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[Morrigan Stark]

DS2 is an amazing game, but it's still the worst of the Souls series imo. It was missing the inter-connectivity and nuance of Miyazaki's direction that made levels and worlds flow together.

The inter-connectivity that we finally found again in Bloodborne? Oh wait, oops!

Ignoring discussion of LoU because that's a rabbit-hole:
I'd argue that the Souls games are very story-driven and tie it quite a bit into gameplay. Large chunks of it's story are told in environment alone. Not dialogue or item-descriptions (though they do contribute) but in the environment itself. A keen eye will pick up lots of subtle detail in the Souls games that contribute to telling backstory on either that area or an npc or boss involved in said area. I actually find the story-telling in the Souls refreshing in this sense because it doesn't just hand things to you. It expects you to be intelligent enough to see it. Ergo, it integrates seamlessly into the gameplay itself.

Sure, there's a lot of subtle things like that. But that's mostly world-building and lore. That's not at all what I mean by "story-driven". I certainly don't play the Souls games to find out what's going to happen next in the story, anyway.

 

[Fat4all]

The inter-connectivity that we finally found again in Bloodborne? Oh wait, oops!

Bloodborne was shortcut porn.

 

[Freeman]

Miyazaki shouldn't even count, he has done too much already.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Bloodborne was shortcut porn.

Yeah, I liked when I reached the end of Old Yharnam I found it looped around back to Central... oh wait no. Oh but when I explored Cainhurst and the Nightm... uh nevermind. Oh wait it's when I finally reached Hemwick and then... oh, not that one either.

The only such example is the Forbidden Woods -> Iosefka clinic shortcut. I guess it's something, and sure that was neat, but it's still not like Dark Souls at all. Most areas are dead ends. I don't have a problem with that, by the way.

 

[Ekai]

The inter-connectivity that we finally found again in Bloodborne? Oh wait, oops!


Sure, there's a lot of subtle things like that. But that's mostly world-building and lore. That's not at all what I mean by "story-driven". I certainly don't play the Souls games to find out what's going to happen next in the story, anyway.

I play the Souls games for the atmosphere, environment, world-building, story and gameplay myself. Grimdark situations that are handled maturely with a cast full of tragic and or despicable characters? Yes please. Souls does that so well. Especially since it directly says so little while doing so. I think of what happened in this place, what it used to be like, what the people are like, etc. more than anything else in the Souls games tbh. To me, there's a lot of narrative and story that is within the Souls games and it's integrated directly into the gameplay/exploration itself.

 

[dEvAnGeL]

Neil Druckmann is overrated IMO, Amy Hennig was, is and will be one of the greatest game directors of our time, cannot wait to see her star wars game, with that out of the way, i think for the future Hidetaka Miyazaki is the clear answer, the man has created the quickest cult following and no one else makes the type of games he does, is incredible how enjoyable a game that makes you feel miserable and untouchable at the same time can be

 

[pa22word]

DS2 is an amazing game, but it's still the worst of the Souls series imo. It was missing the inter-connectivity and nuance of Miyazaki's direction that made levels and worlds flow together.

Also, why the heck are we comparing the Souls games to TLOU? They do story completely different from each other. Literal apples and oranges.

That isn't really true. Dark souks 2 ended up the way it did because when push came to shove the ps3360 couldn't handle what they were designing so they took an axe to the game and cut everything that wasn't salvageable within the new framework. What's left in the final is the patchwork result of what they kept, because the choice to trash everything came so late in development that they didnt have the time nor the money to remake everything from scratch. This is why the dlc feels so much more cohesive in comparison in spite of it being made by the same team.

That all comes from the ds2 design works commentary.

 

[CelticVegas]

He has not made a game in over a decade.

EHY EHY EHY, the games he made are still better than most of the games we have today. Also The Last Guardian.

 

[Lingitiz]

EHY EHY EHY, the games he made are still better than most of the games we have today. Also The Last Guardian.

A lot can happen in 10 years. There's no guarantee the game will be any good considering the crazy long development cycle. I hope it will be great but it is far from given the game will be as good as Team Ico's past works.

 

[Reebot]

Unquestionably Miyazaki.

