I disagree with the notion that auteur theory can't be applied to games. As someone who has been involved with some sort of gaming since the release of the Atari 2600 I can point to several people that their work definitely has a unique flavor to it.
Amy Hennig is a good example of someone that I've followed and respected since her work on the Legacy of Kain series and you can really see her style come through as she transitioned over to Naughty Dog and eventually the Uncharted series. There is something about the direction and the writing style that is evident when experiencing one of her works. I don't think this discounts that games she worked on, could not exist without the tremendous amount of effort put forth by hundreds of individuals, but it simply wouldn't have had the same look and feel without Hennig.
Similarly David Cage of Quantic Dream, lends his unique vision to the games Omikron, Indigo Prophecy, and Heavy Rain that is so unique, I feel like I would be able to guess rather quickly a David Cage game without knowing beforehand he was involved.
Does auteur theory apply to game designers?
Re: Does auteur theory apply to game designers?
Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended...so the world might be mended.
Re: Does auteur theory apply to game designers?
I totally agree with your first post J T (and the subsequent ones). Auteur theory can be applied to games because it is the vision of one person, or a core team, classified as the game designer. The size of development teams has exploded since the birth of the industry, however, a game designer, like a film director, controls how a game is developed from the initial story that inspires the final game, to the gameplay mechanics, art style and even what the programming needs to do. Films are created by a vast crew of people who specialize in certain areas, such as costumer designer, production designer, and so on. A game is constructed in a similar way: an artist creates the art for the game, a programmer creates the programming to make the game work, and so on, but all of this falls under the vision of the game designer, who has the final say on the game. Like the film industry, each department has a lead (eg. lead artist, lead programmer, etc), and these people, and the people under them, are all important to the final game's design, like in the film industry. But each department head consults with the game designer to tune the game to their vision, like the heads of each department for a film consult with the director.
However, games are a relatively new industry, and while auteur theory seemed to be established about twenty years ago, in the last decade or so (since the introduction of 3D gaming I believe) development teams have shied away from giving one person the entire responsibility like a director is given in film, possibly because, as games have become more costly investments, individual game designers don't want the responsibility of a flop on their head. Further, I believe that the games industry is still crippled by the notion that general consumers believe games are for kids and that auteur theory doesn't apply. Of course, we know this to be different, but unfortunately it takes a long time for the masses to catch on.
Being a huge SEGA fan, I can apply auteur theory to some of their past game designers. For example, all of Toshihiro Nagoshi’s games seem to have extreme fun and arcade stylings placed at their core, while Tetsuya Mizaguchi is most notable for his use of music to create synaesthetic games (at least in the last decade). I'm sure there are many other game designers/auteurs who others could mention (and indeed have in this thread) and note the similar stylings between their games.
It took film over one hundred years to reach the state it is in now (that is a meat manufacturing industry, where hundreds of sausages are produced on a regular basis but occasionally they produce a nice rare steak (or whatever metaphor you want to use)). In the early days, production crews were quite small and the technology and production methods were very limiting. Watch some films from one hundred years ago and see what I mean. The current Hollywood studio production model wasn't introduced until the 1940s, nearly fifty years into its history. It's an industry that grew and developed over time. Looking at the games industry, there are many similarities. The industry has exploded since the days of games built by a single person. And the industry is still growing. Give it time, and eventually auteur theory will be applied to games more regularly.
However, games are a relatively new industry, and while auteur theory seemed to be established about twenty years ago, in the last decade or so (since the introduction of 3D gaming I believe) development teams have shied away from giving one person the entire responsibility like a director is given in film, possibly because, as games have become more costly investments, individual game designers don't want the responsibility of a flop on their head. Further, I believe that the games industry is still crippled by the notion that general consumers believe games are for kids and that auteur theory doesn't apply. Of course, we know this to be different, but unfortunately it takes a long time for the masses to catch on.
Being a huge SEGA fan, I can apply auteur theory to some of their past game designers. For example, all of Toshihiro Nagoshi’s games seem to have extreme fun and arcade stylings placed at their core, while Tetsuya Mizaguchi is most notable for his use of music to create synaesthetic games (at least in the last decade). I'm sure there are many other game designers/auteurs who others could mention (and indeed have in this thread) and note the similar stylings between their games.
It took film over one hundred years to reach the state it is in now (that is a meat manufacturing industry, where hundreds of sausages are produced on a regular basis but occasionally they produce a nice rare steak (or whatever metaphor you want to use)). In the early days, production crews were quite small and the technology and production methods were very limiting. Watch some films from one hundred years ago and see what I mean. The current Hollywood studio production model wasn't introduced until the 1940s, nearly fifty years into its history. It's an industry that grew and developed over time. Looking at the games industry, there are many similarities. The industry has exploded since the days of games built by a single person. And the industry is still growing. Give it time, and eventually auteur theory will be applied to games more regularly.