The EA Louse stirred up a louse nest of controversy with their scathing attacking on EA, Mythic Games, BioWare Mythic, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
EA has not commented on the subject, as would make perfect PR sense – drawing as little attention as possible to an unverified blog which slanders your company and development divisions.
David Jaffe, director of the Twisted Metal series, and God of War I and II, has weighed in via his personal blog, giving some insight into the development process from the point of view of a top level project leader. Jaffe’s post is characteristically laden with expletives, so I will mostly be paraphrasing his comments.
Jaffe begins by making it clear that he is in no position to comment on the specifics of EA’s Louse’s tirade, but he does address two themes common to game development.
Firstly, game animators and artists must realise that they are working, not attending an “art class where everyone gets a chance to ‘show what’s inside them!’” The overall production team won’t care whether or not the artists and animators get a chance to express themselves if it is to the detriment of the fiction and immersion of the game world.
Thinking otherwise “does nothing but paint you as someone with out of touch, unrealistic expectations of what your job is supposed to do for you. Games should allow for self expression by members of the team – that is fantastic when that happens and something management should always try to offer up – but it’s gotta be within context of and in service to the product,” said Jaffe.
Secondly, Jaffe wonders what it is about game development that brings out immature and obnoxious attitudes from within people. “Everyone thinks they always know better than the people in charge,” said Jaffe.
He cites an example from the God of War I development, where a small group within the team thought they had a better idea on the combat mechanics. Despite being consistently told by Jaffe that their ideas were not the desired direction for the game, he could bet on this group being in the studio head’s office every week trying to pitch their ideas, with the goal of having the studio head step in and force the changes.
Thankfully this never happened, or else God of War I might of had a lot more of a Tekken/Street Fighter 2 vibe.
Give your own opinions on the EA Louse tirade on the MyGaming forum.
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