What Father’s Day Means to Developers
- Scribbled on June 19th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Industry News, Interviews
GamaSutra has an article interviewing various game developers on what Father’s Day means to them. Yes, it’s a few days old, and Father’s Day was two days ago, but it’s still a nice read. An excerpt:
My daughter was only 7 when I finished [Chaos Island, an RTS aimed at 10-12 year olds] but she enjoyed playing around with it and meeting the people who built it. Then a few years later when she was in the right age range, she rediscovered the game on her own and I came home one day to find her several missions in, and excited about asking me how to tackle the next level. I’d previously been energized and elated to imagine abstractly the millions of people that have played games I’ve worked on – but that experience made me realize (like the old Hollywood cliche), “this time, it’s personal.”
Having her as a potential audience for my games has made me think hard about a lot of things I used to take for granted, everything from issues of moral implications of the games to just wanting to make it fun – for her. I’ve read that some authors write their novels with a family member in mind as the audience, and ever since that day I’ve understood how profoundly that can influence their creative process for the better.
(Thanks, Gamasutra.)
June 19th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Isn’t this how Shigeru Miyamoto discovers what games are going to be hot and which ones can be junked?
June 19th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Yeah. He has the “wife-o-meter” (at least now with the Wii). If she is interested in a game, he thinks that translates to how well the “casual” audience will like it as well.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I hope his wife likes Manhunt 2
*I know I know, it’s 3rd Party*