warcraft development team.
I used to be anti-union, it kills productivity, investment and turns product mediocre. Their games suck anyways though so what was lost? Might as well get their people paid until they are dissolved.
Unions are necessary regardless of how you feel. You know how fked the working class would be without them. As if we're not already.
No they aren’t, regardless of how you feel. Unions make zero sense for skill based labor. They are for people who press a button every 10 seconds on an assembly line. “working class” is a made up term. I don’t care about corporations or developers, I just want good games lol. Killing your incentives to appease the lowest common denominator doesn’t lead to great games imo
I wasn’t trying to be offensive if I came off that way. The Union is an old mentality and I can see their usefulness but also the danger. We’re in the age of AI and robots and skill based labor. Unions can be dangerous these days. You could replace your entire workforce in one move. Checkmate. Look to the kiosk replacing workers in the 20 dollar minimum wage era.
Well run businesses don’t need unions. If you need a Union that business won’t survive anyway. Unless it’s propped up by the government with corporate welfare (which is the real issue). If you’re not going to spend some on your workers (Amazon, Google) then your welfare is cut off. No tax breaks. All you put together don’t match their wealth and resources, the union is a traditional memory at this point and counterproductive with this new enemy we face. They need a flying elbow from the top ropes. And by “working class is a made up term” I just mean we’re not a class system and even CEO Bobby Kotick puts in a days work lol. Or did.. It’s just a vague term that doesn’t mean anything no offense lol. People say “middle class” but that can change quick right? Up or down. That’s not a “class system”.
Modders have cooked up something pretty special – a Wii console which is small enough to fit on your keys. A wee Wii.
Another studio has held layoffs, this time its Humble Games letting go of its entire QA team according to social media posts.
They will rehire cheaper labor during the restructuring. The stupid thing is that they are struggling and the first thing they do is lower the quality.
They wonder why we don't buy games. They are afraid to take risks and some game slips through they copy the hell out of it.
Unless it is the next Halo, it seems like no one wants to make any RPG or Adventure styled game. This is relly anoying to me since alot of people do like RPG and Adventure games an that they would sell a lot.