Amy Hennig is the mastermind behind many of the Legacy of Kain games. She was involved with all of them except Blood Omen 2. After the release of Legacy of Kain: Defiance, she left Crystal Dynamics and started working for Naughty Dog, where she was involved with the creation of the Uncharted series. Hennig then left Naughty Dog to work on Visceral Games' Stars Wars project as lead writer. Hennig left Visceral Games and EA in January of 2018 and created a new independent studio focusing on VR projects.
@geraltitude: But how long has the game Breen in development? 2015 is next year, after all. Was the game such a clusterfuck up to this point that they needed a new creative director? Did the project just not have one until now?
There's so much we don't know about this to be fair.. I don't think it needs to be a clusterfuck though.
EA only got the Star Wars license in May of 2013. So it hasn't even been one year of development if we assume they started the very next day.
As I remember you're a QA dude so I don't need to tell you 1 year is not a long time for a massive ass big budget, AAA Star Wars game.
I'm sure they've been concepting and cranking out 3D assets (buildings, ships, who knows) and - mostly - tuning Frostbite for the game. Like I said if they knew it was going to be a 3rd person shooter they'd have tons to work on with or without a creative director.
Considering the dates I feel it makes a lot of sense they were still early enough for a new Creative Director to come on board. I think of course it will be a little messy - it always is coming into a project that's already begun - but nothing to be concerned about.
The thing about software production, and this goes for any sort of software, not just games is that if you're churning out assets before you have a solid plan in place, you're putting the cart before the horse. If you want to manage a game of the size and scope that I imagine that this Star Wars game is to take, you have to start with a conceptualized idea of what sort of action game you're making and what it's about. You need to understand what sort of assets are required and how they'll be used before you start making them. If you've busied yourself for a year or so just cranking out stormtrooper models and the like before you have someone on board to direct in how they'll be used, you're either going to throw away a lot of unused work or shoehorn the director into using assets you've already generated. Assuming that the game is due for a holiday 2015 release, which would give them realistically less than a year and a half to get the game into an alpha state, if all they've been doing is generating graphic assets and coding the engine for a third-person shooter with no concept of how it's all going to fit together, that means that they would have even less time to design a scenario, build out how the game is going to progress, put the assets they've generated in place and determine if they need more, finalize how the game is actually going to play, get the script, voice acting, and cinematics done, and then put the game through its paces in testing.
That is a lot (and I mean a lot) of shit to get done before the game can ship for a theoretical holiday 2015 release. I would have to imagine that if the game were on track and Visceral weren't just sitting on their hands, they would have a lot more of the blocks in place at this point, and Hennig has fewer ways in which she could guide the design than she would have had if she had stayed at Naughty Dog for Uncharted 4.
Do you know what the biggest problem with new Star Wars stuff has been for the past, like, two decades? It wasn't funny, endearing, or exciting, and every new character was a hollow boring shell not worth a damn.
Amy Hennig does the exact opposite of all of those things.
You know what the other problem has been? Everything got too clean and shiny.
Visceral literally do not know how to model a clean surface.
I know I don't speak for everyone, but to me, this might as well be some kind of goddamn karmic rebalancing, coming this soon after the Oculus news.
Awesome thing is unexpectedly ruined, awesome thing is unexpectedly announced.
Do you know what the biggest problem with Star Wars stuff has been for the past, like, two decades? It wasn't funny, endearing, or exciting, and every new character was a hollow boring shell not worth a damn.
Amy Hennig does the exact opposite of all of those things.
You know what the other problem has been? Everything got too clean and shiny.
Visceral literally do not know how to model a clean surface.
I know I don't speak for everyone, but to me, this might as well be some kind of goddamn karmic rebalancing, coming this soon after the Oculus news.
Awesome thing is unexpectedly ruined, awesome thing is unexpectedly announced.
Circle of life, mannn
Not quite 20 years :P JKII and KOTOR are both under the 20 mark.
I had assumed Hennig would want to take a break from big budget blockbuster type games, but I guess it makes sense why she would want to work on a similar (if not bigger) scale like her previous projects.
man, people really seem to admire her/hold her in high esteem, and i wasn't aware she existed before she left Naughty Dog. maybe i should do more than watch the Uncharted games being played, or give Soul Reaver a chance...
Anyone else planning to give Dead Space 2 and Uncharted 2 another go after seeing this?
I just finished uninstalling DS2 on PC, and got my PS3 ready with UC2.. I totally needed two perfect games to play after finishing Assassin's Creed 2, these games will be it.
I'll start when I'm done with this fucking ESSAY though.. Stupid university.
It's great that she's working on star wars and all, but I have been burned by liking that franchise so much at this point I find it hard to give a shit new Star Wars games are coming until we can actually get our hands on them to find out if they're any good, or that they'll actually make it out at all (I miss you 1313). Also, visceral hasn't made a single game I enjoy, so yeah, not super confident with them either.
