Making games is hard enough. Making games with people you don't trust sounds impossible. I've been lucky enough to work with some amazingly talented developers that believed this same philosophy. It's like in any relationship - when you trust each other, you challenge and push each other to create, craft and develop. I think what I appreciate the most about building a trust focused environment is the amount of learning that happens. Trust doesn't just come for free, it needs to be developed within a team. Here's a a semi-rant during the 2016 GDC Animation Microtalks where I talked about building trust between programmers/designers and animators in helping to create the best gameplay experiences possible. The rest of the microtalks are also really awesome and worth checking out!
Welcome back to The Creative Middle!
It's been awfully quiet here at The Creative Middle. I've been pretty busy working on God of War with the amazing team at Sony Santa Monica. We took some big risks and challenges on with God of War. We've had our fair share of ups and downs. Looking back at this journey, I am pretty amazed with what we were able to deliver; leaving us excited, humbled and overwhelmed by the positive reception from critics, our peers and our players! Thank you all for your love, support and for playing. With this beast of a game out, I'm looking forward to getting back to sharing ideas and thoughts about making games, including development nuggets from God of War, and relaunching this blog! Hopefully, I can get into a steady rhythm of posting new content and sharing interesting ideas from the industry. Stay tuned for more posts.