There are many different dev teams around that all produce games that have the team's own distinct style. What are your favorite dev teams and why? Is it for any specific game or is it for a few or more games they have released over the years that you feel the quality has been great? What about your favorite development teams stand out to you in a way that attracts you to their games? Lastly, what is your favorite game from the dev team?
Favorite development teams
- Thread starter Sonic
- Start date
1. ICO and the ICO team lead by Fumito Ueda
The characters, the environment, the emotion and the involving gameplay are the keys.
2. Silent Hill series with Team Silent
I have re-found the series, triggered by SH3, I like the style, the art work, the great music from Yamaoka san, the characters, the story and the graphics. Everything kicks ass.
The characters, the environment, the emotion and the involving gameplay are the keys.
2. Silent Hill series with Team Silent
I have re-found the series, triggered by SH3, I like the style, the art work, the great music from Yamaoka san, the characters, the story and the graphics. Everything kicks ass.
CeiserSöze
Newcomer
1. Intelligent Systems: They don't seem to have much experience in 3D but they sure know how to make some damn fine 2D games (Advance Wars, Metroid Fusion, Super Metroid, Fire Emblem...).
2. Nintendo EAD: They've been around for 20 years now and they never ever let me down. Every game has either been very good, excellent or even groundbreaking.
3. Blizzard Entertainment: One of the few PC developers who recognize the importance of artistic design. Oh, and they make great games too
4. Retro Studios: They've only made one game so far but it happened to be the best one I played since Deus Ex.
5. Ion Storm Austin: Deus Ex. Warren Spector. Ex-Looking Glass-guys. Need I say more?
6. Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness has been one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've ever had. I'm looking forward to whatever these guys are doing besides Twin Snakes (I think they're too talented to do remakes).
7. The guys whoever did the first three Seiken Densetsu-games (they're the same who founded Brownie Brown afterwards aren't they?).
2. Nintendo EAD: They've been around for 20 years now and they never ever let me down. Every game has either been very good, excellent or even groundbreaking.
3. Blizzard Entertainment: One of the few PC developers who recognize the importance of artistic design. Oh, and they make great games too
4. Retro Studios: They've only made one game so far but it happened to be the best one I played since Deus Ex.
5. Ion Storm Austin: Deus Ex. Warren Spector. Ex-Looking Glass-guys. Need I say more?
6. Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness has been one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've ever had. I'm looking forward to whatever these guys are doing besides Twin Snakes (I think they're too talented to do remakes).
7. The guys whoever did the first three Seiken Densetsu-games (they're the same who founded Brownie Brown afterwards aren't they?).
Evil_Cloud
Veteran
Sega: Smilebit, United Game Artists, Sonic Team, AM2,... All my heroes 8) They make legendary and revolutionary games but unfortunatly not all games are appreciated by the mass market. (PDO and Shenmue 2 on 18 and 21 when they first entered the charts :/) it's a shame that games like FIFA sell more than almost any game on the market.
Nintendo: over hundred years old, and still providing new games with interesting formula's/gameplay... They know how to make a good gaming console and they have more then just Miyamoto to make good games...
Westwood studio's: I like their storylines and the balance of their games is near perfect/perfect
Shame that they are now fused with two other 'ea' studio's
That's my top 3
Nintendo: over hundred years old, and still providing new games with interesting formula's/gameplay... They know how to make a good gaming console and they have more then just Miyamoto to make good games...
Westwood studio's: I like their storylines and the balance of their games is near perfect/perfect
Shame that they are now fused with two other 'ea' studio's
That's my top 3
In no order...
Team Silent: The Silent Hill games are still the darkest, most mature & intellectual games ever produced. Brilliant stuff.
KCEJ: Kojima's team yes? MGS2 and ZoE2 both were polished examples of what the PS2 can do. Wary of MGS3 though.
UGAS: Rez is still one of my favourite games of all time, and I admire how they innovate and take risks.. however I don't expect it to last long.
BioWare: The best writers out there this side of Japan (Square). The masters of crafting an engaging linear story, while keeping open ended non-linear gameplay.
Bungie: Self explanitory, tHe Her0ez of teh Xbroxen!@~
Team Ninja: Teh 0thre h3r0z of teh Xborxoen~!@
Square: Should also be self explanitory. Hope they ditch this MMORPG silliness and get back to their roots though.
Banepresto: Super Robot Wars, 'nuff said. LOCALIZE THEM ALREADY!!!
Team Silent: The Silent Hill games are still the darkest, most mature & intellectual games ever produced. Brilliant stuff.
