Hi, I am Warren Spector, a game developer from Origin, Ion Storm and Junction Point. I worked on Deus Ex and Disney Epic Mickey and a lot of other games. AMA!

Thank you for your work on Deus Ex. The influence of your work will be everlasting on gaming.

What are your feelings towards engines such as current Unity3D and UDK that enables anyone to make games?

Thanks for the kind words about Deus Ex. It freaks me out that people still talk about it and even play it fifteen years after it came out.

My feelings about the availability of engines democratizes game development in a way I find super exciting. The fact that they're free is just the cherry on the icing on the cake (or whatever that expression is).

In fact, the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy participants are happily working in Unity on the game they're making - The Calm Before

Thanks for the kind words about Deus Ex. It freaks me out that people still talk about it and even play it fifteen years after it came out.

I still give it a play through once a year or two.

My feelings about the availability of engines democratizes game development in a way I find super exciting. The fact that they're free is just the cherry on the icing on the cake (or whatever that expression is).

I absolutely love Unity for that reason. Some software cost hundreds if not thousands, so when unity is free until you're successful it's really helpful.

In fact, the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy participants are happily working in Unity on the game they're making - The Calm Before

The Calm Before looks really neat and unique, will we be seeing a commercial release?

Thank you for your time and contributions.

The Calm Before doesn't just look neat; it IS neat. Since you asked about commercial release, we'll release it. How's that for service? (It's going to be free to download from the DSGA website and The Calm Before website. Keep your eye there.)

I recently replayed Deus Ex for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, chronicling my time, to see if it was still the best game ever. And gosh, it's still possible it is. Do you think this is down to the exceptional nature of Deus Ex, or a poverty in the ambition of games since?

I think there have been a bunch of great games since. Maybe not as many as I'd like - okay, DEFINITELY not as many as I'd like, but I wouldn't use the word "poverty."

I'll leave it to others to say if DX remains exceptional. I think I have a big enough ego and enough love for my old DX team to say we did something special 15 years ago. Today, who the heck knows? You tell me.

I enjoyed your writing of your experience with replaying Deus Ex. This is one of the reasons I never want to play it again, even though in my head it was the best game ever.

Hey, go back and play it again. Replay with new, unique experiences is what the game was all about. I had a non-gamer friend who played through it seven times. And one guy came up to me at GDC, dressed as J.C. Denton and told me he'd played through DX 63 times. He scared me.

Did you know you can finish the game without using any items, augs, skills, money and any previous knowledge of codes and passwords( and no cheating of course ).

This means the game can be completed solely using medbots, boxes, tnt-boxes, and every code and passwords must be found in the same playthrough.

There were a TON of ways to finish DX. That was the point. Pity the poor testers who had to play through never firing a shot... or never being seen by anyone... or never using an augmentation. I don't know how they survived the experience. It would have driven me mad. But testing the most extreme playstyles gave us confidence all the less pure playstyles would work so the edge testing was critical.

Hi Warren! I have two questions for you related to the game industry at large. What do you think of the 'crunch until you drop' culture that is being largely perpetuated by the larger AAA studios, and its affect on the game industry culture & who does it exclude? Also, what are your thoughts on the current 'race to the bottom' in game pricing, and how its changing the landscape of game scope and revenue options?

Hey, Tyler, get the fuck back to work! You have a DSGA game to finish! (Just come to my office and ask me your question!)

Hey, upon reflection, my attempt at humor here pretty much failed miserably. Tyler's been a valued participant in the DSGA program and I knew I could have some fun with his question. Pretty lame, in retrospect. I should have just said "get back to work." No need to curse. (Okay, still joking and still not funny. Damn it.)

Joking aside, by telling Tyler to get back to work, I inadvertently answered his question about the pervasiveness of crunch in game development culture!

Hey Warren, thanks for doing an AMA. Could you please tell us more about Junction Point Studios' cancelled Half-Life title? Also, do you happen to remember anything about Looking Glass Studios' video game project involving a cult located inside an abandoned asteroid mining colony? Bonus: Here's a cool photo of you while you were at E3 1999.

Wow, that's a cool pic! It was a thing for a German magazine or website or something with a bunch of great people. I remember sitting there thinking "What the heck am I doing here with these guys!"

I wish I was clear enough in my previous message. The cancelled Looking Glass Studios Game (on the Dark Engine) was called "Junction Point". I know this was the codename for System Shock 2, but this is something completely different. This might help you recall it: Steve Powers' portfolio

Ah, I was thrown by your description of the story. That was just a small, small part of what we were trying to do. I totally recall the Junction Point game (and spent many nights worrying that someone would come along and tell me I couldn't call my next company that!). Though it evolved over time, the ultimate plan was to make an MMO unlike all the others that were out at the time. Frankly, there are a ton of ideas in the design doc we generated that STILL haven't been tried. If I were an MMO guy, I might give those ideas a whirl, but I'm pretty much not an MMO guy.

