Fingers Crossed, Knock on Wood

I know it sounds conceited but the more I think about it the more I feel that NightRise is bound for success. I’m listening to Gamespot’s interview with John Romero, and as much as I’ve made fun of him in the past, he does know what he’s talking about when it comes to games and the steps toward innovation games need. Specifically, revitalizing the adventure, strong storylines, episodic content, and doing things differently. Honestly, he’s right. That’s why I’m making NightRise, and that’s why everyone who hears about it gets interested immediately. It’s got the story, which both confuses and interests everyone who hears about it. The game itself IS an adventure, in its story, its look, and its throwbacks to classic adventure gaming. I’ve always viewed the years of 1993-1995 as the pinacle of gaming achievement. During those years, you’ve got DOOM 2, Full Throttle, Hocus Pocus (which I still consider my favorite side scroller of all time), and I’ve been trying to develop NightRise as a game that would have been developed back then but with the technological capabilities of today. Those years were the Renaissance of gaming, where everybody was creative and came out with amazing, interactive artworks. These days, as Romero has stated in this interview, a lot of new designers in college or out of college just want to do Halo or GTA clones. Now that there are, what I like to call, Template Games, you can make clones of those really easily and make a few grand really easily. I don’t care for doing something easily. When you play a game on easy, people scowl at you. Life is a game. If you live easily, you don’t get the full ending (ala Megaman X8). If you play on hard, the result is MUCH more rewarding. I will say this right now. NightRise is not a clone of anything. There are aspects of other games in it, such as classic, LucasArts-ish adventure game interaction, Devil May Cry like fighting, an intricately woven and controversial storyline, and episodic content. The more I think about it, the more I feel that NightRise, or at least the concept of it, encompasses the best aspects of games back then, and some of the best aspects of games these days. Not that I’m aiming for a mishmash of “best.” When you do that, it ends up terribly. All I’m aiming for is making a great game, and when it comes out, all I can hope is that you love it as much as I have loved developing it, and will continue to love developing it until it is finished.