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[rollingstart]

Do the people who are only questioning Kojima is on that list really believe that Jonathan Blow deserves to be up there? Those two are probably the biggest 'wtf' mentions there. I mean, I'm an MGS fan, but I'm not crazy enough to think Kojima is one of the top 20 best writers in video games. Maybe a great story teller (not so much for MGS4) but dude needs an editor.

 

[HK-47]

Wait. Ragnar Tørnquist isnt there?

...

smh

 

[HK-47]

Terrible writer indeed.


I agree with the people saying Tim Schafer and 19 other people to actually make it a list. The man is absolutely amazing.

Schafer has his equals. He isnt untouchable.

 

[Ganondorfo]

Where is the writer of xenogears on this list?


Where is the writer of this brilliant conversation on this list?

Richter Belmont: Die, monster! You don't belong in this world!
Dracula: It is not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. I was brought here by humans who wish to pay me tribute.
Richter Belmont: Tribute? You steal mens' souls and make them your slaves!
Dracula: Perhaps the same could be said of all religions...
Richter Belmont: Your words are as empty as your soul. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you.
Dracula: What is a man?
[tosses goblet, which breaks]
Dracula: A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk, HAVE AT YOU!

 

[Regulus Tera]

Where is the writer of xenogears on this list?


Where is the writer of this brilliant conversation on this list?

Richter Belmont: Die, monster! You don't belong in this world!
Dracula: It is not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. I was brought here by humans who wish to pay me tribute.
Richter Belmont: Tribute? You steal mens' souls and make them your slaves!
Dracula: Perhaps the same could be said of all religions...
Richter Belmont: Your words are as empty as your soul. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you.
Dracula: What is a man?
[tosses goblet, which breaks]
Dracula: A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk, HAVE AT YOU!

The I Wanna Be The Guy version of that conversation is forever engraved in my mind. :lol

 

[faceless007]

No Tornquist, Jensen, Michel Ancel, and whoever did the writing on Deus Ex, makes the list fail.

 

[HK-47]

They forgot Thief on Levine's resume

 

[chicken_ramen]

Matsuno is the most glaring omission, imo.



That's an awesome resume (his only excluded game is FFTA, of which he was only a producer, and had a completely fucking terrible story).


As much as I like Itoi and Horii, it's completely understandable why they weren't on the list. Only one of Itoi's big games has been released in the US, while neither of Horii's best two scenarios (DQ5 and DQ6) were released there until recently.

As for Ueda? He'll easily make the list once he has more than two games under his belt.

Metzen? Starcraft/Brood War is amazing, but Warcraft is completely derivative.

Maybe I'm just a fanboy here, but the idea behind the FFTA story is really novel and interesting. It wasn't exploited to the extent it should have been, but I don't think it was 'completely fucking terrible' like, say, FFTA2.

Top X lists are made for complaining about, so: why is 'central clancy writer' Richard Dansky, with a resume that also includes Far Cry on this list? Why did it take people almost 100 posts to complain about that one? Also Nojima's inclusion annoys me too.

 

[Ventrue]

Wasnt Ziets the creative design behind MotB?

He wasn't the lead on MotB no, I'm just pointing out that his pedigree is pretty good. It's hard to distinguish who does exactly what on any given team. He certainly had a huge role in VTMB.

EDIT: Actually, I may have been mistaken as to him working on MOTB at all. He may have been mainly working on AP since joining Obsidian.

 

[Vinci]

They forget Thief on Levine's resume

I've noticed, with remorse, that Thief is forgotten in a large variety of cases in which it would be more than appropriate to bring it up. Looking Glass Studios dying will be a scar on gaming's history forever.

 

[HK-47]

Maybe I'm just a fanboy here, but the idea behind the FFTA story is really novel and interesting. It wasn't exploited to the extent it should have been, but I don't think it was 'completely fucking terrible' like, say, FFTA2.

Top X lists are made for complaining about, so: why is 'central clancy writer' Richard Dansky, with a resume that also includes Far Cry on this list? Why did it take people almost 100 posts to complain about that one? Also Nojima's inclusion annoys me too.

I very much agree. Same with the "plot twist" of SO3. The concept is interesting. The execution, not so much

They explain Dansky as being there for his behind the scenes work and script fixing

Personally I'm more skeptical of Redding, who has one game to his name over guys like Mitsoda, Matsuno and Suda. However I'll let it slide since the Far Cry 2 model of storytelling is ambitious. But Blow has one game of debatable quality...and Nojima? Really? Kingdom Hearts should be a knock against him. Plus FFs are often contrived or unfocused, with characters who fall into cliches and never really advance beyond them. I wont even get into dialogue.

