IAmA Andy Gavin, co-creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter and author of The Darkening Dream

Thank you for my childhood. Also, whats the most manly object that you own?

I have a real 19th century Samurai sword. Does that count as manly? :-)

That's manly in a dignified, awesome but respectful manliness, do you currently own anything in the realm of Duke Nukem's level of madness/manliness?

Also, I know another writer with an obsession with swords and I know no other writers, therefore I'm going to assume all writers are now obsessed with swords.

I have a mummy mask from 300 BC too (once had a real mummy in it!) and the carved heads of two Roman emperors :-)

:O

The only thing that can top that so far would be owning each of the various mask characters from the Crash series as actual masks..

I have a one foot tall clay Crash riding the baby dino!

:O PICS! PICS NOW!

Here is a J&D egg, I'll have to go photo the sword and whatnot :-) http://t.co/xXi6KhS2

Crash Team Racing was hands down probably the greatest racing game ever made. I still play it today! I would love to see a re-release of this game on Xbox/PS3. Please make this happen!!!!

I don't have any control over it -- but I agree it's the best racing game ever!

You're a little biased ;)

guilty as charged!

Do you still have ties at Naughty Dog? Any proof to the rumor that Uncharted is going to follow the same pattern?

1) Crash Bandicoot

2) Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

3) Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

4) Crash Team Racing

1) Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

2) Jak II

3) Jak 3

4) Jak X: Combat Racing

1) Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

2) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

3) Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

4) Untitled: Drake's Wacky Cart Race Adventure!

All I can say is that the next Naughty Dog game is probably a post apocalyptic survival adventure game with a teen girl and an older guy trying to survive in a ruined America. I don't know why, but I'm just feeling that.

And I'm good friends with lots of Naughty Dogs. I had dinner with four of them last night!

I have a question for some of you! Who are the 90 down voters? boo hiss! (I'm being funny -- at least I hope)

I have to know: How do you pronounce (or what does Aku Aku say) OOTEBEGAH????

Oooogghhhaa booooobhggghhaaa

Crash Bandicoot recently celebrated a 15 year anniversary. Any desire to bring the series back, or to do any HD re-releases of the older games?

I would absolutely love to see a HD version of the first 4 Crash games for the PS3. And, even better, a really great fully modern PS3/XBOX reboot. But I don't control any of the rights anymore -- but Crash is still my boy in his own way.

On that note, do you still own the IP rights to Jak & Daxter, or does Sony hold those?

Now that you're an author, any plans to work on new IP based on your storytelling - or do you want to keep it in it's pure novel form?

Also, thank you for doing this AMA - in my short tenure on Reddit, this is the only one I've taken part in.

Sony & Universal (which is now Activision) both own parts of Crash. Sony/Naughty Dog (which is owned 100% by Sony) own all of J&D and they can do whatever they like with it.

I don't own any of any of them anymore. Not that I'm free of emotional ties :-) And I'm good pals with all the old guys at Naughty Dog.

I'd love to see my novels translated into different mediums. Untimed, my second novel, would make both a killer graphic novel and film. The Darkening Dream would probably be best suited as a cable mini-series of some sort, as it's a little complicated for 1:50 minutes.

Ever since ND lost the right to Crash Bandicoot, how do you feel about the direction the series has taken? Do you enjoy the new games or do you feel like they don't live up to the standards of Naughty Dog's Crash?

I hate this question... because it's kinda sad :-(

first of all, thank you for Jak and Dexter. You are welcome in my house anytime.

Second of all. Did you do work on all Jak games if not how involved were you?

I was the lead programmer, co-director, and co-producer in Jak1, Jak2, and Jak3, and tech lead/producer on the first half of Jak X (which was a very easy job as the programmers were so good).

Basically I did a lot, but so did many other people!

Which Jak game is your favorite. Mine would have to be Jak 2 :3

Jak 2 probably as well.

No kidding? I'm considering downloading Jak & Daxter and Jak 3 on PSN instead of buying the collection because I'm concerned Jak 2's gameplay won't hold up over time. GTA has spoiled me.

Why do you like Jak 2 most?

Also, the Jak series is perhaps my favorite video game series of all time, and definitely my favorite platformers. Uncharted is outright boring compared to how funny, fun, and charming the Jak games were. I think Jak & Daxter is the best platformer I've ever played - better than Super Mario Galaxy.

