Arkane Studios' Harvey Smith has lamented the state of the first-person shooter genre, declaring that such games can deliver better experiences than the heavily-scripted, "shooting gallery" fare of the industry's blockbuster titles.
Warren Spector - Ken Levine, Clint Hocking - these are three names that Smith has cited as inspirational colleagues, name-dropping games like BioShock, Deus Ex, Thief and Far Cry 2 as works to aspire to.
"They are not first-person shooters; they are first-person games with depth. First-person action games are very immersive; they are from your perspective and they mix simulation, stealth and storytelling," Smith told GamesIndustry.
"It is all about player freedom. We never want to make a game that is a linear canyon where you start here in this canyon, you can’t go left or right. You see lots of pretty scenery, but you always arrive at the end. We never want to make that game. We want to make a game where you can go behind the building, go on the roof, swim in the river and come in through the sewer drain and come up with a fish.
"We like games that are authored in such a way that they are systems. They aren’t just a shooting gallery with scripted pop-ups for the player. That’s really our goal with Dishonored; to empower the player so the player can play creatively. It requires more on the part of the player; these games don’t play themselves."
Dishonored is hitting PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October.
Warren Spector - Ken Levine, Clint Hocking - these are three names that Smith has cited as inspirational colleagues, name-dropping games like BioShock, Deus Ex, Thief and Far Cry 2 as works to aspire to.
"They are not first-person shooters; they are first-person games with depth. First-person action games are very immersive; they are from your perspective and they mix simulation, stealth and storytelling," Smith told GamesIndustry.
"It is all about player freedom. We never want to make a game that is a linear canyon where you start here in this canyon, you can’t go left or right. You see lots of pretty scenery, but you always arrive at the end. We never want to make that game. We want to make a game where you can go behind the building, go on the roof, swim in the river and come in through the sewer drain and come up with a fish.
"We like games that are authored in such a way that they are systems. They aren’t just a shooting gallery with scripted pop-ups for the player. That’s really our goal with Dishonored; to empower the player so the player can play creatively. It requires more on the part of the player; these games don’t play themselves."
Dishonored is hitting PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October.
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