What do you think of the new Deus Ex games and are there any Japanese game designers you like?

I think people expect me to be pissed about new Deus Ex games that I'm not making but it's really not like that at all. I'm just excited (thrilled might be a better word) that I was part of the creation of something that's bigger than myself, that has a life of its own.

What did I think of DX:HR? Well, for starters, I don't finish a lot of games and I finished DX:HR. That'll tell you something. When I DID finish it, I kinda sat back and thought, "Wow, I just had a Deus Ex experience." It sounded like DX and felt like DX. It was pretty cool.

The Eidos Montreal guys made some design decisions I wouldn't have made, but overall, I was really pleased.

Now, having said that, my one regret is that the movie deal I had back in 2000 never made it to the screen and now there's no chance it ever will, 'cause DX, the original, is kind of old news.

Forgot about the Japanese designers question: Does anyone not love, admire and respect Shigeru Miyamoto. He came and visited the Disney Interactive booth at E3 once and I stood within 6 inches of him and couldn't bring myself to say anything. I was in awe. A couple of years later, I presented Epic Mickey at the Nintendo press conference at E3 and, backstage Mr. Miyamoto touched my arm and I instantly became a better designer. No fooling.

Hello Warren!

Thank you for doing an AMA. Could you please shine some light on Junction Point Studios' cancelled Half-Life title?

I'm not sure how badly I'm going to get sued by someone for talking about this, but here goes.

Junction Point had a project cancelled (we can talk about that, too, if you want). There was no money. Basically, Valve came in like a white knight and offered us some work on a Half Life episode set in a part of the Half Life universe that hadn't been explored deeply. In addition, just because my team couldn't just do anything the easy way, we decided to add a new tool to the Half Life universe - the magnet gun. We came up with some COOL stuff to do with the magnet gun. Valve decided to move in another direction but I still wish they'd do something with the magnet gun. It was fun.

Was the Magnet Gun a variation of the Gravity Gun or something entirely new?

The magnet gun was entirely different than the gravity gun. The two would have been super complementary.

1) in the original Deus ex you have the chance to stick with the Brutal policy of the Unatco for a while but then you are forced to stick with the NSF, some hidden audio files hint that there was the intention to give to the player the choice to stick with the Unatco is it true? 2)You seem to care a lot about "player empowerment", do you think modern games are developing this aspect enough?, why do you think it's so important? 3)What do you think went wrong with Invisible War and Epic mikey 2?, what would you change about those 2 if you had the chance?

Thank you so much for doing this btw, Deus ex is imo the best game of all time, and it's a shame that you are not being so active in the gaming industry right now, don't waste your Genius talent man!

Taking your questions one at a time:

I don't think you can EVER have enough player empowerment as long as it's in the context of an overarching story created by someone with some real storytelling talent. (I'm not a huge fan of purely sandbox games...).

I don't think anything "went wrong" with Invisible War or Epic Mickey 2. They were attempts to address specific concerns or express specific creative desires and were the best games they could be given limitations of time and budget. I'll always be proud of the creative and technical risks those teams took, how hard they worked and how committed they were to each other and to the games.

And thanks for the kind words.

Why haven't you, Richard Garriott, and Steve Jackson done a game together that would demolish all games that have come before it?

If the three of us ever worked together the world would explode in a matter/anti-matter conflagration of epic proportions! (Actually, I can't speak for Richard, but I'd love to do a TOON game... or an Illuminati game... or an Autoduel game. That'd be awesome.

Hi, Warren! Thanks for doing an AMA :)

So, you often said that game makers should focus on making believable characters instead of believable guns, which is I wholeheartedly agree with.

But for that, one crucial (and tricky) thing to do is implementing believable conversation between player and characters.

Many modern games are using dialog trees or likes for it, and I think it's an inferior solution even than keyword systems in games like Ultima 5~6 (which you are worked on) and Wizardry 8.

How do you think games can be improved on this aspect? Should we wait the advent of super intelligent AI? Or do you think this could be achieved with some elegant design in near future?

This is another one of those things - better ways to do conversations - that I'd do if I knew how. I think it's pathetic that we've made so little progress in the last thirty years. I mean, we're still doing branching trees but NOW WE'VE ADDED TIMERS! Woohoo!

I'm counting on some indie developer somewhere coming up with a way to do conversations that blows my mind and makes me feel inadequate.

Hi War Inspector.

What was your favorite game you have worked on and why was it the Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game?

