Warren Spector Quotes

Powerful Warren Spector for Daily Growth

About Warren Spector

Warren Spector, an American video game designer and producer, was born on June 18, 1965, in New York City. He is renowned for his significant contributions to the interactive entertainment industry, particularly in the realm of narrative-driven games. Spector's passion for storytelling and gaming was ignited at an early age. Growing up in the 70s, he spent countless hours playing text-based adventure games like Adventureland, Colossal Cave Adventure, and Zork, which fueled his interest in creating immersive, interactive worlds. In 1989, Spector joined Origin Systems where he worked on Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny and Ultima VI: The False Prophet. However, it was his next role that truly catapulted him to fame. In 1994, he joined Ion Storm Austin as the Creative Director, where he conceived and directed the groundbreaking game, System Shock (1994), a first-person science fiction role-playing video game that blended action, adventure, and RPG elements with immersive storytelling. Spector's magnum opus, however, is Deus Ex (2000), a critically acclaimed game that combined first-person shooter gameplay with a complex narrative involving cybernetics, conspiracy theories, and moral choices. The game was praised for its immersive world, non-linear storytelling, and player freedom. In 2015, Spector returned to the gaming industry after a brief hiatus, joining Junction Point Studios as Creative Director. Although the studio closed in 2013, Spector's influence on the gaming industry continues to be profound. His work has inspired numerous game designers and remains a benchmark for narrative-driven games.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"In games, as in life, you're going to have a thousand different opportunities to make choices, and they'll all lead somewhere."

This quote by Warren Spector emphasizes the freedom and complexity inherent in both video games and real life. It suggests that throughout our experiences, whether in games or in reality, we will be presented with numerous opportunities to make choices, each leading us down a different path. These choices have consequences, shaping our journey and the outcomes we encounter. This quote encourages exploration, thoughtfulness, and understanding that our decisions matter, underscoring the interplay between agency, decision-making, and narrative in gaming and life alike.

"The game is there to help the player tell the story, not to force the player to live our vision of the story."

This quote by Warren Spector emphasizes the importance of allowing players to actively engage in shaping their own narratives within a video game rather than being passively guided by predetermined storylines set by the developers. By creating games that accommodate player choices, developers empower the audience to explore, make decisions, and experience the story in a way that resonates personally with them. This approach encourages emotional investment, fostering a more immersive and meaningful gaming experience.

"Good game design is about making choices that feel like choices to players."

This quote emphasizes the importance of empowering players in video games, providing them with choices that genuinely seem impactful rather than illusionary. Good game design should strive to offer a sense of agency, where the player's decisions matter and create an immersive experience. It encourages developers to craft interactive narratives where choices drive the story forward, making players feel invested in their role as protagonists and contributing to overall satisfaction with the gaming experience.

"Storytelling in games is fundamentally different from storytelling in any other medium because a game is interactive."

This quote by Warren Spector emphasizes that storytelling in video games is unique compared to traditional media due to interactivity. Unlike books, movies, or theater where the audience passively consumes content, games allow players to actively participate, influencing events and shaping their own narrative journey. This interactivity creates a dynamic, personalized experience that adapts based on player choices and actions, thus making the storytelling process in games fundamentally distinct.

"Everything a player sees, hears, or interacts with in a game world has been designed by someone."

This quote highlights the importance of design in video games, emphasizing that every aspect of the virtual world is intentionally crafted by the developers. From the visuals, sounds, to interactive elements, all contribute to shaping the player's experience within the game. It underscores the role of the designer in creating immersive and engaging environments for players to explore.

I want my little corner of the world where I get to make games where you're not trying to win or lose; you're not trying to get a higher score - you are having unbelievable amounts of fun as you learn about yourself and the world. That's what games can do!

- Warren Spector

World, Score, About, Win Or Lose

Whether it's as the hero of an adventure story, as teacher and friend, as icon on watch, shirt or hat - everyone knows Mickey Mouse.

- Warren Spector

Hero, Icon, Everyone, Mickey

Kids, adults, men, women, everybody has a relationship with Mickey Mouse.

- Warren Spector

Men, Mouse, Everybody, Mickey

In cartoons, in movies, time passes differently. There are flashbacks and flashfowards.

