Who is your favorite game developer?

[turbochop]

I ask because some video game devolopers have great talent in what they do, and if we study from them them we can apply their genious to overgrowth. Speaking of genious let me get one out of the way right now. There are many others, but this developer is the one I'll iterate on. (warning, nerd rant/fanboyism ahead)

Rare:

I think they are great because they are (in my opinion) masters of the video game art. I'll name two things. There are plenty of other things I could mention, but I'll try to keep it short

Graphics:

Rare games had excellent graphics. They always managed to scrape every last bit of performance out of a system and push it harder then it has ever been pushed. This was never more apparent than on the N64. Rare used many tricks and tweaks to make the system produce graphics that people only dreamt were possible on the system. They also managed to pull off top notch graphics on the SNES and even the original NES, producing effects that were never thought possible on the respective systems.

An honorable mention for the graphics department (besides Conker's Bad Fur Day for the N64) has to be Star Fox Adventures for the Gamecube. Rare managed to make the game render realistic fur at a steady frame rate, something people only thought was possible on the Xbox, and was later used in Conker Live and Reloaded for that system.


Gameplay

Rare seems to know what is fun and what isn't, how to balance the game so that it's not hard or easy. But I'm not talking about the core gameplay, that's a given. I'm talking about the little things that add that nice touch. If you ask me, I think they look at something and think to themselves "what can we do to make this part of the game more fun?". They then brainstorm and apply the best ideas. they then follow this process throughout the entire game. Sure, A video game company can't crank out good games if they don't do that, but Rare always takes it a step furthur. The one game I have to mention is Goldeneye, as it is chock full of these little touches.
For example, I think Goldeneye would be alot less interesting if they didnt make anything explode, so they made almost everything explode. And I do mean everything: computers, cameras, wooden boxes, cardboard boxes, tables, chairs (My brother and I used to say that everything in Goldeneye was filled with nitro glycerine). Better step back when you shoot that chair, the explosion could kill you. They even elaborated on the exploding boxes: some cardboard boxes made huge explosions, and they had different markings. Most of the boxes that could be shot yielded ammo or weapons, and that created a balance: if you are down to your last bit of health in a firefight, you destroy a box and run to get the ammo, only to get killed by the explosion.

Like I said earlier there are plenty of other things I could mention, but my post is getting long enough already. It Isn't a coincidence that the games they developed for nintendo were made of gold, they were good at what they did. I'ts a shame they were bought out by Microsoft. I haven't played any of thier Xbox games, but I have no doubt that they are of the same top notch quality or better, in both graphics and gameplay.

Some of my other favorite developers, in no particular order:

Nintendo
Konami
Capcom
Valve
Ubisoft
Crytek
Rockstar
Sega
Some others I cant remember...

Who do you think deserves major kudos for their work?

[Endoperez]

Illwinter Game Design, makers of Dominions series. So many years "wasted" on mythological warfare...

I also have lots of respect for the makers of Aquaria (BitBlot) and Cave Story (Pixel). David and Wolfire. Thomas Biskup, maker of ADOM.

If Overgrowth releases this year, I'll get Steam, and might buy something. World of Goo sounds interesting.

[Skofo]

Valve, Wolfire, Oddworld Inhabitants, HAL Laboratory, Nintendo EAD, NOW Production, Konami, Hedgewars Project.

[Wilbefast]

I'd have to agree about rare - they made some good stuff at the time...

For me though, well Wolfire obviously

When it comes to commercial games: Blizzard back before they went all anime on everyone, Oddworld Inhabitants, Relic, 2D Boy (World of Goo is still my favourite game of all time), Ubisoft, Stardock, Bioware and CD Projekt (The Witcher).

[Viking Zippy]

Wow, when I was about halfway through Turbochop's post, the credits theme from Diddy's Kong Quest (which I recorded myself ) started playing. Awesome.

(GoldenEye GoldenEye GoldenEye)

Oh man, reading all that about GoldenEye makes the anticipation of my brother coming home next week so we can fire up the N64 almost unbearable.

I've gotta say though, my fondest videogame wish has always been to see co-operative in GoldenEye. My brother and I always played through games together, and were very civil when it came to taking turns, but there's nothing quite like a game with co-op. It's really too bad it wasn't more common back then, and in our experience, only in a handful of games: Joe and Mac on SNES, Twisted Metal 2 on PS1 (that was a blast), Donkey Kong Country (though you did technically take turns), Perfect Dark (which never was quite the same as GoldenEye, sadly ), and a few meh games, including Duke Nukem and Hexen. Hexen, amazingly, had 1 to 4 player co-op, which was incredible, but it wasn't a very great game, unfortunately.

