Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack has made a heart-tugging statement explaining why he’s stuck with Too Human, despite its notorious problems.
Say “Too Human” to any gamer right now and you can expect a retort tinged with a hint of cynicism. Because of the huge development time that’s spanned almost a decade, not to mention the infamous Silicon Knights vs. Epic lawsuit and Dyack’s own inflammatory statements, it can be argued that this is a game more famous for its controversy than anything else.
Dyack could have been forgiven for just scrapping the whole debacle, but he has stuck to his guns throughout, convinced in the potential that Too Human has. For those unable to fathom one man’s devotion to his creative baby, let Mr. Dyack tell you the reasoning himself, which comes after the jump:
“Growing up, when I was younger, I’ve had so many people telling me that I can’t do x or I can’t do y. When I was in grade school, I didn’t do particularly well in a couple of classes and the teachers told me I’d never grow up … and never get out of high school. I ended up becoming more educated than they did. I have three degrees. I got a Masters degree in computer science.
I think it comes down to never let anyone tell you you can’t do something. I really mean that for everyone. It is so easy to be cynical. It is so easy to be negative. And it’s so easy to say, ‘This is not going to be good’ or ‘This is going to be trash.’
And I think about Too Human and some of the rough spots we went by or just recently came through and I think about the documentary on the making of the Titanic where they’re interviewing the actors. Because if you remember the movie Titanic was completely panned by the press before coming out. It was going to be the next ‘Waterworld,’ a terrible movie. And when we were going through the tough times and before we had shown anything for Too Human we were watching that and going , ‘Wow, we kind of relate to those guys. We really believe in what we’re doing.’ You just can’t stop believing.”
That’s the spirit, Dennis! You’ve got to hold on, hold on to the dream! With Pikachu by my side, ANYTHING’s possible. Our hearts are one and our spirit is true and Team Rocket’s blasting off again!
Sarcasm aside, I kind of feel bad about all the times we’ve poked fun at the guy now (and note I used “we” to try and pass some of the blame onto everyone else). This is a guy who clearly believes in his game, and thinks it’s worth sticking by through both the easy times and the trying times. Okay, he’s done a lot of buck-passing and whining, but at least he’s not letting himself get discouraged. Fault him for many things, but you can’t fault him for that.
You can view a video of Dyack’s tearjerking performance on MTV’s Multiplayer Blog, but only if you have a US IP address, because MTV is a hive of racism.
Keep on trucking, Dennis! Keeeeep on truckin’.
