Heavy Rain Creator: Industry Too Focused on Violence

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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Heavy Rain Creator: Industry Too Focused on Violence

The industry is catering too heavily to kids and teenagers.

2010's Heavy Rain was a unique and enthralling if slightly flawed game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/7266-Review-Heavy-Rain], and the experience has yet to be replicated by another game and another developer. Quantic Dream mastermind David Cage wishes that more studios would follow Heavy Rain's lead, at least regarding subject matter.

"Of course, we want many studios to do [interactive dramas like Heavy Rain]," Cage told Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/features/1643/David-Cage-My-team-say-my-ideas-cant-fit-into-consoles]. "Do it better than us. Do it with your own ideas, your stories, your characters, your style."

Even without other developers following suit, however, Cage maintained that Quantic Dream wouldn't be branching out into more mainstream fare. "I think all I want to do is offer some diversity to the medium. I want to give people the chance to buy something other than ten different first person shooters and RPGs," he said.

"There should be games for all ages, all tastes ... [the] industry is too far balanced towards kids and teenagers. It's too focused on violence."

This isn't the first or even the second time that Cage has called for a revolution in the market [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109099-Heavy-Rain-Designer-Calls-for-Revolution-Again]. So, you certainly can't fault the guy for being inconsistent. I'm just not seeing how games about serial killers aren't focused on violence.

Source: Develop Online [http://www.develop-online.net/features/1643/David-Cage-My-team-say-my-ideas-cant-fit-into-consoles]

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Seventh Actuality

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Apr 23, 2010
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Good point, but to even start moving in that direction there need to be some compelling ways to translate non-violent experiences into games. If the choice is between a quicktime conversation "interactive movie" experience and an actual fucking push-button-for-action game, then the latter will keep dominating and rightly so.
 

Meight08

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Feb 16, 2011
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Soviet Heavy said:
Says the man who's game included self mutilation, child death and rape by screwdriver.
There is a difference between "Im rambo!"'ing through a middle eastern country and stuff like heavy rain.
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Funny, I seem to remember Heavy Rain featuring a bunch of rather pointless action scenes.

Nevertheless, I agree with the general sentiment.
 

The.Bard

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I'm with him on this. Shooting people in the face is fun, but gaming needs some variety. I don't want steak for dinner every night, so the occasional veggie souffle could be a nice change-up.

My secret video game wish was that someone could create the dialogue branching structure Bioware used in Mass Effect and combine it with the mocap used in LA Noire. I would loooooooooooooooove to see some dialogue-driven games that don't feature gunplay at all.

Maybe give us something like this, hmm?


My Dinner With Andre: THE VIDEOGAME
 

kyoodle

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Dec 4, 2009
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John Funk said:
Heavy Rain Creator: Industry Too Focused on Violence


This isn't the first or even the second time that Cage has called for a revolution in the market [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109099-Heavy-Rain-Designer-Calls-for-Revolution-Again]. So you certainly can't fault the guy for being inconsistent. I'm just not seeing where games about serial killers aren't focused on violence.

Permalink
I think he means gameplay being focused on mass murdering wildlife, bandits and idealistically-opposed-middle-easterners rather than violence having no part in the story at all. Most films and books have violence somewhere in there.

How it's portrayed is important too, that finger scene was a lot more powerful than killing three people with a grenade in CoD.
 

Pedro The Hutt

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Apr 1, 2009
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Soviet Heavy said:
Says the man who's game included self mutilation, child death and rape by screwdriver.
Don't forget peeing, gotta have pee in his games (besides Heavy Rain he also did Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, where putting a dead body in a toilet stall makes your character less insane). Oh, and several of his games feature female nudity.

Honestly, he and Hideo Kojima should team up for some kind of ultra-messed up game.

But yeah, who is he to preach?
 

Richardplex

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Jun 22, 2011
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They already exist, they're called visual novels, and exist almost solely in Japan. Maybe one of these days the demand for them will be high enough that we'll actually get games that he wants.