I literally think about the game series everyday. I don't know why, but it really resounded with me. I really, really, really hope ND revisits it, but I don't think they will with the critical acclaim Uncharted has received and number of units it has sold. I think cartoon platformers are headed out...

I digress; why is Jak 2 your favorite? Thanks again for your awesome work (only criticism after all these years- I wish Jak 2 had more checkpoints).

I like Jak 2 I guess because we made so many improvements in the engine (like high res characters in the movies) and the story is so much more involved and well told. Jak 1 still has a more wondrous kind of thing going on.

what does a wumpa fruit taste like?

Exactly like passion fruit, but with a finish like wet dog.

Why did Jak 2 and 3 go in such a completely different direction from the first game?

The atmosphere in Jak and Daxter was beautiful, but I got the impression from Jak 2 and 3 that they were trying to be Ratchet and Clank, what with all the guns and the sudden hardass approach to Jak's character.

Was that a conscious decision to make Jak a badass and to add guns and GTA-style cities/cop radar?

Totally. GTA3 came out and blew us away in sales. Suddenly everything was dark and "immersive gameplay."

I thought as much. It's a shame really, I would have loved to see more happen in the same time period as the first game.

I think the abrupt change in styles might have been a little harder for me to digest because Jak and Daxter was my first PS2 game, so I was very attached the atmosphere and world of it. And I do have to say, that was one hell of a way to start off my next-gen experience. I was constantly blown away by the environment and graphics.

And thanks for responding!

There were good and bad things both about the transition. Jak 2 has a much more sophisticated style of story telling. But Jak 1 really is highly atmospheric.

was dr cortex based on anyone?

Hehe. He's my creation. I used to pretend to be him at the office and lunch in the early days of Crash. "Idiots! If the three of you had a neuron between you, you couldn't make a triangle!"

do you still lisp?

How much does Naughty Dog use Lisp in practice?

These days I think they use Scheme (a LISP variant) for the gameplay scripting in all the Uncharted games (and presumably TLOU)

As development budget rises, and prettier graphics are expected, developers have complained about there being too little time to make great gameplay and large worlds. Which is a reason to why JRPG developers prefer working on the Wii.

Any thoughts about this at all? Will the increasingly more powerful hardware limit developers? Or is it more of an excuse, and just a question about optimizing their workflow?

To some extent it does. Everything takes so much longer and involves a lot more people. Saw during Crash, Jason and I were driving to work one Saturday and we were complaining to each other that the levels were boring because we didn't have the power to put enough enemies on screen. He was like, "what if we put like 30 more things out there" and I was like "well, they'd have to be like 5 polygons each" and we both were like "boxes are 6 polygons!" 4 hours later all the box types in Crash 1 were modeled, textured, and animated (by Jason) and programmed (by me).

driving to work one Saturday

On a related note: did making these games consume your life, or what?

Yeah. You could say that. In 1997 I didn't go into a store or any other business establishment between New Years and mid september -- not even a grocery store. I was in the office, or asleep.

Firstly, thank you for my childhood. I have two questions. My first is Insomniac and ND had a close relationship as far as I'm aware, so I was wondering how much influence you as an ND employee had on Spyro? Secondly, if you were to go back into the game development scene, would it be as a writer since you now have experience in novel writing? Or would you be on the programming/game design side? Or even as an indie developer?

In the Crash 1 / Disruptor and thru Crash 2-3 / early Spyro were and Insomniac shared adjacent offices. Jason and I were very friendly (and still are) with Ted, Al, and Brian the owners. We used to party together all the time too as we were all (in those days) single guys all about the same age. Now we're all married with kids -- except Jason who is about to be married :-)

What do you think of the Uncharted and Last of Us? Do you sometimes wish you had a major role in these new franchises? Also, thanks for the original Crash games. Never got around to playing Jak but intend to pick up the HD collection soon.

I adore Uncharted and I've seen a demo of The Last of Us at the office. It was totally awesome and I can't wait to play it for real!

my brothers and i still havent figured out how to get the ruby gem at the ceiling on the snowy level of crash bandicoot. To this day every time we boot it up (easter/thanksgiving/christmas/fourth of july when were all together) we spend hours trying to get it. hours.

I can't remember, but there must be a video of it on the web. There are 100% videos on youtube.com

How competitive was the 'Jak & Daxter VS Ratchet & Clank' era? Was it as much of a competition the magazines were suggesting, or was that just a marketing gimmick?

