Interview with Harvey Smith for 2012

Original translation


Dishonored is a great game. Even incredible - at least in some places. We had a lot of words that we think about her and the chances that the future will bring us much more. But let's leave it for the next time. Today, we bypass the design of Victor Antonov, focusing on one of the key minds behind the power of whale wonders, Harvey Smith. From System Shock to the original Deus Ex, to the ill-fated reloading of Area 51 to a canceled real-time strategy, and even a short stay in mobile gaming — he saw every corner of the gaming industry. But, I dare to suggest, they have much more life than video games themselves. Therefore, I sat down with Smith to discuss how and why he does what he does, and as it turns out, he may well be as incredible as the games in which he played a decisive role in their creation - if not more.

There are people whose life stories come into view, and then you look at them well. What they wear, how they move, how they present themselves, how they style their hair, where their eyes are directed, and where not. No, in general, a bad idea to judge a book by its cover, but the cover has a reason. This is a window into her world, a blatant neon sign of history.

Harvey Smith is not one of these people.

Sitting opposite him in a dimly lit corner of the hotel’s richly decorated, very spacious lobby, he struck me with how much he stood out, precisely because he should not stand out. He is simply dressed in a black T-shirt and worn blue jeans, and casually lounged on a chair with flower prints. And this is one of the creators of Dishonored and one of the main minds responsible for Deus Ex. But if you are not familiar with him, then I doubt that you can pull him out of the crowd. At the same time, Smith - after all that he saw, did, and passed - can say much more than most. Thus, instead of becoming a bully and a mouthpiece, he creates.

But how exactly did his desire to weave a tight web called Dishonored, consisting of witty free-form stealth and full of house, come from? Well, like a significant number of people, he began his life as a child. He also always had a playful period, but already then he did things in his own way.

"Basically, I took the figure of Robin and dressed him in gray and black tights," recalls Smith. “He had a small masquerade mask, and I added gray and black tights. I thought the woodcutter boots were cool and gray, so I put them on. My grandmother came into the room and looked at the figures with which I was playing, and said: “Oh no, you broke your toys! No, I made new ones - I answered.

It is obvious that Smith was a bright and creative child, so I asked if he transferred anything to his school work. It turned out not - but not at all for the reasons that might have been expected. Many brilliant children skipped past the modern education system, but Smith’s youth was far from typical. The tragedy occurred early, and was merciless in its attack.

My mother died when I was 6 years old. She died from an overdose right in front of my eyes. My father killed himself. These two things do not happen from scratch. There were a lot of injuries that led to those chaotic things. Everything would be fine. I was just a child of workers in a small Texas town. It would probably be good with drugs and other things, as well as with physical abuse. But when one of your parents dies so early, it breaks apart. Especially your mom. Much has come from there. I was that kid. And it probably led to writing and escapism, to all these things. "

“The teachers always said the same thing about me:“ When I talk to this child, he is surprised. When he is really excited about something, he is surprised. But if not, he barely passes the exams. He does not achieve what he could achieve. “I think sometimes children at school face depression and they are tested. Only when someone gets to them, or when they talk to them about something exciting, they light up. This is about me. In the end, I was never a good student. ”

I'm starting to see it. When he becomes infected with a topic, he is really passionate, his whole behavior changes. He leans forward, he speaks much louder, his eyes light up with wild passion, trying to escape from them in the form of lasers. But he is by no means a sad or stern person - quite the opposite. And he is very aware of this. His youth, his marks, definitely formed him, but this should not be something bad. <P />

“Children understand best how to survive in their environment,” says Smith. “If you ever talk to children of alcoholics, they, as a rule, understand the social situation very well, because they constantly read people. Something like this. If you talk to children who spend a lot of time alone, or are dealing with something absorbing, very negative, very depressive, or whatever, they will find a way. People cope. They are adaptable. Therefore, I think that literature and games ... I think a lot of people are simply grateful to these things, and then other people are addicted to them, drawn to them. They use them in their own way, and that helps them. ”

It only seems natural that Smith eventually went to create things that gave him such a powerful outlet when his life turned to the worst. But this path was not a direct road from point A to point B. Its first stop after leaving home was the Air Force (Air Force). He needed to leave, and the Air Force provided him with a reliable way of doing this.

“I ended up going to Germany to work on satellite communications, living in a small village 30 minutes from the base,” he recalls, having noticeably quickened. “My ex-wife and I traveled around Germany, and it was great. I entered the university there. I did not finish it, but I went to school for several years. I must say, this whole experience was fantastic. ”

Once I went to Saudi Arabia for a while. Between the "Storm in the Desert" and "Operation Southern Watch". We reinforced the no-fly zone or something like that. The line that the planes of Saddam Hussein were not supposed to cross. That was exciting."

But after these 6 years, it was time to move on, and Smith again found himself without a comfortable compass or ridge of invisible walls that would point the way. And this happened only after a good friend working in Origin (true Origin, and not in EA) suggested Smith to turn his obsession with video games into a career, since he decided to open a store in Austin, Texas, and give an old friend who even not finished college, opportunity to try. What followed was worthy of its own comedy Hollywood montage.

