When Star Wars 1313 was announced just prior to E3, I’d been crossing my fingers Far Cry 2 designer Clint Hocking’s name would be attached to it. That never happened, and now Hocking’s revealed he’s no longer with LucasArts.

“I recently left my job at LucasArts and am moving on to something new,” he revealed on his blog. “Unlike last time, (and mercifully less wordy) I already have something lined up and I am currently in the process of dealing with the living hell of relocation.”

It’s never been clear what Hocking was working on at LucasArts. The systems-loving designer seemed an odd fit for LucasArts in the first place, but hopefully it won’t be long until we hear from him.

“I will let the world know where I am going once I get there,” he said. “Unless you already know.”

Someone want to tell me?

When Star Wars 1313 was announced just prior to E3, I’d been crossing my fingers Far Cry 2 designer Clint Hocking’s name would be attached to it. That never happened, and now Hocking’s revealed he’s no longer with LucasArts.

“I recently left my job at LucasArts and am moving on to something new,” he revealed on his blog. “Unlike last time, (and mercifully less wordy) I already have something lined up and I am currently in the process of dealing with the living hell of relocation.”

It’s never been clear what Hocking was working on at LucasArts. The systems-loving designer seemed an odd fit for LucasArts in the first place, but hopefully it won’t be long until we hear from him.

“I will let the world know where I am going once I get there,” he said. “Unless you already know.”

Someone want to tell me?

I'm thinking Battlefront 3 is never coming out.

This could be interesting, more specifically who ends up being part of 1313 as I'd had my eye on Hocking too.

I bet he lights the new place on fire just to watch it burn.

Too bad, I wanted to kill a zebra with a lightsabre.

@runcrash said:

Too bad, I wanted to kill a zebra with a lightsabre.

Okay, you win.

The fuck? All of the disappointment :(
 
Unless he was put to work on SW Uncharted and couldn't stomach it any longer, in which case good for him.

I don't know if I'm that ignorant about the wheelers and dealers of the industry, but am I the only person who never heard of this guy before today?

All of a sudden, I want to play Far Cry 2 again.

Oh shit. Kind of lost some excitement for 1313 now.

I recently rented far cry 2 from gamefly after not having played the game since it came out on pc. That game is a truly terrible game.

@bloodsoul5 said:

I recently rented far cry 2 from gamefly after not having played the game since it came out on pc. That game is a truly terrible game.

WOAH OPINIONS

@bloodsoul5 said:

I recently rented far cry 2 from gamefly after not having played the game since it came out on pc. That game is a truly terrible game.

The problem with FC2 comes from trying to play it the way the game tells you to play it. If you want to get a handle on why some people absolutely love this game, recommended listening is the entire goddamn Idle Thumbs archive.

@bloodsoul5 said:

I recently rented far cry 2 from gamefly after not having played the game since it came out on pc. That game is a truly terrible game.

I bought it on Steam a few weeks ago for like $2 and I'm actually really enjoying it. There are some really egregious design problems with it, but once you get used to the systems and learn to travel the world quickly, it's alot of fun I think. I just really enjoy the environments and travelling through them, I guess.

Far Cry 2 is a great game

He's going to work with Fullbright Games?? Scandalous!

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

@TheSouthernDandy: Just use buses and boats as much as possible. Try to stay of the roads as much as possible too, since that way you won't have to deal with random encounters. I also dropped the game down to easy for a while and found that just being able to run through checkpoints made things go a bit quicker. It's still annoying though, no idea why they made enemies respawn so quickly.

@patrickklepek said:

“I will let the world know where I am going once I get there,” he said. “Unless you already know.”

Someone want to tell me?

I'd tell you, but he promised me he'd kill me if I told anyone.

@Danda said:

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

Why would they do that? At some point you'd just be driving around in a dead world. A lot of people seem to forget but FC2 was a shooter so I the complaint that you constantly come across people who shoot you is a bit odd. If so Doom must be the worst game ever made to use the same logic.

@mbr2 said:

@Danda said:

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

Why would they do that? At some point you'd just be driving around in a dead world. A lot of people seem to forget but FC2 was a shooter so I the complaint that you constantly come across people who shoot you is a bit odd. If so Doom must be the worst game ever made to use the same logic.

