Critical Path, more than an archive of interviews with your favorite devs

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:30:00 EST

Critical Path is, for now, a series of individual documentaries with influential game developers, allowing them to speak freely about the industry and what the future of gaming may come to be. For now, the interviews are candid, short and sweet, but documentary filmmaker David Grabias has plans to turn this project into much more than an online interview storage space.

"We have a few goals," Grabias tells Joystiq. "We want to provide a documentary-based venue for critical discussion about the art of making video games. We hope to provide developers with a place where they can come for nuggets of inspiration. We also want to provide players with insight into their game experience, and hopefully make them aware of the great minds behind the great games. Finally, we feel we are in a fascinating era in game development. We want to document it for future generations."

Critical Path currently offers 121 video clips, 30-120 seconds each, distilled from more than 30 hours of interviews with developers such as Cliff Bleszinski, Sid Meier, Ken Levine, Jordan Mechner, Chris Hecker, Peter Molyneux, Will Wright and Hideo Kojima. There are "a ton more videos in the pipeline," Grabias says, but Artifact is waiting to see how people handle the current offering and will take feedback about other subjects and developers fans are interested in.

Critical Path has a few more "transmedia" stages under development, including a feature-length television documentary about the art and anatomy of games, and a mobile app that will go live "hopefully sooner rather than later," Grabias says.

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Critical Path, more than an archive of interviews with your favorite devs originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Critical Path' trailer is loaded with games industry talent

Mike Suszek — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:30:00 EST

A trailer for Critical Path, a "transmedia project exploring the art, philosophy, politics and psychology of video games" recently surfaced. The trailer, created by a Los Angeles-based studio named Artifact, shows dozens of game designers talking about their craft and the place games take in the history of expressive media. The project aims to "give game designers their due as innovators and influencers of culture."

Critical Path is described as the culmination of "two years of filming and archiving" interviews, according to Artifact's site. "User feedback will influence future interviews, which will be added to the archive on an ongoing basis."

Among the 37 names listed at the end of the trailer are Warren Spector, Jenova Chen, John Carmack, David Cage, Cliff Bleszinski, Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, Tim Schafer and Hideo Kojima. You can watch the trailer here.

'Critical Path' trailer is loaded with games industry talent originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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