 

[professor_t]

Kojima? MGS is not quality writing.

He has cool ideas, but the actual prose is horrific. Maybe it's a translation issue?

 

[Yaweee]

Maybe I'm just a fanboy here, but the idea behind the FFTA story is really novel and interesting. It wasn't exploited to the extent it should have been, but I don't think it was 'completely fucking terrible' like, say, FFTA2.

I liked parts of it, too, but that could be trimmed to... five or six scenes, mostly those pertaining to Marshe's attempts to persuade his friends, or anything with Mewt. It's an interesting idea, but handled horribly with nothing of much interest until near the very end. Aside from that, it's a pretty standard "We're stuck in a fantasy world, and we need to get visit the five magic crystals!"

It isn't quite as bad as people make it out to be, but it's nowhere near substantial enough to center a game around.

Yes, it is better than FFTA2, but that isn't saying much.



Yay for Sohei Niikawa inclusion.

 

[professor_t]

This just in:

Dennis Dyack thinks Gamasutra is a threat to modern civilization and should be shut down.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

No Remo on the list, but I guess he isn't on there because he works at Gamasutra now.

Well, he did write the article.

 

[szaromir]

I've noticed, with remorse, that Thief is forgotten in a large variety of cases in which it would be more than appropriate to bring it up.

Sadly.

I looked up the writer for Beneath a Steel Sky and the guy also wrote scripts for the first two Broken Sword games. Sadly, he hasn't been working on games ever since. It's a damn shame because BaSS was a stroke of genius.

 

[HK-47]

Who was the guy behind Arcanum?

 

[Truant]

Kojima couldn't write a grocery list.

Spoiler

Glocery Rist.

 

[Truant]

I've noticed, with remorse, that Thief is forgotten in a large variety of cases in which it would be more than appropriate to bring it up. Looking Glass Studios dying will be a scar on gaming's history forever.

Not really helped by Levine's slight dislike for the Thief series.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Chris Avellone -Creative Lead and Co-Owner, Obsidian Entertainment


Yes

edit: Kojima is in there but not Matsuno? :lol

 

[HK-47]

Wow they left Policenauts and Snatcher off Kojima's list. But thats like his best work outside creating The Boss

 

[Haunted]

Looks like a list of "People who wrote popular games in the last year or so."

Fucking nailed it.


That's not to say that some of those people don't deserve to be on a list such as this (Schafer, Wolpaw, et.al.). Although Kojima being on there is lol-worthy.



edit: I'd also like to echo the Ragnar Tornquist nomination. Good man.

 

[HK-47]

Fucking nailed it.


That's not to say that some of those people don't deserve to be on a list such as this (Schafer, Wolpaw, et.al.). Although Kojima being on there is lol-worthy.

Well they did say they had to be working on stuff recently. Which is probably why Jensen isnt there.

 

[szaromir]

Who was the guy behind Arcanum?

mobygames.com will answer all your questions.

Here's a Thief 2 writer - Emil Pagliarulo:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3935/the_gamasutra_20_top_game_writers.php?page=11
Currently works for Bethesda. Ken Levine was apparently only involved in initial story and concept design for Thief 1.

Well they did say they had to be working on stuff recently. Which is probably why Jensen isnt there.

Well, she's still working on games. Grey Matter could be interesting.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

Not really helped by Levine's slight dislike for the Thief series.

Levine's work on Thief (narrative wise) was much more impressive to me then Bioshock.

 

[HK-47]

To anwser my own question it appears to be Leonard Boyarsky

Impressive resume art direction, story and/or dialogue for Arcanum, Fallout, Fallout 2, and Bloodlines.

Now world designer for Diablo III

 

[h0l211]

The list is meant to be 'recent top writers', with the vast majority of them having released a game in 2008, not 'all-time best writers', for a couple of people who are confused. Otherwise Steve Meretzky would be on it!

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

This man is a god. That is all.

david duchovny only plays a writer on tv, and he doesnt even write videogames!

 

[Fularu]

No roberta williams? (king's quest)
No Mark Crowe/Scott murphy? (Space Quest)
No Hal Barwood? (Fate of atlantis)
No Ron Gilbert? (The Secret of Monkey Island)

This list is full of fail.

 

[szaromir]

david duchovny only plays a writer on tv, and he doesnt even write videogames!

WTH?:lol

 

[Kill Your Masters]

david duchovny only plays a writer on tv, and he doesnt even write videogames!

:lol

 

[Yaweee]

No roberta williams? (king's quest)
No Mark Crowe/Scott murphy? (Space Quest)
No Hal Barwood? (Fate of atlantis)
No Ron Gilbert? (The Secret of Monkey Island)

This list is full of fail.