- Warren Spector

Movies, Differently, Passes, Cartoons

The Disney archives, it's 84 years of history. The one way in which I feel I'm a kindred spirit with Walt Disney is that neither one of us ever throws anything away. He never threw anything away.

- Warren Spector

Feel, Away, Years, Archives

I've got a PowerPoint deck that I use for internal presentations, and there's a slide on it that asks, 'What percentage of your game is combat versus exploration versus puzzle solving versus platforming,' and I refuse to answer that question.

- Warren Spector

Game, Exploration, Internal, Percentage

I make M-rated games for adults, you know, with guys wearing sunglasses at night and trench coats.

- Warren Spector

Sunglasses, Night, Wearing, Trench

My first encounter with video games was pretty conventional. I was travelling with my parents - we used to take long cross country trips in the United States every summer - and we went into a restaurant where there happened to be a Pong machine, and I was... a lot of quarters went into that Pong machine, let's just say.

- Warren Spector

Country, United, Video, Cross Country

For most developers, that kind of situation - a player figuring out how to do something that the designer didn't intend - to most developers, that's a bug. For me, that's a celebration.

- Warren Spector

Kind, Developers, Designer, Intend

The reason our games generate so much revenue is because we're stupid enough to charge $60 for a box or $50 for a download or something. You need used games because most people can't afford those prices.

- Warren Spector

Stupid, Reason, Box, Generate

I have no interest in guys who wear armor and swing big swords.

- Warren Spector

Swing, Big, Armor, Swords

If we're going to reach a broader audience, we have to stop thinking about that audience strictly in terms of teenage boys or even teenage girls. We need to think about things that are relevant to normal humans and not just the geeks we used to be.

- Warren Spector

Reach, About, Teenage, Strictly

I started playing video games, and in 1978 I discovered Dungeons & Dragons and started game-mastering and writing my own adventures and creating my own worlds.

- Warren Spector

My Own, Discovered, Worlds, Dragons

The Wii U is pretty cool, and the thing that I'm most intrigued about it is it's the first gaming platform that actually is exploiting the second screen.

- Warren Spector

Cool, Gaming, Pretty, Intrigued

Once we can do Pixar-quality graphics rendered in real time with interactivity, I could see games costing $200 million to make, and all of a sudden you have to sell a lot of games just to break even, so I'm a little worried someone's going to do that.

- Warren Spector

Real Time, Graphics, Lot, Costing

I've got friends who are literally working alone on indie games that have no prospect of profit or commercial success. I've got guys working on iPhone games.

- Warren Spector

Commercial, Indie, Literally, Profit

The transition from the original Xbox to the Wii wasn't a big deal for my team. The business hadn't changed fundamentally.

- Warren Spector

Big, Original, Deal, Xbox

Dude, I turn into a six-year-old when I come to Disneyland. It's amazing. My eyes glass over and my blood pressure goes down. I'm just like everybody else. I turn into a big kid when I come here. It's the happiest place on earth, right?

- Warren Spector

Big, Here, Everybody, Dude

Oswald is an interesting character. Disney lost the rights to him in 1928 to Universal, who was distributing the cartoons and basically handed him over to Walter Lantz.

- Warren Spector

Interesting, Over, Handed, Oswald

If anything, game development is even more of a team effort than making a movie, so for individuals to get credit for making a game is absolutely insane.

- Warren Spector

Game, Development, Making, Team Effort

I remember on Deus Ex there was one programmer - Alex Durand, a guy who still works for us - he decided he was going to get through the game without ever using a weapon. I would never think to do that. And that's fine.

- Warren Spector

Game, I Remember, Through, Alex

Whatever adults don't understand, because they didn't grow up with it, is the thing they're going to be afraid of and try to legislate out of existence. It happened with videogames, it happened with television, it happened with pinball parlours and rock and roll.

- Warren Spector

Rock And Roll, Existence, Pinball

The reality, for me at least, is that the finest recreation of a paper game, played on computer, pales in comparison with the actual, face-to-face experience.

- Warren Spector

Game, Comparison, Actual, Face-To-Face

Ideas are nothing. They're irrelevant. If you think your idea is so important, you're doomed. The reality is if you don't like one idea, I've got 299 more. If I tell you my idea, and you can execute better against that idea than I can - great; I get to play a terrific game.

