Dyack on '10 years of Too Human' misconception

by Xav de Matos on Aug 25th 2008 10:00AM

In an exclusive studio tour and interview with X3F, Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack discussed his frustration regarding the common misconception that Too Human has been in development for over a decade.

"I cannot dispel that rumor enough," Dyack told X3F. "That is a bad way to talk about Too Human because that is factually incorrect."

Too Human is commonly noted as being in development since it was first showcased as a PlayStation title in 1999 but, according to Dyack, production on the game did not begin until sometime after Silicon Knights shipped Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes for the Nintendo GameCube. "People think, 'Oh the game has been in development for 18 years plus...' it isn't possible," Dyack told X3F.

Stay tuned at noon for a full studio tour video and image gallery with Denis Dyack.

Tags: denis-dyack, silicon-knights, too-human

Reader Comments (42)

My God, Silicon Knights is really laying on the spin control this past few days.

Do you think Denis is calling up the press to give out quotes? No, people keep seeking him for quotes via intervies and they post them. It's as simple as that. This quote is from an interview that X3F solicited of Denis, probably since Xav is Canadian (sorry I didn't say Canadien Xav) and has some local access to SK.

the dude can simply say "no comment" and save himself possible embarassment.

He's a freakin PR nightmare. MS needs to give him a few PR lessons about how to shut the hell up, since I'm sure his own PR department would never dare tell him so.

2 years.....5 years... 10years ....either way the game F-in ROCKS. Give it a chance people.

I'm having fun with it too! Loot drops FTW!

I agree completely.

Weren't there playable demos of the PS1 version at an E3? I'm not sure I believe him...I mean, the game was said to be a four disc PS1 game, why would anyone say that if production hadn't begun?

"Weren't there playable demos of the PS1 version at an E3?"

No. There weren't.

Um...Actually there was...

http://psx.ign.com/articles/131/131627p1.html

Um, 2008 minus 1999 does not equal 18. If he can't even get the basics of math right, how can we really trust him?

Facetious

Pronunciation:
\fə-ˈsē-shəs\
Function:
adjective

1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish 2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious

Oops, wasn't done.
He was obviously exaggerating to bring out how dumb people are who bash the game thinking it should be the best game ever since they think it was being made for so long.
Might want your sarcasm meter checked, I think it's broken

What are you guys talking about? Too Human has been in development for 87 years.

If a game was first "shown" in 1999 that would imply there was some development time before that.

There is such a thing as exaggeration as well.

I can't believe how hard people rip on this guy and his company. You don't like the game, you don't like him, whatever it is: WE GET IT.

Did they kill your dog or something?

it's not that the game is bad or anything. it's just that the guy has been doing some ridiculous damage control for his game.

true it's been given unjust reviews, but he's caused more harm than good by tangling with neogaf. a game forum. i mean, do you really need to stoop that low to defend your game?

now he's putting out flames of development time? sheesh, i say give it a rest guy. your game is doing pretty well without AAA reviews.

The game is awesome critics need to stop making ridiculous comparisons Devil May Cry & Ninja Gaiden. It's a dungeon crawler like Diablo once you realize that this game is fucking fabulous!

Fact is the game has been in development since 1999. It may have not been in development continuously, but they certainly didnt start over after Metal Gear Solid.

So you're saying that they took all the work from the PS1 game and did nothing to change that except switch it to a new platform? I won't even go into why you sound like a complete fool or why what you say is completely ridiculous and impossible to do.

The PS1 game was canceled. It was dead. That wasn't too human. Too human development started after Twin snakes. Fact.

Games are rebuilt for newer platforms all the time. Fact. Even SK's own Eternal Darkness started out as an N64 game before being moved to Gamecube. Fact.

love this game... kinda glitchy in some areas but overall a fantastic game. great job!

Hehe, Too Human is the new Space Giraffe. lulz.

Dyack needs to just let the game speak for itself. The more he talks the more he comes off as a nutjob.

i agree.

the concept has been floating around for 10 years. different versions were made. but this version took about 3 years to make. it just took a while for it to get there.

http://psx.ign.com/articles/131/131627p1.html

Four discs, playable demo...May 2000. Now, it's a completely different sounding game. So perhaps the version we are playing NOW wasn't started until after Twin Snakes, but Too Human WAS being worked on and playable as early as eight years ago.

