FINDING INSPIRATION
I really like the “Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars blog”http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/. Short, sharp, and to the point, it provides an excellent insight into the biz dev and general politicking of the games industry.
One thing of interest she (might still be a he!) pointed out the other day was the use of a “game to beat” during development. While we’ve always used reference from similar projects and games we admire, I actually really like the idea of pinning something up on the wall and saying “our game’s going to be better than that.” It makes me feel like an Olympian track runner being rattled by his coach or something…
All rattling aside though, I think the point is that actually picking a game and making such a blunt statement gives a very real point of reference for a team in a development process that is usually rather troubled with this concept of deciding exactly when a game in “fun” or not. Far more concrete than: “it’s going to be like Grand Theft Auto, but with Ponies!”
