3 ms·

As far as I've been able to tell, Derek Smart and Chris Roberts have a long-standing bitter rivalry over who can make the best space game, driven by the substan

As far as I've been able to tell, Derek Smart and Chris Roberts have a long-standing bitter rivalry over who can make the best space game, driven by the substantial egos on the both of them. At present, that mostly manifests as Smart doomsaying about Star Citizen on the internet to anyone who'll listen, with claims of highly variable quality - but I believe there have been periods in the past when the roles of developer & critic were reversed.

pvg 8y ago
bitter rivalry over who can make the best space game That doesn't sound quite right. For all of SC's seemingly infinite problems, Chris Roberts has actually shipped a whole bunch of beloved classics. Derek Smart has not.
- iamtom 8y ago
  Chris Roberts' last game which he was kicked off by Microsoft, was Freelancer. He exited the video game industry shortly after to go make movies. His Ascendant Pictures venture collapsed a few years later. http://gameranx.com/updates/id/70033/article/the-chris-roberts-theory-of-everything/ http://gameranx.com/updates/id/70033/article/the-chris-rober... Derek Smart, since 1996, has developed and shipped over a dozen games. He still makes games. http://3000ad.com/games/ http://3000ad.com/games/
  - pvg 8y ago
    This is silly. Derek Smart's 'games' are barely games. Chris Roberts, again, has shipped whole bunch of acknowledged classics. Me playing air-guitar in the shower does not make me a 'bitter rival' of Jimmy Page. You could say they're rivals in who is going to turn out to be a bigger scammer and purveyor of unfulfilled promises. Roberts might end up winning that one overwhelmingly as well.
    - iamtom 8y ago
      What you're saying is what's silly and preposterous. Nothing further needs to be said.
- Pica_soO 8y ago
  Chris Roberts repeatedly over promised, feature creeped out of money and was saved by big companys like microsoft who bought his title and had other managers step in and do the final cut. Yes, i know, i know - the big evil companys are always limiting the creative freedom of the "artists", but when the artists want to party like there is no tomorrow, somebody has to put a foot down. The foot down guy definitely was never Chris. And yes, he was for quite a while out of the industry, because of the scope creep. I liked the old guard of game-designers, very much. Peter Molyneux always overpromised, and still he and his other bullfroggers delivered and they did great leaps. Something that is missing today. So i want this whole thing to succeed. But somebody has to be the bad guy here. I want the reassuring words of a bad guy saying to me that this idea or that feature will not make it, and that this is final. And that there will be no new ideas, no new features. And it stays that way. Just once.

pvg 8y ago

bitter rivalry over who can make the best space game That doesn't sound quite right. For all of SC's seemingly infinite problems, Chris Roberts has actually shipped a whole bunch of beloved classics. Derek Smart has not.

iamtom 8y ago
Chris Roberts' last game which he was kicked off by Microsoft, was Freelancer. He exited the video game industry shortly after to go make movies. His Ascendant Pictures venture collapsed a few years later. http://gameranx.com/updates/id/70033/article/the-chris-roberts-theory-of-everything/ http://gameranx.com/updates/id/70033/article/the-chris-rober... Derek Smart, since 1996, has developed and shipped over a dozen games. He still makes games. http://3000ad.com/games/ http://3000ad.com/games/
- pvg 8y ago
  This is silly. Derek Smart's 'games' are barely games. Chris Roberts, again, has shipped whole bunch of acknowledged classics. Me playing air-guitar in the shower does not make me a 'bitter rival' of Jimmy Page. You could say they're rivals in who is going to turn out to be a bigger scammer and purveyor of unfulfilled promises. Roberts might end up winning that one overwhelmingly as well.
  - iamtom 8y ago
    What you're saying is what's silly and preposterous. Nothing further needs to be said.
Pica_soO 8y ago
Chris Roberts repeatedly over promised, feature creeped out of money and was saved by big companys like microsoft who bought his title and had other managers step in and do the final cut. Yes, i know, i know - the big evil companys are always limiting the creative freedom of the "artists", but when the artists want to party like there is no tomorrow, somebody has to put a foot down. The foot down guy definitely was never Chris. And yes, he was for quite a while out of the industry, because of the scope creep. I liked the old guard of game-designers, very much. Peter Molyneux always overpromised, and still he and his other bullfroggers delivered and they did great leaps. Something that is missing today. So i want this whole thing to succeed. But somebody has to be the bad guy here. I want the reassuring words of a bad guy saying to me that this idea or that feature will not make it, and that this is final. And that there will be no new ideas, no new features. And it stays that way. Just once.