This list, made up of those we consider to be 20 of the top game writers working in the industry today, is by no means an exhaustive account of all the writers who have or are currently breaking ground in the field. The list is also not ranked, and only includes writers with recent, predominantly 'published or prominent in the last 12-18 months' work in the game industry - it's not meant to be an 'all-time' best list.

This should really be copied into the OP.

 

[HK-47]

This should really be copied into the OP.

Still doesnt excuse them on Ziets or Grossman!

 

[ferricide]

when it all started, we were all, of course, nominating people who hadn't written a game for 10-20 years. so we devised a limitation.

this was not just to make the process easier; it was also to make it more relevant. after all, our website is aimed at current working professionals in the industry. by recognizing people who are currently making contributions, it is a discussion of the current state of the industry.

any list is inherently debatable, even given a full understanding of the parameters. there's always an element of subjectivity and, of course, compromise. however, i think those who read our comments on any particular entry will find honest and frank discussion of why we felt the need to include any particular writer on the list.

say what you will about any particular writer's weaknesses; all of those included have major strengths as well.

 

[Yaweee]

when it all started, we were all, of course, nominating people who hadn't written a game for 10-20 years. so we devised a limitation.

this was not just to make the process easier; it was also to make it more relevant. after all, our website is aimed at current working professionals in the industry. by recognizing people who are currently making contributions, it is a discussion of the current state of the industry.

any list is inherently debatable, even given a full understanding of the parameters. there's always an element of subjectivity and, of course, compromise. however, i think those who read our comments on any particular entry will find honest and frank discussion of why we felt the need to include any particular writer on the list.

say what you will about any particular writer's weaknesses; all of those included have major strengths as well.

It's a good list that achieved its purpose well.

 

[ferricide]

Wow they left Policenauts and Snatcher off Kojima's list. But thats like his best work outside creating The Boss

oh, btw, what?

Consistently considered one of the most influential and important personalities in game design for his work on the Metal Gear Solid series, Kojima has also turned his pen to other little-known but highly-praised narrative games such as Snatcher and Policenauts.

These are games that may not have made a splash in the west, but which successfully brought mature and complicated narrative to the medium years before it was widely attempted by console developers on this side of the Pacific.

dear GAF please read our feature before shitting on it. thx =)

 

[Vinci]

The list is also not ranked, and only includes writers with recent, predominantly 'published or prominent in the last 12-18 months' work in the game industry - it's not meant to be an 'all-time' best list.

Then Tim Schafer shouldn't be on it. Psychonauts came out in 2005 and Brutal Legend hasn't been released.

 

[HK-47]

oh, btw, what?



dear GAF please read our feature before shitting on it. thx =)

Was talking about the little list at the top =P

Also GAF isnt a hivemind...

 

[Yaweee]

Then Tim Schafer shouldn't be on it. Psychonauts came out in 2005 and Brutal Legend hasn't been released.

Predominantly. Not a hard rule.

 

[StuBurns]

dear GAF please read our feature before shitting on it. thx =)

No Ueda, you're shitting on it yourself.

 

[Vinci]

Predominantly. Not a hard rule.

Then there are still some decently glaring omissions.

 

[Ifrit]

Why isn't Amy Hennig on that list?

 

[ferricide]

Then there are still some decently glaring omissions.

i think we all acknowledge that. there's no way to include everyone who deserves recognition for their work. all lists are a compromise.

 

[diss]

I was wondering what the hell a co-producer and writer for that shitty show NCIS was doing on there. I wish I still didn't know. Knowing now that he had some part in COD4 which I actually liked made me realise I must have shitty taste in games and I'm never posting my opinions on them anywhere ever again.

 

[GhaleonQ]

I can't believe that it took until the 4th page for people to recognize that this list covers 2006-2009 (though the list's still very...obvious, without being good).

I mean, I love Eric Chahi as much as anyone, but was this not apparent from the beginning?

 

[HK-47]

I can't believe that it took until the 4th page for people to recognize that this list covers 2006-2009 (though the list's still very...obvious, without being good).

I mean, I love Eric Chahi as much as anyone, but was this not apparent from the beginning?

Ok but you then are still missing Itoi, Matsuno, Ziets, Grossman, Hennig, and Tornquist.

 

[ninjarr]

needs more yuji horii

 

[Cartman86]

Kojima playing with the medium with his storytelling to me warrants him being on this list. I live him a lot more than just that but can't we agree thats at least why he's on it?

 

[HK-47]

Kojima playing with the medium with his storytelling to me warrants him being on this list. I live him a lot more than just that but can't we agree thats at least why he's on it?

Playing minor tricks and gags.