New Feature Posted: Interview with Clint Hocking

Dale Weir · 05-26-2005, 10:18 AM

Thom Moyles talks with Clint Hocking, the Creative Director of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and runner up to Will Wright in the 2005 Game Developers Conference Game Design Challenge.

"We should leave linear storytelling and CG animation to those who do it better. I don't care how good your cutscenes are, I'd rather watch a 20 second commercial spot for a Pixar film than the very best cutscenes we have ever offered. The only use for cinematics and cutscenes is to provide a narrative framework and a context that justifies the action of the game."

You can read the rest here:
http://www.gamecritics.com/feature/i...ing/page01.php

Mike Doolittle · 05-26-2005, 04:21 PM

Wow. Very informative. Great job Thom.

Boy · 05-26-2005, 06:52 PM

Awesome interview Thom. Very well done.

I do disagree with him on the idea that games need to move away from CG/cutscenes (and the quality of said cutscenes) though. A lot of games would probably benefit from such a move I think, but I'd be unhappy to see it completely removed from all games.

Asz · 05-26-2005, 07:49 PM

Agreed, great interview!

Boy, It seemed that he was speaking specifically about the games he works on, and on that note, I agree with him. The cutscenes have only gone from Bad to Worse throughout the Splinter Cell series. Luckily more than most of the story was conveyed in-game.