As Design Team Leader for Warren Spector's Deus Ex, Harvey Smith heads up design team A making sure that Deus Ex is the best game it can be. When he isn't doing that he can often be found spreading his rants, deceptions, and half-truths on his Web site Witchboy's Cauldron.
Recently, Stormtroopers sent a few questions his way, and after much procrastination on our part, we have finally posted his answers.
[Stormtroopers] First of all, what is your name and job title?
[Harvey] harvey smith, aka witchboy
deus ex design team leader
[Stormtroopers] How long have you worked at Ion Storm?
[Harvey] 8 months, but i have worked on and off with warren and some of the other
guys here for years. many of us were together at origin. warren and i also
worked as the origin liasons to looking glass technologies on system shock.
[Stormtroopers] Where did you work before you joined Ion Storm?
[Harvey] just before ion, i moved out to california to work with some old looking
glass friends at a company called multitude. we made fireteam. i was lead
designer and it was one of my favorite jobs to date--fireteam is really
cool. very different. and multitude is a fun, smart company. (but i hated
california...)
[Stormtroopers] What are your day to day duties as the Design Team Leader on Deus Ex?
[Harvey] i am responsible for one of the two design teams. fortunately, this is a
minimal job, as the two designers i work with are awesome. steve powers is
a veteran (he's done several ultimas, a wing commander and like most of us
he's worked on some truly innovative games that were killed in development.
he's a super creative bastard and an artist. he has a combination of story
and art talents that make him a natural RPG game designer. (he and i have
known one another for 18 years and we grew up playing paper RPG's
together.) steve's hong kong maps for deus ex are the coolest 3d spaces i
have ever seen in a pov game. the other guy i work with, a cat named monte
martinez, is simply the best level architect i've ever personally known. he
has brought to the team a keen eye for layout and architectural design.
plus he is a shooter god, so he brings a different perspective to the
table. we are officially "design team A" (whereas the other group,
responsible for the other half of the game, is "design team 1." heh--no
egos here...)
but anyway, aside from any team stuff, my job is the same as the other
designers here. we're different from most of the 3d level editing community
because our project has different needs. we've all been involved in the
overall story for deus ex. we're responsible for creating characters, items
and mission plots as well as the 3d spaces that contain all this. basically
we make AD&D style adventure modules in 3d...
[Stormtroopers] How free is Warren with design of the game. Is the design process a team
wide and mutual thing, or does he already have the game done in his head
and he knows exactly how he wants it?
[Harvey] that is the best thing about warren. in addition to being a designer with
oodles of experience, he is an awesome team builder and he knows how to
push people up to a higher level. he does this by getting them involved,
making them care. warren *relies* on all of us to make the game with him.
he's smart like that, unlike some egomaniacs in this business. warren has
the overriding vision, but we are all constantly modifying things. we're
all involved at a very deep level. everyone feels ownership. we try not to
hire people who are incapable of contributing to the fundamental design of
the game.
[Stormtroopers] Deus Ex contains several real world locales. What steps is the team taking
to keep the game locales looking like their real world counterparts?
[Harvey] some of the locations are built from photos and blueprints. others merely
attempt to capture the spirit of the location. it's pretty cool to have a
french game journalist get all excited about one of your maps and start
yelling about how you have captured the very essence of the city of paris.
the main strenght of real world locations is that people recognize elements
from them and thus the locations are more compelling, more immersive. you
can achieve that through either method, blueprints or spirit.
[Stormtroopers] Will Deus Ex have a monetary and store system like some RPGs or will
everything you need be provided throughout your quest, or found at certain
locales?
[Harvey] yes, but it will be tightly controlled by the totalitarium agencies.
remember, every time you use electronic cash, someone knows about it. that
sort of thing will have real ramifications in the game. we have an
extensive inventory system and we have an ammo/equipment economy. buying
things (or selling them) is going to be important for some players. others
may rely on our 'ally pool,' which as we've mentioned in previous
interviews is an NPC party system of sorts. there are multiple ways to do
most things in deus ex. some players will no doubt choose to acrue and
spend money for some of the things they need. others will obtain things in
_other_ ways.
[Stormtroopers] RPG stands for Role Playing Game, a term that taken literally could
describe pretty much every game out there. What is the definition of a RPG
to you? What do you feel sets a RPG apart from other games?
[Harvey] for me an RPG is a story based game where the player has freedom of choice.
the freedom of choice comes in two forms--the way the player moves through
the world and the way he 'evolves' his character.
[Stormtroopers] When it comes to stats in RPGs, I have noticed two camps in the RPG genre.
One side feels that the numerical stats and die rolls found in many RPG
games are a very important part of the RPG heritage and the whole feel of
the genre. The other side seems to feel that the stats and die rolls take
away from the immersion of the game, and would prefer alternate approaches.
What are your feelings on this issue? Which way is Deus Ex going?
[Harvey] we're a cool hybrid. we have skills, skill points, levels of upgrade for
various devices and powers in the game and some more things like that. but
ours are less granular than those of many games. as others have said: who
cares if your 'picklock' skill is 48 and mine is 47? what strong game
difference will that make.
[Stormtroopers] What is your favorite thing about Deus Ex, why?
[Harvey] the atmospheric experience of exploring the maps--they are not just
deathmatch spaces. instead they feel like real places, inhabited by real
people. that's always been one of my favorite aspects of RPG's--exploration
and immersion.
[Stormtroopers] You seem to be a hardcore RPG buff. :) How do you feel about the other
genres?
[Harvey] i like good strategy games and i'm looking forward to playing jagged
alliance 2 and S.M.A.C. (beyond the 100 turn demo). i occasionally play an
adventure game that i like. (blade runner was the last one like that for me.)
[Stormtroopers] What are your favorite games right now?
[Harvey] thief: the dark project. some of the missions (like the bafford manor and
the assassins mission) are some of the most brilliantly fun, creepy and
immersive experiences i've ever encountered.
[Stormtroopers] What are your 5 favorite RPGs of all time?
[Harvey] i know that various people define the term RPG differently, so some of this
might be controversial: dungeon master, eye of the beholder 1 & 2,
underworld, diablo and fallout. (so i can't count.)
[Stormtroopers] Other than playing computer games, what is your favorite hobby?
[Harvey] writing. and reading. i feel like a fool for putting it off all these
years, but i just read ender's game. wow--i loved it.
[Stormtroopers] Any quotes, thoughts, or verbal smack downs you would like to add?
[Harvey] oscar wilde once said something that i have always liked:
"All of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
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