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We still have all the recording equipment but we haven't had anywhere to set it up. That's why we're putting the office together. Even once we got the office space, we had no computers in there to actually record into with all that equipment, so we've been buying and assembling those recently. We're getting there, it's just taking time.
As for my consoles, that's a bit weirder. Most of my belongings are still in Boston in the possession of a moving and shipping company that has not returned any of my emails or calls for several months. I imagine I will have to sue them in small claims court, or threaten to do so. -
No. But I actually suggested both of those things. And they live on in my heart.
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It is a bit odd, but I understand why they did it. It sort of allows them to run two concurrent marketing campaigns for two different audiences: the Call of Duty crowd can be targeted with a broad-base ad-based campaign that stresses the spectacle of the experience and the Hollywood action-style story and characters, while the game blog-reading hardcore crowd can be targeted with a longer-term PR campaign stressing the centrality of choice and customization.
I can't think of another example as strong as that one, partially because so few games get such huge marketing campaigns that allow the juxtaposition to be so starkly illustrated. -
I can see how there would be less of a disconnect between the fiction and the design in Saints Row The Third, but the deliberate tone they appear to have struck in that game is a big turnoff for me. I don't really enjoy games (or movies, or whatever) that are over the top in terms of crassness and outrageousness and spectacle. When outrageousness comes entirely systemically, as in Red Faction Guerrilla, I find it more enjoyable personally. It somehow feels more substantial to me. I don't enjoy it so much when it feels like it's a dozen slapdash layers of ke-RAAAA-zy shit that the developers think is totally hilarious, probably for the same reason I'm not into mountains of self-serious lore in fantasy games, even though tonally they are different.
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I haven't played Dark Souls (I don't have access to consoles right now so I'll play it on PC) but I loved Demon's Souls. There's something really wonderful and refreshing about its restrained nature, aesthetically and fictionally as well as in the design. It's something I also adore about Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but in a much different design context. I wish the particular strain of Japanese game design and aesthetic displayed in Demon's Souls were more common in Japanese games, but it sure isn't. It seems like there's much of a trend towards excess aesthetically, and player constraint systemically, both of which are pretty unappealing to me. So I have a lot of respect for From Software for sticking so strongly to a really unfashionable style and managing to succeed creatively, not to mention commercially. It's great.
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It really grosses me out. Definitely there is more of that systematized sexuality (which is inherently grotesque) in Japanese games, but there are definitely examples in Western games as well. And even outside the category of systematized sexuality, depictions of females in games of all types are incredibly limited and objectified. It's a pretty unimpressive situation.
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We rented a small office because it was affordable and we liked the building it is in! It's also in a part of town we like (the Mission) and is accessible to public transportation and parking.
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I'm actually not a great person to ask about this. I've been using Sony Acid Pro for well over a decade (since it was Sonic Foundry Acid Pro) and I use it almost entirely for arranging and processing recorded tracks that I play on instruments, as opposed to creating tracks with software-based instruments or anything like that. My experience with audio "software packages" is actually relatively minimal. In general I just prefer composing by way of playing the instruments directly, but I similarly feel I need to expand my horizons when it comes to audio software.
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Because they aren't attached to a mandatory platform requirement, so they aren't as pervasive or consistently implemented. They also don't tie into a single player score. I'm happy that's the case. Achievements can be additive to a game, but they are by no means inherently so, and when constructing a creative work you shouldn't have to arbitrarily include elements that may be tangential or even damaging to the experience, just to get the thing published.
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No, and although it may make me a jerk, I don't generally enjoy being in the vicinity of people who are chewing gum.
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We don't entirely know, to be honest. We have some ideas for cool stuff to do with Idle Thumbs but we hadn't really planned on the Kickstarter turning out this way.
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It wasn't too different to what I expected. It was a great experience, and the folks at Irrational are really sharp, which isn't much of a surprise. Sure, I'd do it again if the right opportunity came along.
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My least favorite enemy to fight is Satan, because I've never successfully done it. I've gotten to him a number of times and have yet to succeed. Damn you, Satan!
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We're not yet sure what the plan for that content is after the Kickstarter.
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Chris Remo’s Bio
Co-founder of Idle Thumbs, formerly of Irrational Games, Gamasutra, and Shacknews.
