Industry veteran Mark Cerny talks about the hugeness of modern developers
Mark Cerny is a game developer with 30 years of experience under his belt, which just so happens to be notched with widely known projects like Marble Madness and Crash Bandicoot. In an interview with Gamasutra, Cerny discusses how the size of game development teams has ballooned in recent years.
He explains that there was more accountability when he developed games by himself, adding, "You couldn't blame upper management who didn't understand you, you couldn't blame the marketing guys who didn't put together the proper marketing campaign."
Cerny says that his role as a part-time mercenary developer becomes less effective when he's hired by hundred-strong teams, and that some games -- namely, Thatgamecompany's Flower -- simply can't be developed by a gargantuan ensemble. "Because you're taking such a curved path on the way to making the final product, you don't want the art staff of 20 just waiting, just building the models, when Jenova is going to have some idea that goes in a completely different direction," Cerny says.
We agree, though we think a larger staff would have allowed for the online deathmatch mode that Flower so, so desperately needed.
