Scribblenauts dev: Execs don't know "what it’s like to be in the trenches"
5th Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka believes too many industry executives don't understand how games are made, or what makes them fun.
"It bothers me that a lot of people on the executive and decision making side of publishers [don't] actually play games, nor have they ever developed a game," Slaczka told GameInformer.
"This wouldn't be a problem normally, but a lot of the time those people start telling you how to make games. This kind of boggles my mind, why are you in this industry if you don’t love games?"
The CEO and creative director drew an analogy with the military, saying every general went through training before winning a command.
"Thus when they are at a high level and give orders they at least have an understanding of what it’s like to be in the trenches," he said.
"In game development a lot of misunderstanding happens with what’s feasible in a proper schedule and not insane crunch, or what’s fun so you’re not just reacting and saying, 'Well, Call of Duty does it, so throw it in our RPG!'"
In the remainder of the interview, accessible through the link above, the developer is quite frank about his opinion that traditional business models are broken, talks about the unimportance of reviews, and dicusses the digital future of gaming.
5th Cell is probably best know for Scribblenauts, but sits other works include Drawn to Life and upcoming shooter Hybrid.
Thanks, Eurogamer.