While Jaffe could not tell us directly about the project that Eat, Sleep, Play is working on, he did confirm that the studio is working on a project, although he has very recently (in fact, last night) had another idea for a game, which he envisions being a PSN title, with a budget under $3 million. Still a fan of digital distribution, he also spoke about his lessons learned from his last title, Calling All Cars, admitting that no matter what a game is priced at, a developer should always aim to provide as much value as possible, and that the game should have shipped with more weapons and levels. He also spoke of being too comfortable while developing Calling of Cars, when they should have pushed harder. "The most important thing that I learned was not to settle," he said, "It's good to push and it's good to have conflict, because that usually means that if it's the right kind of conflict that it's working."
When questioned on content cut from past games, he talked about a cut 'elevator ride' to the top of Pandora's Temple in God of War left out due to time constraints, as well as two more bosses which were originally planned for the game. He also revealed a 'singing missile' intended to be in Twisted Metal, which would have played 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra as it was fired. In Twisted Metal 2, the background music was originally intended to be 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey.
Speaking about censorship in Europe and Australia from a developer's standpoint, when the government steps in to prevent games from being released he admitted there was 'no fight to fight.' There was still a public perception of games as 'kids' toys', and an inconsistency of ratings between games and movies. "What are you going to do? You're stuck with governments and legalities," he said, "It's painful, but it would be more painful if the definitive version wasn't out there... but it does suck.
He also had a lot to say on the subject of storytelling of games, highlighting that some of the most successful games are not games with high quality stories, and that while this may be due to game designers not having a lot of experience with writing, or just the nature of the medium, truly innovative or artistic games are not usually rewarded commercially. When asked about Modern Warfare 2's famous airport scene, while he appreciated the developer's brave storytelling in a blockbuster title, Jaffe didn't feel that engaged as he didn't 'buy' it.
Jaffe also talked about the development of stories in games, and that it seems that when games finally transitioned from traditional board games and sports onto a television screen, an assumption seemed to develop that they must convey stories as well like television shows and movies. He believes that the part of your brain involved in problem-solving in games, and the part getting involved in a great story are completely separate, and that when you try to engage both areas, players can only appreciate the game from a distance rather than feeling completely involved. He was not sure whether it's not possible to fully integrate storytelling and gameplay, or whether developers have just so far been doing it wrong and there is another way.
On the future of video games, especially in regards to Project Natal, Wii and Sony's Motion Controller, Jaffe admitted that he didn't really want to get off the couch when he plays games, and that he personally would not want to be that physically tired while playing. He views them as a different way for people to experience games, but he wouldn't be fully into the technology until we finally reach the 'holodeck', by which time we'll probably all be long dead.
Finally, the man also had some advice to give to the many developers and aspiring developers in attendance at the conference with ideas. "I'm a big fan of my ideas, I'm a believer, and you need to be," Jaffe commented, "You gotta be willing to fail, and you gotta be willing to be tenacious like a junkyard dog and not really care if you're popular. I mean, I was probably the least popular guy on the God of War team and it wasn't fun. But, I held my vision and I'm grateful that I did... It's really hard, and there's no magic way to do it, you just gotta fight."
While David Jaffe wasn't present in physical form, his presentation over Skype was nonetheless insightful and definitely unique to the outspoken designer. We'll be updating the site with more coverage of GCAP over the next few days, so keep checking back for more articles about the Australian games industry.
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