Warren Spector...Paranoia...Games

[schild]

I don't even...hmmm...yea, read this:

However, a clue to Junction Point's current project may lie in Spector's past. One of his coworkers while working at TSR was one Allen Varney, who cowrote a module for the cult sci-fi role-playing game Paranoia with Spector. According to Varney's online resume, he also handled "principal design" on a game called "Junction Point" while at Looking Glass Studios (then Looking Glass Technologies) at the same time as Spector. Varney describes the game as "[a] massively multiplayer fantasy role-playing game, changed in midstream to a single-player science-fiction role-playing game," which was canceled in 1997.

When speaking to GameSpot, Spector was optimistic and seemed ready to tangle once again with the game industry. However, when pressed on details on Junction Point's debut, he preferred to stay mum, only suggesting that new ideas were percolating behind the scenes. He also refused to answer questions on the studio's business model, leaving the door open for a conventional collaboration with a publisher or a self-published MMORPG.

Could he repeat the genius of Deus Ex in MMORPG form? Could he make a Paranoia type game? Could he drink the urine out of the half-full glass? Could he replace it with cleaner Spector urine that has an interesting story?

Who knows? Spector knows.

We'll probably know in 2009 when he finally gets around to releasing something. I'm not getting all fanboi, but back in the day, Spector was one of the few people on my list of gaming geniuses - due solely to Thief, SS, and Deus Ex. His projects took a turn for the worse progressively, and I can only hope that he gets over that hurdle. If he is making an MMORPG, it'll be nice to have some new blood in the online gaming industry as more than the majority of the designers are starting to smell like corpses. Incest is bad, mmmk?

[HaemishM]

I blame Spector's recent downfall on Eidos, whose sole interest seems to be in fucking up existing franchise IP to make their shitty Boob Raider games seem not to suck as bad. Pigfuckers.

Spector on a sci-fi MMOG? Yeah, I'll bite on that one.

[Rodent]

I'd much rather see him make more SP-games, but this could be interesting never the less.

[Sky]

Spector will only earn back my respect when he comes out with a great pc game not 'streamlined' for the 'maintream audience' (aka consoles). Money whore. Yeah, I know it's a business. PC developers who develop for consoles are money whores.

Like a certain paragon of TBS development who now makes RTS games. Not quite a money whore like the console devs, but a whore nonetheless, one who needs to make Col2 or partner with firaxis for SMAC2. Just sayin'.

That said, Paranoia has the potential to be an incredibly fun mmog, very zany. But by the time it gets to market, you'll be levelling up and camping mobs for phat lewtz and rolling up characters who fit the uber endgame "desirable" list.

[Nija]

What that quote tells me is that Looking Glass (creators of, in case you've forgotten, ultima underworld 2, C&C1, system shock 1/2, and thief 1/2) was set to put out a mmorpg around 1998, right between the releases of UO and EQ.

If this would have happened, perhaps we'd not be stuck with mmorpg EQ-clone hell. I bet it would have been good. I wonder why it was canned.

Didn't Looking Glass itself implode about that same time?

[Sky]

That occurred to me, too, Nija. Then I shoved that wonderful thought back into the dank box of despair the memories of so many talented dev houses languish in.

[HaemishM]

Spector will only earn back my respect when he comes out with a great pc game not 'streamlined' for the 'maintream audience' (aka consoles). Money whore. Yeah, I know it's a business. PC developers who develop for consoles are money whores.

Blame Eidos, Spector's publisher. Chances are it was ultimately their decision on whether or not DE2 and Thief 3 were to be PC only or console/PC hybrids.

And I still say it's in the execution, as KOTOR was most definitely designed for console first, and I hardly consider it streamlined for a console audience. It hid its console-based flaws (small levels, loading times) quite well.

[Big Gulp]

That said, Paranoia has the potential to be an incredibly fun mmog, very zany.

I've gotta disagree, man.  Maybe I was just unlucky, but I only had a few friends who instinctively "got" Paranoia.  The rest approached the game like it was any other RPG, and only through my cruelty and arbritrariness did they finally get the message about what the game was about.

One guy just couldn't handle it.  The epitome of a rules lawyer, you could just about see the vein in his forehead throb when I would roll dice and not even look at them.  Actually, it wasn't all bad, because seeing him lose his shit was actually pretty fun.

[Shockeye]

That said, Paranoia has the potential to be an incredibly fun mmog, very zany.

I've gotta disagree, man.  Maybe I was just unlucky, but I only had a few friends who instinctively "got" Paranoia.  The rest approached the game like it was any other RPG, and only through my cruelty and arbritrariness did they finally get the message about what the game was about.

One guy just couldn't handle it.  The epitome of a rules lawyer, you could just about see the vein in his forehead throb when I would roll dice and not even look at them.  Actually, it wasn't all bad, because seeing him lose his shit was actually pretty fun.

You just reminded me again of why I loved Paranoia. I think I will go buy the Paranoia XP rulebook after work today. It includes non d20 rules because d20 games aren't fun and Paranoia is fun. Just ask the computer.

