Interviews With Developers of Terrible Games?

[FieryReign]

It might sound weird but are there any out there besides the H. S. Warshaw stuff? I'd be interested in reading or hearing what were going through these peoples minds at the time, and if they actually knew they were creating garbage. Sort of like "where are they now" type deal.

Has anyone done an effort to seek out these folks and pick their brains? I'm sure there would be plenty of great stories. I know quite a few have gone on to have success and are still working today(Rare) but how about some of the programmers who are no longer in the business?

To be more specific, I'm talking about developers like LJN, Jaguar developers, CD-I developers, and whoever made Deadly Towers. Or have most of these people changed their name and moved on to a different career?

If this seems like a strange topic to start, then sorry. I'm fascinated by stuff like this, like listening to a commentary for a horrible film. They are usually worth watching just for that. Any links to articles or videos would be much appreciated, I haven't found much.

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

If you want to look, there are a couple of threads on Shoryuken.com's forums that are lengthy tales from the developers of various "bad" fighting games like Street Fighter: The Movie or Time Killers.

[wingzrow]

I remember reading a good interview with the developers of suoerman 64. Turns out the final game was garbage because DC didn't like the idea uf superman punching people and bullets, so they had to strip out everything at the last minute at DC's request.

You can look up the beta of the game, and while it doesn't look "good" it looks kinda playable and way better than what people got.

[IHatedSega]

Theres a really good story piece on the development of Daikatana, reading it really makes you understand how it turned out and why development was hell. http://www.n2op.com/jim/daikatana.html

Itd be awesome if the AVGN would be able to interview people, but Im pretty sure the developers of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were Japanese.

[Collector_Gaming]

I remember reading a good interview with the developers of suoerman 64. Turns out the final game was garbage because DC didn't like the idea uf superman punching people and bullets, so they had to strip out everything at the last minute at DC's request.

You can look up the beta of the game, and while it doesn't look "good" it looks kinda playable and way better than what people got.

Sounds like on the same principal as ET in a sense. Where the developers of ET were given a impossible deadline that they had to meet no matter what. So the crap we have today is the result of that.

[Scissors]

Here's the Nintendo 64 Superman interview:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/ericcaen.htm

[FieryReign]

Here's the Nintendo 64 Superman interview:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/ericcaen.htm

Thanks for the link, that was funny. Seems like that guy was just dodging the questions and kept blaming the licensor for his company producing a terrible game. Who was he kidding, I don't believe that. I recall Superman kicking and punching in quite a few games. Justice League Task Force, Death and Return of Superman, the Sunsoft Genesis game? I highly doubt DC forced them to make such a horrific game.

I chuckled when I read this: " I don’t know. Maybe because most of Titus’ success existed before the public internet era?" Success, huh?

Here's an interview I found with the creator of 2 of the CD-I Zelda games: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/zeldacdi/zeldacdi.htm

[jb143]

Not really an interview, but you could check to see if any developers have published their postmortem documentation. That would really explain why they did what they did and what they feel worked and didn't work about the whole development process of the game.

[MidnightRider]

My guess on how they turned out would be time constraints for the most part. I haven't seen evidence that LJN developed more than the NES X-Men game, and a PC Terminator 2 game. Everything else with their name was published by them, and they probably put time constraints on developers, to get the games out around the same time as the movies they licensed them after.

[Gameguy]

Just ask Greg Pabich about Action 52. He seems proud of the fact of hiring the same programmer who made the game to fix various errors on it, the same guy who did such a crappy job in the first place.

[FieryReign]

My guess on how they turned out would be time constraints for the most part. I haven't seen evidence that LJN developed more than the NES X-Men game, and a PC Terminator 2 game. Everything else with their name was published by them, and they probably put time constraints on developers, to get the games out around the same time as the movies they licensed them after.

That's no excuse for an entire catalog of poor games, not to mention how hard and frustrating most of them were. I recall Aladdin being programmed in a very short time and that turned out to be a pretty good game. I'm sure most games have/had time constraints and deadlines Poor programming is just poor programming. Has to be more to it than just deadline issues.

I know LJN was mostly a publisher but didn't they make Gotcha and T+C Surf Design? They had other crappy developers do their dirty work as well(Rare). THQ, Acclaim, and Color Dreams were some other companies notorious for making poor games in the 8/16-bit era.

[SparTonberry]

Weren't all of LJN's games released years after the movies? Not really a rush then.
It is suspected it is actually Atlus that was responsible for Karate Kid (and maybe Jaws). Luckily they have since redeemed themselves. :)
(being that Karate Kid music turned up in a hidden scene of a Japanese kid's text adventure game, where the programmer told several of his coworkers they can go fuck themselves, pretty much)

[davidbrit2]

That's no excuse for an entire catalog of poor games,

Now hang on, let's get one thing straight: Incredible Crash Dummies for NES is excellent.

[tom]

It might sound weird but are there any out there besides the H. S. Warshaw stuff? I'd be interested in reading or hearing what were going through these peoples minds at the time, and if they actually knew they were creating garbage. Sort of like "where are they now" type deal.

