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Top Developers
There's been a little bit of discussion here and there about issues with games and people's thoughts on what developers might do, if anything, to fix them, and all that kind of jazz, and it got me to thinking: who are the best developers out there? Who are the developers we trust to deliver great games, or those you assume will let you down? Who actually responds well to the community or just flat out seems to ignore what players want? And who do you trust to actually fix a game when issues are found?
I know for example people generally see Valve in a pretty favourable light and generally seem to trust them. Similarly I would say that I had a lot of faith in Infinity Ward to deliver on the hype of Modern Warfare 2, which they did for the most part, and I certainly trust them to deliver a very solid single player experience (perhaps not so much with the reliability on the MP front though). However, it's no big secret that I'm not a huge fan of Treyarch, who I don't really have much faith in. So, who are your top developers? Not just in terms of who do you trust to deliver a good game, but who do you trust to deliver a game (mostly) free of issues, or who will act if issues arise? And who are the worst developers out there? Is there anyone you think tends to have a good reputation that doesn't deserve it, or vice versa? Etc, etc. For anyone who needs a little memory kick, here's a link to a big arse list of game developers Jam it back in, in the dark. |
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. There's nowhere I can't reach.
Last edited by map car man words telling me to do things; Dec 3, 2009 at 04:03 AM.
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Have Treasure ever made a bad game? It's a serious question, because if they have I haven't played it. A factor in their greatness is their small size. Radiant Silvergun was made by about 5-10 people. Working in such a close-knit, personal team lets the love of their craft show through. Each game seems to have that Treasure personality.
Thirding Valve. And I'll be keeping a a close eye on Ice-Pick Lodge. Another very small outfit, I admire their development ethos of creating unusual, atmospheric games that are no less than works of art. How ya doing, buddy? |
Although they've only really released one game, Kaos Studios' support of Frontlines after it was released was far beyond the call of duty (Pun semi-intended). One of the head developers was a fairly regular poster on the Gamefaqs message boards as well as their own forum and players' comments were actually taken to heart and a string of patches addressed bugs and balance issues remarkably quickly.
I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body? |
After both Uncharted and Uncharted 2 I can't help but be impressed with Naughty Dog and very much look forward to whatever they'll be doing next (hopefully an Uncharted 3). I never played the Jak games so I don't know what they were like, but they've certainly come into their own recently that's for sure.
I'm surprised Qwarky didn't mention Team ICO. OK, so we only have two games to go on so far (though who isn't stupidly excited for Last Guardian?), but they are both pretty fantastic games I think most would agree. Black Rock Studios are a company that have caught my eye recently. Pure looked a lot of fun, and from the handful of people I know who have played it they all said as much, and my hands on with Split/Second has me stupidly excited for that game. Actually, there's generally quite a few good studios when it comes to racing games: Bizarre Creations, Codemasters, Turn 10, Criterion and Polyphony Digital (if they ever get around to releasing their games that is) all spring to mind. I was speaking idiomatically. |
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.
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 What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?
Last edited by map car man words telling me to do things; Dec 3, 2009 at 07:20 AM.
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Although they're not around anymore, Bitmap Brothers never made a bad game and the Acorn games made by 4th Dimension were all spectacularly good and in many cases, years ahead of their time. But for the hilariously small user-base killing the platform, they might have made a fucking fortune. FELIPE NO |
I also wouldn't say fantastic about Naughty Dog as I am only basing my opinion of them on their latest games, but I was commenting that (for me) their current form is excellent and I'm excited about what they'll do next. And to call Uncharted 2 an 'idential sequel' is massively unfair and ignores considerable improvements and additions made across the board with that game; but to each their own I guess. Glad you mentioned Rockstar Q, figured someone would. Actually, another company that has been impressing me for the last couple of years: Level-5. What, you don't want my bikini-clad body? |
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 |
Intelligent Systems—the guys behind Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, WarioWare and a bunch of entries in Nintendo's first-party franchises—have consistently put out really polished titles with more under the hood than you'd expect. Easily my favourite handheld developer over the past few years; I still dig out Dual Strike every few weeks in spite of the game being four years old. Plus, they're responsible for Super Metroid, too, so there's always that.