A very friendly competition. Rachet and Clank's engine was largely based on code from Jak 1 that we "loaned" to them (more or less free). Still, they had to do an immense amount of work to make the game -- and they are fun!

Jak & Daxter and Jak 2 are on my top five games. One question, though - why was the difficulty hiked down so much from Jak 2 to 3?

We got a lot of feedback from players and reviewers that Jak 2 was just too hard at spots. Of course on Jak 1 they said it was too easy, which is why Jak 2 was harder! :-)

<3 That's cool to know. I loved Jak 2's difficulty because it made me feel like I accomplished something when I won. Thanks so much for making such a great game.

I had one other question, do you have any advice for someone looking to make their way into game design?

I have a write up on that: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/01/15/how-do-i-get-a-job-designing-video-games/

R. A. Salvitore and Andy Gavin in one day? I must be dreaming.

Anywho, what brought about wanting to write a book? And who was responsible for Daxter's humorous one-liners and random acts of comedic violence upon his person?

A lot of the Daxter joke writing was Jason. A lot was Dan Arey. I tossed one into the fray periodically (more so on Crash) but I was often up to my eyeballs in bugs and the like. GOAL demanded a lot of maintenance. I wrote much of Dream Zone, Keef the Thief, and Rings of Power too.

But as to the novels:

I’m a lifelong creator and explorer of worlds. As far back as first grade I remember spending most of the school day in one day dream or another. I had a huge notebook stuffed with drawings, story bits, and concepts for an elaborate Sci-Fi/Fantasy world I cobbled together from bits of Star Wars, Narnia, and Battlestar Galactica. By fourth or fifth grade not only was I loosing myself in every fantasy or Sci-Fi novel I could, but I was building Dungeons & Dragons castles and caverns on paper. Then from 1980 on the computer. Over the following decades I wrote dozens of stories and created and published over a dozen video games all set in alternative universes. And as an avid reader (over 10,000 novels and who knows how many non-fiction volumes) it was no surprise that I eventually decided to write some books of my own.

Sorry if this is a personal question, but I'm curious to know why you left Naughty Dog, and if it was anyway influenced by Jason Rubin leaving at the same time (or did you guys discuss it together?)

If that's too personal, then can I ask if you ever see yourself getting back into game development (Naughty Dog or starting up another developer?)

Love the Jak games, looking forward to their HD re-release!

There are still some games I'd love to make -- really I would have liked to make WOW :-) -- but it's sure a hell of a lot of work.

I've answered the "why I left" in some detail on my blog. Comb through the comments on the big series of making Crash that can be found off my video game page: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/video-games

Who decided to make Jak talk in all the games past the first one and why? I'd also just like to say thank you for everything. Jak and Daxter is still hands down one of my favorite games of all time and Crash Bandicoot is awesome.

We realized that if we were going to make the story more elaborate in Jak 2 (which we wanted to do) Jak was going to have to say something!

First off, thanks for the memories mate. You have to have an Aku Aku mask, that shit would be amazing to run around town with.

As well, how do you feel of the more recent, less well-received Crash Bandicoot's? Does it annoy you that it perhaps taints its legacy to a certain degree? Or that a younger generation now have a skewed vision of the essence of Crash as a result of not realising the previous iterations?

Sadly, Aku Aku does not like to be worn to parties, and NEVER on Halloween.

Do you think video games are willing to take creative risks now? I remember when Crash came out, it seems like everyone was bolder. Now, everything seems kinda bland and homogeneous.

It's much harder for a game with a 30-60 million (or higher) budget to take creative risks -- or for the companies that underwrite that kind of money to do so.

Because the company is afraid of losing the money, or because gaming at that level is mainly based on franchises, or both?

When you are an executive of a big game company, taking a wild bet could get you fired (or promoted). No one ever got fired for suggesting they make another Call of Duty game and that it be better than the last.

I read your blog post about how you guys made Crash look so good on a PSOne, then Miyamoto played it at e3.

What was it like having him play Crash?

Terrifying!

I loved Crash + Hog Riding. That is all.

So did I!

Is Jak Mar? Or just named after Mar? This question PLAGUED fans for years.

Mar? I'm trying to remember... but can't

Naughty Dog looks to have an unique working environment. How has the "no bureaucracy" rule affected the games and company?

Also, what's the most interesting tale from the office?

Things were/are very flat at NDI. Anyone could go talk to Jason and I and get their opinion voiced. Anyone still can talk to Christophe and Evan, they share many of the same philosophies.

