Luc Bernard not satisfied with Eternity’s Child, not into casual gaming, opines on game industry *Update*
Luc Bernard unleashes his brash honesty in an interview, revealing that he does not like the way his own game, Eternity’s Child, turned out. There are a couple of other things he does not like or couldn’t care less about, and we’re sure you’re intrigued to know what this frank developer has to say. Full article houses them all, plus an update!
Thanks to Esa Linna for the heads up!
This article was originally posted on June 8, 2008 at 6:23 a.m.
Looks like we’ve got another sharp-tongued developer in our midst, and we’d have to say his words do cut and hurt. A lot. Ironically, though, it’s not against any other person or company, but is towards his own game.
Luc Bernard, the British game developer, had a very candid chat with Konsolifin, and here we learned that he’s not happy with his very own game, Eternity’s Child for the WiiWare.
Asked if he had enough time to develop the said title, he answered: “To be honest, I am not satisfied with Eternity’s Child. I hope that it does well enough for me to be able to do the game of my dreams and not live off noodles.”
Okay, not so encouraging, if you were thinking of getting this game, which costs 500 points on the WiiWare. But before you scratch this off your list, Bernard goes on to explain more why the dissatisfaction on his part:
… Eternity’s Child isn’t what I expected or wanted. The reason I hate it, is because well I could not do 2D hand drawn animation or anything — because there was no money for it. So it’s really a game that I don’t like anymore.
But it’s still worth the 500 points, it’s just I wanted to do a game that was worth 50 dollars and only sold at 5 dollars.
But if Eternity’s Child does well on Steam, it will allow me to become fully independent and set up my own studio and do the games I want to. So let’s hope it does well.
We hope so, too. But really, we think it’s gonna need much better press after this. Lots of it. Then again, maybe the curiosity factor will come in and generate enough buzz for the people to check out for themselves why he doesn’t like his own game.
And if you think that’s all the harsh, brutally honest words he had to say, you think wrong. When asked if EC is aimed more at serious gamers, or if it is also a good choice for so-called casual gamers, he retorted, “I don’t care about casual gamers.”
As for what would be that one thing he would change in the gaming industry, “Me not living off noodles LOL. I could not care more about the industry, I know it’s a load of s***.”
Strong words, indeed, from a man who wants nothing else but to work on his craft. No frills, no fancy wrappings, just saying it as it is. And though some of you may feel shocked with the things he’s said, we have to admit his honesty is impressive. And danged welcome, too.
Thanks to Esa Linna for the heads up!
*UPDATE*: We’ve learned from other sources that Eternity’s Child still belongs in Luc Bernard’s recommendations, and he’s also opined his views that might clear up why his statements wouldn’t be as alarming as it sounds.
When asked about the whims of the game industry on the topic of lowering prices of games, he said:
I’m going to be honest here, it’s all about the money and doing clones of the same product over and over again; that’s the games industry! Then they sugarcoat everything with PR.
Soon thereafter, Bernard was quoted to have responded to the casual gamer issue with:
I’m just not into casual games, thatÂ’s what I meant. I don’t even play videogames that much anymore because they are either all the same with a big muscle man on steroids, or its casual games and I’m just not into them. There are loads of publishers who create casual games if you want to play them, but I wonÂ’t be making any.
Source has been updated to reflect the new interview. Get more of his thoughts, and await more updates on WiiWare titles as we get them.
Thanks to Esa Linna for the tip again!