- Warren Spector

Game, Play, Irrelevant, Doomed

I was an independent developer and started Junction Point in January of 2005.

- Warren Spector

Independent, Junction, January

On the small scale, 'Ico,' I think, actually delivered a small new thing: holding a character's hand and really feeling like your job is to rescue this person, and establishing a personal connection.

- Warren Spector

Small, I Think, Establishing, Rescue

I like Disney stuff. No-one looks at 'Toy Story' and says,' Oh, that's just for kids.' Why is it that games can only appeal to a certain audience, but movies and books - I mean, how many adults read 'Harry Potter?'

- Warren Spector

Movies, Why, Harry, Potter

Let me tell you, writing comics is as hard as anything I've ever done - for me, at least. I'm now officially in awe of guys who can crank out multiple books a month and maintain a high level of quality. Comics are completely different than any other medium I've dabbled in.

- Warren Spector

Tell, Other, Maintain, Crank

My greatest joy is seeing parents and kids playing Disney 'Epic Mickey' together, handing the controllers back and forth, helping each other out.

- Warren Spector

Back, Other, Helping, Handing

I was amazed at how the life of a freelancer differed from running a remote studio for another company. I thought I knew what I was doing in 2004 when I left Eidos because I had run Ion Storm Austin, which was my own independent studio. I had run a business unit inside Origin, but being part of a startup is crazy.

- Warren Spector

Thought, Doing, Studio, Startup

I don't care much about hardware. Nintendo games are some of the best games in the world, and from a more graphical standpoint, the Wii can't do what a PS3 or 360 can do.

- Warren Spector

More, Some, Nintendo, Standpoint

From a gameplay standpoint, I've said for years that hero, fiction, and tone have nothing to do with the idea that choices have consequences. And that's really what I'm interested in. I care about you showing how clever and creative you are.

- Warren Spector

Tone, Fiction, Idea, Standpoint

Hey, if we didn't overcharge for our product - guess what - people wouldn't have to buy used games.

- Warren Spector

Product, Buy, Guess, Hey

Seriously, I don't know if people would really tell you this. But in my dream world, the people who work for you would say, 'Wow, I didn't know I could do that until I started working with that guy.'

- Warren Spector

World, Tell, Guy, Wow

Third-person camera is way harder than I even imagined it could be. It is the hardest problem in video game development. Everybody gets it wrong. It's just a question of how close to right do you get it.

- Warren Spector

Game, Everybody, Imagined, Video Game

Before I got into electronic games, I was making table-top games.

- Warren Spector

Games, Making, Before, Electronic

In the electronic game world, I know I have a reputation for doing the cyberpunk thing, and for doing the serious epic fantasy thing, but if you go back to when I was a kid, I've been a Disney fan all my life.

- Warren Spector

Game, My Life, Doing, Electronic

Everyone at Junction Point has been inspired by the creative folks at Pixar and Disney Feature Animation to make 'entertainment for everyone.'

- Warren Spector

Everyone, Been, Junction, Animation

I used to teach animation history classes at the University of Texas, and I wrote my master's thesis on cartoons. I just love cartoons.

- Warren Spector

Love, Teach, University, Animation

I was lucky enough to go to an all-boys prep school in upstate New York that had a film program, so we had access to 16mm Bolex cameras, Nagra sound recorders, Arriflex cameras. We even had an Oxberry animation stand!

- Warren Spector

Lucky, Sound, Access, Animation

Used games allow more people, specifically younger people, to become game fans because of the lower price point.

- Warren Spector

Game, Allow, More People, Younger People

$200, 300 million games, I'm a little scared about that; there aren't a lot of companies that have the resources or the courage to spend that much.

- Warren Spector

Courage, Resources, About, Scared

The fact is most computer roleplaying games that offer a zillion highly specialized skills end up with nine-tenths of a zillion skills that every player quickly realizes aren't worth the experience points to buy.

- Warren Spector

Fact, Quickly, Specialized, Highly

I've always said - I've been making games for twenty years, and from the first day I got in this business, I've been saying, 'All I have to do is sell one more copy than I have to, to get somebody to fund my next one.'

- Warren Spector

Next, Been, Got, Twenty

I would love to take 'Ultimata Underworld' and literally update the graphics.