I sorta wish the version in that preview was made, it's story sounds cooler to me...

You can't say its been in development that long just because it had a playable PS1 demo at E3.

this version of Too Human did not evolve from the PS1 game. It started after twin snakes. THE ONLY thing that has been on the board for 10 years is the idea and the concept of too human.

You're only kidding yourself if you honestly think it was in development for 10 years.

Nutman, whether we're talking about the game concept or the code itself, Too Human has been in development since 1998 or 1999. That's irrefutable. It may have changed, evolved and switched platforms/engines in that time, but Too Human has been around that long.

First of all, Nutman, I did say that perhaps the version of Too Human we are playing began life after Twin Snakes. Reading comprehension, FTW!

Secondly, "You can't say its been in development that long just because it had a playable PS1 demo at E3." Yes, yes I can. You see, the word PLAYABLE implies that SOMEONE worked on code for a game called Too Human last decade. If Dyack didn't intend for this to be the same game, why is it called by the same name?

You know, TH can actually be really fun, but the camera and target lock-on...good god. I'm sorry, but they are inexcusable, especially when Denis has been touting the amazingness of his creation. How can you overlook something as basic as the camera or auto targeting system? Why would the game think I'd want to target an empty wall when I'm surrounded on every other side by enemies?

I wanted to love the game, so that damn camera/lock-on was just a huge disappointment.

If It wasn't in development for 10 years, maybe they shouldn't have mentioned THAT in the first place.

I can't speak about the game since I haven't played it, but does anyone else wish this guy would just shut up? Who cares what people think dude. Just be proud of your game.

Well it certainly plays like a game from the late '90s. The only thing next gen about it is the texture work.

For the record, I have already completed the game. I have found it a horribly broken experience, and no matter how long the gestation period, some of those issues are bad game design.

Horribly broken? So you wasted over 10 hours of your life on a horribly broken experience?

cut the guy a break, many reviewers actually play through broken games to, y'know, get their review out.

I think having spent $60 on a game I have been waiting for pretty much since Eternal Darkness, I owed it more than just a quick two hours of play before slating it on the internet.

Not to mention that it's supposedly a very story-heavy game. You can hardly judge a story on the opening cinematic.

FYI...the game has been in development for more than 10 years. I went to an initial in-house viewing of the game at their headquarters in St. Catharines in 1999. A lot has gone on since then with that company...the big reason the game got scrapped or stopped development was that they signed on to be a Nintendo only developer. That halted the game as it was being made for PS1. Denis Dyack has to stop taking these comments as a negative. Ya so what if the game has taken a while to come out. It's a done deal and the game is good. Enjoy the good press and be truthful when your asked these questions.

The game is awesome. This guy does need to let it speak for itself. I have beaten the game and on my way to leveling all the way up. It was a great experience and I loved the story. I can forgive the camera because I wouldn't want to attack enemies any other way, besides the right stick.

Where is Dyack on the 'Too Human is a good game and doesn't need a free camera' misconception?

I don't really care about the guy, i just want the game to be good

Silicon Knights isn't a huge company like EA or Ubisoft anyway so who cares how long it took to make. It's increasingly rare to have a game of this calibre being made by an independent studio.

The issue with the game is that, at it's core, it's a great game, I finished it, and had fun, but it's a mine field of bad gameplay decisions. It's a good game in spite of itself.

I feel like the design of the game didn't succeed in making me like the game, it failed in making me hate it, and it did try.

If not for the fact that I watched the list of testers scroll by at the end, I would have doubted that entire areas of the game were play-tested at all

But, at its core, the game that is wrapped up in the shit design, is great, and that is what continues to shine through and cause people like me to play for a weekend straight and bitch about the game the whole time, but keep playing.

I think I was more upset at the design of the game because I enjoyed the parts that weren't broken, and had it been completely bad or not fun, I could have just stopped playing.

Who cares how long it took to develop a dull game? If I ever play a game for "loot drops" someone shoot me.

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Dyack on '10 years of Too Human' misconception

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