Chris Taylor preaches “art over cash” at DICE 07

As the other half of the RTS world awaits the Chris Taylor‘s newest revolutionary title coming out this February 20, the Gas Powered Games titan designer spoke at the 2007 DICE Summit about developing for the sake of the art of game development and not for the profit of it.

“Let’s get back to the love of the art,” Taylor suggested. “I finally realised that I’m going to prove to myself that the love for the art is greater than anything else.” He also pointed out that spending more time on the development of games and lesser on yourself and family won’t improve the final product at all.

The lively and energetic Taylor decided to for ego speaking at the podium and instead told the story of GPG’s hardcore developer antics during their development of the Dungeon Siege games. He said, “It was completely wrong [to put that much work]. I don’t like to admit it, but I’m at an age now where I can admit that. We impaled ourselves on a sword.”

Before, the company put thousands of hours of overtime into the Dungeon Siege series, eating up family time. But when Taylor had the plans drawn for Supreme Commander, he decided it was time for a change. “We built Supreme Commander without destroying our health or families,” the designer-now-father claimed.

Creators don’t stop creating when they leave the office. When I figured that out, our productivity went up. When youÂ’re twenty… your family is the guys you work with. We were 20-year-old guys making games for 20-year-old guys. Meanwhile the rest of the world is asking “When are you going to make games for us?”

Taylor found that Supreme Commander‘s publishers (THQ) didn’t seem to mind about game development coming after self well-being and family, despite investing millions of dollars to a single title alone. They claimed it was okay. After all, they had kids, too. He concluded, “The industry is growing up.”

He began to point out the developers’ skewed views that plagued the industry. “I started off with a genuine desire to make great games,” he said. “I didnÂ’t care about what kind of money I got. Â… Do you know how many people I run into who only care about the money?”

Calling out to all developers who wanted a change in their development cycles, he asked, “LetÂ’s get back to the love of the art. LetÂ’s love our customers, families, ourselves. Â… Take care of yourself.” And critics, arguably, have claimed this speech as the best DICE speeches this year. We have a feeling someone isn’t just going for best RTS game of the year award…

Via CVG

As the other half of the RTS world awaits the Chris Taylor‘s newest revolutionary title coming out this February 20, the Gas Powered Games titan designer spoke at the 2007 DICE Summit about developing for the sake of the art of game development and not for the profit of it.

“Let’s get back to the love of the art,” Taylor suggested. “I finally realised that I’m going to prove to myself that the love for the art is greater than anything else.” He also pointed out that spending more time on the development of games and lesser on yourself and family won’t improve the final product at all.

The lively and energetic Taylor decided to for ego speaking at the podium and instead told the story of GPG’s hardcore developer antics during their development of the Dungeon Siege games. He said, “It was completely wrong [to put that much work]. I don’t like to admit it, but I’m at an age now where I can admit that. We impaled ourselves on a sword.”

Before, the company put thousands of hours of overtime into the Dungeon Siege series, eating up family time. But when Taylor had the plans drawn for Supreme Commander, he decided it was time for a change. “We built Supreme Commander without destroying our health or families,” the designer-now-father claimed.

Creators don’t stop creating when they leave the office. When I figured that out, our productivity went up. When youÂ’re twenty… your family is the guys you work with. We were 20-year-old guys making games for 20-year-old guys. Meanwhile the rest of the world is asking “When are you going to make games for us?”

Taylor found that Supreme Commander‘s publishers (THQ) didn’t seem to mind about game development coming after self well-being and family, despite investing millions of dollars to a single title alone. They claimed it was okay. After all, they had kids, too. He concluded, “The industry is growing up.”

He began to point out the developers’ skewed views that plagued the industry. “I started off with a genuine desire to make great games,” he said. “I didnÂ’t care about what kind of money I got. Â… Do you know how many people I run into who only care about the money?”

Calling out to all developers who wanted a change in their development cycles, he asked, “LetÂ’s get back to the love of the art. LetÂ’s love our customers, families, ourselves. Â… Take care of yourself.” And critics, arguably, have claimed this speech as the best DICE speeches this year. We have a feeling someone isn’t just going for best RTS game of the year award…

Via CVG