- Warren Spector

Love, Take, Would, Underworld

I gotta do what I think is right, and if enough people like it, I'm a winner. And if they don't, I'll open a bookstore.

- Warren Spector

Think, Like, I Think, Enough People

I'm a huge fan of e-books, but the more I buy and download, the more I worry that someone could just take them all away from me.

- Warren Spector

Worry, More, Away, Download

Unfortunately, the rights to 'System Shock' trademark and copyright are both up in the air.

- Warren Spector

Rights, System, Copyright, Trademark

We're not going to do a Facebook game aimed at 35-year old women about farming.

- Warren Spector

Game, Old, Going, Old Women

I've done a pretty good job of hitting 18-34-year-old males, and not such a good job of reaching kids. Disney has done a great job of reaching kids, but maybe not the 18-34-year-olds. I figure I can learn a lot from Disney, and maybe, I don't know, they can learn a lot from me.

- Warren Spector

Maybe, Reaching, Hitting, Males

I think the power of the platforms is outstripping the size of the audience. We can't charge $150 for a game. And when the best-selling game of all time has sold only 20 million copies at $60, do the math!

- Warren Spector

Think, Audience, Sold, Platforms

Gamers both demand and deserve novelty. They need something new. As a game developer, one of my rules is there will be at least one thing in every game that I worked on that no one on the planet has seen before.

- Warren Spector

Game, Novelty, Before, At Least One

Ray Harryhausen's 'Sinbad' picture was the first film I remember seeing. I was two years old when it came out, and it changed my life forever. I had nightmares about dragons and stuff for years - and loved it!

- Warren Spector

My Life, I Remember, About, Dragons

People perceive games as being for kids, and I think that perception is going to change. Time is going to take care of that. I mean, we've already won. Games have won; it's inevitable.

- Warren Spector

Think, Inevitable, I Think, Perception

The concept of emergent gameplay is really exciting. That's when players are really crafting their own experience. So if you're clever and creative, you can do things that even developers of the game didn't know were possible.

- Warren Spector

Game, Developers, Concept, Crafting

As far as the timing, well, I'd write that off to luck as much as anything - I happened to be out looking for a development deal, and Disney happened to think my team and I might be the right people to make a Mickey Mouse game.

- Warren Spector

Luck, Game, Deal, Right People

The basic idea for what became 'Epic Mickey' began at the Disney Think Tank.

- Warren Spector

Think, Began, Became, Disney

I said to myself as Junction Point embarked on the Epic Mickey journey that, worst case, we'd be 'a footnote in Disney history.' Looking back on it, I think we did far better than that.

- Warren Spector

Think, I Think, Junction, Disney

The only thing I insist that everybody do is there has to be a basketball court in every game I do, and - with one exception, I let them get away with it once - you can actually shoot a ball through the basket in every game I've made.

- Warren Spector

Exception, Through, Basket, Shoot

The 'DuckTales' ensemble is clearly critical. There's the core set of characters - Scrooge, Webby, Launchpad, Huey, Dewey and Louie... Plus there's Gyro and Duckworth and Mrs. Beakley and so on. The cast is huge.

- Warren Spector

Ensemble, Critical, Set, Plus

In papergaming, players can look at a character sheet of their own creation and see all of their skills, right there, in black and white.

- Warren Spector

Black, Own, Players, Creation

I'm a Nintendo geek, so I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan.

- Warren Spector

Big, Pretty, Fan, Geek

I have never been assigned a game, I have never made a game I didn't want to make. I've never done anything just to make somebody some money.

- Warren Spector

Game, Some, Been, Assigned

I wrote my master's thesis on cartoons!

- Warren Spector

Master, Cartoons, Wrote, Thesis

My wife, Caroline Spector, and I pitched some comic ideas to various publishers back in the '80s, but nothing ever came of it.

- Warren Spector

Wife, Nothing, Some, Spector

We set up a situation and let you interact with it and see the consequences of your choice. That's what gaming does.

- Warren Spector

Gaming, See, Set, Situation

The only morality I'm interested in is the morality between your ears, between each player's ears, because that's the interesting thing to me.

- Warren Spector

Interesting, Your, Each, Player

I have been the last space marine between earth and an alien invasion. I really just don't need to go there anymore.

