[General Discussion] Top Developers

Valve is great because not only do they make some very good games, but you get insight into how much care and thought they often put into their titles. An example is the commentaries in the first Left 4 Dead, the explanations how much work was put into the lighting to add to the sense of place, atmosphere as well as guiding the player in the right direction without signposting. I learned to appreciate their visual and level design in a whole new light (no pun intended) with L4D and Portal. Their games, characters and settings have personality, wit and often genuine splendor, something at times lacking from modern titles.

The only recent disappointment they've brought about was how you can no longer see your lower body in L4D2. It was a nice little detail I enjoyed about the first game and how that little more care was put into it. The decision to remove the feet and make you a floating gun in 2 was likely due to player feedback though, so I can forgive them. Because players are stupid

A personal favourite of mine is Treasure. They have produced some duds along the way, but they remain a constantly fascinating developer who do their own thing, and so many of their games are rightfully considered some of the finest examples of action gaming around. It's just a shame most people never got a chance to experience Radiant Silvergun because of the ridiculous ebay prices. It's a magnificent videogame. But then so are Guardian Heroes, Gradius V and Ikaruga.

Similarly I am very fond of WayForward. Yes, they make a lot of license pap to make ends meet, but they have also produced some of the most wonderful little titles in the last five years, including Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck, Contra 4, A Boy and his Blob and now Shantae sequels.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

I'm surprised Qwarky didn't mention Team ICO.

True true, I also didn't mention a bunch of other developers with a grand total of one, two or three titles on them (such as the wonderful original Splinter Cell team, because Chaos Theory is that incredible).

Similarly, no one is THAT overly fond of Crash Bandicoot or the old Call of Duty, so it's always puzzling Naughty Dog or Infinity Ward get brought up in discussion of fantastic developers based on but two games, with the other being an identical sequel. But that's just me, everyone knows I felt both Uncharted games were solid but ultimately forgettable.

Originally Posted by Kolba

Have Treasure ever made a bad game?

I've not played them, but I'm told Buster's Bad Dream was unfairly hard, Dragon Drive mediocre and Silpheed 2 dreadful. MrMonkeyMan can probably elaborate.

Personally I enjoyed Freakout/Stretch Panic, but everyone else seems to hate it.



EDIT:
I'd also like to add Rockstar's multiple studios as while they still produce some fairly terrible titles (State of Emergency games, Manhunt 2), they are also responsible for some truly excellent titles, with great additional care put into writing, voice acting and all around flair. Always controversial one way or another, they remain a fascinating and respectable studio for the likes of Canis Canem Edit, GTA4 (and Vice City) and Manhunt (1). The recent trailer for Red Dead Redemption is another example of how they do their thing.

EDIT 2:
Actually, I take back some of my words about Naughty Dog, I completely forgot they used to do Jak & Daxter. Even though I didn't like the sequels, the first one was a great title, and all three are credit to the team. But we all know people bring Naughty Dog up because of Uncharted >:E

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, I didn't mean you personally, really. Sorry if it came out like that. Shin brought up Kaos Studios and while they worked on Desert Combat and are now doing Homefront, he admitted it's one game. And that's fine.

If someone has genuine respect for Naughty Dog or IW, that's really a great thing. Developers need some recognition, not just the franchise names. I have tremendous respect for Crytek for Far Cry and Crysis and the original PoP team for Sands of Time alone.

Most amazing jew boots

I completely forgot Harmonix. I absolutely adore Frequency for what it is and what it does, and while I don't love the rest of their output (we can forget Anti-Grav), they have time and time again displayed great care and love for music and music games.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?