For as much as I hated the checkpoints, I agree. The one thing I would tweak (aside from the poor sneaking/enemy xray vision) would be to add a friendly faction checkpoint system. Like when you gain a friendly AI character, you could pay them to secure checkpoints in a certain area. Complete with their own mercs. But if you don't keep paying them they eventually give up...etc

@Dezinus said:

He's going to work with Fullbright Games?? Scandalous!

That would be incredible. Clint Hocking and Hot Scoops, BFFs.

@mbr2 said:

@Danda said:

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

Why would they do that? At some point you'd just be driving around in a dead world. A lot of people seem to forget but FC2 was a shooter so I the complaint that you constantly come across people who shoot you is a bit odd. If so Doom must be the worst game ever made to use the same logic.

Not that FC2 didn't have its problems, but I also never understood the complaint about the re-spawing checkpoints.

@Saganomics: Emergent mechanics up the wazoo

Maybe go work with steve gaynor ( with input from chris/jake/sean) and make the ultimate thumbs dream dream goldgame.

@wardcleaver said:

@mbr2 said:

@Danda said:

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

Why would they do that? At some point you'd just be driving around in a dead world. A lot of people seem to forget but FC2 was a shooter so I the complaint that you constantly come across people who shoot you is a bit odd. If so Doom must be the worst game ever made to use the same logic.

Not that FC2 didn't have its problems, but I also never understood the complaint about the re-spawing checkpoints.

Oh I don't know, maybe it was because it forced you to travel through those locations repeatedly so basically you had to fight the same fight in the same location over and over again. They were simply an annoying hurdle and didn't add anything to the experience but frustration.

Add to this, the fact that you could pretty much drive through a checkpoint and kill them all. Return less than a minute later and they were there again....yeah, why would anyone complain about such an enjoyable repetition of joy and mirth.

Though I hate to see anyone with love and talent leave LA, the move is much better for him. The turnover and lack of quality in-house games at LA is a good indication that this environment is not one where creativity and innovation is at the forefront of your career.

@Danda said:

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

Why would they do that? At some point you'd just be driving around in a dead world. A lot of people seem to forget but FC2 was a shooter so I the complaint that you constantly come across people who shoot you is a bit odd. If so Doom must be the worst game ever made to use the same logic.

It's truly sad that the way the majority of players played is the worst part of the game and the sandbox is overlooked. Far Cry 2 is a terrible game IF you only did the story bits back to back and never just explored. I have a save towards the end that has everything unlocked/upgraded and every tape found. I load it up from time to time and just pick my weapons and go explore a random direction and just have fun. It's really the only first person shooter that lets you do that on such a big scale with so many weapons to use.

I probably won't even play Far Cry 3 if it doesn't let me ignore the story completely and play however I want with everything unlocked.

Fuck that guy, he was basically PR dude for Farcry 2 and it turned out crap. Wish I never bought it, cause I damn sure didn't finish it.

i dont really see what the big deal is.

@GunsAreDrawn said:

Fuck that guy, he was basically PR dude for Farcry 2 and it turned out crap. Wish I never bought it, cause I damn sure didn't finish it.

Well, many others like myself LOVE farcry 2. So yeah, OPINIONS.

First of all, whoever this guy is(and he seems to be somebody) I wishes him well.

Far Cry 2, I liked it. It had real elements of greatness as well as a few designed in problems. I used bus a lot for quick travel, and occasionally enjoyed the long boat ride, especially in the beginning. I dropped the game around 1/2 way though when I got bored driving around far southern end of the map for some reason...

@HarlequinRiot Any tips for avoiding the constant checkpoints? That is killing that game for me.

Um people judging him from Far Cry 2 (and in his defense, it does systems interactions really well like the fire propagation and allowing emergent gameplay), you guys, he designed this game:

And his talks about "player agency" are absolutely worth knowing about. Disappointed with action games being too cinematic and taking away player control, and not reacting to you? He talks about how to do reactions to your actions in games.

Wherever he lands, I hope he gets to once again toy with systems. Maybe work on the next Deus Ex or Thief?!

@HarlequinRiot said:

@TheSouthernDandy: Just use buses and boats as much as possible. Try to stay of the roads as much as possible too, since that way you won't have to deal with random encounters. I also dropped the game down to easy for a while and found that just being able to run through checkpoints made things go a bit quicker. It's still annoying though, no idea why they made enemies respawn so quickly.

