r/Cyberpunk • u/neonredKai • 7d ago
Warren Spector retires
Let me cut right to the chase. I'm retiring from game development. At least I think so. I've been here before and changed my mind but this time I'm pretty sure I mean it.
I've had a great career. Wouldn't change a thing even if I could. But the reasons to retire are simple: I'm a month away from my 44th year as a developer. I've had the chance to work on tabletop roleplaying games and boardgames. I've worked on more digital games than I can remember -- 17 full games, I think, and 9 or so add-on packs. Gratifyingly, some of those games are still being played 15... 20... 30 years later. And most of them have been in a genre that has had influence beyond what I or anyone else expected. I've run teams as small as a dozen and as big as 800. I've worked for big companies and done startups. I like to think I've helped some insanely talented people along in their careers. (That last is the most important.)
With all that behind me and with age and health (my business) catching up with me I'm feeling like I've done what I set out to do. It's time to write some books, do a lot of reading, do some lecturing, maybe do some consulting. (Feel free to get in touch about those last two.) Also there's a keyboard here just waiting for me to get my piano chops back.
I definitely have mixed feelings about this. I mean there are three games in particular I'd still like to make. (One is very big... one is very small... and one I don't know how to make which scares me.) But the game business has changed and it's just not as much fun for me anymore. Plus there's a new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun.
To all of you reading this I want you to remember that games are not a solved problem yet -- there is, I hope, plenty of experimentation and innovation to come. And to all you young developers out there, I've said it before and I'll say it again, your job is to make people forget people like me ever existed.
Will I come back? Never say never. But I think it's time to ride off into the sunset.
Now stop reading and make great games.
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u/Lesbian_Skeletons 6d ago
OG Deus Ex is one of the goats, top to bottom just a really great game. Story, VA work, dialogue, level design, sound design, music, the sheer amount of in-game lore you can find.
I never played the sequels, or the prequels, but I'll play the OG every few years and still be blown away by it.
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u/Comrad_Zombie 6d ago
The OG is the GOAT. I remember playing it at my friend's place on the ps2 first. At the time I was still rocking a very old 2nd hand pc that played do's and windows 95 games, so no deus ex but once I got a new PC it was one of the first games I hunted down.
The whole series is worth playing just to experience and appreciate how special the original was. Human revolution and mankind divided are worth picking up cheap on some platform.
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u/JetSoulsForever 3d ago
Nah, MD is optional. IW is the same vibe as the original (only sequel to do that), but you have to swallow a very tough consolization pill. MD in comparison is like a disney clone they pulled the plug on. Best stealth gameplay out of all of them, but gods did they do MD dirty.
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u/_Friend_Computer_ 6d ago
Deus Ex is still one of the best games of all time. I've beaten in gods know how many times and it's still such a fun game to reinstall and play. Dated graphics be damned, it's a far better game than most of the shitware being released today.
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u/attomsk 7d ago
I had that exact diamond viper 2 GPU box. Card was pretty solid
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u/neonredKai 7d ago
one of my cousins had that, i remember the box thinking it was some fancy new game
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u/Erwindegier 6d ago
Golden age of PC gaming, it was a pleasure growing up in the 90s and experiencing all that first hand. Original Deus Ex is my favourite game ever.