Greatest Game Designer of all time

[daytripper]

Yet another post dusted off.

 

If anyone follows the industry they would easily recognize these names. As the gaming arena is reaching hollywood heights, game directors, developers, publishers, concept art studios/artists, even voice actors are gathering a following. Do you have any fav game designer?

[The NZA]

Miyamoto he could make a game about my turds circling down the toilet, and itd be amazing.

[daytripper]

Okay someone photoshop a ad for that game!

 

Let's call it... Irish Turds a Smailing or something

 

I actually havent decided yet, I'm so torn! Although I always been partial to Hideo Kojima. That man should be making movies! Hmm... wonder if Hollywood talents such as Tarantino ever been approaced to make an interactive. Oops rambling again. Anyways Shingeru Miyamoto never had made a game (IMO) that I didn't enjoy. But in the end I have to choose.... Yasumi Matsuno, my only gripe is that s/he haven't put out more games!

[The NZA]

..who?

[daytripper]

Exactly! Yasumi Matsuno made my most favoritist game in the universe, Final Fantasy Tatics. Also made the Gamebot Advance version of it and Vagarant Story, even was producing FFXII

 

I mean seriously, I really love FFT a tad more than Suikoden

 

here's more to his story

 

... FFXII director, Yasumi Matsuno, is no longer working on the game. The former Quest developer (Quest made games like Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle for the SNES and Sega Saturn) is the mastermind behind such brilliant games as Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, but is said to be temperamental. When part of the FFXII team was said to have left Square-Enix for Hironobu Sakaguchi's new development studio, Mist Walker, Matsuno was reported to have not shown up for work for a month until the crisis was resolved. In fact, we're not sure what Matsuno is working on now, and whether he was kicked off the team or if he voluntarily removed himself, although he is still said to be at Square. The RPG powerhouse is reported to have a replacement at the helm already...    more...

[Reverend Jax]

Shingeru Miyamoto makes games you could play forver and not get tired of.

 

mm... wonder if Hollywood talents such as Tarantino ever been approaced to make an interactive.

 

Was the Wachoskis role in the Matrix game considered 'producer'? I know they were closely involved. I wish they had spent more time making Revolutions a better movie though

[daytripper]

Yeah good point. But sadly the game was foofoo.

 

Enter The Matrix was developed under the creative direction of the Matrix filmmakers Larry and Andy Wachowski.    from game info...

 

I think that does count as producing to an extent

[Silent Bob]

All Japanese, huh? No Will Wright?

[The NZA]

..who?

[daytripper]

zhey you name names you gotta show us the money! What he do? :p

[bishopcruz]

Serious lack of Western Developers, geez, people make games outside of Japan you know, I would have popped Tim Schaefer, Ron Gilbert (both of LucasArts back in the day.), Richard Garriot (Ultima), Sid Meier (Civilization), and Will Wright (Pee on us Will!) in there. Course I still have to go with Yu Suzuki: Shenmue, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, Outrun, he was the arcade god.

 

Also, Yu Sukuzi didn't do Sonic, that was Yuji Naka of Sonic Team.

[daytripper]

Well dont blame me for the poll, it was a -1 thread I saved from the annals of Nintendorks forum

[Jont]

 

 

Will Wright, Sim City, The Sims.

[The NZA]

bishop: poll fixed, mr fussypants. Even you woudlnt vote for a western one, you cant name one with a large enough body of work to hang with the other names.

[bishopcruz]

Could name a few, though western developers tend to specialize more than the average Japanese developer. Suzuki is my fave for several reasons, but I think that there are several developers who can hang with the Japanese. Come on Garriot started RPGs on computers as we know it, without him no Ultima, no Ultima getting big in Japan, no Dragon Quest, therefore no Final Fantasy. John Carmack has done WONDERS for 3d game development, and Sid Meier and Will Wright have brought gaming to the masses in ways that only maybe Miyamoto has. Warren Spector of System Shock and Deus Ex fame has done wonders also.

 

I'm not out to rag on Japanese developers, but it seems that many times Western developers don't get their due. Bungie has a great portfolio, as does Blizzard, for example.

 

As far as breadth of work, it was another reason I picked Suzuki, though to be fair many of the western designers have pretty impressive portfolios as well. Kojima has, for example done a total of 7 console games and 2 handheld. and Sakaguchi hasn't done much outside of the FF series. It comes down to personal taste and I get that, but there are a LOT of very talented developers on both sides of the pond.

