Playing to the Concert Hall

The other day, I fell into a conversation about dream projects with one of my fellow directors at WayForward. From a game developer’s perspective, a “dream” project is usually some original gameplay concept or story that got struck upon in an epiphanic moment (possibly while watching the City of Lost Children, or playing Bioshock). We naturally want our dream projects to be well-funded so that we may exercise our auteuristic sensibilities to thier fullest. And naturally we want fame and fortune when our game is finally released to the masses of admiring fans. What game designer doesn’t dream of that?

Well…I don’t.

Okay, not much, anyway. I’ve just noticed over the years that in this business, it’s tough to get an audience for your stuff…really tough. Even if you get it made and even if it’s the best game ever, it’s increasingly difficult to get anyone play it. I make games because I want to communicate game concepts that are fun—I want to entertain. And I'll take the biggest audience I can get. If a popular TV show or movie is the vehicle for it, that’s okay with me. Let ‘em buy the game for Daffy Duck…it’s my job to keep them playing it to the end. Essentially, I’d rather be the musician who plays Rachmaninoff (and hopefully plays it well!) to a large concert hall filled with people than the songwriter who stands on the street corner with an open guitar case, belting it out for free to anyone who’ll stop and listen.