Wednesday, March 10, 2021
A number of developers have taken to Twitter to explain how difficult it is to insert sections involving the use of doors in video games. Apparently, something as simple as opening and closing doors can break immersion, make the game clunky, and cause all sorts of visual and gameplay problems.
What sparked the conversation was a tweet mentioning the above by
Death Trash developer Stephan Hövelbrinks. Several other developers, including former BioWare designer Damion Schubert and
The Last of Us Part II co-director Kurt Margenau, chimed in. The most detailed explanation of the issue came from Margenau, who tweeted with reference to
The game's co-director opened the doors on one of the trickiest aspects of the game to get right - and how it partly became an issue because of their own efforts to make the game as smooth as possible.
Friday, February 05, 2021
Naughty Dog veteran Kurt Margenau took to Twitter to lament toxic behavior displayed by the gaming community, especially towards vulnerable groups.
In response to a Kotaku article that interviewed popular streamer Emme “Negaoryx” Montgomery and highlighted the abuse and death threats she continues to receive, Margenau said that “we can never overestimate how hard it is to be a woman in this industry.” With reference to
The Last of Us Part II, Margenau said that a lot of the abuse and threats that Naughty Dog received from angry gamers were directed at developers who belong to vulnerable groups. He wrote:
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
“Hopping into Tsushima and clearing out Mongols from camps is exactly the therapeutic gameplay I needed in 2020,” co-game director Kurt Margenau said of the Sucker Punch hit. “The world is beautiful, there are tons of things to discover, the combat is fluid and surprisingly deep, and I can feel like I’m actually accomplishing something turning the entire map from red to white! Sucker Punch really delivered on the samurai fantasy.”
“I loved the setting for the game, the Japanese countryside,” added vice president Christian Gyrling. “It was incredibly beautiful and satisfying to play as a samurai as I slowly got more and more proficient at using my sword and knives while taking on larger and larger groups of enemies. In the end, I felt like a real badass.”