[Ardent]

Blame Eidos, Spector's publisher. Chances are it was ultimately their decision on whether or not DE2 and Thief 3 were to be PC only or console/PC hybrids.

I remember when DX2 came out, Spector talked rather enthusiastically about developing the game for the console and PC concurrently, as opposed to limiting the game to a PC-only audience. He seemed completely on-board with the console concept to me, but perhaps he was just spewing the corporate talking points so he could keep his job.

[Sky]

I've gotta disagree, man.  Maybe I was just unlucky, but I only had a few friends who instinctively "got" Paranoia.  The rest approached the game like it was any other RPG, and only through my cruelty and arbritrariness did they finally get the message about what the game was about.

One guy just couldn't handle it.  The epitome of a rules lawyer, you could just about see the vein in his forehead throb when I would roll dice and not even look at them.  Actually, it wasn't all bad, because seeing him lose his shit was actually pretty fun.

Well...that was my point. Nobody would "get it" and it would end up being EQ 1.75 or something.

But man, if it could deliver on Paranoia "as intended"...whew. That'd be something.

In useless trivia news, Paranioa is how I learned to remember the spectrum, Roy G. Biv!

I remember when DX2 came out, Spector talked rather enthusiastically about developing the game for the console and PC concurrently, as opposed to limiting the game to a PC-only audience. He seemed completely on-board with the console concept to me, but perhaps he was just spewing the corporate talking points so he could keep his job.

That's what I refer to. Either he was not only onboard, but gung-ho...or he pulled a monumental Powell.

[schild]

Raph was excited about SW:G once upon a time too ya know.

[Trippy]

What that quote tells me is that Looking Glass (creators of, in case you've forgotten, ultima underworld 2, C&C1, system shock 1/2, and thief 1/2) was set to put out a mmorpg around 1998, right between the releases of UO and EQ.

Looking Glass also developed Ultima Underworld, back when they were called Blue Sky Productions, thus creating a true 3D environment (you could fly under bridges and stuff) when Carmack was still futzing with "2.5D".

[Margalis]

I remember when DX2 came out, Spector talked rather enthusiastically about developing the game for the console and PC concurrently, as opposed to limiting the game to a PC-only audience. He seemed completely on-board with the console concept to me, but perhaps he was just spewing the corporate talking points so he could keep his job.

If he was not on board at all, I'm sure he would have sounded the exact same way.

The problems with the more recent games were the very high-level decision making, not the actual production execution, for the most part.

[Sky]

Raph was excited about SW:G once upon a time too ya know.

Yes. He is on probation. I called what happened with SWG way back when he first let us know he was working for SOE. Sucks I was pretty much right, and now he's promoted without much chance of directly designing a mmog. I'm optimistic about the guy, but it is a business, as so many are fond of reminding me (and him).

Looking Glass also developed Ultima Underworld, back when they were called Blue Sky Productions, thus creating a true 3D environment (you could fly under bridges and stuff) when Carmack was still futzing with "2.5D".

Yes. I was in the UU camp and simply hated Doom. UU should have been the archetype for 3d games, instead mindless Doom with it's stunning interactivity (shoot stuff...and shoot more stuff) became the thing to follow. Ah, well. LCD and all that. And at least it moved networked gaming forward, but man was it a shitty game.

Really, it started with Wolf3d. The 3d graphics were SO BAD compared to the 2d work of the day. They are only now starting to get as good as the old sprites (at the height of sprite graphics, just before the primitive 3d stuff hit big), imo. I'd go over to my buddy's house after playing some Ultima 7 or whichever I was on at the time, and he's playing this simplistic game with crappy graphics...hell, even the Gold Box AD&D stuff blew it away (again, imo), and the gameplay was on an entire different level. I guess I just have a problem with games where the only interface with the world is a gun and the only thing you do is kill stuff. Apparently there's a lot of murderous folks that disagree ;)

[Big Gulp]

Yes. I was in the UU camp and simply hated Doom. UU should have been the archetype for 3d games, instead mindless Doom with it's stunning interactivity (shoot stuff...and shoot more stuff) became the thing to follow. Ah, well. LCD and all that. And at least it moved networked gaming forward, but man was it a shitty game.

Funny that when people mention Looking Glass they never bring up Flight Unlimited.  For it's time, that was an amazing flight simulator.  The terrain was mind blowing, and at the time it (and Magic Carpet) were the two big games that really required a Pentium, which was pretty much gaming nirvana, and anyone who actually owned the fabled machine was not only a bastard, but a dirty rotten bastard.

[Sky]

My 486 dx100 (overclock chip ftw, original dx33) with its staggering 16MB of RAM was something of a powerhouse, I played Magic Carpet. I was never really into flight sims other than Wing Commander, but I do remember how incredible Flight Unlimited was.

Didn't upgrade to a pentium (200MHz) until I was playing in the UO beta.