Yeah, had they made them respawn once every in game day, rather than every time it went out of your cone of vision, I would've liked it a lot more. Recently picked it up again and warmed up a bit on it though, issues aside it's a very fascinating game, and kinda doing what Spec Ops: The Line tries to do.

So what was he actually working on at LucasArts?

Cool. I hope he finds a job with a good developer this time.

@R3DT1D3 said:

It's truly sad that the way the majority of players played is the worst part of the game and the sandbox is overlooked. Far Cry 2 is a terrible game IF you only did the story bits back to back and never just explored. I have a save towards the end that has everything unlocked/upgraded and every tape found. I load it up from time to time and just pick my weapons and go explore a random direction and just have fun. It's really the only first person shooter that lets you do that on such a big scale with so many weapons to use.

I probably won't even play Far Cry 3 if it doesn't let me ignore the story completely and play however I want with everything unlocked.

Totally. Far Cry 2 is very much like the Elder Scrolls games in that regard; it's infinitely more entertaining to explore the world and deal with emergent scenarios as they arise than it is to burn through the mediocre Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now main quest. It really is the sort of game that demands serious player investment before it gives you anything in return. That sort of game obviously isn't for everyone, and that's cool, but it disheartens me to see so many people dismiss it as another shithouse shooter.

Also, the more that gets revealed about Far Cry 3 the less enthusiastic I become. I wish C-Hock was still at Ubisoft. :(

@connerthekewlkid said:

i dont really see what the big deal is.

To me at least, hiring respected dev with good titles on his resume was LucasArts trying to rebuild themselves creatively after doing a poor job with their two main franchises (Star Wars, Indiana Jones) lately, and him leaving before showing any results doesn't exactly bode well for the studio.

I'm glad he's not working on Star Wars 1313, it seems like there isn't that much room for creativity on the Star Wars license. Hopefully he's off to work on a new interesting IP, will keep an eye on where he goes for sure.

Hocking had a title in early pre-production at LucasArts for a while (not 1313) that sounded like maybe it had a dozen people on it? When I spoke with them they definitely emphasized it being off in the future, but it was a real thing. It sounded like it was trying to emphasize the stuff people liked about Far Cry 2.

@Vodun said:

@wardcleaver said:

@mbr2 said:

@Danda said:

They only had to patch out the respawning checkpoints to salvage the game, but no... Now the memory of Far Cry 2 is tainted for too many people.

Hocking is a great designer, really ambitious, but sometimes he makes weird choices. Like, what is a creative guy doing in a place when you can only aspire to make Star Wars games... or Star Wars games?

Why would they do that? At some point you'd just be driving around in a dead world. A lot of people seem to forget but FC2 was a shooter so I the complaint that you constantly come across people who shoot you is a bit odd. If so Doom must be the worst game ever made to use the same logic.

Not that FC2 didn't have its problems, but I also never understood the complaint about the re-spawing checkpoints.

Oh I don't know, maybe it was because it forced you to travel through those locations repeatedly so basically you had to fight the same fight in the same location over and over again. They were simply an annoying hurdle and didn't add anything to the experience but frustration.

Add to this, the fact that you could pretty much drive through a checkpoint and kill them all. Return less than a minute later and they were there again....yeah, why would anyone complain about such an enjoyable repetition of joy and mirth.

I don't know. I like shooting dudes in my shooters.

As was previously mentioned you could avoid most of those checkpoints through fast travel.

@wardcleaver: I also like solving puzzles in my adventure games, but if I'm forced to solve the exact same puzzle over and over again then I'm calling it a shit adventure game which pads its lacking content to make it look bigger than it actually is.

I wish him a future that does not consist of microtransactions on the iPhone.

That's usually Chapter 2 in the story of any notable developer becoming unemployed, and that's often when you stop hearing about them ever again.

Wow so many emotions and thought's swept over me when I read this news. It's hard to know where to start. I guess, like a lot of people I had hoped he would be at LucasArts forever and make the Boba Fett game the fanboys have been dreaming of for years. Now he's gone and the world is a bit dimmer.

I'm guessing the only dynamic fire I'll be getting in the Star Wars universe is if I buy some copies of the prequels and light them on fire myself.