One funny tale (and there are many) is how Osiris (my dog, and one of the Naughty Dogs) barfed up a whole dead and rotting sea gull under a programmers desk on Halloween of 2000. He'd eaten it that morning on the beach!

Do you know whether or not this has been more difficult after ND has grown over the last years? Or has Christophe and Evan managed to keep it the same?

I'm sure it's somewhat more difficult because there are a lot more people. I wrote recently about coming back to the office http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2012/02/06/jak-daxter-return/ but they have really managed to keep the same vibe going.

Is it a coincidence that Crash looks like Jason?

Crash doesn't look like Jason, he moves like Jason (who animated him!)

What advice, if any, would you give to someone looking to break into the game development niche?

I have two long posts I wrote on that. For programmers: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/08/29/video-game-programmer-why/ and for designers: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/01/15/how-do-i-get-a-job-designing-video-games/

Thank you very must for Jak & Daxter and the sequel games! I would like to ask about moving from Jak & Daxter to Jak 2. Tell us about the decision to change the settings of the game so must, or what inspired you to create a dystopia like the one we saw.

I have 3 letters to answer that question: GTA

It came out and changed everything about what everyone thought was cool in a bestselling game.

Amazing. And I have got to say, the connections between the first game and the following games in a distant future were very interesting! Like discovering the tree house outside of the walls in the second game, lol. Thanks for the answer!

That was a "end of Planet of the Apes" kinda reprise

Naughty Dog has since the early PS1 days been known to push hardware unlike anyone else, which has gotten you many accusations and so on. This is still true, after 3 consoles and with new staff at ND, how do you do it? Are ND-employees just THAT good?

I know you've written a bit about it in your blog, but how has Sony reacted to ND's special talents in abusing hardware? Don't you guys lend technology to other Sony devs too?

Usually they find out after the fact, in which case we were forgiven due to large sales :-) Success has a way of doing that. I would never have abused the hardware in a way I thought was ACTUALLY detrimental to the player's or the companies interests. Only when I thought the rules were silly -- like that extra half a meg of RAM that they just weren't using in the PS2... :-)

What's your opinion on the used game market?

It is what it is. If you've bought a disk, it's your property and you have the right to sell it. On the otherhand, the stores sometimes pay little but charge a lot for the used games and the creators don't get anything. It'll all go away in the next few years anyway, as disks are a thing of the past (or almost past).

What did the flying wooden board say when you busted him out of the box. I always thought he said.. "HOOMIDIGAH!"

It's just ooggaa boogaaa or something like that

Would you consider getting back into developing games- in particular indie games, for example just working on a game by yourself or with a few other people?

I think about it... pretty frequently actually.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

My Mac Pro 12 core

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JAK & DAXTER. Is there any coincidence that the new Jak & Daxter remake for PS3 came out today and you just happen to be posting today? Haha. Totally preordered that. SO excited to play it. I hope it's as good as I remember it as a kid. Uhh I don't think I have any questions really... Just wanted to thank you for that. :D Have a great day!

Not a total coincidence as I timed a bunch of promotional stuff together :-)

As giantbomb pointed out, when is Way of the Warrior 2 coming out?

Konotori wins!

Did you see the Simpson's takeoff of Crash Bandicoot?

Oh yes. I met Matt Groening several times. He even came to the office once as he was a huge Crash fan (or at least his kids were).

When will we see a sequel to Keef the Thief? I loved that game!

Did you write the hint book? I enjoyed that it was in narrative form instead of just Q and A.

It really did shape my childhood. Are there any tidbits or trivia you can share from creating it?

I wrote most of the text in the game itself and edited the hint book. But a really funny guy at EA wrote most of that -- and it was REALLY funny. Keef was made entirely in my basement and in Jason and my respective dorm rooms. There is a topless girl easter egg in it somewhere too (17 year old boys... sigh) but I don't remember where.

When do you think the next console generation will come around (aside from Wii U)?

The gap between consoles is widening. No one really wants one -- as it just means a lot of hard work and less sales to make the transition. But it will happen.

What is one video game you wished you had never played? And how long into the game before you to decided it was a waste a time?

Cho-aniki http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/sexual-games/10.php

What did you have to study in college to get a job in game programming? I want to do this but I don't even know where to begin.

I had already published 3 games before going to college... But studying computer science is a good bet: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/09/01/video-game-programmer-school/

Why did Crash Bandicoot suck after the PS1 games (which were masterpieces by the way)?

