Arrogance or..?

Alrighty, since I've had this blog for a week already (now combined with a real PC again, booyah and stuff) it's time to use it the right way, i.e for badmouthing people I don't know!

So I stumbled upon an independent adventure game project earlier today, based on Victor Hugo's classic "Les Miserables." Being a fan of literature, and also a huge supporter of the independent gaming scene (I even "contributed" to it with one utterly rubbish game), I thought it was worth skimming through the whole site. What did I find? Well...

Yep, my findings deserve one whole paragraph of their own. So what was it? The first thing to strike me was the numerous occurances of the phrase "the BIGGEST adventure game in the world." The game's creator rationalizes this in a way that kinda justifies it but... Y' know, bigger isn't always better and all that? Especially since in order to make the world bigger you include... alien worlds, in a game based on an existing novel/universe (true story). And there is a general um, aura for lack of a better word, of arrogance in the whole site, like, "the only game ever this," "only game ever that" and my favorite, directly quoted from the site "The final difference, the biggest selling point, won't be revealed yet. It may not even be obvious in the first release of the game. But by the second or third release the real strength of the game will become apparent. "

Uh, okay, if you say so.

Now the $100 dollar question would be,"What the fuck do you care what he does, buddy?" In all honesty, it's none of my business what he does or how he promotes his game. However, having spend a significant part of the last three-four years monitoring the independent adventure gaming community, I can tell you that an attitude like this is often the reason why so many projects with a lot of potential are never finished. Thinking your game is the next big thing can be a recipe for disaster, especially if you're trying to do too much with just one game. This is also true in commercial games as well, ever seen the features list of an MMORPG before and after release? The "after" one is usually around half as long, with the most interesting features left to rot in development Hell. Hero classes in World of Warcraft come to mind, and also Vanguard seems eager to prove this unwritten rule as well. My last point about the Miserables game is that there's another unwritten rule which states that when you actively advertise an ambitious game long before its estimated release, you anger the gods. No, seriously. "Les Miserables" is stated for a December '07 release, that's like 15 months from now, a lot of things can happen in someone's life in the meantime. So yes, don't count your chickens before they hatch and all that.

I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this whole thing, it's just that when I see someone taking all the "Don't"s out of the list of "'Do''s and 'don't's when making an independent game" I die a little death inside, because with me being a pessimist and all, I see another potentially missed chance to prove why independently-created games are not necessarily amateur games. Man, that is one weird-ass sentence!

If all this is a joke (hey, you can never know with teh internets!), then it must have eluded me, since I have the attention span of someone who spent most his teen years watching MTV and reading superhero comic books (again, true story). Still, even if it is a joke, the dude in question seems to be taking it quite seriously since that website is obviously well-thought out and it should have taken some time to build...

And hey, if it ends up like no other adventure game in the world (in a good sense, mind) you won't see me complaining, I like good games as much as the next guy.

Jorge out.

P.S
If you want a game based on "Les Miserables" that's out now and is well... unique, search for a Japanese 2D fighting game that's out on the internet. It's quite the experience. If I find the download link I'll update this entry for great justice!