- This topic has 26 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 6 months ago by
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Well, more or less… they still have a skeleton crew.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8329
Mal
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That’s a shame!
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Ian Hannigan……….hmmmmmmmmm. Isn’t he that intrepid reporter with the Indo??
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Yup! And formerly the funniest guy on the boards too!
Dave
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FORMERLY Yes. Yes he was.
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*Stumbles into thread > quickly turns around & walks back out > whistling to self > RUNS*
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Oh you better run….
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Run indeed. Pete, the headless hoffman is after you…
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Aw crap…Demis Hassabis was one of those people who I was hoping to model my career on. Strange that they’d close now, I would have thought if it was going to happen it would have done so after the poor reception Republic received from the public…
Aphra,
That was the guy I was talking about when you were out at DCU. :) -
Demis Hassabis was one of those people who I was hoping to model my career on.[/quote:de55ef6522]
oh god, dont say that!!!!
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oh god, dont say that!!!! [/quote:cae7df417d]
second that.
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From what I’ve heard, you’d be better off looking for other role models.
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From what I’ve heard, you’d be better off looking for other role models. [/quote:f889026f5a]
perhaps pete could help you out there ;)
the hoff seems to pillar of a “role model” for him and the lads, influencing their everyday lifes.
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Well I mean he started out as an employee in a big company, gained the necessary industry experience, got a good idea and formed his own company…similiar to the advice that has been given out already around here…:)
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Hmm, Mr. Hassabis seems to have learned the unfortunate trick from his former boss Mr. Pete Molyneaux of hyping his game to a point where the final product cannot possibly meet expectations.
I believe, fundamentally, that this is because he is a programmer at heart. Many programmers have wonderful ideas about what their new app will be capable of – no matter how unrealistic – and indeed, this may even be necessary in order to develop new and interesting software. Thing is, if you promise people things at that early point they have a masty way of remembering what you said and, shock, expecting to see them in the final product.
In my experience, programmers need to be managed by sensible business heads or just someone with an ability to fundraise and manage. Just because you have ideas doesn’t make you the best person to run the company. Or do the marketing, etc. Hire a marketer to market. A manager to manage and stick to what you do best.
For the record, Republic was an ok game but it could be played entirely from the map screen. As a matter of fact, it was even easier to do so.
P.S. I have just finished reading that free book “Difficult Questions About Videogames” that someone here tipped us off to get. Demis comments come off as trite and ill-observed at best. Just compare them to the comments by freelance journalist Kieron Gillen, for example.
And just what has chess got to do with designing videogames anyway?
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Chess?
Logical procedural thinking.
Strategic thinking.
An excellent example of emergent properties.
Only 13 rules but a huge game.More importantly (and why it was mentioned in his profile I would think) taking it up from such an early age would have shaped his mind pretty much ideally for a games programmer, that is if there is an ideal type of games programmer.
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Chess?
Logical procedural thinking.
Strategic thinking.
An excellent example of emergent properties.
Only 13 rules but a huge game.More importantly (and why it was mentioned in his profile I would think) taking it up from such an early age would have shaped his mind pretty much ideally for a games programmer, that is if there is an ideal type of games programmer.[/quote:94a80b8b43]
“Programmer” being the operative word. I asked what it had to do with being a designer.
Don’t get me wrong , I’m not dissing the guy.
Well, I am but not just to be awkward. I believe the programmer has an important place but perhaps running the company is not it. At least not for the huge business, big cash, big team world of next gen development anyway.
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Whatever peoples views of Demis Hassabis himself – he did hand over his CEO position to Mark Hewitt in 2003 which to some extent supports what Festoon, Idora and others have been saying here (maybe it was too little too late) but also shows that he had the studios best interest at heart. Suppose you’d of had to had worked there to really know!
I still think that Elixir was heading in the right direction with Evil Genius! And it would have been very interesting to see what they would decide to develop next! I think the British game dev scene was a more colourful place with Elixir around – Guess we’ll never know unless they reform at some point…. as I said earlier, it’s a shame!
Ian
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Whatever peoples views of Demis Hassabis himself – he did hand over his CEO position to Mark Hewitt in 2003 which to some extent supports what Festoon, Idora and others have been saying here (maybe it was too little too late) but also shows that he had the studios best interest at heart. Suppose you’d of had to had worked there to really know!
I still think that Elixir was heading in the right direction with Evil Genius! And it would have been very interesting to see what they would decide to develop next! I think the British game dev scene was a more colourful place with Elixir around – Guess we’ll never know unless they reform at some point…. as I said earlier, it’s a shame![/quote:e5f71f7f03]agree with your ‘Evil Genius’ sentiments, Ian – and the overall direction of the company.
In fairness to him and Elixir, we don’t know what other – possibly external factors – affected the company. But on the other hand, it’s equally possible he may have been forced to hand over control of the company by shareholders, rather than some belated wisdom…. just to muddy the waters further
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Jason Della Rocca’s blog has some more on Elixir’s closure, including some photos –> http://www.igda.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/cgda/mt/mt-tb.cgi/261
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Their ‘updated’ homepage is well worth a look!
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However its not the REAL home-page….
And that blog link doesn’t work Tony.
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Yeah it’s Ex-Lixir… get it! ;)
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I never got to play Republic…. it all looked rather complicated for my diminutive mind to grasp.
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