Mr. Tibbs, on 01 September 2014 - 05:24 PM, said:
It's always had to predict what the future holds. Looking back at the late 90's developers (the .Plan file crew, as I like to call them), I would have never guessed that less than a decade later the only studios left standing would be id, Gearbox and Human Head Studios. At least pretty much everyone from the 1998-2006 3DR team has moved on to great studios (Valve, Gearbox, Retro, Certain Affinity) and continue to produce top-tier stuff.
id isn't really even id anymore... and Human Head is a miracle to still be alive. But I get your gist.
It was the wild west back then, for better and worse. Almost every single person was a college drop out or didn't even bother to go... but you also could trust that almost every single person really knew what they were doing because there was no other way to get in the door or survive very long. Now you can get hired as little more than a "design accountant" as I've come to call it and wind up in charge of a major portion of a franchise if you know how and are willing to play people.
I can't say it's gotten better, but the process has gotten more predictable which is useful in some ways. Some day I'll write my Halo 4 experiences. Hair pulling, but you either adapt or die and it taught me some areas I did need to grow up on. Halo 2 Anniversary has been a pleasant experience (for me at least, heh).
Mr. Tibbs, on 01 September 2014 - 05:24 PM, said:
Still, I naively hope that someday the 2001 DNF team gets back together and says, "Hey, regular income and job security is for chumps. Let's make an outrageous, creative shooter that we own and control." - the lamest fan-fiction ever (still crossing my fingers it happens)
That zeitgeist is gone. I'm honestly not even sure most of us would know what sort of jokes to tell anymore.
Mr. Tibbs, on 01 September 2014 - 05:24 PM, said:
Happy to hear all is well at C.A. I always appreciate you taking the time to reminisce about your time at 3D Realms...
CA is one of those places that is rapidly approaching a point where the gaming community at large will say "Where the heck did these guys come from?" and will look back and go "Ohhh... well damn. Smartly done." I was lucky to find them as when I moved from LA to Austin I didn't actually have a company in mind and had never heard of them. Once I did the interview I knew I wanted to jump on that train because it was clearly going somewhere and doing so very patiently, quietly, and smartly.
Mr. Tibbs, on 01 September 2014 - 05:24 PM, said:
Mmm... and here I had been content believing that had slipped under everyone's radar.