Derek Smart, you make me chuckle.

I saw this article on Opposable Thumbs (thanks jjz! I think.) about a interview Smart did with the Firing Squad…and I can't stop chuckling. Derek is just so funny. From sillyness to more silly to plain crazy, he bounces all over the spectrum.

Lets skip the usual chit chat and let Mr. Smart do his own talking.

Here he talks about one of games. I'm not sure which one because the names are so damn generic:

Derek Smart: Well that is a pure action shooter that is designed specifically for the XB360 with no PC version envisioned. Microsoft is pretty finicky about PC to XB360 crossovers; and nowadays getting a PC 'port' over to the XB360 is just as easy as winning the lottery.

That's weird. But apparently Gears (who already announced  PC version for release next year), Call of Duty and some other game I can't think, all won the lottery. Good for them. I hear that helps pay the developers their mountain dew requirements. Now lets talk about the story of one of the games:

 Derek Smart: Not to much to tell really. The story, though quite good and engaging, is the usual run-of-the-mill fare thats just there to give some semblance of a purpose. At the end of the day, since it is a shooter with pure goals and achievements, it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to pay any attention to the story.

So you're designing a game with an instantly forgettable story…

Well then how about the gameplay?

Derek Smart: First of, it features a single career. The Elite Force Pilot career. That alone strips about 75% of the niche and complex nature of my games. Doing this allows me to focus on implementing features and technologies which are streamlined and tailored to a single purposeful gameplay experience. Pure, visceral fun. My design for the game harkens back to the good old days of games like Freespace, X-Wing etc when blowing stuff up and only worrying about shields, armaments, getting back to base and completing the mission were what defined 'fun' for the genre. No FMV (!), No bad voice acting. No bad acting – period. No meaningless trading. No pointless exploration etc. Its basically. Go here. Blow stuff up. Return to base. Here, have a cookie for your troubles.

And the gameplay is a complete throwback to the go here and blow stuff up mentality of FPS games. I can't tell you how excited I am at this point.

Well, seeing as your game doesn't really light my fire, what else can you tell us about you and your games?

Derek Smart: Not really. We've been around long enough to establish a name for ourselves. Now that we've basically retired two popular franchise properties in favor of letting the MMO version (Universal Combat Online) carry the torch when released in 2008, we're just hoping that the fans come with us on this new journey.

We've proven to be loyal and faithful developers who have never faltered nor bailed when the industry seemingly stopped being about creativity and the making of games that a certain niche group of games love to play.

So the rest of the industry isn't about creativity, but you're making games that are blow em ups with a forgettable storyline… You've convinced me.

What Would Matt Do: Be nice to Derek. He's be Smart, but he ain't all that bright, if you know what I mean.