Dev Box: Fracture’s Associate Producer Deke Waters

It usually takes a small army to create the video games that we play, and, most of the time, all of the focus gets put on the game itself, and not on the people that came together to make it. Our Dev Box feature takes a look at some of the unsung heroes that have committed their lives to entertaining all of us, and gives them a chance to answer some of our burning questions.

Name: Deke Waters
Title: Associate Producer
What you do: I was in charge of the single player campaign for Fracture. My main focus was on the design and creative side of the game.
Most recent game worked on: Fracture

1. What game has most influenced you, and why?

There have been a couple games that have influenced me over the years. “Interstate ‘76″ by Activision was the first game I remember playing that fully immersed me into the world. From the installer to the open world driving, down to the cup holders you could by to improve your steering, there wasn’t a moment in the game where you felt out of the world. Even the limitation of not being able to get out of your car was explained in the fiction as being too dangerous. More recent influences are “Gears of War” for action shooter, “Bioshock” (and “System Shock” before that) for its unique RPG elements and story telling, and the “GTA” series for sandbox gameplay and movie-style presentation. [Continue Reading]

Fracture Review: Earth Shattering Fun

Sometimes, all you need to do is add one extra element to an already tried and true genre to make something stale feel new again, and that’s exactly what LucusArts’ new action game “Fracture” does. The added element of terrain deformation (T.D.) adds enough of a new twist on the action genre that “Fracture” makes running and gunning fun again. T.D. does for the 3rd person shooter, what “Gears of War”’s active reload did for … the 3rd person shooter.

While it may appear to be a gimmick, the ability to control the lay of the land to your advantage ups the ante as you progress through the game. From the outset, your gun is equipped with the ability to raise or lower the ground in front of you with just a single shot. This kind of godlike control factors into both your offensive, and defensive attacks, as well as puzzles found throughout the world. Knowing that you have this kind of control separates this game apart from the numerous other, similar titles on the market, because it alters the way that you stage your attacks, and essentially play the game. In other words, if it is a gimmick, it’s a damn good one. [Continue Reading]