It is the adage of any creative thing; it looks terrible, it is an ugly baby, until the very last second.
I used to animate. I started in animation, and you'd end every day with at least one substantive contribution.
My thing I always go back to is that sense of finishing 'Castlevania: Symphony of the Night,' and that castle flipping over, and just going, 'Oh my God, that was amazing! I have so much more to play!' It was astounding. I think I've always been chasing that. I think my entire career, I have been like, 'I want that kind of epiphany.'
But I think it shortsells any idea when you say there's a similar part to something else, like 'aw man, 'The Avengers' is ripping off 'Batman.' You've got people running around in outfits.' Of course, there are outfitted people and there's superhero stuff, but it's not just ripping off 'Batman.'
Despite what many say or think, the PS2 is here to stay. I know that Microsoft dropped the Xbox like a bad habit but PS2 still has more staying power.
I don't think I've ever worked on anything that wasn't way bigger than we expected. That's all the way back to working on fighting games at Paradox. Everything seems to balloon when more and more people get involved.
Picking just one game above all is nearly impossible for me, but if I had to, it would be 'Metal Gear Solid.' I remember being completely blown away with the story, the mechanics and the overall presentation on my first playthrough.
Working with George Miller was an education. It was eight college degrees in character development and directing all at once.
God of War' is traditionally known for these cinematic, pull back cameras, which I think are fantastic.
God of War' was a 40-60 person team. It was a lot of very different, very passionate, very crazy people.
The Uncharted' series really pushed me as a developer. They managed to raise the bar with every single release and produce an action- packed thrill ride starring characters I wanted to hang out with, and mechanics I can easily pick up and play.
I think that's the beauty of the collaboration with a team. In the end, it never turns out how you imagine, it always is this amalgam of bringing in different perspectives.
For me, human beings have a very difficult time changing. It's one of the hardest things to do.
Whether you have a small team or a large team, you'll always have a percentage of people telling you to do the opposite of what you think you should be doing. Then you'll have a percentage of people telling you to do the opposite of what they're saying. It's a constant sea of doubtful voices. You have to navigate through that.
There are some who expect every game to make a dramatic change the way that 'Resident Evil 4' did over its predecessors. And for that series I think the change was fantastic and completely necessary. I honestly think it should have happened much sooner than it did. But that kind of change is not necessary for every game.
A game director, in my mind, is somebody who makes everybody on the team miserable for the duration of the project.
The dynamics of storytelling are very important. To just be serious and morose all the time would be not very enjoyable.
No one finds it interesting to look at the person who is perfect all the time. They have no flaws. Flaws are what open us up to another person to show that we are not having a veneer, a fake sort of exterior.
Superman' was created at a time when we needed some idealistic, perfect person to aspire to, which is why he is so flawless.
When you pitch a half-baked idea it's so easy for someone to pick it apart and hate on it.