Someone remembers the freakin' Bullwinkle and Rocky Party Roleplaying Game? No way! I loved that game. Here's a secret (which I shouldn't share): Zeb Cook and I worked on that one. We were in NYC to see the old B&R cartoons (which weren't available for home viewing). After melting our brains by watching for 8 hours straight we went to a bar and just looked at each other and said, "We're screwed. There's no way to make a game about this!" Then we had a gin and tonic. And we started getting ideas. On about the third gin and tonic, we had some brainstorms - like hand puppets and spinners and we were off to the races. Only game (I know of) that was designed drunk. (Man, I'm never going to work again!)

If this was how you managed to envision the idea for that game, I'd hate to think how much alcohol was consumed during Deus Ex's development!

It's margarita time!

Favorite Ion Storm debauchery memory? Favorite "drinking with the game magazine crowd" memory?

Favorite drinking story? I never asked for this...

Okay, here's the drinking story. I was giving a lecture at the New School in NYC. After, I was hanging out with some of the attendees (which I always) do (it's fun hanging out with gamers...). A couple of them asked if I wanted to go to a bar and hangout there (which I never do...) but for some reason I said yes. Hours later, I was sitting there with a very drunk gamer who gave me a hard time about how DX was right wing propaganda. Before I could respond, another DX fan came up and said "Right wing propaganda? It was left wing crap all the way." Funny thing was that they were both right. It all depended on how you played. That was a drink-driven super-cool moment for me.

Why do you find appeal in a "HD" remake by Square-Enix when fans have gone above and beyond what your average industry HD remake consists of - without charging players (obviously) - in the form of various graphical update mods (HDTP, New Vision, DirectX renderers)?

I want so much more than just HD graphics. I want a truly updated game - grapics, sound, UI, everything except the story and gameplay. That's what I want to play. I mean, it's hard for me to look at the old DX and not wish I'd made it in the 21st century.

Wow, thank you for doing this AMA Warren! I don't usually post in AMA's but Deus Ex is my all-time favourite game and I couldn't pass this up.

My question is about the cut content from Deus Ex - I guess this contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't played it: Were there any plans for options to not betray UNATCO, and were there ever any planned story reasons for the White House and Moon levels that ended up getting scrapped?

I thought I already replied to this but my answer seems to have disappeared. Let me try again.

We talked about the UNATCO scenario but decided against it. That was one of the reasons we tried to open things up even more in Invisible War. As far as the White House goes, we actually built a test mission set there (built the White House from actual blueprints!) but, at the end of the day, it just didn't fit the story we ended up telling. It kind of brought things to a distracting halt.

The biggest thing we cut, probably, was the Russo-Mexican war and a large-scale attack on Austin, Texas. That would have been insanity to try to implement!

Hey Warren! I am a giant fan of Deus Ex! The only tattoo on my body is that iconic logo, and I want to firstly thank you for shaping so many of my philosophies.

I was wondering, could you give us a detailed opinion of how you feel about the new DX's by Square Enix? I remember in interviews they said they consulted you, and your (or someone else's) responses were "Don't fuck this up." I think they're doing a good job so far!

Deus Ex tattoo? That's even more hardcore than I am!

I came here expecting a War Inspector, instead I got Warren Spector. Did you even inspect any wars? More importantly would you ever consider developing an Ultima Underworld 3?

I have inspected many wars but can't talk about it. Sworn to secrecy.

Would I develop an Underworld 3? I'd love to. Right now, I'm consulting on a game called Underworld Ascendent which is being worked on by some members of the original Underworld team. I'm hoping/confident that will scratch your UW3 itch.

What are some great easter eggs in your games that have or have never been found?

Well, my favorite is that every game I've worked on has a basketball court in it, where you can actually shoot a basket. They're all hidden and I make sure my teams don't tell me where they are so I have the fun of finding them. The DSGA participants put one in The Calm Before and I haven't found it yet, damn it.

There's also a dance party somewhere in Deus Ex...

Hi Warren,

In one piece of yours I read years ago you referred to your works not as video games but as "interactive simulations". What difference do you believe exists between the two?

I just prefer games that are less puzzle oriented or "single-solution" oriented and games that offer deeper simulations. Simulations allow players to explore not just a space but a "possibility space." They can make their own fun... tell their own stories... solve problems the way they want and see the consequences of their choices. That's the thing that games can do that no other medium in human history has been able to do. It's kind of a moral obligation to do what makes you unique, isn't it?

I remember when epic Mickey was first announce, there was concept art that showed a really dark looking Disney game. I was pumped about this but was sad that this dark game never saw a release. What happened during production that changed this idea to a more lighthearted one? And will it be possible that a game like that could still come to fruition?

