It’s hard to imagine a more prestigious PC gaming university than Maxis in 2008. When an industry fresher named Alex Hutchinson joined the Spore team, he was introduced to Civilization IV designer Soren Johnson, SpyParty creator Chris Hecker, and producer extraordinaire Lucy Bradshaw—who Fortune would later name one of the ten most powerful women in gaming. Presiding over it all was SimCity genius and walking TED talk Will Wright.
“It was a very big learning curve, working with some of the smartest people I’ve even seen,” Hutchinson recalls. “There were all these luminaries from the business, which for a 20-something Australian was pretty exciting.”
As it turned out, Maxis was a better environment for learning than for building games. Despite its acquisition by EA, the success of The Sims insulated it from influence that might have given it tighter structure and goals.
“There were endless fascinating discussions with people about the role of videogames and the purpose of mechanics,” Hutchinson says. “I was exposed to all kinds of new ways to think about games. The downside was that getting through those debates was time-consuming and exhausting— everyone had strong opinions, and a forceful idea of where Spore should go and how it should be.”
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Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.
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