Game Masters: Behind the Talent
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Join us for a two-week journey chronicling some of the video game industry's most celebrated game designers!
Video games have come a long way in the last 20 years. As an increasingly recognised and celebrated artistic medium, games are now being debated and discussed as part of a wider cultural discourse, bringing a never-before-seen understanding of gaming's place in society and its relationship to other art forms.
Throughout its history, gaming has produced some truly inspiring creative minds who have helped shape the medium and open it up to an ever-diversifying audience. It is these talented creators that are the subject of a new exhibition celebrating video game culture taking place at the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne, Victoria.
The ACMI's latest exhibition, Game Masters, will showcase the work of celebrated game designers from Australia and overseas through a combination of concept art, interviews, and more than 125 playable games from the arcade era through to new releases. Game Masters will profile a range of developers, stretching from the arcade era all the way to today's indie space, including Toru Iwatani (Pac-Man), Ed Logg (Asteroids), Tomohiro Nishikado (Space Invaders), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Child of Eden), Peter Molyneux (Populous, Fable series), Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy (Rock Band), Yu Suzuki (Hang On), Fumito Ueda (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus), Will Wright (SimCity), Jonathan Blow (Braid), Masaya Matsuura (PaRappa the Rapper), Marcus Persson (Minecraft), and ThatGameCompany (Flower, Journey).
Follow the links below to read our interviews with:
Tim Schafer
Warren Spector
Peter Molyneux
Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Game Masters will be officially opened in Melbourne this Wednesday, June 27, by Tim Schafer and Warren Spector, who will be participating in the ACMI's program of events over the first few days of the exhibition. Game Masters will run at the ACMI from June to October 2012.
To coincide with Game Masters in Australia, GameSpot AU will be highlighting some of the exhibition's most iconic game designers through a two-week-long feature that will include video commentaries, Q&As, and more from the likes of Tim Schafer, Peter Molyneux, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Warren Spector, and more.
To experience Game Masters in person, or to find out more details about programming events, developer talks, panels, and workshops, visit the ACMI's official Game Masters exhibition site.
To start the Game Masters journey from the comfort of your armchair, click to the next page of GameSpot AU's feature!
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.
38 comments
I've always loved Tim Schafer's games. Double Fine is a truly gifted company that delivers just what gamers needs.
Tim Schaeffer a Game Master?! He's a kinda funny guy, both funny looking and with a sense of humor. But what game would give him the title of Game Master? I can't think of anything he has done that wasn't derivative and I've been playing games since Maniac Mansion and before. Some people cite Psychonauts, but that game was mediocre at best, boring if I'm being completely honest.
1 Like @bbagnall thats crazy talk! psychonauts was unique, and nothing was derivative about brutal legend. that game kicked so much butt! I think hes a game master for his 'bravery' in game design. He makes games he loves, not games for the sake of making lots of money, or making them popular with everyone.
@bbagnall oh yeah and what he did with kickstarter is so great for the future of designers :3
3 Like WHAT? no Patrice Désilets nor beautiful Jade Raymond? no Tetsuya Nomura? and, above all, no Shigeru, master of masters, MIYAMOTO?... any of these can crap on Peter-Promise-Everthing-Do-Nothing Molyneux.
On a happy note, I cant wait for Hideo Kojima, ThatGameCompany and Will Wright's interviews, especially Will Wright's, I haven't heard anything about him since he left Maxis after developing Spore.
1 Like Most interesting! In movies the directors get all the attention. So it's time to look at the game designers.
2 Like Big Publisher: We don't want to fund your graphic adventure.
Tim Schafer: How appropriate. You fight like a cow. (Successfully raises $3.3M for Kickstarter, beats Sword Master).
If you don't understand this, then you need to drop what you're doing and go play Secret of Monkey Island immediately.
1 Like Australia, finally! I'm tired of everything happening in U.S, Europe and Japan. This sounds good, looking forward to Hideo Kojima's interview.