Lots of folk make great games, or fun games, or great stories, or great worlds.

He does all four, and in a way unique to he medium.

 

[John Rabbit]

honestly i don't feel like the industry supports this kind of name recognition anymore. hidetaka miyazaki isn't somebody you're going to hear name-dropped outside of hyper-enthusiast level communities like GAF.

kojima, miyamoto and sid meier are the last of an old guard of game developers. i suppose you could make an argument for chris roberts too.



having kamiya's name attached to something always perks my interest though.

 

[CelticVegas]

A lot can happen in 10 years. There's no guarantee the game will be any good considering the crazy long development cycle. I hope it will be great but it is far from given the game will be as good as Team Ico's past works.

No need to be pessimistic too. Let's be optimistic. The game will be stellar!

 

[Lingitiz]

No need to be pessimistic too. Let's be optimistic. The game will be stellar!

That kind of thinking is what leads to people being insanely disappointed, as I realized with MGSV this past year.

Regardless, this thread is about current up and coming creators. So it's about developers whose best work happened recently.

 

[Little Mons†er]

*cough*

Armored Core 4 OST - Someone is always moving on the surface

Gameplay

Spoiler

Had to slip the ost in aswell

Well in that case I take that back lol!

Hope your cough gets better brah! 💪

 

[Ekai]

Besides the obvious picks of Miyazaki and Druckmann, I think I'd say Taro Yoko. The guy is a genius and nobody knows it because all his best work is hidden behind three endings in all of his games.

Nier: Automata will fix that, it has to.

As for up and coming directors, I'd say we should keep our eyes on the young directors Tsubasa Sakaguchi & Yusuke Amano (Splatoon), and Toby Fox (Undertale).

I'd agree with all of the ones you listed here.
....if we add Swery.

 

[CelticVegas]

That kind of thinking is what leads to people being insanely disappointed, as I realized with MGSV this past year.

Regardless, this thread is about current up and coming creators. So it's about developers whose best work happened recently.

MGSV hype was based on the trailers, that are better than the final game. Also, i know i will not be disappointed!

But my answer is still Fumito Ueda. After The Last Guardian he will make more games and he will be popular again.

 

[Fat4all]

Yeah, I liked when I reached the end of Old Yharnam I found it looped around back to Central... oh wait no. Oh but when I explored Cainhurst and the Nightm... uh nevermind. Oh wait it's when I finally reached Hemwick and then... oh, not that one either.

Dead ends are dead ends, even DS1 had them.

If you want to downplay the fact that you could run from Yaharg'gul to Old Yharnam to the Cathedral Ward to the Forbidden Woods to Iosefka's Clinic to Central Yharnam then finally back to the Cathedral Ward, all large and impressive areas, all with their own smaller shortcuts and workarounds, all without any load screens, then so be it. Dark Souls 1 was super impressive with it's interconnectivity, but at least Bloodborne wasn't as stiffled as DS2 and it's impossible space.

In areas like Cainhurst and Nightmare Mensis, though they are separate areas, they too feature very well designed shortcuts and side areas well hidden from the average player who is unaware.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

If you want to downplay the fact that you could run from Yaharg'gul to Old Yharnam

How? You can only reach Old Yharnam via that one entrance in Central Yharnam. Yahar'gul can only be reached via the Snatcher cut scene early on, or via the area next to the Grand Cathedral.

to the Cathedral Ward to the Forbidden Woods to Iosefka's Clinic to Central Yharnam then finally back to the Cathedral Ward,

That's a long-winded way to describe the Iosefka clinic shortcut that I already mentioned, lol. Oh, I guess there's the Church Workshop thing, but that's still kind of part of Cathedral Ward.

Again don't get me wrong, I love the level designs and each level is usually pretty amazing, but there isn't that magical Miyazaki "interconnectivity" outside of that one Clinic shortcut.

 

[ZiZ]

Druckmann's games are nice, but gameplaywise they aren't that special.

I vote for Miyazaki and Sakurai.

 

[Reebot]

How? You can only reach Old Yharnam via that one entrance in Central Yharnam. Yahar'gul can only be reached via the Snatcher cut scene early on, or via the area next to the Grand Cathedral.

