I'm back. Had a lot of things I wanted to say but I'll try to keep it short.
Brent, you're gifted. Not only that but you're dedicated and productive. I spent some time at one point with an entrepreneur who told me he looked for a single quality when hiring people. Enthusiasm. He said the word defines itself; En means within, and thus or thuse is taken from theos, or god -- roughly, carrying god within. He said people with enthusiasm invariably inspire others and make things work.
I've read a bit of what you're written here. And I've felt your footprints in some BioWare games I've played. I believe your management capabilities are, simply put, special. Just as you are managing your own time and talents in your life of writing to successfully promote producing something real, with quality and value, I firmly believe you brought that same result to other individuals, and to BioWare teams in the past. You helped and inspired others to produce at their best, I got games I love. Individuals on your teams found a bit of themselves that became more than just a dream in games they helped create; games they will always be proud of.
Somewhere on this, or your other, blog, there used to be some comments on why you left BioWare. Maybe it was just in an answer to someone's post. But I think those comments are gone now, perhaps disappearing when you dropped your other blog on software for writers.
From what I recall, you made brief but meaningful comments about the costs of game development and the abiliy of game companies to both produce great games and pay employees a salary commensurate with their contribution. As I recall, the result was an unsolvable equation. My impression was as you left BioWare, you understood their needs and decisions, and they understood yours. Both parties felt a void, but neither blamed the other. Things are as they are.
You probably know where I'm going with this; if not, you probably wish I'd go on and go there. <grin>
There have been interesting developments in game development just over the past few weeks. The equation has changed.
There's a new game out, Torchlight 2, that's being offered on Steam at a price of less than half the price of a typical AAA game even though the developers say it falls within that category. The developers say the $19.99 price is "as viable and profitable" as selling the same game as a $60.00 box game. They have no publisher cost, meaning they'll make a greater profit from each $19.99 sale than they would have from each $60.00 sale under the old system. See
http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/1...
There's also Obsidian Entertainment's Project Eternity currently on Kickstarter, which reached its initial goal of $1.1 million in just over one day. The game seeks to revive the classic PC RPG. Obsidian was shocked at the positive financial response on Kickstarter. In essence, they're finding that they're able to fund development costs without a publisher, based on game "pre-ordering" achieved by Kickstarter. Here again customers get the game at a much lower cost -- $25 -- with the developer getting sufficient profit to make the project a "go".
You have the skills, experience, and reputation to make this work for you, and a team of talented and lucky individuals. It's a special time.
You may, or may not, have already reached your answer how these developments might impact you long before I started writing this. But I saw a couple of hints on your blog, that you spirit might wander to the land of game development from time to time. You said you started replaying a strategy game from long ago. You also wondered whether your children were maturing to a place where they need fewer hours of your days.
You've got a writing career that's working, and is likely to get better exponentially as a function of time if you keep at it. (That's just how growth curves work, once past the early 'failure' stage, and you're past that.) Then there is still your family; less time for them, whether you'd have to move etc.
Thing is. You have truly incredible management talent and skills. You are capable of building the answer to the questions and opportunities however you can conceive it in your mind. You're as special as the heroes central in your games and stories. You might for example build your own game company a mile or two from your home. (If you build it, they will come.)
And what of the future? Potentially great environment for starting a game company today. But what happens in 5 years? 10 years?
If you go that route, your management talents will take you and others across all of those bridges. There will be survivors no matter what the changes. If you build it and stay at the helm, it will survive.
I believe you'll be successful on whatever path you walk. I think we'll all benefit one way or the other, (games, stories, novels, movies); but I'd love to play another of your games.
Thanks and Best Regards.
Steve B
Stopped reading there. They can't even be bothered to do basic fact-checking.