[Silent Bob]

Not sure why, exactly, but it seems like western developers don't usually get the kinda credit that Japanese developers do. Maybe it's the way the companies are set up or something. The Japanese seem a lot more open about giving one guy the credit for an idea, while the Americans (and let's not forget the Brits - good ol' Rare) seem more focused on giving a team the credit. For instance, I'm sure there was one guy who pitched the game concept for GTAIII, and that game has been one of the most influential games in recent history, but no one guy gets the credit, Rockstar Games gets the credit.

 

Anyway, that said, Schaefer's the ex-LucasArts guy who did Sam & Max, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle and Psychonauts, isn't he? I love his stuff.

[bishopcruz]

Yeo that's him. He did Day of the Tentacle also. Psychonauts is probably the best platformer of this generation, fun, funny, and DAMNED creative. Other great teams have been Black Isle/Bioware, Epic, 3D Realms, whole load of them. Sometimes you get the lead designer's name, sometimes not, but all top notch stuff. Just remembered Michael Ancel, he did the Rayman series along with the AMAZING Beyond Good and Evil, that game damn near out Zelda'd Zelda this gen.

 

One Japanese designer that should have been on the list though would be IGA the guy behind Castlevania. He has a damn nice portfolio also.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one who knows western developers though.

[Silent Bob]

Yeah, Beyond Good and Evil was fantastic, I wish more people had played it. It was so good, Peter Jackson hand-picked Michael Ancel and his team to do the King Kong game, after he played Beyond Good and Evil. It woulda out-Zelda'd Zelda if Wind Waker didn't turn out so good.

 

But finding good Western developers is easy, but like I said it's a bit more difficult to find an individual designer to give the credit to in a western company. Even if you did manage to find out the lead designer's name, you usually can't call it "their game" like you can with a Miyamoto or Kojima game.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Silent Bob

[Jont]

For instance, I'm sure there was one guy who pitched the game concept for GTAIII, and that game has been one of the most influential games in recent history, but no one guy gets the credit, Rockstar Games gets the credit.

 

 

Sometimes I suspect the Japanese way work in the opposite way. A team of people work on a game and one guy gets the credit.

 

Either way my vote goes to whoever did Solstice, that game was tight.

[bishopcruz]

Sometimes I suspect the Japanese way work in the opposite way. A team of people work on a game and one guy gets the credit.

 

Probably accurate, though I think that unless one person in particular had a TON of influnece with a series early on, I think it is hard to get credit on either side of the pond. I mean hell, Miyamoto HIMSELF has said he had nothing to do with Metroid other than looking it over, and it still gets attributed to him. He also gets a ton of credit on more recent Zelda games when he hasn't been as heavily involved in one since Orcarina. This probably leads to the perception that Miyamoto personally programs every good game at Nintendo, even though there simply isn't enough time in the day. But who's to say that your favorite part of a Zelda game didn't come from someone else? We only know the big guys.

 

The more I think on it the more picking the greatest designer of all time is problematic, especially considering the way that games are designed. At the end of the day there are very few lead designers on both sides that are well known.

 

But while we are naming them: Jorden Mencer (sp) of Prince of Perisa fame and Itagaki of team Ninja are two more top designers.

Edited November 8, 2005 by bishopcruz

[Jont]

Well I'm pretty sure that Jordan Mechner programed the first Prince of Persia himself. I don't know if that means he also beat it, if he did he's a fucking legend.

 

I can't name one single designer, but I'd nominate Team Silent of Silent Hill fame, who I believe also had a hand in Shadow of Memories.

[Jont]

On the subject of Silent Hill, has anyone seen the Making of Silent Hill 2 or anything else featuring the game makers. The guy who does all the music and creepy sound effects and also directed the forth game, is outrageously camp.

[MusicManiac]

What about the Ubi Soft design team for these?

 

 

Great stuff.

[the division of joy]

its gotta be miyamoto... for the metroid series....

[Losifer]

While i can't vote for one, I do have to say that they are all factors in the shaping of todays games. Miyamoto is just a bad ass...but others like Kojima and Sakaguchi shaped certain genres to what they are today. With out Metal Gear, there would be no Splinter Cell.Without Final Fantasy, there would be no...well you get the idea. Anywho...where the hell is Noritaka Funamizu. Without that guy, fighting games wouldn't be what they are today. My real point is that there is no greatest in my opinion. Only who you appreciate most. FUNAMIZU NIGGAZ!!!!