Images of concept art mentioned: http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/3569/1094170-03_noscale.jpg
http://www.unseen64.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/beetleworx-5.jpg
http://www.unseen64.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blot-3_5.jpg

That concept art was leaked and never intended for public consumption. I had the team do that because I needed to know where the line of acceptability was for Disney. What would they be comfortable with and what would they not be comfortable with. The way to find where a line is is to cross it. By a lot. Do something really out there and have them go, "No. Too far." Then do something a little less radical... and less radical until, frankly, you get where you want and they don't even realize you've gotten there. I think we pushed things further, darkness-wise, than anyone thought possible.

Will a game in that crazy, over-the-top, dark as the pit style ever see the light of day? Probably not from Disney!

Hey Warren, thanks for doing this AMA!

You mentioned you're working with people now to train future creative directors. What do you think is one of the biggest challenges in learning creative leadership?

There are so many challenges in learning creative leadership we have to take nine months to teach them! The biggest one? Probably how to maintain a consistent vision when you're working through a team of people that might be 800 people. (I'm never working on a game that has 800 people working on it again. Ever.)

Hi Do you believe a gender divide exists in gaming? Thank you :~)

Sure. Just look around any game development studio or publisher. Just look at games and how many strong female characters there are. It's pathetic. I mean, let's just ignore half the population. We're idiots.

Hey Warren! Huge fan Deus Ex is my favorite game of all time! I have 2:

1) What did you think of the Mankind Divided Teaser? 2) Have you ever played the tabletop Arkham Horror? I think it would translate well into sleuth-y looking glass esque video game.

I thought the Mankind Divided trailer was pretty violence-o-rific, which bugged me a little. I mean, the DX game was never about killing stuff. It was about picking your own playstyle, which MIGHT involve killing stuff. Given how well DX:HR did at the whole choice and consequence idea I'm hoping - and have confidence - the actual game will be a little more in the playstyle matters mold. In trailers, you just have to give people the most action-packed stuff you can, I assume. The best thing about the trailer was that it made clear the fact that there'll be a powerful story that's "about" something important. That's totally Deus Ex-y and made me very happy. I'll definitely be playing Mankind Divided. Ask me then.

There was a lot of drama during your years at Ion Storm. Are there any stories from that period you can tell us that haven't already been written about?

Drama? What drama? ;-)

In an interview a while ago you said something to the effect of 'a lot of games are a mile wide but only an inch deep.' I can't actually remember the question exactly but I suppose you would've been talking about player autonomy, about how their quests will take them on grand adventures but give them few if any real choices that lead down fleshed-out paths.

What would be a game you've played that comes to mind as an example of real player agency, and how important is this aspect of game design to you?

There's probably an entire design course in the answer to this question, but at the high level, I just look at games (which I will NOT name) that talk about open world stuff and just think they're open to the extent you can walk around and do different stuff, but if you REALLY stop to think about it, the range of options is fairly small BECAUSE they're trying to simulate entire worlds. You just can't do it - at least not well enough to suit me.

Instead, I try to make relatively small, concentrated environments that allow players to really explore - go into every building, talk to every person, pick every lock, kill (or don't kill) everything that moves... In a smaller environment you can do much more. Sometimes less is more.

I still want to make the One Block Roleplaying Game someday.

Hello Warren! Broken record, etc, but I'm a huge fan of Deus Ex (and Invisible War!).

One of the things I've found since I first played the game, almost 12 years ago, is how many times I hear about something in real life, or on the news, that brings me back to a little storyline or fact from the DX world. I was reading this New York Times story (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/health/chinese-scientists-edit-genes-of-human-embryos-raising-concerns.html?_r=0) about the genome editing of human embryos, and I thought, "My God, Versalife, biomods, it's really not that far away!"

Do you end up stumbling on things in real life that you threw into Deus Ex just on a whim and it ended up being something that you recognized in real life?

The way the world is reflecting what we came up with freaks me out and pleases me beyond my capability to express.

Hi Warren! I wanted to ask you about your recent return to academia - is the experience living up to what you had hoped? It may be (okay, definitely) early but would you consider the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy a success thus far?

When Junction Point shut down I kinda took some time to think about what I wanted to do next. I had game ideas and thought about another start-up, but I'd already done that and wanted some new challenges. Academia has certainly offered me new challenges! And the opportunity to build a game dev program from scratch doesn't come along every day.

Is the experience living up to my expectations? Yep. Working with the students is great. (Dealing with University bureaucracy not so much...). I've been surprised how attached you get to students. And I like talking, so lecturing has been fun - I've given lots of talks at conferences and universities, but lecturing on a really regular basis is a ton more work. I like keeping busy. Is the DSGA a success? I think we've done well given that I warned the students that this first year was DSGA Beta 1.0 and they'd help us make it even better in future years. We've learned a lot, that's for sure.

Hey Warren! Thanks for doing this AMA! :)

If a publisher gave you unlimited budget and full freedom, what game would you make with that?

A deeply simulated, musical comedy.

I'm serious as a heart attack about this...