KCEJ: Kojima's team yes? MGS2 and ZoE2 both were polished examples of what the PS2 can do. Wary of MGS3 though.
UGAS: Rez is still one of my favourite games of all time, and I admire how they innovate and take risks.. however I don't expect it to last long.
BioWare: The best writers out there this side of Japan (Square). The masters of crafting an engaging linear story, while keeping open ended non-linear gameplay.
Bungie: Self explanitory, tHe Her0ez of teh Xbroxen!@~
Team Ninja: Teh 0thre h3r0z of teh Xborxoen~!@
Square: Should also be self explanitory. Hope they ditch this MMORPG silliness and get back to their roots though.
Banepresto: Super Robot Wars, 'nuff said. LOCALIZE THEM ALREADY!!!
I totally agree with all postings so fare and I would like to add a few of my personal favs:
Factor5: what they were able to achieve on the GC is pure magic
Treasure: Silpheed, Ikaruga ...
Polyphony Digital: Gran Turismo series
Criterion: Burn Out series
NaughtyDog: 3D engines, character design, gameplay, humor ... topnotch
Insomniac: character design, gameplay, humor ... topnotch
FromSoftware: Armored Core series
David Braben: for Zarch and Elite
Andrew Braybrook: for Paradroid and Uridium
Factor5: what they were able to achieve on the GC is pure magic
Treasure: Silpheed, Ikaruga ...
Polyphony Digital: Gran Turismo series
Criterion: Burn Out series
NaughtyDog: 3D engines, character design, gameplay, humor ... topnotch
Insomniac: character design, gameplay, humor ... topnotch
FromSoftware: Armored Core series
David Braben: for Zarch and Elite
Andrew Braybrook: for Paradroid and Uridium
Well, I´ve only described my current favorite developer, it´d be too tiring to describe every single one of them.
Konami
There is no word that can properly describe the high quality of their games, except perhaps, wow. They consistently create games with the right ammount of flash, story and gameplay combined. With that in mind, it´s no wonder that they consistently create some of the best games available. For examples just look at:
MGS - best stealth game around. The game is filled with so many little details that just makes you marvel at their work. Not to mention the game is still one of the best looking PS2 games in the market.
SH - the greatest horror game in the market. It doesn´t resort to pityfull "boo" scares, unlike RE, it truly makes you feel disturbed. It involves you into their horror world, and I love Team Silent for doing that.
WE - The best football (and yes, that´s its proper name) game in the market. I don´t need to say more.
There´s plenty of other titles worth mentioning, such as Castlevania and ZOE2.
I didn´t mention Square because they have been inconsistent and, dare I say it, lazy lately. They used to be my favorite developer, but their constant milking of the FF name (couldn´t they find another name for Tactics and CC? The value of the FF label shouldn´t be so brutally diminshed), and how lazy they´ve become at translating their games (7 months for translating each game? Give me a break, Konami and Capcom don´t take nearly as long) forced me to stop being as big of a fan as I used to be.
They just don´t make enough games anymore, and when they do, they expect the fans (in case they even know they have fans OUTSIDE Japan that :gasp: also buy their games in big quantities? Newsflash Square, the world doesn´t begin and end in Japan) to wait 7 months or more for every game. Sorry for the rant, but frankly, I´m tired of all that situation.
Konami
There is no word that can properly describe the high quality of their games, except perhaps, wow. They consistently create games with the right ammount of flash, story and gameplay combined. With that in mind, it´s no wonder that they consistently create some of the best games available. For examples just look at:
MGS - best stealth game around. The game is filled with so many little details that just makes you marvel at their work. Not to mention the game is still one of the best looking PS2 games in the market.
SH - the greatest horror game in the market. It doesn´t resort to pityfull "boo" scares, unlike RE, it truly makes you feel disturbed. It involves you into their horror world, and I love Team Silent for doing that.
WE - The best football (and yes, that´s its proper name) game in the market. I don´t need to say more.
There´s plenty of other titles worth mentioning, such as Castlevania and ZOE2.
I didn´t mention Square because they have been inconsistent and, dare I say it, lazy lately. They used to be my favorite developer, but their constant milking of the FF name (couldn´t they find another name for Tactics and CC? The value of the FF label shouldn´t be so brutally diminshed), and how lazy they´ve become at translating their games (7 months for translating each game? Give me a break, Konami and Capcom don´t take nearly as long) forced me to stop being as big of a fan as I used to be.