“I tried to get a job there as a designer or screenwriter for 6 months,” Smith continues. "I played for hours at Shadowrun, which met in the meeting room. I played multiplayer games in a software testing company. I played on their softball team. I went skydiving with Richard Garriott. There was a skydiving team in which I was busy. I jumped out of the plane with these guys in San Marcos. And I still could not get a job. Then I got a newspaper with the announcement - "testers are required, payment is $ 7 an hour" and I took it. "

It was a humble beginning to be sure, but Smith was lucky to find himself surrounded on all sides by greatness. Even as a tester, he worked on Wing Commander and System Shock. Not a bad way to start, huh?

“I have nothing to complain about,” he replied when I noted that his time on the Origin had ended with the stormy cancellation of the RTS called Technosaur. “I did all sorts of things that were amazing. I worked a little with Richard Garriott. I worked with Warren Spectrum. I saw every aspect of game development. I worked as an artist. I worked as a designer. I worked as a tester. I worked with translators for a while. I tried a lot of things. People treated me well. I got a lot of opportunities based on the work I did. “

All this time, I continued to be amazed at Smith’s ability to respond positively to the most disgusting ups and downs in life. This is not a denial, or something like that. But if life gives him lemons or a box of hand grenades, he will find a way to make lemonade out of it. Despite this, Smith would not deny that his early experiences greatly influenced his later work. In many ways, this has made Deus Ex an ideal project in order to demonstrate its creative powers.

"I still, to this day, love games in which I find myself in a dark, scary, frightening place, and I’m not enough, and I run into monsters, and I rule these monsters, defeating them with cunning or tricks," "He says, and the grin passes through his face." I think there is another component, that is ... the reason for calming down or pleasant excitement is something that is based on certain patterns that many people share. "

Deus ex, however, also allowed Smith to reunite with his past, or rather, to express it in a more directional, contemplative manner.

“One of the missions I worked on at Deus Ex was a mission in which Nicolette DuClare returns to his home, 6 months after the murder of her mother,” he explains, “For the first time, she was here, and she feels sad about this. And you can explore the house with her. And along the way there are no monsters that attack us in the house. Absolutely no enemies. This is just an empty house. I had to insist on this because the team filled all the rooms with “bad guys”. ”

“Finds a response, right? Not quite so that there was a direct connection with those things (which happened to me). It just happens when I think about an idea that appeals to me ... You meet this young person and she looks cruel outside, but in reality she just hides the fact that 6 months ago her mother was killed, and this is what influenced her . Going back home is a big deal. Where she lived with her mom, and you explore this empty house while she wanders from room to room, leaving you comments when she comes out of them. She follows you and comments. ”

And although the development of Deus Ex was not without dramatic moments and disagreements, the final product became the defining medium classic. But even this did not become a jump for Smith for the light track. The good times, unfortunately, were replaced by rather long bad ones.

“I was disappointed with the solutions we applied to Deus Ex: invisible War. Things just went badly to Midway (from Area 51) ... Area 51 was an extremely problematic development. This was a very large organization. It was hard to do anything. No one was authorized, I think. After that I left - I was fired, frankly - all of their studios closed

Smith, however, was able to recoup. He continued to move forward, and this finally led him to work at Arkane, meticulously creating the game of his dreams hand in hand with the co-creative director and good friend Rafael Kolontonio. But Smith outlines his luck that never lost sight of what is really important.

“You know, I just love games,” he says with delight. “I love talking about games. I love to play them. I love to design them. I always believed that it was necessary to ignore all this [negative crap] and just keep working. This is a good philosophy. Even on our worst video game day, we do intellectual and creatively stimulating work. "

“If something bad happened to you for a long time, it makes things relative. From now on, you know what a good day is, and what a bad day. With most people, nothing bad happened. They do not know the differences of a good day from a bad one. “My God, how terrible, our plane was detained. We will fly to Italy later than planned! ” Lord, your life is terrible. I think this is one of those things that helps come to terms with the scourge. Keep in mind the idea of ​​the relative scale of a disaster, and think how really good you are at the moment. "

The same thing, when I point out that Dishonored is an exception to AAA games in the sea of ​​monotony and safe sequels - the necessary breath of fresh air in the industry, which is choking from stagnation - Smith did not even blink. Everything could be much, much worse, and looking at how worried he is, all is not lost.

“This is such a trivial negative,” he objected. “If I were discouraged by him, so that my paternal suicide would happen to me? This is barely noticeable. I do what I love. Rafael and I are excited about this game. It's just hard to do good things, by definition. There will always be a small subset that we consider “good” or “interesting,” and in the bulk will be average. ”

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“But no, I find none of this discouraging. I wish we could all be free to do the things we want. I would like the money to fall from the sky and finance the game of the universal dream. But no, it does not discourage me. I see games everywhere that I want to play. Monaco, Day Z, Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock Infinite, Spelunky. There is a good game in every direction. I don't even have time to play all the good games that surround me now. ”

When we first started talking, I noticed that Smith was leaning far back in his chair — as if he had dodged and tried to get rid of him. But no, it is not. Smith is comfortable. He is in a good place, but does not take it for granted. What is done is done, and what comes next, then it will happen. And when this happens - no matter whether it is good or bad - it moves forward. Because, after everything seen, done, and passed, he knows that he will be able to cope with it.

“People call me an optimist,” he concludes, rising from his chair. “But I think, on a more truthful level, optimism comes from this point of view”

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