I was curious about how you handle negative outcomes in digital games, where the player can reload the game and avoid that negative outcome for a more favorable one. Do you compel a player to keep on the same path by giving them substantial content or a minor reward? Can you circumvent it simply having great writing? Or do you never make an outcome purely negative and always aim for a black and white perspective?

That's like ten questions in one, dude! Let's see what I can do with it.

The funny thing is that my games actually encourage people to try something out, reload and try for a "better" result. To be honest, I kinda hate that. I just want people to play the game the way they want to and find their own fun. But once a player buys a game, it's theirs and they can do whatever they want with it.

I NEVER compel a player to take any one path. That's SO not my thing. It's about players finding their own way, their own story through the game.

Great writing can make a huge difference to a game - just look at what Sheldon Pacotti did on Deus Ex. A lot... most... okay, maybe all of the "intelligence" people see in Deus Ex is down to him. Bow down before the mighty Sheldon!

Who were some of your mentors that helped you maintain your focus in the games industry?

I was lucky enough to have several mentors in the game business who taught me a TON.

Steve Jackson gave me an "undergraduate" education in game design.

Richard Garriott and Paul Neurath were the chairs of my "masters" degree committee.

Rich Hilleman taught me how to be a leader (assuming anyone thinks of me as a leader!)

I can't tell you how important it is to find mentors and learn everything you can from them.

I heard a rumor that Disney would have kept Junction Point open if you had left the company. Is there any truth to this claim?

None whatsoever. I've never actually mentioned this before, but I even volunteered to quit or be fired if it would keep the studio open. Disney just wanted to move in a different direction. Probably the right decision for them, frankly. No regrets. I had a great time working for Disney.

Can there be a Deus Ex Machina Game?

What has been your favourite game to work on and favourite game to play?

Thanks for your AMA Warren. You're a boss!

I'm a boss? Does that mean you're going to beat me to get to the next level?

My favorite game to work on was either Deus Ex or Disney Epic Mickey. DX because it came closer than anything I've ever worked on to what I imagined it would be when I closed my eyes at the beginning of the project and imagined what it should be. Epic Mickey because how many times in your life do you get to work with THE MOST ICONIC CHARACTER ON EARTH? And I think the team did Mickey proud. (And Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! We got to reintroduce Oswald!)

What is your personal favorite game of all time?

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (which is weird since it's a kind of game I'd probably never make but as a gamer I totally love it)

In 2012 you said that "ultraviolence has to stop" in the games industry. Games in general have long used violence as context for mechanics, even going back thousands of years for Go and Chess in terms of piece removal from the gamestate.

Why do you think game designers have largely failed to popularize alternative systems? What can the game industry do to systematize/gameify non-violent actions?

It's just so easy to simulate the pulling of a virtual trigger. And positioning one pixel over another pixel kind of simulates the act of aiming. Violence is easy (and, as you say, it's been a part of games for thousands of years - in fact, it's been a part of all entertainment and art forever).

I just think some games - lots of games - take it to far, where it's in bad taste. And too many games just pat you on the back for engaging in violent behavior. And there are just so many potentially interesting things we're NOT doing that we COULD be doing.

At some level I don't really care about violent games. Go make 'em. Go play 'em. Whatever. I just wish we'd focus a little more on other aspects of the human condition.

Hi! Thanks for an AMA! I was always wondering is there something you would like to change in your previous games (especially Deus Ex, since, as we know it now, it's almost perfect gameplay-wise - it didn't even age as poorly as some other titles) that you didn't think of during the developement? Is there something you realised after the release that you'd like to come back and fix?

You've also already mentioned that Eidos Montreal guys made some decisions you wouldn't make. What are those particular choices? What in Human Revolution made you go "yeah, that's Deus Ex!" and what felt wrong in your opinion?

Well, let me be clear - I never said (and never would say) the DX:HR team made "wrong" decisions. Just different ones.

I mean, I'm not a fan of modular cover systems. Don't see the point. Clearly the DX:HR team disagreed.

I'm a big believer in giving players at least one "free" weapon, one that doesn't require energy to use. There's a reason why every game seems to have a crowbar. In DX:HR every weapon required energy. What happens when you run out?

And I thought the AI was too unforgiving. Once you failed a stealth attempt, the AI got really aggressive and took a long time to time out and forget about you. I felt like a failed stealth attempt turned the game into a shooter, which kind of undercut my playstyle.

But again, THESE WEREN'T WRONG DECISIONS. Just different.

Hi there first let me congratulate you working on the Deus ex, one of my favourite series of gaming.

My question is, were you a Fan of P.T (silent hills) and is it a missed opportunity to enhance a genre now that this title is canceled?

The DSGA students never stop talking about it. That's annoying. That's how I feel about it.

Thanks for the AMA. My question may seem a bit provocative, but I need to take this opportunity to ask this.