Has anyone done an effort to seek out these folks and pick their brains? I'm sure there would be plenty of great stories. I know quite a few have gone on to have success and are still working today(Rare) but how about some of the programmers who are no longer in the business?

To be more specific, I'm talking about developers like LJN, Jaguar developers, CD-I developers, and whoever made Deadly Towers. Or have most of these people changed their name and moved on to a different career?

If this seems like a strange topic to start, then sorry. I'm fascinated by stuff like this, like listening to a commentary for a horrible film. They are usually worth watching just for that. Any links to articles or videos would be much appreciated, I haven't found much.

Howard Scott Warshaw didn't write any 'terrible' games, Yar's Revenge is an excellent shmup, Raiders of the lost Ark is an excellent adventure game, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a good arcade style game, not perfect due to the small deveopment time frame but dismissed by many who couldn't play the game properly, that's all.

CD-i developers also did their best considering the CDi was not a game console:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/cdifromretrogamesmag.jpg

[FieryReign]

^If you think ET is a good arcade style game then more power to you. The rest of us who played it recognize it for the garbage it is. I don't think I would call it arcade style either, more of an adventure game, or a falling-into-invisible-pits simulator. Raiders was poorly designed as well IMO. Yars was ok.

In regards to CD-I, Phillips did try to advertise that "thing" as a game console later on in that "things" life cycle. The developers did not do their best besides a select few, most of the stuff I played(at a friends house) were terrible, the machine was a dust collector. I've never heard anyone defend ET and CD-I games, I guess some people see the good in everything.

[Collector_Gaming]

That's no excuse for an entire catalog of poor games, not to mention how hard and frustrating most of them were. I recall Aladdin being programmed in a very short time and that turned out to be a pretty good game. I'm sure most games have/had time constraints and deadlines Poor programming is just poor programming. Has to be more to it than just deadline issues.


Which aladdin we talking about though?

SNES
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqcbhorZyi1qg7g3qo1_400.jpg
or

Genesis Aladdin
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KNZH403imb4/S9r-onSXziI/AAAAAAAAAdM/0qQCeGZm8Kk/s1600/aladdin-sega-genesis-game.jpg

because for me personally i thought the SNES one was garbage and I loved the genesis one (my opinion though obviously)

[Gameguy]

Which aladdin we talking about though?
There's also a Game Gear/SMS version which was made by a third company, and that's not including any of the various ports like the Gameboy, NES, or PC versions which vary in quality. I've never heard that any of these were rushed, the Genesis one used traditional animation made by Disney animators which would take time to produce.

[tom]

^If you think ET is a good arcade style game then more power to you. The rest of us who played it recognize it for the garbage it is. I don't think I would call it arcade style either, more of an adventure game, or a falling-into-invisible-pits simulator. Raiders was poorly designed as well IMO. Yars was ok.

In regards to CD-I, Phillips did try to advertise that "thing" as a game console later on in that "things" life cycle. The developers did not do their best besides a select few, most of the stuff I played(at a friends house) were terrible, the machine was a dust collector. I've never heard anyone defend ET and CD-I games, I guess some people see the good in everything.

Many people with knowledge about video games see the truth in everything concerning video games, not just hear say or bad YouTube vids; but you were right about that only a few programmers do their best programming good/excellent games for consoles/computers. This is true for every console/computer on the market, from Magnavox Odyssey to Nintendo Wii-U.

Actually, I take that back about Magnavox Odyssey, every title on Odyssey shines, it being the first home console on the market, compared with Nintendo Wii, 80% shovelware, downright rubbish.

[tom]

a few words from the man himself:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/HSW1.jpg
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/HSW2.jpg

[Collector_Gaming]

let me get out my magnifying glass first and i'll read it up.

[tom]

Hehe turned out to be a bit small didn't it.
If you got a good TFT you can Zoom to make it bigger, or just get issue 25 of the excellent Retro Gamer (ebay, torrent...etc)

[Bazoo]

Nerd Alert did an interview with the creator of Street Fighter: The Movie; The Game. It's pretty entertaining.

http://www.dorkly.com/embed/14334/nerd-alert-is-wii-dead

Starts at about 5:40.

[FieryReign]

Many people with knowledge about video games see the truth in everything concerning video games, not just hear say or bad YouTube vids; but you were right about that only a few programmers do their best programming good/excellent games for consoles/computers. This is true for every console/computer on the market, from Magnavox Odyssey to Nintendo Wii-U.

Actually, I take that back about Magnavox Odyssey, every title on Odyssey shines, it being the first home console on the market, compared with Nintendo Wii, 80% shovelware, downright rubbish.

Sorry, I don't watch idiotic youtube vids or listen to heresay. My judgement is by what I actually played. Don't care about Wii because I never had one and don't care to.

In regards to Aladdin, I was referring to the Genesis version. An old Gamefan preview claimed the game was produced in a few short weeks, according to Dave Perry.