“In a sense,” says Alex Hutchinson, creative director of Journey to the Savage Planet, “this is a game for middle-aged people.” And in an instant, I’m sold.
“I want a game I can finish, I want a game that doesn’t take a thousand hours, I want a game that kind of reminds me of the Sega blue skies stuff, that I feel happy turning it on instead of being miserable and weighed down by things I don’t understand unless I’ve put in 100 hours. I don’t want an infinite game! I want it to finish!”
Alex is playing to the room, for sure – in this case, the room being a cozy hotel suite just on the outskirts of this year’s GDC, the audience a couple of men like myself with more than a dash of grey in their facial hair – but good god has he got a point. And he certainly knows what he’s talking about, having come from the world of triple-A development, alongside many of his team at the 25-strong Typhoon Studios, who count Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Army of Two – Army of Two! – among their past triumphs.
