Former IGDA chairman frustrated at direction of games today

In an upcoming interview later today, developer and former IGDA chairman Graeme Devine said he is frustrated with the "metrics and monetization strategies" that companies are using in games today. He also hinted at a new adventure game to break that mold.

Devine, who is head of GRL Games and has worked on such classics as 7th Guest, Quake III Arena and Halo Wars, told Shacknews that developers are making games that only worry about how they are going to get the next microtransaction from a player. "Games are about being generous with fun, and too many designers are now focused on not being generous with the fun," he said. "Games are not black boxes you AB test into profit. They are wild imaginative gambles. That's how we got the genres we have today, by making those gambles, and not enough people are being inventive enough these days."

Devine also said he is working on a new adventure game, something that tries to et away from the existing RTS, RPG and FPS genres. "I want to make an adventure game that crosses media … that lives in books, comics, albums, as well as a 'classic' game," he said, "and I want to make it seem real, so the player is the hero. Adventure games now make some character you play to be the hero, yet the old text adventure games it was all about you. I want to make it all about you again."

Be sure to check out the full interview with Devine.