- Warren Spector

Need, Been, Last, Marine

I'm a big believer in pushing things too far and forcing people to pull you back.

- Warren Spector

People, Big, Back, Forcing

Anyone who says they want to make a game that becomes a cult classic is kinda screwy, right? I mean, you want to reach the largest audience you can.

- Warren Spector

Game, Audience, Largest, Cult

I've loved cartoons all along. Most people outgrow that when they hit 10 or 12, I guess, but I never did. I'm not sure why.

- Warren Spector

People, Why, Sure, Outgrow

I do not believe in the concept of good and evil in my personal life, in the real world. I just don't believe it. I never try to judge.

- Warren Spector

Believe, Personal, Concept, Evil

I've made plenty of violent games in my life. I play violent games. They don't affect people in the way that a lot of people think they do. They just don't. It's demonstrably true that they don't, and anybody who thinks they do is just not thinking.

- Warren Spector

My Life, Play, Violent, Thinks

I have got no problem with used games. I've bought plenty of used games.

- Warren Spector

Problem, Games, Bought, No Problem

I kind of get a next-gen game machine, but competing for the home entertainment business? We'll see how that goes.

- Warren Spector

Business, Game, Competing, Machine

Honestly, there have been some pretty good Marvel games, but I don't think there's ever been a great one.

- Warren Spector

Think, Some, Been, Pretty Good

I have never made a game that wasn't explicitly about empowering players to tell their own story.

- Warren Spector

Game, Made, Players, Explicitly

Gamers are everywhere, coming in all ages and genders, and developers have grown up, too.

- Warren Spector

Developers, Too, Ages, Everywhere

I don't want to make games for 12-year-olds. I have no interest in that. I haven't been 12 in a long time.

- Warren Spector

Long, Want, Been, No Interest

The Junction Point journey is over. To all those who've asked, or want to ask, I'm sad but excited for the future.

- Warren Spector

Journey, Excited, Over, Junction

I don't even make multiplayer games much, so dealing with multiple characters is something new for me - or, rather, something I've had to recall from my days as a roleplaying adventure designer where the party was everything!

- Warren Spector

Rather, Had, Characters, Recall

It's about players making choices as they play, and then dealing with the consequences of those choices. It's about you telling your story, not me telling mine. It's about you.

- Warren Spector

Play, Telling, Mine, Consequences

I want content that is relevant to my life, that is relevant to me, that is set in the real world.

- Warren Spector

My Life, Want, Set, The Real World

I think plenty of games - from 'Thief' to 'Zelda' - have shown that sneaking around can be fun.

- Warren Spector

Think, Thief, I Think, Shown

Here's the thing: I left Ion Storm and Eidos in the spring of 2004 frankly because I felt out of place at that company.

- Warren Spector

Storm, Here, Felt, Frankly

For me, the cool thing is doing things that could only be done in gaming.

- Warren Spector

Cool, Doing, Could, Gaming

When you're dealing with a new platform, the real trick is just getting the game running.

- Warren Spector

New, Running, Getting, Platform

I think there's always room for more innovation and new things.

- Warren Spector

Innovation, Think, Always, Room

Finney is about the best writer of time travel stories ever, and I adore time travel stories - have to make a time travel game someday!

- Warren Spector

Game, Stories, About, Someday

I often get painted as the guy who's trying to tell other people what to make and what to like, and that's really not my goal, but I believe so passionately that games can be more than a lot of people think they can.

- Warren Spector

Tell, Other, Painted, Games

We live in a world of virtual goods where none of us own the 0s and 1s. What are you going to do?

- Warren Spector

Own, Going, Goods, Virtual

I conceived the original 'Deus Ex' and was the project director on the game.

- Warren Spector

Game, Director, Original, Project

The heart of the gameplay is still about choice and consequence, which is what I've been doing since the '80s.

- Warren Spector

Been, Still, Which, Consequence

The more people who game, the better for everyone.

- Warren Spector

Game, Better, Everyone, More People

I will not support any game that doesn't express what I think is worthwhile.

- Warren Spector

Game, Think, I Think, Express

Every game has to teach you how to walk, run, talk, use.

- Warren Spector

Game, How, Use, Teach

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