This fact from the "Did You Know? Gaming" YouTube channel had a fact that had my immediate attention. In Deus Ex, the graphics and disc space limitations of the time resulted in the removal of the World Trade Center from the city skyline in the game. At that time, the missing buildings were attributed to a terrorist attack in the game universe. The 9/11 attacks would take place a little more than a year later.

Did you know about this graphics issue when the game was under development and permit this explanation to be made official? Secondly, how did you react when the attacks actually happened on 9/11?

Actually, the missing World Trade Center was a result of an artist leaving them out. It was a mistake. Plan and simple. Of course, after 9/11, people read more into it than they should have.

Hey Warren, thanks for DX, it's still among my top 5 games along with Planescape Torment, Morrowind, Max Payne and Shenmue. (all released close to year 2000, what a time to be a gamer!) Now the questions! What's your favourite videogame of the last 5 years? And What's your favourite story in a videogame?

My favorite game of the last five years? Probably Dishonored.

My favorite video game story? Probably The Walking Dead. Maybe Heavy Rain. But those work because they're so minimally interactive - terrific, but limited. It's relatively easy to tell a story when your script completely delimits what players can/can't do and where they can/can't go.

Hey, Warren!

The Deus Ex series was one of the driving forces that made me choose video games as a career path. I think the writing in that series is phenomenal. As someone who wants to become a writer in the industry, what is the biggest factor you look for when hiring new talent? Thanks for doing this AMA!

I'm learning that my experience differs from other people's so don't take this as gospel, but I've had the most success finding programmers who are also writers. I've found that most writer-writers aren't well-versed in INTERACTIVE storytelling, which has technical requirements unlike other media.

What do you think of the most recent Thief game?

Haven't played it.

Hi Mr. Spector!

When i was younger, i was absolutely hyped up for epic mickey; it was just so different and original, and still is to this day. from the minute i played for the first time, to playing it again years later, it is still a masterpiece. i want to create games like this!

I have a couple of questions:

does the epic mickey franchise still have a future? i would love to see a third one.

How do I get into game development(wanna work at Double Fine)?

Could epic mickey have worked better as a film? the story is very suited for it, especially in imax.

How was working at Disney for you?

I have a personal one here: If you can, could you send the art of epic mickey or the art of oddworld to me? I would love to own those, especially oddworld, as they are one of my main inspirations for wanting to join the industry. Thank you for being here, and hope to see more cool stuff from you in the future!

Does Epic Mickey have a future? You'd have to ask Disney about that. Honestly, I'd be a little surprised if there were any more games in the series but I guess you never know.

How do you get into game development? There are a ton of ways. I think the key is finding your passion - programming, art, design and become really expert in that. The competition for jobs is fierce. Make games on your own. Make lots of games. Prove to potential employers what you can do. Come to the DSGA... ;-)

Could Epic Mickey have worked better as a film? Better, hard to say but probably not. Could it have worked as a film? You bet. I actually put together a trailer and a budget and had a team lined up to make the Epic Mickey film but Disney didn't bite. I REALLY wanted to make that movie...

What are the greatest differences you see in the industry you came up in, vs. the modern industry that new developers are just now entering and attempting to make a name for themselves? (In what ways is it easier/harder?)

Working with the DSGA students I'm AMAZED at how different the world is now from the world I started in. I think it's much harder to break in now than it was (gulp!) thirty+ years ago. As far as the actual changes go, it's obvious that the packaged retail business is a lot smaller piece of the pie than it used to be. Free-to-play... Games as service... Digital distribution... The rise of indie development. It's a different world, for sure.

Having said that, there are a lot of lessons still to be learned from folks who grew up in the old mainstream game development world. At some level, development is development, you know? And AAA game development is still a BIG part of gaming...

Hello Mr. Spector,

First I'd like to tell you that the original Deus Ex game is one of my favorite games of all time (and I played it in 2011!!!)

My question to you is how did your team design such intricate levels ? Why ?

How did the team design such intricate levels? Lots of hard work! Lots of creativity. Total commitment to the vision. There was a level of commitment to the vision that rarely happens on teams. I saw it on Ultima Underworld and System Shock and Deus Ex. When it happens it's really special. And once you've experienced it once you spend the rest of your days trying to experience it again, let me tell you.

How do you think society sees the typical gamer now? do you think it has changed over the last few years? :~)

I think there's a still a subset of older folks we should ignore who still think of games as kid-stuff and a waste of time. But today pretty much everyone's a gamer. If you want to find the weirdo in the world, look for the non-gamer. Time will solve all perception problems. Just wait it out.

Hi Warren,

What are your views on crowdsourcing? I for one think that there is a market for more games like Deus Ex. But publishers like Square Enix will steer to more popular/profitable markets and the next "spiritual successor" isn't going to be that close to the mark.