Speaking of Donkey Kong Country, that game was absolutely amazing. For years my brother and I were stuck at 100 out of 101% in the bonuses, and never quite figured out the very last bonus in that torturous, torturous level Oil Drum Alley.

Many years later, long after we'd stopped playing SNES, I broke down and looked up Oil Drum Alley on GameFAQs. Turns out that to get the last bonus, you had to get three bananas on those rotating barrels, pick up the barrel with Diddy, jump up against the wall with it, and walk through to a bonus hidden in a bonus. Totally insane, and a dirty trick on Rare's part

Still on the subject of Rare, has anyone here played Blast Corps? That's one of greatest and comparatively most unheard of games of all time. Decimating building after building with spectacular explosions was so incredibly satisfying.

Not only that, but the soundtrack is one I consider to be one of the most excellent in all the games I've ever played: I actually recorded every unique track from that game, and the Replay tune is #6 on my 75 Most Played playlist in iTunes with a playcount of 581. It's just masterful.

... Oddworld Inhabitants ...

Yes! Oddworld! Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus were amazing games, and Abe's Exoddus is one of the very few sequels that was actually better than the original: Abe could possess any relatively sentient creature, among those Sligs, Glukkons, Paramites and Scrabs, whereas in Oddysee the only creature you could control were Sligs. The only creature they left out were Slogs, which, now that I think about it, could be a fair amount of fun to play

I've never played the games that Oddworld Inhabitants made for Xbox, though; how were those?

For me though, well Wolfire obviously

Naturally

However, we have yet to see the many other games they will develop: I have confidence that they will indeed be amazing, and I look forward to every single one of them. Woot speed Wolfire, woot speed.

Now excuse me while I go hook up the SNES I just rediscovered the other day, buried deep in my closet

[Ninjas]

I have gotten interested in Russian developers recently. It seems like they are making actual computer games instead of trying to make something that is cross platform with consoles. The game I am playing now is called Men of War and the length and depth of the game are just ridiculous.

[edit]
Forgot to mention, the devs on Men of War are Best Way

[Ozymandias]

Forgot to mention, the devs on Men of War are Best Way

The creators of Men of War are actually Ukranian, with a bit of help from people at DigitalMindSoft who call themselves 'the western spirit' of the game. I had a chuckle when somebody commented "The UI isn't broken at all, it's just Eastern European"

Anyways, why did I not know you had this game? Now I want to play co-op with you >_<

Speaking of 'eastern' developers, anybody ever hear of Bohemia Interactive? They are a Czechoslovakian company. I talk about their game (Ofp/Arma/Arma2) sometimes on the IRC.

*now to go back and read the rest of the posts I skipped*

EDIT: looks like I haven't played a lot of these games so I can't comment, and it has been -so- long since I played Goldeneye or Perfect Park, but I remember enjoying both of those (even if i sucked horribly)

Conker's bad fur day was one of my favorite games, even if it was a little short. I just wish they would make a -proper- sequel, preferably one that doesn't suck.

[TheBigCheese]

Easily Valve for me.

Almost all of Valve's games are extremely intuitive and creative.
There hasn't been a single game by them that was horrible, and almost all of them have been turned into classics.

Plus the modding community is extremely well taken care of. Valve releases their engine for mods and has great customer support.

[Skofo]

I've never played the games that Oddworld Inhabitants made for Xbox, though; how were those?

Never played them either. Yet. My brother has Munch's Oddysee, but I never got around to trying it out.

But I agree that the first two games are kickass.

[Bjartr]

John Grahm! Only Game Dev I've ever met in person ^__^ and he's awesome to boot.

[Ac30]

Wolfire, Bungie, Valve, Taleworlds, Whoever made MOW. Bungie has to be my favorite though. I still play halo one 8 years on!

[Count Roland]

Pshh halo was childs play, Pathways into darkness and marathon is where it's at. xD jk I like pretty much all bungie games, hate the typical fan base, but can't have everything.Wolfire's my favorite definitely. bungies running a second, Ensemble was good, Blizzard pre anything having to do with warcraft was good.

[nutcracker]

Nintendo
Konami
Capcom
Ubisoft
taleworlds
ACE
wolfire, duh...
Nabi
EA (sometimes)
EDIT: squaresoft

I just cant remember the rest.

[Count Roland]

well I guess nintendo, sega, and square would be there too for me.

[BlackHole]

Wolfire, Monolith, Remedy, 2015, id, Relic, Westwood (RIP), Infinity Ward, Valve, Criterion, DICE, Crytek, EA LA, Gearbox, GSC, Blue Byte, 1C, IO, Grin...

Can't think of any else right now.

- Black