Gamasutra has a very in-depth interview with Jordan Weisman, the founder of Smith & Tinker and FASA, discussing the responsibilities of a creator when making new universes. Weisman is one of the men behind my favorite tabletop universes (Shadowrun and BattleTech), so I have a great deal of respect for what he says regarding franchises. Given that Smith & Tinker is working on some unknown project, which I pray is an MMO for either of the above universes, I read the interview over a few times, desperate for a hint of a clue about what comes next for the company. While he is deliberately vague about the company’s projects, which may or may not include ARGs, Weisman offers some advice to would-be franchise creators.
Weisman uses the example of BattleTech, which has been a vibrant franchise across many media for years now, as an example of a franchise built for expansion:
I’ve always believed that a fundamental property of good property development is the idea that you are telling your story across a wide spectrum of media, and that you’re weaving those media together in a cohesive fashion. And indeed we did that with BattleTech for 20+ years. And we will endeavor to do that in some capacity with what we’re creating here at Smith & Tinker.
I did a talk on this at DICE a couple years ago. Most people don’t practice what I call “planned parenthood.” They don’t adequately prepare for the baby they’re about to give birth to. So they make a single thing. They make a movie, they make a game, and they don’t know any more about their world and what’s in that world than what’s in the game.
Indeed, many developers concentrate so hard on creating the first successful game, no mean feat, that they rarely flesh out the other elements of that universe to better enable the creation of a, god help me, storyverse:
And often, they make another movie, as opposed to stepping back and realizing, “Okay, what we need to do is actually figure out what the hell we’ve created here. What is this universe? How does it work? What makes it tick? What are the primary sociological and economic and political engines that are moving behind the scenes, that make this a compelling story environment?
One franchise that Weisman believes fell into this trap is Eidos’ Tomb Raider, which I think most gamers would agree has been a frequently misused franchise:
But it’s amazing how many really smart, creative people don’t put that extra thought into it, and then get caught up in their own environment. I think one could argue that Tomb Raider was subject to that in the early days. They had this brilliant first game, and a fantastically fun character.
But they didn’t know really anything about her, or what her world was about, or what her motivations were. And they had to for many years write all that back into her, for it to actually create a motivation for why she’s doing what she does. You end up with stuff that gets pretty derivative, if you’re not careful.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the nebulous plans of Smith & Tinker, hit up the full interview here. As someone with a wide range of experience in many different aspects of game creation, Weisman is a man well worthy of your attention.
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