DEATHDEATH TOTO TTHHEE GGAAMEME IINNDDUUSTSTRRYY:Y:: LLOONNGG LIVELIVE GGAAMMEESS byby GregGreg CostikyanCostikyan CASUALCASUAL FORTUNES:FORTUNES: GettingGetting RichRich SlowlySlowly WithWith CasualCasual GamesGames byby AllenAllen VarneyVarney TOUCHINGTOUCHING AIMEE’SAIMEE’S PANTIES:PANTIES: TheThe RealityReality ofof VirtualVirtual CommerceCommerce byby MarkMark WallaceWallace Wait. What was that? To the editor: I just wanted to drop you guys a quick word to let you know what Yes, we have found the one sector of the a fantastic job I think your doing with economy that is, apparently, outside the the magazine. I’ve been consistently I wanted the game so desperately. I influence of inflation. Either that, or impressed with the content found inside knew I’d have to play my cards right in perhaps there’s more to the economics To the editor: I just finished reading your virtual pages and look forward to the weeks leading up to Christmas to be of gaming than box price. today’s issue; it’s the usual engrossing downloading a new PDF file every sure I’d get it. I got along famously with and thoughtful material. Tuesday. my brother. I kept my room tidy. I gave This issue of The Escapist, “Dungeons the dog baths. And then the moment of and Dollars,” allows our writers to I just found it interesting that your Which brings me to another point I’d like truth ... Christmas morning the tell-tale explore the various aspects of the articles either introduce me to something to make: I absolutely love the formatting package shape was there, under the economics of games. Greg Costikyan that I’ve never had any contact with and of your publication! I know that tree, among the other gifts. speaks to the serious issues facing the make me want to know more about it, or everyone’s tastes differ, but it struck me development community presented by they put a new spin on subjects I’m as a shame to consistently see some My brother and I pounced upon it the current structure of the production familiar with and usually follow. Not complain about the formatting of your immediately. And there it was. Dragon process. Mark Wallace delves into virtual going wow yet? mag - there are surely many of us who Warrior II, the most anticipated game commerce and why virtual is perhaps not enjoy it as it is. In a way, downloading for the NES that season – at least it was the best term to describe it. Enjoy these Well, the point is, to me, it’s the next the PDF for me actually makes it feel for my brother and me. And it was one articles and more in this week’s issue of step in the evolution of gaming. We’ve MORE than just a web page, you know? of the most expensive at around $50. The Escapist. had PC Gamer and magazines that tell That was why it was not guaranteed to us what games to buy for a very long -Benoit Casey be under the tree, as back in 1990, $50 Cheers, time ... but now we have a magazine was a lot of money, especially for what that analyzes games and informs us of To the editor: Hi, I recently discovered was widely perceived as a child’s toy. issues we should, as intelligent members your magazine and continue to be of the community, know. It’s a step that impressed and inspired by the ideas Now, 15 years later, another hotly I think may come into incredible fruition, therein. That much you must hear all the anticipated title hits the shelf for though I can’t ponder what that fruition time, though, so that’s not why I’m Christmas – Peter Molyneux’s Fable. It’s may be. writing. debut price? $49.99. -Sean Li I just had to beg, in response to some Reading your magazine is like a taking in but one of the things I like about your I enjoyed the article, it certainly brought other recent letters sent your way, that a fresh breath of pure oxygen for me - magazine is that it has a nice format. me back - as for the link between Halo you not change the layout. The world the opinions are close to mine, the T’would be nice to have a font size and Marathon, I can only say that does /not/ need another Slashdot. Any layout is not teenager-friendly with option which makes the font bigger and anything more than a causal link would site can have unique writing, but unless garish colors and type (I work in an reformats the sheet. have been rather difficult since there there’s something special about the Information Agency, and all my were only a few people on earth who presentation, most people won’t see any designers who’ve spent 7 years studying -Cezanne Farris-Gilbert knew the story well enough to keep the reason to stick around. typography and art love the layout too), tie-ins accurate. Hamish, myself, and the stories are on refreshing topics, and To the editor: As one of the people maybe a few other people - none of The pictures don’t tell half the story, but the content is insightful to say the least. involved with making all those cryptic whom worked at Bungie by the time they are the reason I gave The Escapist Brilliant! story messages and all that. I can only even Myth was in production. a second glance. say that you stated almost exactly in And I know you probably don’t take your article what our intentions were -gk -KSaigo requests, but it would be great to see an when we created the games - that is a article on the Fallout games - I’m sure game that had a story and that we liked To the editor: This is just another rant there are a lot of fans out there who’d to play. on how good you guys are... (you love you for it, and it would be probably get a lot of these, but here’s interesting to read your opinion in any At the time, we told the story via mine anyway) case. terminals because we simply didn’t have the resources (computer or manpower) I play a lot of games, and have been for Please keep up the good work, and know to do anything else. I think the success more than a decade now - which is that you have a person who’s willing to of the terminals was due simply to its somewhat of an unusual hobby here in work for you (free of charge) in India in incredible limitations. We were forced to India where gaming is just taking off. case you want a perspective on the tell a story in sets of 3 paragraphs. Most of the fellow ‘gamers’ I know have gaming scene here. started off with Counterstrike, and have All the other crazy stuff came from that. no clue about the brilliant classics like -Zubin Nowadays, games can do anything that Planescape Torment, the Ultima series, can be done in a full length film. Would Fallout 1 & 2, Castlevania, Street To the editor: I enjoy your online mag, anyone still read a terminal in a game if Fighter, Test Drive and, of course, but when the fonts are resized by force, it was there? Wrecking Crew, to name but a few :) it loses it’s formatting. Not a big deal, “The machinery of gaming has run amok... An industry that was once the most innovative and exciting artistic field on the planet has become a morass of drudgery and imitation... It is time for revolution!” –”Designer X” in the Scratchware Manifesto When “Designer X” wrote those words back in 2000, the industry, to the degree that it took any note whatsoever, dismissed them as irrelevant ravings. Jessica Mulligan wrote that the Scratchware Manifesto was “naïve in the extreme,” and obviously written by an industry outsider - and was quite surprised to learn that I was Designer X. Of course, things have only gotten worse since 2000, and the industry - or at least, developers - have started to agree. Two years ago, speaking at a conference in the UK, Warren Spector said “The publishers have to die, or we are all doomed” - to cheers. And this year, at GDC, I ranted on the problem - and received a standing ovation. What is the problem? And is there any way to address it? As recently as 1992, the typical doing so became mandatory. You had to development budget for a PC game was generate enough assets to fill the disc. as little as $200,000. Today, if you want a title that will be taken seriously by the Today, art assets (not programming) are retailers - an A-level title - your the main cost driver. As machines minimum buy-in is $5m, and $10m for a become capable of rendering more triple-A title is common. With the next detailed 3D models in real time, the generation of console hardware, the talk market demands more detailed 3D is of $20m budgets - not as something models - and models are hand-created that will be unusual, but typical. by artists using tools such as 3D Studio Max and Maya. All things being equal, a On a theoretical basis, the rise in doubling in polygon count means a development costs is driven directly by doubling in the amount of time an artist Moore’s Law. As hardware becomes needs to spend generating the model - capable of displaying better-detailed and a doubling in cost.