Wish I could go, I look forward to reading interviews and history on some of the most influential and important games ever!
There certainly are developers that are unique. Take Suda 51 for example. Whether you like his games or not, you can tell when was made by him. With the game industry expansion we're seeing these days, with things like the Wii and mobile and social gaming, developers shall be taken more seriously and we're certainly going to see more uniqueness.
1 Like Good job. This is the kind of thing I like to read. Informative work about the people who keep gaming from falling into a corporate morass or unpersonable dreck populated by 10-year-olds who seem to enjoy questioning everyone's sexuality.
1 Like Working hard lately Laura. What with E3 and the articles, you've become my favourite Gamespot AU employee now that Dan's up and gone. As for Tim - really amazing man. Surprised you didn't mention Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster there - really cool game. Im heading to ACMI next week for the expo and one of the shows, really happy they have this on. What with ozcomiccon and this, Im getting my geek on in Melb. Then I might just head to ManaBar, lol. :)
1 Like @Lozzica @Sagacious_Tien Don't worry, I only faked my own death for tax purposes. I'm still here.
Hi Guys , for awhile now it has been on my mind of who was really the first company/designer to bust loose with games that made people say WOW games have come a long way such as Heavy Rain just foe an example , I just can't help but think these type games could have been produced for quite some time if all the designers put more effort into the contents graphics etc. just like the older games and the saying goes "if it works don't fix it" ? now that my expectations are so high I will really be picky on what to spend $60 on ! as for now there has been so many of my favorites 3rd person games , I am buying all of them because they are ALL good ! ....
just a thought which really does not matter now ! GET DOWN and BOOGIE MY FRIENDS !
@vivalatour Yeah I don't think studios aren't trying hard. "Hey, should we make this game likable?" "Nah, let's make this a half-assed game that nobody will want to play, so it isn't enjoyed and we don't make money."
I demand Grim Fandango to be republished right now.
Wii motion controls and playstation move would be a nice way to preserve the original controls!
1 Like "I think the role of the modern game developer is to be brave, pursue new ideas, and follow inspiration to create games that are both entertaining as well personal and meaningful."
Tell that to Activision, EA, and other sequel-happy publishers. No, I didn't include developers because, let's face it, they have no say in...well...anything.
2 Like I wish I could go just to shake Tim Schafer's hand. I wrote a walkthrough for monkey island-from memory-when I was ten years old. That game inspired me to be a gamer. Then he go's and leads an online charge resulting in my favorite types of games coming back from the abyss. Legend!
1 Like Whoa, this is like 10 minutes away from my apartment, might get to catch Tim Schafer in person
2 Like Also referring to one of Schafer's comments in the interview, I look back on Grim Fandango and Psychonauts almost as if I'd read a book. I think the reason games can be emotionally enriching and stay with you the same way books do, is because like books, you have to immerse yourself and live in them for long amounts of time to reach the end of the story, unlike a movie, which you consume and leave after an hour or two
1 Like Very much agree, Schafer's characters are some of the most interesting and different people you could hope to meet.
Don't see your point of films though, i think your watching the wrong stuff :-)
@synj I love film, and I enjoy good ones. But the feeling I get after spending a few days or more reading a book is more similar to the feeling I get from a good (story driven) game, as opposed to a movie, unless I've decided to sit through The Lord Of The Rings trilogy or something.. I think there's an effect had from the length of time you inhabit a fictional narrative, of which books and games usually provide more of. Not always better, just different
1 Like You should feature some more indies. Jenova Chen seems like a really interesting person, as do Jon Blow, "Superbrothers", Dan Pinchbeck, and Edmund McMillen.
Not always "celebrated game designers" when compared to some others, but I think many that deserve attention don't get it as often as they should.
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Table of Contents
Metal Gear Solid
Not Following
-
PC, PS, GBC
- Publisher:
- Konami
- Category:
- Action
- Release:
- Feb 26, 1999
