

Zynga’s chief game designer, Brian Reynolds, resigns - 001sky
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/29/zyngas-chief-game-designer-brian-reynolds-resigns/

======
scaphandre
I'm not typically one to have artistic considerations ahead of business,
but...

It hurt to know that one of the leads from the sci-fi strategy epic 'Alpha
Centauri' was working at the place that made Farmville - a known sucker-
magnet. It must have been soul-destroying.

Good luck to him.

~~~
beaumartinez
Just because the "artistic" values of those two games differ doesn't mean
working on FarmVille was "soul destroying".

FarmVille is a game with hundreds of thousands of concurrent users, with a
constraint to make as much money as possible and keep current users coming
back, and with _fierce_ competition. Sounds like an interesting space to be
in.

~~~
Goronmon
_FarmVille is a game with hundreds of thousands of concurrent users, with a
constraint to make as much money as possible and keep current users coming
back, and with fierce competition._

Sounds more like a casino than game development to me.

~~~
JonnieCache
Or an opium cartel.

~~~
nsomaru
< _chuckle_ >... < _gasp_ >, there's another level here:

"life" itself.

~~~
jerf
Mmmmm... interesting thought, but I don't think I can agree that all life
reduces to people exploiting other people's _addictions_ , and wiping away the
deliberate attempt to produce addictive games for money wipes away a
fundamental part of the reason many of us have contempt for Zynga.

~~~
nsomaru
Sir,

A large portion of "Life" today consists of the process of creating desire for
the unecessary (U) by association of these U's with basic human desires (sex,
food et al.)

Thus the economy is born and a constant insaitable need for growth, when
conceivably in a different system for a global, connected, technologically
advanced race such as ours, there could be plenty for all, and we could all be
provided for. (Note (1) This smells of Utopia, I admit I don't know how we
would deal with boredom -- perhaps via extraordinary expressions of the
creative act?) (2) The point is that the current system is a paradigm, and to
sustain itself must maintain separation of "have's" and "have nots", and thus
must consist in some exploitation, lest the division be destroyed and the
labour force caused to cease to exist. The only way such a labour force
remains in check is that there most be "money" which is "earned" via a "job"
and is "required" for the meeting of basic needs and thus is what makes you
win in the "struggle for survival". )

~~~
jerf
Even if I stipulated your point, which I don't, all Life is not economic
transactions, either.

And I don't think you established a connection to _addictiveness_ either.
(Your attempt requires me to agree with allowing you to decide what is
"(un)necessary" for me and everybody else, which I do not concede.) Food,
shelter, water, clothing, furniture, and the other human needs are not
addictive. Even sex is generally not addictive.

~~~
nsomaru
To you and RegEx, below: Good day, Sirs.

Thank you for the compliment.

I am sorry for the misunderstanding, and perhaps anything I may have said to
offend. The misunderstanding, I believe, stems from the fact that we define
addiction differently. This is a matter of philosophy and opinion, and unless
you would entertain me there I fear we would be communicating as one German to
an Aboriginal, that is, not at all.

For what it is worth, I present my definition: For all objects and beings (X),
addiction is that state whereby contact with X does not actually yield any
utility (happiness, satisfaction, what ever you want to call it) but non-
contact therewith is a source of discomfort. It's like an extrapolation of
diminishing marginal utility, which, I must confess, I know little about. This
definition of addiction is somewhat broad, but includes the narrower, more
conventional versions, and contains a deep insight about human nature and the
overcoming of addiction(s) in general. That is beyond the scope of this
response.

It is also based on personal reflection and experience, which conventional
scientists would deem "anecdotal" or not "statistically significant", but to
me, this is a valid source of knowledge, especially if you have a strong,
logically consistent metaphysical system which presents isomorphisms, as it
were, with your own experience of Reality.

edit: Typo's

------
Jare
He championed a number of mechanics to put more 'game' in social games, but
ultimately, he can't make miracles with the limitations of the format, the
audience and the organization.

I hope he made a boatload of money and uses it to make awesome games that we
all want to play.

~~~
ryanhuff
I really don't understand your comment about "limitations of the format". If
you mean the Farmville model, why would Zynga be tied to that, beyond their
own inability to innovate?

~~~
samstave
I assume he meant platform rather than format. The casual in browser Facebook
game may be what he meant by format.

Also I certainly hope the guy did _not_ make boatloads of money from such a
horrid company.

~~~
Jare
Fact: Zynga makes (or used to make) lots of money. Is there anyone you'd
rather see getting a significant chunk of that? The CEO? Shareholders? Rank-
and-file employees?

~~~
samstave
I'm very familiar with Zynga and their history, but to answer your question:
nobody. I have no respect for Xynga and no desire for any employee of a
thieving douchey company to profit off their behavior.

------
PhrosTT
Makes sense. None of the other people who design Zynga's games work there
either. ; P

~~~
samstave
Heh, my first thought upon seeing this post was "wow, they actually _had_ a
game designer?"

------
kmfrk
Alternate title: Brian Reynolds's stocks vest? :)

------
crapshoot101
Alpha Centauri is easily the greatest game I ever played; it took the best of
Civ 2 (which Brian was apparently the key designer on as well).
Coincidentally, its now available on Gog.com cheap!

------
DigitalSea
Oh no, that's a shame. Now who's going to help complete Zynga's next game,
Rollercoaster Tycoon I mean Rollercoaster Entrepreneur? Seriously though, good
riddance. The dude was responsible for helping rip off graphics from other
games from sometimes smaller developers, I doubt this is much of a loss and
more like an image boost if they can hire someone with some original ideas...

~~~
EthanHeilman
I hope your post is sarcastic but if not you should look up Brian Reynolds. He
is one of the best designers in the industry. I had no idea that he worked for
Zynga.

"Although marketed under Sid Meier's name, Civilization II, Sid Meier's
Colonization and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri all credited Reynolds as lead
designer. The credits for Civilization II and Alpha Centauri moreover imply
that Meier had only advisory or peripheral participation."
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Reynolds_(game_designer)>

I really hope we get a Alpha Centauri II out of this.

~~~
T-hawk
I've been dreaming and praying for an Alpha Centauri II for years, too. It
could be done on the engine for Civilization IV or V, like the Colonization
remake, and pick up on all the technological and gameplay advances in the
franchise since SMAC.

Alas, the constraint is that Electronic Arts owns the intellectual property
for Alpha Centauri and isn't at all interested in reviving it.

But Brian Reynolds leaving Zynga is an awesome piece of news, if it'll get him
producing real games again rather than addiction-center manipulators. I seem
to remember he joined Zynga genuinely believing that mobile-social-freemium
was the future of gaming, which actually was a reasonable prediction in 2009,
and it's also reasonable for that opinion to fall by the wayside now.

~~~
EthanHeilman
I think mobile-social freemium is here to stay, but it is less fashionable
these days. Most of the blame is on Zynga for that, but I believe Brain
Reynolds joined Zynga in good faith that they would help the gaming ecosystem.

------
jezfromfuture
Considering all the titles he worked on were verbatim copies of other IP's I
think his loss won't be noticed that much.

------
seivan
I can understand that, he might not want to do all the clones they did, and he
might not want to do games that probably isn't considered games by many gamers
standards.

I know how it feels to produce crap as a day job.

------
meerita
It seems Zynga is really 'doomed'.

------
mmanfrin
It was a pretty dumb move to begin with for him.

Edit: If you disagree, please tell me why I am wrong. Brian Reynolds had a
hand in creating classics, and he went to work for a company infamous for its
lack of creativity. It was a terrible fit, and -- at least in my eyes --
tarnished the great stature of Reynolds.

