Talent ≠ Quality

Status Report on the Goldeneye Rogue Agent video…

I've played the game, played the 1v1 maps, recorded lots of footage, and wrote the main opening. Next tasks on the list are to finish the script, host a larger multiplayer session, and capture footage of earlier games.

One of those steps was previously to try contacting developers, and I almost got close but… seems like I've hit a dead end.

I don't want this project to turn into another Metro Exodus so… screw it, time to just hit the ground running. However, I did discover something via researching developers to contact. There's a ton of notable names attached to Goldeneye Rogue Agent.

Starting with the ones the game openly advertised, they got Sir Ken Adam, legendary production designer for 007 Dr. No - Moonraker and Dr Strangelove. This is the man who is often credited for giving Bond it's visual style through the sets he conceived, and Rogue Agent was the very last project he touched before living out his final years. The man's artistry is felt in the latest areas he drew for the game such as a Casino in Las Vegas operated by Goldfinger, capturing the larger than life spirit of 007's villains.

My friend Hudson flipped upon reading one of the names in Rogue Agents credits was Takayoshi Sato. He did that because Sato was made famous by being a character designer for the Silent Hill franchise. Turns out, after leaving Konami in the early 2000s, he dabbled in multiple projects with Electronic Arts.

Kym Barrett's a costume designer still working in the film industry to this day on films such as Marvel's Shang Chi, but prior, she worked on the Matrix films. She too was brought on to give a creative style to the Villains.

And of course, Christopher Lee was brought on to reprise his role of Francisco Scaramanga from The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974.

As said though, those are just the names EA advertised.

Digging deeper, there's more.

Erik Kraber from Respawn Entertainment has been a sound designer in the industry for a long time, including a long chapter of his life at EA Los Angeles, where he worked on Goldeneye Rogue Agent.

Adam Isgreen is leading World's Edge, Microsoft's branch overseeing all their strategy games, but in 2004, he was directing Goldeneye Rogue Agent's multiplayer.

Daniel Orzulak was one of Halo Combat Evolved's designers, and became a lead designer on Goldeneye Rogue Agent. Today, he's a designer at Sucker Punch, most recently for Ghost of Tsushima.

Danny Bilson's a name that made the rounds when he became the CEO of THQ, but he had a rather unique tour to the top, as he was actually a writer in the game's industry. Having worked on Everything or Nothing, it was natural for him to repeat his writing duties on Rogue Agent.

What's the point of all this?

Well, if there's one thing Goldeneye Rogue Agent didn't lack, it was talent.

All of these artists and so many more have done and continue to do great work to this day. For some this was an early step in their career, for others, it was their last after decades of blood, sweat, and tears.

Yet, this is the result…

And it's not surprising.

So often, bad games are summarized as bad, because the developers suck, when so often, that's not even close to being the truth.

In truth, talent is chaos.

I was originally going to compare it to electricity, but that's not even close. Electricity is something we've been able to control quite successfully. It powers everything from computers to street lights.

Talent doesn't factor in mental health, life circumstance, desire, collaboration, concentration, resource management, time management, opportunity, ability, encouragement, etc.

I'm sure many wish that Talent = Quality.