Quick mention of Harmonix for carrying on the top quality of the first two Guitar Hero games by starting a new, superior franchise after Activision picked up the license. Also, while they're not a "top" developer by any stretch of the imagination, Treyarch actually showed a lot of promise with World At War. Despite essentially being a reskinned Modern Warfare, the game had a shitload more polish than CoD3 and the awful Bond game they put out. The amount of community support was good to see, too; they took suggestions for new content to heart, patched out a couple of egregious exploits in the Nazi Zombies game, and a couple of the developers still regularly interact with people on twitter. I'm not really sure I can quite say they've redeemed themselves (I owned Spider-Man and Minority Report at one point ), and they're nowhere near the same level of quality as Infinity Ward, but they've improved a good deal recently. Maybe they'll actually, you know, come out with an original IP someday. edit: nthing the mentions of Valve, Rockstar and Treasure, none of whom have ever released a game I didn't enjoy. There's nowhere I can't reach. |
No worries, though I take your original point. Then again, most people who rate Infinity Ward a little too highly are probably just Call of Duty fanboys and can therefore be safely ignored.
Another name that just sprang to mind on this topic would be Harmonix. They've been doing solid work for a while now and I can't think of a bad game they've put out. Obviously they're fairly focussed on one kind of game, but they do it very well and their work towards creating the Rock Band platform, so that you don't loose content by buying into new games, is definitely something to be applauded. Also, wasn't the team who did Sands of Time Ubisoft Montreal, who are also responsible for both Assassin's Creed games, two games I'm a big fan of. I know there were issues with the first game to do with the structure, but they went to town with the sequel and it was an utterly fantastic game to play through. So yeah, I definitely have respect for that developer (though they lose points for the messy pile of stink that was Lost: Via Domus). Edit:
This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it. |
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? |
So, yes; they're unimaginative and not terribly original, but I reckon they're improving. I was speaking idiomatically. |
I think Insomniac, the studio behind Spyro (originally, anyway), Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance does some pretty damn good work. Not only that, but ever since the first Ratchet & Clank game in 2002 they've managed to release at least one game a year, which is amazing considering that most of their titles are always considered to be of high quality.
And aside from their games, they seem to have a good reputation within the industry. They're very active with their fan community, they're one of the few developers with their own podcast, and they're constantly listed as one of the best places to work for (video game-related or otherwise). Just look at this place:
Who wouldn't want to work there? Most amazing jew boots |
Another one game studio I would say that has really impressed me is Media Molecule. I know not everyone is a fan of what they did with LittleBigPlanet, but I think it's a fantastic creation with some very interesting ideas and very neat ways of going about it. Plus, they're involvement with their community has been amazing. Obviously it's still early days for them as a company, but I'm definitely curious to see what they do next (aside from their continued support for LBP). FELIPE NO |
Q Entertainment, while only having a few games under their belt, has produced the most memorable, addicting puzzle games I've played in my life. The driving force of me picking up a DS was having played a friend's copy of Meteos, and Lumines was the only game I ever bothered to play on my PSP for a long time.
I love their integration of music into the puzzle genre, as it adds a whole extra layer to the game on top of "okay get combo earn points/troll player 2." On a related note, I've got to give Sonic Team some credit. Although they've thoroughly destroyed their namesake, I've yet to play a Puyo game that I don't like. Sure, they're largely the same in terms of core gameplay, but each one adds some new tweak or chaining method that frustrates and then fascinates me. I suppose Compile deserves credit for the original games, but they've disbanded and partially reformed under Compile Heart which is most certainly not a good game developer. What, you don't want my bikini-clad body? |
Having said that, I second (or third) the Harmonix mention here. They have consistently showed a great knack for developing music games and they truly know how to properly use their tools to turn what is essentially a glorified .wav player into an extraordinary gaming experience. It's the reason why the first two Guitar Hero games and both Rock Band titles are so amazing while everything that Neversoft has done has basically ridden on the coattails of the people who clearly struck a balance between mainstream popularity and genuine love of good music. Another developer whose games I will buy without question is Double Fine. I could easily spit a long-winded diatribe about how their games are worth their weight in writing gold and make otherwise conventional platformers with great charm and personality but, really, it boils down to, "Did Tim Schafer work on this game? Yes, you say? FUCKING SOLD." EDIT: Another developer that's batted 1.000 so far is Team Ico. ICO and Shadow of the Colossus may be the only two completed games they have to their name but they're worth their weight in gaming and replay gold. Anyone who tells you any different is FUCKING LYING TO YOU. Jam it back in, in the dark.
Last edited by Paco; Dec 3, 2009 at 04:59 PM.