They just don´t make enough games anymore, and when they do, they expect the fans (in case they even know they have fans OUTSIDE Japan that :gasp: also buy their games in big quantities? Newsflash Square, the world doesn´t begin and end in Japan) to wait 7 months or more for every game. Sorry for the rant, but frankly, I´m tired of all that situation.
Almasy,
Um, ofcourse it takes them time to localize their SKUs, the games are massive compared to the PSX days! There are ALOT more lines of dialog in FF X, plus 90% of it is voice acted. IMO its a miracle they got it out for Christmas 2001 (well, I guess the cut out lip synching helps). Not only do they have to get VAs, but they also have to lip synch. That's a hell of a lot more difficult from the old days of just translating text. Like c'mon heh.
Um, ofcourse it takes them time to localize their SKUs, the games are massive compared to the PSX days! There are ALOT more lines of dialog in FF X, plus 90% of it is voice acted. IMO its a miracle they got it out for Christmas 2001 (well, I guess the cut out lip synching helps
). Not only do they have to get VAs, but they also have to lip synch. That's a hell of a lot more difficult from the old days of just translating text. Like c'mon heh.Apart from the obvious like Nintendo and Sega, I really liked Team17 back in the Amiga days, before they became the Worms spewing monster they are now (really looking forward to Worms 3D though ).
They could reinvigorate an old tired genre like nobody else. Games like Super Frog and Project X are still every bit as good now as back then. The latter IMO still the best horizontally progressive shoothemup ever.
“Select now for... MAGMA!â€
).They could reinvigorate an old tired genre like nobody else. Games like Super Frog and Project X are still every bit as good now as back then. The latter IMO still the best horizontally progressive shoothemup ever.
“Select now for... MAGMA!â€
Not to be boring, but it would be nice if we mentioned development teams instead of companies. Here is my definition of a team, some of you might want to add or subtract things.
1. Members, and especially the top people, should be roughly the same throughout the games.
2. They should be at the same physical location when they are making the game.
My favorite teams would include AM2 from 1994 to 1997. Virtua Cop 1+2, VF 2+3, Daytona and Scud Race are all incredible. And a lot of people worked on the same games, eg Nagoshi produced Scud Race but was character designer on VF3.
1. Members, and especially the top people, should be roughly the same throughout the games.
2. They should be at the same physical location when they are making the game.
My favorite teams would include AM2 from 1994 to 1997. Virtua Cop 1+2, VF 2+3, Daytona and Scud Race are all incredible. And a lot of people worked on the same games, eg Nagoshi produced Scud Race but was character designer on VF3.
zurich said:Almasy,
Um, ofcourse it takes them time to localize their SKUs, the games are massive compared to the PSX days! There are ALOT more lines of dialog in FF X, plus 90% of it is voice acted. IMO its a miracle they got it out for Christmas 2001 (well, I guess the cut out lip synching helps
Hey, I´m already aware of the explanations, but with ahead planning, S E could have easily reduced the ammount of stuff to translate. I mean, I assume that they don´t "bother" with other markets until they finished their game in Japanese (I mean, why else would they take 7 freaking months, if we are lucky, to translate a single game?).
Why not try translating their game at the same time as they are developing it? I mean, it must not be a headache to figure out which ones will be released outside Japan (I mean what will be released outside Japan? Hanyuku Hero or whatever its called...or Star Ocean 3? Yeah, I know it´s a tough one to figure out
).That could easily reduce the ammount of time S E spends translating their games. That is, if to S E their fanbase outside Japan isn´t an "afterthought". :?
Which ever team from AM2, that created Arcade VF2. like the game more than other in the series, due to some programming bugs that are in the game, I'll give them credit just for that
Which ever team from EAD/Nintendo, that created Famicom SMB2 (lost levels in the remake to most people) and Punch Out. Can't beat the good old days of playing those games.
Which ever team from Lucas, that created X-Wing and its expansion packs. I dumped WC, after I got a chance to play it once.
Which ever team from EAD/Nintendo, that created Famicom SMB2 (lost levels in the remake to most people) and Punch Out. Can't beat the good old days of playing those games.
Which ever team from Lucas, that created X-Wing and its expansion packs. I dumped WC, after I got a chance to play it once.
CeiserSöze
Newcomer
Nupraptor said:Let's not forget Blood Omen, as well.
Of course
Blood Omen was very good (especially in the story department) albeit a little uneven in some places. I think it could have benfited from a little more polishing. It was still far better than any of the following "dumbed down for the masses"-efforts from Crystal Dynamics though.