I think crowdsourcing is great for some people but not for me. I mean, never say never, but I can't imagine having to satisfy 10,000 masters. I'd rather serve one (a publisher or other funding source).

Hey Warren! Deus Ex is my favorite game. After I played through it a second time I developed a knack for finding glitches. What is the biggest/most unexpected glitch you have seen in any of your games after they were released?

Check out the ragdolling on dead characters in Thief: Deadly Shadows.

Or check out Savage Empire where a bug allowed you to take one step in the game world and go directly to the endgame.

Or the bug in Ultima VI where, if you crossed a region boundary on a boat, the boat split in half and Lord British turned up somewhere in the gameworld as a decorative sword.

You're simply a legend dude, but I have to ask, What game do you think comes closest in similarity to your work that wasn't worked on by you?

I'm really not a legend - I'm a real boy!

What game comes closest? Probably Dishonored (no surprise - look at the team and you see a lot of DX-ers in the credits).

Hi Warren,

Thanks for doing this!

I was wondering what your opinion is on the shift in games towards micro transactions, dlc, etc. In your opinion, do gamers still get their money's worth?

I think micro transactions are the spawn of the devil.

Hi Warren! Fellow developer here. I happen to be from the Boston area, and was having lunch with Tim from MassDigi. The discussion veered toward Looking Glass, and it made me wonder: what was your favorite restaurant over here?

There's a Chinese restaurant across the street from the MIT campus that I love but, damn it, I can't remember the name. They made something called Swan La Chow Chow (which I'm probably misspelling horribly). I also liked Redbones barbecue in Somerville.

Weird question...

Hello Warren!

1. You've championed a style of systemic design which, especially in the 2000's, was very rare. I feel like very systemic games in the style of Deus Ex and Theif are just now coming back into mode, though they're still not at the forefront. As money pumped into pushing pixels yields limiting returns, do you think systemic design will come back in a big way?

2. You've been so fortunate (or savvy) to work on stuff that you just love. Disney properties, original IPs, just so many cool, innovative things. I speak with a lot of developers that have to spend a lot of years slogging away on licensed projects that they just loath in order to get the chance to work on something they have real passion for. Whats your advice for positioning yourself to work on things you love?

A little while ago you agreed to do an interview for my small website. You were really friendly and gave me excellent answers. I was really grateful for the opportunity and It was a great experience. Best of luck in Austin and with whatever comes next.

I like to think systemic design never went away. And nowadays I think you're seeing more of it than you have in a while. The reality is there's a greater variety in game styles now than maybe ever.

How do you carve out a career working only on projects you love, believe in and are creatively committed to? Be willing to walk away. I say, "if you don't want me to make the kinds of games I want to make the way I want to make them, let's part ways now and stay friends." I was always willing to go work in a bookstore rather than make crap. Still am.

What did you do for EA?

I was an Executive Producer. I had multiple teams and operated as a profit center with a budget for the group, not just an individual game. But remember, my time with EA was actually at Origin after EA bought us. The experience of Origin after we became part of EA wasn't radically different from what Origin was before. At least not at first...

Hello Warren, thank you so much for this AMA and for your wonderful games. I was wondering what are your next projects in the video game industry, and do you plan on going back to directing 3D platforming/adventure games like Epic Mickey? I feel like these two games were fantastic, pioneer additions to a personal favorite genre that's getting increasingly ignored over the years.

Good luck wherever you go, and please, frequent Facebook like you used to (or at least a bit more)! ;)

My plans for the foreseeable future are pretty much limited to the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy. I thought I'd work on some small side projects but this teaching thing is more time-consuming than I expected.

Hi Warren,

I just wanted to say that I'm quite the fan of your work. And I can't think of a more coherent question. What's the best thing that you acquired while working for a studio? Did someone make you something and give it to you? Something you got from another vendor that was cool? Just something that lived on your desk for a while?

I've been given so many wonderful things over the years it's hard to single anything out. But some of my favorite things are a series of caricatures of me in costumes inspired by games I've worked on - one of my artists surprised me with those.

My Serpent Isle team gave me a poster they all signed and given how hard I worked those guys, I expected them to gift me with a little bottle of arsenic.

And an Epic Mickey fan made some from-scratch plush toys of Epic Mickey characters - that was mind-blowingly nice.

What are your thoughts on the new DuckTales reboot?

You talking the cartoon or the possibility of comics? I'm totally jazzed about both. I can't wait to see new cartoons (hoping they adapt some Carl Barks stories like they did in the original series).

Also, would you still like to work on a new DuckTales comic if given the chance?

Who do I have to kill to write more DuckTales comics? ;-)

I can't even tell you how much fun I had writing the four-issue story arc called Rightful Owners. I want to do more! Give me a call Disney.