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Though they are no longer around, I think we can agree Black Isle was a great developer. What they lacked in production values (so many bugs on some titles), they made up for in games that truly stood out and stood the test of time.
Bethesda, though I think they have been absent from the scene since Fallout, but the games of theirs I have played I believe were top notch not just because of how good they were, but also because Bethesda provided the tools for such good user-made content to be created. I must have spent another thousand hours because of all the user mods I played. Oh, along with everyone else, Team ICO. Shadow of the Colossus might have been one of the most amazing games I have ever played. There's nowhere I can't reach.
I forgot my old sig...
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Level-5 has always shown a knack for how to do RPGs in a way that tickles my old-school bone without feeling dated. Dragon Quest VIII was a Dragon Quest game, for sure, but was done with enough style and *oomph* that it didn't bore me to tears the way the others do. Dark Cloud 1 was a rough start, but Dark Cloud 2 is still one of the most fantastic games for the PS2, and the lack of a third is damn criminal.
Twisted Pixel is a newer developer that deserves a lot of credit. Their first two games that they themselves worked on start to finish (They did bits and pieces of Blitz II: The League and NBA Ballers Primetime, but those were essentially Midway projects), Splosion Man and The Maw, are great examples of how to make family-friendly fun games that play well, look great, and are just downright fun to play. The Maw's gameplay was an interesting... thing, I can't figure out how to describe it, and its humor was right on the money most of the time. Splosion Man is seriously one of the best platformers I've played in recent years. They managed to design levels that sit right on the line between challenging and unfairly hard while still allowing for flights of whimsy like flying 500 yards back and forth across a room. Could the room have been 50 yards across? Sure, but 500 yards looks cooler. Those games are on the XBLA and stand out as examples of what can happen on the XBLA when you develop a game specifically for it. Neither of those games are particularly long, but they're just the right length for their price (You could argue Maw could've stood to be $5 less, I guess, but Splosion Man is great) and worlds better than the ports that are still getting shoved onto XBLA. Speaking of, PopCap would be my third choice. Say what you will about casual gaming and whether it's the worst thing ever or the worstest thing ever, but fact of the matter is PopCap is the goddamn prototypical casual game developer. What they do, other games follow on, and yet they still manage to get it right the first time more often than not. Their games may usually be short, or light on content, but dammit if they aren't some of the most addictive sons of bitches. Peggle kept me playing for days just because I *had* to get my score into the top 50, and Puzzle Quest was addictive as hell. Hell, they helped Square-Enix with Gyromancer, and that was actually a really good marriage of S-E's RPG experience with PopCap's... well, all they did really was give them the ability to use Bejeweled Twist, but Bejeweled Twist somehow works after all the abuse the original Bejeweled got in terms of ripoffs. I have to agree with Taco's Q Entertainment choice. Anybody who integrates music into ANY kind of game gets props from me, and Q does it the right way every time. This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it. |
Cing. Ever since I played Another Code on DS I have eagerly waited for any news relating to Cing. It was the first DS game I played that I was truly wowed by. Then they created another brilliant DS adventure game with Hotel Dusk, followed by the highly underplayed gem, Little King's Story for Wii. I haven't played Another Code Wii yet, but I can't find myself being disappointed by it. With Again looking promising and a sequel to Hotel Dusk in the works I fail to see how my opinion of Cing will fall anytime soon.
iNiS. Gitaroo Man easily has the most playtime on my PS2, and it still remains one of my favourite games of all-time and definitely the best music game I've played. Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents are also great examples of how to make a fun music game and they too are some of my most played games on my DS. While Lips looks shit, it's also hardly a game. e: Also definitely seconding Ence's nod to Double Fine. I'm still bitter I haven't had a chance to play Brutal Legend yet, 360 decided to be a major fag and die on me a week before its release. How ya doing, buddy? |
Lurker |
Blizzard, for Diablo and Starcraft series, and the fact they STILL patch those games. I'm not a huge fan of the Warcraft universe though.
Valve seconded, Half-Life series is great stuff and easy to mod. Volition for Descent/Conflict Freespace: The Great War and Freespace 2. FS is still the undisputed king of the space flight genre. Too bad its never getting sequels. Atlus for Persona series and even more so the Shin Megami Tensei main series. This is the deepest RPG I have ever seen and the occult/demonic/post-apocalyptic theme is fantastic. Go Nocturne! I was speaking idiomatically. |
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