If we talk about video games, then we will never be separated from a group of people who have been willing to work hard behind the creation of a game, they are usually called Game Developers / Game Developers. Developers consist of various people who are experts in their respective fields, such as programming, design, art, testing, and so on. Game developers have their own specialization in producing a game, both from genre and platform. For example, developer A specializes in games with the First-Person Shooter (FPS) genre on the PC platform. They will only produce games with the FPS genre every few years only for PC. Developer B specializes in Role Playing Game (RPG) games on the PS4 platform. They will also only produce RPG genre games only for PS4, and so on. However, this does not rule out the possibility for a developer to create games with various genres and platforms.
Generally, game developers work with companies that manage the developer’s finances and marketing (promotion, etc.) But not a few developers who fund their own game projects, they are what we call independent developers / indie developers. Although most publishers have their own development studio to make games (such as EA with EA Canada, KONAMI, and so on), but because the publisher’s main job is to publish / publish a game and manage marketing, they are basically still called with publishers.
The intervention of publishers in the game world brings developers to compete with other developers to show their best games. This competition is very high risk, where here they will be faced with two choices, the first is if many are interested and like their games, then they will survive in the game market. Meanwhile, if many are not interested and like their game, then they have to prepare themselves to go bankrupt and leave the game market. Although many developers failed to achieve their goals, behind it all, not a few developers managed to win the hearts of their fans with games that will be remembered for all time. So, how many developers deserve the title of the best developer of all time? I’ve summarized it with a list* below.
*Note: The list of numbers does not indicate from the best to the worst or vice versa.
Naughty Dog
Who doesn’t know them? This exclusive game developer owned by Sony Computer Entertainment with his PlayStation products deserves to be called the best developer of all time. Why not? The developer, who was originally known as the Crash Bandicoot series, is a very creative and innovative developer in making games. Their games have a unique genre and gameplay. Not infrequently many want to imitate the gameplay of the games made by Naughty Dog even though it is not as successful as the game made by Naughty Dog.
Their achievements are proven by the award they received in one of their games, The Last of Us which has won many awards. Then, is it possible that they will win many more awards such as The Last of Us with Uncharted 4 which will be released later on PS4? We will see later.
Ubisoft
Of course you are already familiar with Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy’s series (Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, H.A.W.X, EndWar, etc.), and Prince of Persia, right? Yes, these 3 game titles are a handful of dozens of innovative games by the Ubisoft or UBI team. Their game is able to hit the game market with its interesting gameplay. Unlike Naughty Dog, which always makes games with unique and innovative gameplay, Ubisoft actually makes games that can force you to think hard to go through the puzzles at every level they present, this is what makes Ubisoft attractive.
Not only making games, the third largest indie developer, which was originally formed by 5 people and has been active for 29 years, also doubles as a game publisher. Call it one of the games made by THQ, a developer that went bankrupt and was later taken over by Ubisoft, South Park: Stick of Truth. Even though Ubisoft’s prestige had fallen thanks to the failure of Watch Dogs and one of its flagship franchises, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, its role in the game world cannot be denied, they have received many awards both as developers and publishers.
Westwood Studios
Maybe those of you who were born in this digital era don’t know this game developer from Nevada, the United States, which was founded in 1985. The developer, who we can call as an expert on Real Time Strategy (RTS) games, was famous for their flagship franchise Command & Conquer (C&C) series in their heyday. The developer who is known for his Real Time Strategy (RTS) game has actually made various genres such as adventure and RPG, but they are better known for their RTS games.
In 1998 Westwood Studios was bought by Electronic Arts (EA) which then made some of Westwood Studios employees leave the developer who had raised their name. They left because EA forced Westwood to immediately release Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, an unfinished game at the time.
Westwood Studios’ career took off thanks to Dune and the C&C series. This RTS game made by Westwood is a benchmark for other developers to make RTS games. This is also evidenced by the development of other RTS games based on Westwood Studios concoction gameplay, where players will be required to build a base, find resources to make tanks, troops, and superweapons such as nuclear or bomber planes to attack enemy bases.
Westwood Studios also does not stop innovating, one of which is by combining two genres, namely RTS and FPS into one at C&C: Renegade which has now been remade by fans using the Unreal Engine and changed its title to Renegade X. Unfortunately, in 2003 EA was forced to close the studio due to C&C: Renegade not meeting expectations.
EA then worked on the Westwood legacy C&C series with various experiments and changes. At first they went well after releasing C&C Generals and Zero Hour’s Expansion, but in the end their experiment failed. EA’s new experiments don’t make the gameplay of the C&C series any better, they destroy everything that Westwood has formulated.
I still remember when they made C&C: 4 which has a very different gameplay from the previous series and feels strange when played, C&C Red Alert 3 which has a plus in the graphics but has a weakness in a very narrow map. EA’s hopes of resurrecting the upgraded C&C series using the Frostbite Engine, Command & Conquer (formerly C&C Generals 2) were dashed because consumers didn’t like the changes they made when the beta launched.
