Chapter Meeting: September 2005
If you asked Derek Smart, creator of the Battlecruiser series and the recently released Universal Combat, for any advice on Game Design, he would most certainly tell you “Don't fix it if it isn't broken!” It appeared to be his mantra at his Gold Party that was hosted by the IGDA SOFLA chapter where he gave a group of eager developers and students an explicit post-mortem in the completion of his newest PC release, ‘Universal Combat: A World Apart'. He regaled his listeners in an epic tale of programming where he dwindled away six months of development time, trying to improve upon his infrastructure by switching to a different AI programming language. But in the end, he would only find himself returning to original code he wrote for his initial Battlecruiser release in the early 90's.
And Derek Smart kept to his reputation of being the bad boy of the gaming industry. He spoke of how he was excited that with the release of AAA titles such as Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, PC gamers would be forced to upgrade their systems. Because Derek Smart developed such a massive game loaded with ornate intricacies that no common gamer's PC would be able to handle. Derek Smart created a game that due to its high system requirements most of his audience would probably not be able to play and even told his dedicated following to purchase the game and in 2 years, you would be able to run it. For Derek Smart has never made a game that he thought his fans would like, he has made games that he would like to play. He confesses, “If you listen to every angry fan or every negative review, you would just eventually get fed up and give up. But, if you try to improve on where you went wrong and continue to make the best game possible, you will gain a faithful fan following.” Faithful fan following indeed, Universal Combat: A World Apart sold over 35,000 copies in his first 11 days of release.
Derek also talked on the death of a franchise. He advises that the reason many franchises fall along the waysides is that they try to fix upon what made the series work in the first place. With the release of Universal Combat, he ends his long running Battle Cruiser series, and it ends with a bang. The immeasurable scope of the game is almost incomprehensible. It is a space simulation, it is a FPS, it is interplanetary invasion, and so on. Any type of genre of gameplay a player could want is there. What it isn't, is a five to ten hour game. Derek boasts on how a player could fight from one point on a planet to the same spot on the planet by running around its surface. Everything is to scale. It is a true space simulation, and like space, the boundaries seem limitless.
Derek raffled off four copies of his game and the IGDA SOFLA chapter adjourned to Ole Ole for drinks. Only to find it closed early due to lack of business. So after finding another venue who wanted our business, we redirected ourselves to Dan Marino's where Derek Smart bought the IGDA the first round of drinks. One thing we know is true about Derek Smart is that he is no small potatoes. He has created a reputation and a niche market for his games within the Interactive Entertainment industry. Everything he dreams, he dreams big, and with a successful career in low-budgeted franchised games, it seems all his hard work has made his dreams come true.
IGDA South Florida Reporter
Alex Solarte
Parasytic Moon