Because Naughty Dog didn't work on them! :-)

Jak & Daxter was the first game i got for my ps2 thank you :') i loved it hahah but what was the funnest thing you've done while making the game

Probably one of the funniest was when Universal marketing made this stuffed Crash doll that was so ugly and ridiculous looking. Jason came and described it to me making fun of it and Jason can be REALLy funny. So I was already snickering when I went into the office of the Universal VP to check it out -- it was so ugly that I burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter that lasted for at least 20 minutes. I was literarily rolling around on the floor laughing at the thing.

I am a computing student and game development may be a possible route for me. I don't game too much as I lose interest in them quickly, but I love watching people game and trying to figure out how I would program certain aspects of the game myself. Do you think it is possible to have a career in game development without actually having an interest in the games themselves? I see people like Notch and other indie game developers and would love to work in a small, creative start up like that.

How would you recommend I focus my study at the moment? I am currently playing around with a bit of Android dev and that could be a possible route for myself (maybe Android gaming?).

Any advice is appreciated.

I believe in choosing manageable projects that teach you new skills and working to make those projects really good, then picking new projects. Like choosing a small game, do everything, and get it great, even if it's simple.

I have more info here: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/09/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-video-game-programmer-%e2%80%93-part-5-%e2%80%93-the-method/

Hello!

I love reading up about GOAL, I was wondering if you had any plans to talk about it more, or write more articles about it? I'm interested in how the language was designed around of the concept of making it easy to create new game objects, and how that fitted into the actual game object runtime system.

I have this huge GOAL doc I started -- but just haven't had time to format and get up -- eventually I will. I have a long article on GOOL the Crash version (but GOAL was cooler) here: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/03/12/making-crash-bandicoot-gool-part-9/

Thank you, Mr Gavin. Thank you for all of your Crash Bandicoot and Jak&Daxter games. I've lost months of my life playing them but wouldn't have it any other way, they were phenomenal.

Since this is an AMA though, I guess I had better ask you something rather than just sucking up!

Which game did you have the most fun developing & why?

And also: Did you ever get jealous of any of the insomniac-developed games that were coming out the same time as yours?

We were slightly jealous of the free roaming in Spyro -- but both games were great and had their +'s and -'s. Usually I was more jealous of things that sold better, like Final Fantasy XVII or GTA3. I was jealous of the media attention Metal Gear got even though we always sold better :-) But in all these cases they deserved it too as all were great games.

How frequently do you go on reddit?

Today, a lot!

Thank you for your co-creation of such a fun character. The Crash games were always my favorites growing up. I would like to ask, what is your favorite joke?

I liked a lot of his death animations. And I liked Cortex's sense of humor - or lack thereof

What current gen games to you find yourself playing these days?

Also which came first? Your desire to write novels or your desire to create video games?

UC3, Dark Souls, WOW (mostly quit), Skyrim

Hmmm. I loved both reading and video games even back in the 70s, so it's hard to say. They are very creatively similar for me. It's all about creating worlds!

Co-creator of Crash Bandicoot? Can I have sex with you?

1) are you over 18 2) a woman 3) No. I'm married :-)

This may be a dumb question but it has bugged me for years. What does the voice say when you die in Crash is it 'You're Out!' or what???

I think it's just Aku Aku mumbo jumbo (doesn't say anything real).

How do you feel that the Jak and Daxter series is coming to HD?

I played the Halo Anniversary and it just was not the same. Revisiting it, it just didnt seem the same. Did you have a hand in helping the bring these excellent titles to HD, and if so is it a carbon copy of the originals, but in better graphics?

I didn't actually do any work, but I've played them. It's all the same core code, so it plays totally faithfully. Just looks the way you remember it (if you actually go back and look, that's worse than you remember).

1. how did you get into the games industry?

2. which was your favorite game to work on?

3. how much of crash bandicoots making were you involved in, did you get to work with mark mothersbaugh on the music coz those games music was awesome?

1. More of less my origin story: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/08/30/so-you-want-to-be-a-video-game-programmer-%e2%80%93-part-3-%e2%80%93-getting-started/

2. Crash 2 is my favorite game that I made -- but my favorite to work on...

3. I helped pick Mark Mothersbaugh -- although a brilliant musician named Josh Mancell did almost all the actual composing, and Dave Baggett of Naughty Dog produced it.