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The Taken King creative director, Sam Smith, opens up about Destiny, revealing the developer didn’t truly understand the game until long after it was released.
Despite months and years of planning, some game developers don’t understand the potential of a game until long after it releases. At least that seems to be the case with Destiny , according to The Taken King creative director, Luke Smith.
In a discussion with GamesRadar , Smith revealed that the team at Bungie didn’t fully understand what they had withwhen it was first released. In fact, it really wasn’t until the launch of the most recent expansion, The Taken King, that the developer began to recognize the true potential housed in the sci-fi shooter.
During the interview, Smith shared his take on Ghost, a character in Destiny and how, like the full game, the Bungie team didn’t recognize how much influence Ghost would have on gamers who play Destiny . According to Smith:
“I think that the Ghost is a really great metaphor for Destiny. I don’t know that we, as Bungie, understood the type of game that Destiny could be.
“In the same way, I feel like a bunch of the early writing for the Ghost, in vanilla, we didn’t understand what the character of the Ghost could be. And because we didn’t understand that character so well, the words don’t always ring super well and the performance didn’t have the writing that it needed either.”
The poor writing and lackluster delivery from Ghost have long been a complaint among Destiny players, even those who have loved the game since it first launched. Many criticized Peter Dinklage for his voice acting, but from Smith’s point-of-view, it sounds like the issue goes deeper than Dinklage’s speaking style – the failings of Ghost are more on the writers and team at Bungie, rather than the voice actor.
But beyond just Ghost, it’s interesting to hear Smith open up about Bungie’s misunderstanding of Destiny , considering the game’s success so far. For the better part of a year, Destiny was easily the most talked about game, even when up against other highly-anticipated titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain .
Now that Destiny is hitting its stride with the release of The Taken King, and Bungie has announced that it will be releasing free content for the next yearinstead of paid DLC, it’s likely the game will only grow in popularity and success. Hopefully, Bungie will remember the lessons it has learned as it prepares for.
What do you think about Smith’s comments on Destiny ? Let us know in the comments below.
Destiny – The Taken King is available now for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: GamesRadar