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Interview with Graeme Devine of id software
Going
forward, is id always intending to stick to developing a single game at
once with a relatively small amount of staff? And are you convinced that
this is the best way to develop games? Will it get to the stage when a
single coder such as John Carmack is incapable of coding a game engine
on his own simply due to the complexity of each individual part of it?
I like this method, and if id changes away from it, then it'll be time
for me to go find another small team elsewhere (Adrian, Kevin, John -
listen up!). John is an awesome coder and thinker.
He's not alone in the office, and for the foreseeable future I
think we can handle the technology curve that we think exists in front
of us. It's the artists that scare me. What
were the most impressive titles you saw at E3 this year? Sorry,
but I only saw the inside of my little 12x10 meeting room. I did want
to go see lots of titles though! I'm
looking forward to Diablo II, Amen,
the new Putt Putt (those games are awesome), and
Wipeout 3. What
do you think about the merits of using focus groups to comment on games,
much in the same way that preview audiences are used on movies? Or is
that what releasing Q3ATest amounts to? I
think they can be misleading. Personally, and here's where my future with
the big guys goes away, I'll trust the convictions I have inside me rather
than take the opinions of 14 people off the street who represent the average
gamer. Dammit, though, I'll miss
those Microsoft stock options. Being
an ex-Brit, which do you miss most: soccer, decent beer, or fish and chips? Lots
of things. Family. The weather. The BBC. Tube. France. Where
do you stand on the issue of game violence and censorship? Do you think
it impacts as deeply on youth as some people suggest, or is this concentration
on the gaming industry as a possible source for violence in society a
storm in a teacup? Personally,
I don't think we influence the youth of the world to do bad things. Look
at the world as a whole and I think you'll see that.
As a father myself, I wouldn't work on games if I felt otherwise. What's
the biggest misconception people have about any of the staff at id? A
lot of people don't realize just how ordinary we all are. We're just a bunch of geeks. The
developer/publisher relationship seems to work in a number of different
ways across the gaming world right now. How did the relationship Trilobyte
had with its publishers contrast to the relationship id has with its,
and do you think there's a model relationship that all developers and
publishers should aim for? I
think the relationship id has with its publishers is very similar to the
relationship Trilobyte had with Virgin when we were selling millions of
units of software every year. I
think the lessons from that are something I bring to id, both good and
bad. Activision is an awesome publisher and goes the extra mile to make
sure id is happy. Working with
Marty Stratton over there is great. Finally,
have you got anything to say to the assembled computer game developers
of the free world regarding our discipline and the work we're all currently
doing? Ummm…
drink more coffee. Don't believe
any of the above. The owls are
not what they seem. |
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Features
