Spector: I Have "No Interest" in Cinematic Storytelling
Although he is happy about being able to play more open-world games.
Warren Spector has declared that he has no interest in games that offer a ‘Hollywood’ style, cinematic approach to storytelling.
Speaking at a presentation for Disney Epic Mickey: The Power of Two last night, the game creator - best known for System Shock and the original Deus Ex - says that he finds open-world, open-ended games much more appealing.
“Let me start by saying that I think with the video game business and art form - I’m no longer embarrassed to call it ‘art’ by the way - the most exciting thing going on right now is the diversity of these games,” he told the audience. “[But] I think there is a part of the business that is trying desperately to make games more like movies... But I don’t think it’s particularly interesting.
He added, “This is my personal opinion... More power to them, they tell their stories [well] because they’re just making movies. it’s a solved problem, you know? They’re telling branching stories, [which are] five movies all jammed together into one thing. It’s the illusion of choice. And, you can tell a great story that way. They’re very successful and lots of people enjoy playing them.
“I [just] think we want to make games more ‘game-like’,” Spector continued. “I have no interest in telling you my cool story, and making you think you’re in control. I have a lot of interest in making sure you get to tell your story and I get to tell my story and we describe different things.
But, Spector isn’t lamenting any lack of open-ended stories in games. He noted that there are more games that take this approach today than there were twenty years ago. “Now I can go out and play Mass Effect, Fable, Skyrim... dozens of other games. There are lots of people doing what I consider the interesting interactive stories.
“I don’t find the cinematic approach very interesting personally. But I would never tell someone to not make or enjoy a game like that.”
Speaking at a presentation for Disney Epic Mickey: The Power of Two last night, the game creator - best known for System Shock and the original Deus Ex - says that he finds open-world, open-ended games much more appealing.
“Let me start by saying that I think with the video game business and art form - I’m no longer embarrassed to call it ‘art’ by the way - the most exciting thing going on right now is the diversity of these games,” he told the audience. “[But] I think there is a part of the business that is trying desperately to make games more like movies... But I don’t think it’s particularly interesting.
He added, “This is my personal opinion... More power to them, they tell their stories [well] because they’re just making movies. it’s a solved problem, you know? They’re telling branching stories, [which are] five movies all jammed together into one thing. It’s the illusion of choice. And, you can tell a great story that way. They’re very successful and lots of people enjoy playing them.
“I [just] think we want to make games more ‘game-like’,” Spector continued. “I have no interest in telling you my cool story, and making you think you’re in control. I have a lot of interest in making sure you get to tell your story and I get to tell my story and we describe different things.
But, Spector isn’t lamenting any lack of open-ended stories in games. He noted that there are more games that take this approach today than there were twenty years ago. “Now I can go out and play Mass Effect, Fable, Skyrim... dozens of other games. There are lots of people doing what I consider the interesting interactive stories.
“I don’t find the cinematic approach very interesting personally. But I would never tell someone to not make or enjoy a game like that.”
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