You can reach it through the Graveyard of the Darkbeast.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

You can reach it through the Graveyard of the Darkbeast.

Ah right, forgot about that. You can't go backwards into Yahar'gul though.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Aren't most of the guys we know by name great already? How much bigger can you get?

 

[Kastrioti]

Tsubasa Sakaguchi and Yusuke Amano, the directors of Splatoon.

Of course I want a Splatoon 2 asap but after that I want to see more new IPs from these guys.

Surprised only one person has mentioned these two from the Splatoon team (Sakaguchi specifically).

When you hear about the development of the game, how it came to be and the ridiculous success the game has had guys like Sakaguchi and Amano are the young blood Nintendo needs going forward to eventually replace guys like Miyamoto and Aonuma.

Splatoon is a bonafied international success, I just hope Nintendo lets Tsubasa and Yusuke outside of Splatoon and lets them come out with new concepts and games after the inevitable Spla2oon comes out.

The whole Splatoon team, really.

 

[Wagram]

Is still less good than the other souls...

Doesn't make it not an amazing game.

 

[wapplew]

Wait. Nobody said Fumito Ueda?

NeoGaf disappoints me.

The Last Guardian will be GotY 2016.

Edit: one person said it. Well he didn't said it enough!

Ueda already is one the greatest to me and we are talking next great here.

 

[Chris_C]

I think everyone considers druckmann top tier, my only minor pet peeve is the gameplay is a bit basic at times but everything else he's OP.

I know this has been said already, but Druckmann isn't a game director, he's a creative director. Bruce Straley is the game director on Uncharted 4 and TLOu

 

[petran79]

honestly i don't feel like the industry supports this kind of name recognition anymore. hidetaka miyazaki isn't somebody you're going to hear name-dropped outside of hyper-enthusiast level communities like GAF.

kojima, miyamoto and sid meier are the last of an old guard of game developers. i suppose you could make an argument for chris roberts too.

having kamiya's name attached to something always perks my interest though.

Frédérick Raynal as well, one of the pioneers of 3D graphics and survival horror games (and hopefully the third sequel of Little Big Adventure)

his current project is 2Dark

 

[johnnydrama]

Huge fan of Amy Hennig, Sam Lake, and Hidetaka Miyazaki. Equally excited for Dark Souls 3, Quantum Break, and Amy's Star Wars. So yeah, I'd go with those. I'd also like to bring up The Witcher 3 directors, but I'm not entirely familiar with their creative process since they had multiple directors working on the game.

As far as Duckmann goes, I think he's very good, and The Last of Us had a great story, but the game just didn't click with me. I found myself slogging through the levels and the unexciting gameplay just to get to the next story portion. I guess that's more on Straley than Druckmann, though. Still very excited for Uncharted 4.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

The one and only

 

[SolidSnakex]

Wait. Nobody said Fumito Ueda?

NeoGaf disappoints me.

The Last Guardian will be GotY 2016.

Edit: one person said it. Well he didn't said it enough!

I think people already consider him to be great. Just look at the popular picks in this thread, which seem to be Neil, Bruce, and Miyazaki

Neil

Ico was, wow... it was pretty incredible. It was fantastical but believable; all of its architecture had an internal logic to it. Actually, to be honest, it was one of those things that got me into the games industry.

Miyazaki

Several years later, he started thinking about video games again. He met up with some former college friends who suggested new titles to play. One was Ico, a mystical fairytale in which players assume the role of a boy who must lead a waif-like girl by the hand along a castle’s craggy ramparts, pursued by their ghoulish captors. “That game awoke me to the possibilities of the medium,” says Miyazaki. “I wanted to make one myself.”

Bruce

[Talking about ICO]It basically shaped my entire concept of how core mechanics are built and exploited and then switched up in a way with context to story. And how well those two things parallel each other. And then to come out with an emotional impact that made me cry. With the controller in my hand, and i'm crying, and i'm just like "A game did this". And that shaped my entire concept of design.

 

[Nestunt]

Atsushi Inaba from Platinum Games. He seems to work in the shadow of Kamiya but has a great curriculum.

