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| Publish or Perish, Spector! | Page 3 of 9 |
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Yes, Warren Spector loves to talk about games on an academic level, but he has the diplomas to prove he's more than an armchair philosopher.
Spector's specific academic emphasis was cinema, and he's just one dissertation shy of earning a PHd from the University of Texas, where he also lectured students. While you'd expect him to name more contemporary directors like Ridley Scott or Terry Gilliam, Spector's cinematic heroes are refreshingly old Hollywood: he names legendary "Gone with the Wind" producer David O. Selznick -- "Because his ability to assemble and work with a variety of teams has always seemed like a model of what I want to be when I grow up" -- and John Ford, gruff director of "The Searchers" and other Western classics -- "... because he understood and transcended the limitations of his medium and created works of undeniable power and artistry in the context of an intensely commercial medium." Taken together, they're ideal models for leading a team of artists and programmers on a project as ambitious and fiscally risky as "Deus Ex".Spector's new game is also be a summation of his seventeen plus years of experience in design, the first few spent in the analog world of paper-based gaming, which he entered while still a film student. Or rather, pushed:
"I was playing games on the side... [and] the head of the department called me up and said 'Spector, you've been teaching this class for 13 semesters, you're only allowed to do it for nine, we have to give it to another PhD candidate... So I was sitting there going 'Oh man, they took my class away, how am I going to cover the rent?' Then from out of the blue, I got a call from a friend who was working at Steve Jackson Games. I got a job there as an assistant editor making minimum wage, but it paid my rent."
From SJG, he became an editor and module writer for "Dungeons and Dragons" publisher TSR. He was still registered as a grad student in Texas even when he was already well ensconced at the company's Wisconsin office. At some point, though, "I finally said 'Wait a minute, I make games for a living.' And to my mother's dismay, I dropped out of the PhD program."
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From TSR, he was recruited by Origin Games founder Richard Garriott to work with him on the crown of CRPG games, the Ultima series and its world of Britannia. For Ultima VI, "Richard and I spent a couple of weeks holed up at his house," working through its intricate details. "It was a ton of fun and quite educational, for me, as the new guy from paper gaming."
Next, Working at Origin >
Copyright 2000, Ola Balola LLC.
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