@geraltitude: But how long has the game Breen in development? 2015 is next year, after all. Was the game such a clusterfuck up to this point that they needed a new creative director? Did the project just not have one until now?
There's so much we don't know about this to be fair.. I don't think it needs to be a clusterfuck though.
EA only got the Star Wars license in May of 2013. So it hasn't even been one year of development if we assume they started the very next day.
As I remember you're a QA dude so I don't need to tell you 1 year is not a long time for a massive ass big budget, AAA Star Wars game.
I'm sure they've been concepting and cranking out 3D assets (buildings, ships, who knows) and - mostly - tuning Frostbite for the game. Like I said if they knew it was going to be a 3rd person shooter they'd have tons to work on with or without a creative director.
Considering the dates I feel it makes a lot of sense they were still early enough for a new Creative Director to come on board. I think of course it will be a little messy - it always is coming into a project that's already begun - but nothing to be concerned about.
The thing about software production, and this goes for any sort of software, not just games is that if you're churning out assets before you have a solid plan in place, you're putting the cart before the horse. If you want to manage a game of the size and scope that I imagine that this Star Wars game is to take, you have to start with a conceptualized idea of what sort of action game you're making and what it's about. You need to understand what sort of assets are required and how they'll be used before you start making them. If you've busied yourself for a year or so just cranking out stormtrooper models and the like before you have someone on board to direct in how they'll be used, you're either going to throw away a lot of unused work or shoehorn the director into using assets you've already generated. Assuming that the game is due for a holiday 2015 release, which would give them realistically less than a year and a half to get the game into an alpha state, if all they've been doing is generating graphic assets and coding the engine for a third-person shooter with no concept of how it's all going to fit together, that means that they would have even less time to design a scenario, build out how the game is going to progress, put the assets they've generated in place and determine if they need more, finalize how the game is actually going to play, get the script, voice acting, and cinematics done, and then put the game through its paces in testing.
That is a lot (and I mean a lot) of shit to get done before the game can ship for a theoretical holiday 2015 release. I would have to imagine that if the game were on track and Visceral weren't just sitting on their hands, they would have a lot more of the blocks in place at this point, and Hennig has fewer ways in which she could guide the design than she would have had if she had stayed at Naughty Dog for Uncharted 4.
100% !
My thinking was that because Visceral isn't building a universe from the ground up, or an engine, they can start prototyping early - not making gameready assets, but I imagine studying Star Wars architecture and prototype similar pieces, for example. I just figured EA/Disney had some loose guidelines with which Visceral could get to work with (It's on a known SW planet for example). Plus I get the impression Visceral builds the core game first, then builds in story, characters, etc.
In the quote from the Visceral dude:
"As both a colleague and friend, I’ve always admired her approach to creative development – focusing on nailing down the soul of a game first, and then making sure the writing, the gameplay, the design and the art comes together to form a unified, interactive experience for the player. This fits in perfectly with what we’re trying to do here at Visceral."
So he says 1) Soul of the Game (whatever that is really) 2) Writing, Gameplay, Design, etc. I would take this to mean that Visceral has been trying very hard to establish the Soul of the Game, and that Amy will come in to polish that off, and begin "True Development".
This game may not be 2015, 2015 is just the first year we're supposed to expect these EA Star Wars games to hit, as that's when the new movie hits. I feel you're right about their not being a lot of time for them to develop, but, I guess we'll see.
In the rest of the quote it seems pretty straightforward that she's joining a team in development. So probably they're further along than I think. He ends the post by saying "if you want to join our Visceral team click here!" which reads like "gearing up for major production" to me.
I'd like to see Giant Bomb have Amy Henning on the Giant Bombcast. :)
Oh gosh, I'd love that, or any segment on the site really but I'd love to hear the fellas interview/talk with her.
Anyways, besides that, fingers crossed for a good game like all hell, the last few 'big' Star Wars games were pretty mediocre, the last few I had like real fun with were all from the PS2 era or before, Jedi Knight 2, Battlefront, KOTOR. Since then it's all been fairly milquetoast besides one or two RTS that were alright. So man, with a new Battlefront in the works and whatever she is working on, here is to hoping for a batch of new good Star Wars games.
Now if only someone would give Star Trek some love, when was the last good Star Trek game, Bridge Commander? Elite Force?
Really glad she found work however I can't help but groan every time I hear "star wars project". But hey I like her work and maybe this will be the one.
Should just make a Kyle Katarn reboot-series imo! Or just a new Kyle Katarn-game, man Kyle Katarn is so great, Kyle Katarn! KYLE KATARN! *brain explodes*
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