 

[Zojirushi]

I know nothing about the reality of videogame development but I've always had a problem with associating the quality of a game with just one or two people from the team.

I'm sure these guys you mention in this thread have incredibly talented tech and design people having their backs.

The question alone of Which one dude makes the best games seems kinda shitty and ignorant to me to be honest.

People going crazy over Kojima is the best/worst example of this.

 

[Ratrat]

I think people already consider him to be great. Just look at the popular picks in this thread, which seem to be Neil, Bruce, and Miyazaki

Ueda looks so young compared to them.

 

[Safe Bet]

..he's far from Miyamoto status. To be fair, who isn't !

the man..

the moment..

/legend

 

[Nozem]

Since Druckmann and Miyazaki have already been mentioned, I'm gonna give a shout out to Jenova Chen, the mastermind behind Flower and Journey

Journey is easily my favorite experience of last gen. And I think he can create something just as special in his next game. And I can't wait to see it.

Great choice. I will buy everything Jenova Chen makes.


This dude also has my money, Dylan Cuthbert from Q-Games. I've enjoyed all his games. Can't wait for The Tomorrow Children. I'm also still salty PixelJunk Dungeons never got made.

Spoiler

And I think Phil Fish is a brilliant designer, please don't kill me

 

[disap.ed]

Legitimately surprised no one has raised Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, director of Witcher 3. Especially as a first foray into an open world, the game is so much more successful than it has any right to be

That is just because nobody can spell / pronounce / remember his name

 

[Ratrat]

Legitimately surprised no one has raised Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, director of Witcher 3. Especially as a first foray into an open world, the game is so much more successful than it has any right to be

1 game that did little actually new.

 

[Hypron]

That is just because nobody can spell / pronounce / remember his name

It's actually pretty simple I reckon, there's way worse out there haha

 

[JimmyRustler]

Wait. Nobody said Fumito Ueda?

NeoGaf disappoints me.

The Last Guardian will be GotY 2016.

Edit: one person said it. Well he didn't said it enough!

The thread is about the next great video game developer, not past. With his output Ueda may have 1-2 games (including TLG) to go before he retires.

 

[Turkoop]

The House brothers

But of course also Miyazaki and Druckmann

 

[Screaming Meat]

While I think Druckmann/Straley are a great combination it's not healthy for us as enthusiasts to continue perpetuating the myth of the Auteur when it comes to huge AAA games.

Auteur Theory not only takes into account the industrial process of film/games but is special because of it.

 

[yog-sothot]

Druckman and Miyazaki are two very good contenders. I d also pick a few indie or smaller developers even if they manage different budgets and teams (if any)

 

[Vital Tundra]

When I think "next great developer" I don't think someone from Naughty Dog. Neil didn't "make" their current franchises. The whole team made it what it was. When I think "next great", I think of someone that, without them, the game/franchise wouldn't be at all as good or the same. I don't think we really have that yet. I would say Miyazaki, but I want to see him do something unlike Souls games (although DkS2 suffered greatly without his hands one).

 

[sublimit]

Ueda already is one the greatest to me and we are talking next great here.

Yeah pretty much.

 

[Desi]

*cough*

Armored Core 4 OST - Someone is always moving on the surface

Gameplay

Spoiler

Had to slip the ost in aswell

But that is inferior to any AC game pre Silent Line

 

[Newtype-001]

But that is inferior to any AC game pre Silent Line

I haven't played any of the other ones but this ones great, from what ive seen its pretty polarising what people think is the best AC.

 

[SmartBase]

The cult of personality surrounding certain game directors is already insufferable, I don't think I can handle more.

 

[hesido]

I don't have a man crush for Druckmann but he's a very handsome and talented fella.

 

[sn00zer]

Since Druckmann and Miyazaki have already been mentioned, I'm gonna give a shout out to Jenova Chen, the mastermind behind Flower and Journey

Journey is easily my favorite experience of last gen. And I think he can create something just as special in his next game. And I can't wait to see it.

I like that none of his games have dialogue because his english wasnt great for a long time.

 

[Chuck]

Wow, Miyamoto hasn't directed a game since Ocarina.