Soren Johnson

Designer Notes 21: Amy Hennig - Part 1

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In this episode, Soren Johnson interviews veteran game designer Amy Hennig, best known for her work on the Legacy of Kain and Uncharted series. They discuss what happened in 1977, how to make a platformer about Michael Jordan, and whether women are now being scared away from game development the way she was from the film industry. In true adventure game fashion, we end on a cliffhanger!

 

Games Discussed: ELIZA, Sea Wolf, Combat, Dungeons and Dragons, Zork, Electrocop, Bard’s Tale 4, Desert Strike, Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, the Legacy of Kain series, Jak 3

 

https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/episodes/amy-hennig

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I'm about halfway through and really enjoying the interview so far; this level of detail and reminiscence is really appreciated. I taught Amy's tank-on-graph-paper game to my kids and they enjoyed it. :)

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I'm about halfway through and really enjoying the interview so far; this level of detail and reminiscence is really appreciated. I taught Amy's tank-on-graph-paper game to my kids and they enjoyed it. :)

 

Is there a video of that? I still don't know what she was talking about!

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There is now!

 

fantastic! Her description reminded me of a game I often played on my notebooks: by drawing sine-like curves, then drawing trajectories along the lines in the way an Excitebike rider would need to plan momentum and velocity. Line Rider fulfilled the fantasy years later, but I can see how Atari combat must have had a similar satisfaction for Hennig when she was young!

 

I absolutely LOVED this episode. I have wanted to know the history of Crystal Dynamics, particularly the relationship that Amy Hennig had with Dennis Dyack. The triangle of Crystal Dynamics, Silicon Knights, and Naughty Dog is fascinating.

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Wow when Steve Gayner said he regretted not interviewing more females my first thought was Amy. Uncharted was a huge game in my life and its absolutely amazing to hear from the creator her self. Thank you for this episode set.

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