There was this one time at id Software when we were working on Quake 2 and everyone piled into Paul Steed's office to check out what Valve was doing was our tech. And there was a cinematic scene with characters moving around while a crane operating and multiple cameras panning around to convey some element of the narrative. Proper cinematic storytelling using the Quake engine!
And I let out a breathless "WOW."
The whole room turned around and scowled at me.
Ha. That was the moment I knew, "OK, well. I want to tell stories with this tech. And these guys don't."
That was why, on the day I was fired from id, I first cried... and then driving home with a box of my crap in the trunk of the car, I began smiling. Then laughing.
And the first chance I was given to do something on my own with that tech? Well, I pushed it as hard as I could in relation to surreal visuals and cinematic storytelling.
26 years later and I can still say "Wow."
Besaid (FFX) is my favorite game track ever.
It's subtly complex. It lulls you into a daze with constants, but varies them in subtle ways (strings, drums, synth) to breathe new life.
It is a song that can never be truly remade. Like the ocean, it just undulates. Forever.
We caught this random guy playing tekken in the internet cafe, who was too intimidated to join the bracket. So we all swarmed him and hyped up his ranked battle.
He's joining his first bracket, July 11th.