What ElG said.
The thing about games like Spore failing to deliver (and, IMO, the game WAS a disappointment) isn’t so much that anything went wrong but that they didn’t go as magically right as some people had hoped. Based solely on the view of an outsider who kept an eye on the publicly released information on the game, it seems like it was always something of a gamble with an unclear, vaguely defined end goal for what the final product was going to be.
I’ve listened to Chris talk several times, and he’s one of those guys that tends to find an argumentative position and go with it, to see if there is some merit to it. It sounds like he did exactly that kind of thing here, starting to argue for the position that the majority of the spore team thought made more sense than Wright’s initial visual concept.
Also, I can agree the evidence shows that Hecker wanted a more cute art style, but absolutely NOTHING saying he personally wanted less complexity. As he is a very smart programmer with wide interests, I find that very unlikely. Instead, it looks like whoever wrote those posts were conflating the “cute-vs-science” visual disagreement into a “simple-vs-complex” gameplay disagreement, when in fact they’re totally independent. If Hecker did advocate against complexity, it was for purely practical reasons. Implementing Wright’s original vision 100% would have taken an extra 2-3 years of development, and the team would have self destructed by then.
Maybe before saying something like that it would be best to click his profile and look at his website. Unlike you or I (unless you posted your real name as well), Sol hides behind no internet veil.
And the Nazi thing was an analogy. Watch: the skin on my flesh is like the outermost protective metal layer on a car. I made a little analogy, it doesn’t mean I actually am a car, get it?
Stop bullying me, Daniel!
You sure did! You should’ve used “its” not “it’s” there, dude.
You console-lovin’ illiterate heathen scum.
They’ve got a developer named Chaim Gingold?
Sounds like a real flexible worker.
Greetings:
Can I just add another WTF here? You don’t know Chris Hecker; you don’t know what actually went on during development; you don’t know what Will was actually pushing for or against or how any of the decisions got made. Your personal disappointment doesn’t entitle you to call for someone else’s violent death. STFU.
Come on. I know some people have an axe to grind because the fantasy version of Spore that they built up in their own imaginations from the marketing hype didn’t match the actual game they got, but have some decency and respect, here. Even if everything said in that forum rant were true, that still wouldn’t be reason enough to harm anyone.
I don’t know Chris Hecker, but I know enough about game development to write off any screed that says “everything that went wrong is this one guy’s fault”. Accept that you don’t know, can’t judge, and move on.
Best,
Michael.
Oh dear, I’ve erred. I shall turn in my library card immediately!
I like the idea that Chris Hecker was able to single-handedly take over the direction of Spore from Will Wright.
I hope to one day work at Firaxis so I can kick Sid Meier’s ass and make Civilization 12 a side-scrolling shooter.
Of course your skin isn’t metal. You’re not Cleve.
For anyone who wants to try this at home, here’s the process:
Step 1. Scrape the internet for any scrap of insider info as to how a dev team operates. Message board postings, fourthand offhand comments from devs taken out of context, pronouncements by people who claim to know insiders but can’t share their sources, and company PR releases are all fair game for this.
Step 2. Assume that the morsels scraped up in step 1 present a true and complete picture of what happened during development of game/console/MMO/etc.
Step 3. Build overly baroque conspiracy theories based on 1.
Step 4. Repeat said theories on message boards of like minded fanboys until the echo chamber effect makes them seem like well established facts that “everyone who follows these things knows.”
Step 5. (Optional) Repeat steps 3 and 4, basing even more complex theories on the old theories that have now been magically transformed into facts.
Step 6. ???
Step 7. Profit!
Randy has many abilities, but changing the design of games he didn’t work on may be beyond even him.
(Harvey=DX:IW. Randy=T:DS)
On topic: Civ12 should totally be a side-scroller.
KG
As CCZ mentioned, Chris occasionally posts on Qt3, as does Chaim. At least they used to. They might still stop in from time to time if they haven’t been scared away by all of the vitriol.
- Alan
Accept that you don’t know, can’t judge, and move on.
How on earth is that any fun?
Geez, man, are you trying to break the Intart00bs?
+1 on ElG. Get a grip, Sol.
A shame Will can’t take that early work and do a more realistic “Spore Pro.” It wouldn’t sell as well, but it be a brand booster (attn: bean counters, there’s your ROI), and would give Spore a chance to be used in education. (Helping hook kids as Maxis fans early on, though in today’s live-by-the-quarter public company world nobody considers long-term investments anymore.)
Also, remember they pulled Soren Johnson in to help on the game fairly late in the development process. It could very well be that the original design, while laudable, might not have been entertaining.
It’s very easy to be the indignant gamer and pronounce that a game/genre would be best if designers just gave gamers what they asked for. But look at the genres where that happened. The rivet counters ruined flight sims. Wargames are mostly 1996 technology played by bearded old guys.
While there’s a bit of poetic justice in seeing ranting maestro Chris Hecker become the target of someone else’s rage (and I can totally believe the people at Maxis saying “ok whatever we’ll make it cute, we’ll make it simple, but please for the love of god, shut up already”)… this kind of dirty laundry crap, real or imaginary, doesn’t do anyone any good.
CHRIS HECKER
The man who was insane
CHRIS HECKER
Had Glaxo in his brain
CHRIS HECKER was insane
He took Will Wright’s life
He wanted Spore to be casual
Instead of another Sim-Life
He’s gone INSANE
He’s lost his MIND
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play the only actually perfect game ever made, Star Control II.
more or less