Don't see it in the foreseeable future, however much Kawata Shoujo's reception gave me hope.
 

Jonny49

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Has this man seen the ending to Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy?

Is he aware that there's a kung-fu fight on top of a building? And that they fly and shit? Because if not someone should really tell him.
 

WanderingFool

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Soviet Heavy said:
Says the man who's game included self mutilation, child death and rape by screwdriver.
Shit... got ninja'd by the first response.

Captcha: underpants

I know this is funny beyond the obvious, but I cant figure out why it is... maybe it has something to do with this article?
 

Inkidu

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Mar 25, 2011
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What can you say? Violence is instant conflict in a can. Conflict drives plot. That's why games use it. More so for games it presents a challenge.

Sure, you can use puzzles, but most other forms of conflict are internal, and that's hard to translate into a game. I see internal conflict in games like the Witcher 2 and Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 with some of the choices I've made, but there's a high risk that the conflict doesn't take. With a clear, present, external challenge it creates conflict by barrier.
 

Jumplion

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Soviet Heavy said:
Says the man who's game included self mutilation, child death and rape by screwdriver.
Which was included as it pushed the theme of "How far would you go to save someone you love?" and wasn't used because "LOL, controversy!"

This child death scene in Modern Warfare 3? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GOxHBNMp6s] "OH NOOO! CHILD DIED, FEEL SYMPATHY!" When we don't even know who these characters are, what's going on, or why we should care in the first place. This is an example of what Cage was talking about.

DVS BSTrD said:
Or a game where you can make a woman take a shower and fight off attackers in her underpants isn't catering toward teenagers.
One flaw does not a point destroy. In hindsight, sure, those kinds of scenes were stupid, but Cage in the article itself calls for competitors to;

"do [interactive dramas like Heavy Rain]," Cage told Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/features/1643/David-Cage-My-team-say-my-ideas-cant-fit-into-consoles]. "Do it better than us. Do it with your own ideas, your stories, your characters, your style."
Pedro The Hutt said:
Don't forget peeing, gotta have pee in his games (besides Heavy Rain he also did Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, where putting a dead body in a toilet stall makes your character less insane). Oh, and several of his games feature female nudity.
...
But yeah, who is he to preach?
See above. Ad homeniem, a flaw does not destroy a point, and again, he wants others to do better than him.
Jonny49 said:
Has this man seen the ending to Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy?

Is he aware that there's a kung-fu fight on top of a building? And that they fly and shit? Because if not someone should really tell him.
Can't tell if this is sarcasm or not, but he did work on Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, and they tackled Heavy Rain with a specific intent on not going the batshit route again. Mistakes are made, and we do better.

Overall, I get this feeling that whenever a slightly fringe developer comments on the state of gaming today, the response is almost always "I don't care about ART, I wan't FUN! Stop trying to make EVER GAME ART." when that is never the point. No reason why we can't have intelligent, thought provoking games that are equal parts engaging and entertaining, along with a more diverse set of games to choose from. I really don't get the hostile nature towards this.
 

JackyG

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Jun 26, 2011
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I don't think this guy is the messiah or anything but I am always interested in what he has to say.
Personally I agree. the industry uses a system of "appeal to as many as possible" that has become invalidated by the Internet.

People have an easier time finding what they like these days. They know if what you make is for them. The biggest problem I've always had from the mass market approach is that it tries to please everybody and ends up satisfying nobody. There is ALWAYS something missing, somewhere they should have taken it further, or dialled it back but they didn't because they thought it would "alienate" certain parties.
 

weirdee

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Apr 11, 2011
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Okay, so removing the argument from the hilariously biased source, it's still a fair thing to propose.

Of course, they really should stay out of the 60 dollar market unless it's cinematic gold.
 

Pedro The Hutt

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Apr 1, 2009
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Oh definitely, nothing wrong with trying to expand what you can do with games (as you'd expect from an Extra Credits fan).

But it just seems a bit... off coming from Cage. And his games have already been outdone, they were even outdone before they were ever made, by Shenmue!