Do you think an actual successor to System Shock 1&2 will ever happen?

And thanks for everything!

A lot of people call Bioshock a spiritual successor to System Shock. I can sort of see that. As far as an actual successor, I think you'd have to talk to EA about that. They own the rights.

Thank you for hosting an AMA Mr. Spector! I was wondering, now that you have worked on so many iconic games over the course of your career, what game(s) did you play and what actually sparked your ambition to start making games? Did you want to change certain things or did you want to make your original ideas a reality?

The games that inspired me were the old Atari game Star Raiders - the first first-person 3D game. I really felt like I was there, in the cockpit of a space fighter. And Ultima IV showed me that games could be about more than killing monsters and grabbing treasure. And, of course, D&D. We'd be nowhere without D&D. I think every game developer should face Lake Geneva, WI every day and acknowledge the god-like influence of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

What was your favorite part of Thief: Deadly Shadows? What was the hardest obstacle?

My favorite part of Thief: Deadly Shadows was the Shalebridge Cradle level designed by Jordan Thomas. It scared the piss out of me. I loved it.

Hey Warren! How can I get on the boat?

What the hell boat are you talking about? ;-)

If you're offering me a cruise, I'm in.

Serious questions: Are you still in contact od in any way collaborating with the original Ion Storm Austin team? What is your opinion on Eidos Montreal and their contribution to the franchise? Are you happy with your decision to make Epic Mickey for Disney, any regrets? If you could change one thing in the latest Deus Ex (Human Revolution) what would it be?

Sure, I still talk to some of the old DX guys (and it WAS all guys, damn it...). Guys like Harvey Smith and Steve Powers and Monte Martinez are still carrying the torch. I love those guys.

I'm totally happy to have worked for Disney and made Epic Mickey. I'm super proud of the EM team.

If I could change one thing about DX:HR (do I only get one?) it'd probably be the boss battles. I mean, you train your players to solve problems however they want and then you HAVE to kill the bosses? That makes no sense. Yeah, I know everyone says that, but that's for a reason.

The narrative in my head supposes the bureaucracy at Disney is what eventually did Epic Mickey and especially Epic Mickey 2 in. You have made it abundantly clear in interviews past that working with Disney was a dream, and I'm sure the NDA's won't allow you to say as much even if you wanted to.

But please, from someone who bought both games on release and found things to enjoy in these hamstrung but still exciting games.

What happened?

Well, I'm actually not under NDA or anything with Disney, so I can talk about what happened there. The bottom line is that Disney gave me and the team an almost unbelievable amount of freedom to make the game we wanted to make. I think everyone there knew I was respectful of the properties - oh, hell, I've always wanted to be Walt Disney! - so they didn't worry too much. The one thing they told me (and I still find it weird almost beyond belief)... the one thing they told me I couldn't do was show Mickey's teeth. Go figure.

Okay, Disney didn't always give us as much time as we wanted to make the games EVERYTHING we wanted them to be but (a) NO publisher ever gives ANY developer enough time and (b) no game is ever even close to what you wanted it to be.

(Actually, Deus Ex came pretty close to being the game I hoped it would be when I first started thinking about it, but that's a very rare exception - one of a kind in my experience.)

Do you read people's game pitches? I'm just a student who has written up a brief IP doc.

I can't really look at game pitches. If someone's working on something similar to what I'm thinking about or working on I can get in big trouble. Legal trouble. Don't send me game pitches!

Hello Warren!

Thanks for doing the AMA. My question is in Honor of my 35th cycle around our glorious star today.... What did you get me? :)

Best wishes and an AMA. That good enough?

What is the hardest point in developing a game, and any pointers for someone making their first game solo?

All of game development is hard. For me the hardest part is the Production phase in the middle. Concept and Pre-Production are where you determine what you're going to build (plus or minus great ideas that come up throughout) and post-production is where you make a game beautiful and fun. But that middle phase bores the heck out of me. So I surround myself with people who live for production and, as much as I can, get out of their way.

What's your favorite colour?

Green. Though given that my wife has purple hair, I'm pretty partial to that, too.

Hey, Warren, are you ever going to RSVP to my E3 party?

Um... er... uh... I'm not sure I'm going to E3 this year. I mean I'm teaching these days and not actually working on a game or looking for a deal.

Now, if you want to fly me out to LA, I promise I'll be at your party! I'll pick up the hotel myself. How's that for a deal?

Thanks for doing an AMA.

Might sound odd, but what are your thoughts and/or opinions on transhumanism? Nano or mechanical.

Not for me, but I think it's amazing to see it coming. I'm actually amazed and a little weirded out how much of what we did in DX is coming true now. I'm starting to believe that the world of 2025 will be a lot like the one we created. I'm not saying I'm happy about that, but it seems to be happening.