As reported on many forums:
Dave “Zeb” Cook aka Lord Recluse has officially left Cryptic Studios. He was the lead designer for CoV.
No reasons given yet for why he left, which only leads to lots of speculation (did he jump or was he pushed?). It’s been noted in the original thread that he hadn’t posted in about six weeks – enough time to give official notice before quitting.
As he was the lead designer of CoV, of which the second half (Issue 7 will finish off Villains, adding 40-50 content, Epic powers, a new zone, etc) is not complete yet, speculation ranges from “contract simply ended” to “he pissed someone off and got the bewt” to “he got a better offer from DDO”.
I believe he also designed the not-out-yet new zone (Grandeville) completely, so the timing is rather odd.
Anyone recall any cases of one of the lead designers leaving a successful game mid-development? Is it time to start crying Co* is DOMED yet?
Getting the game to this point was probably a lot more interesting than slowly expanding it from here. We see the shift from design team to live team all the time (although I wonder if that is really the best way since it often leads to a change in direction).
In particular on QT3 this triggered a discussion on whether is good or not to switch/rebuild teams as a game is launched. To bring in “fresh ideas” or to let the creative guys move onto something more exciting.
My opinion is still the same, as I wrote in the comments on the forum. I brought up many, many times on this site the problem of “authorship” and I keep a section named “migratory fluxes” to try to track for what it’s possible what happens behind the scenes, the “who’s who”.
That’s what matter from my point of view. The “brand” is nothing. Are the people behind it to be important, even if too often overshadowed.
The mistakes you do are the premise of what you can learn, so it’s always important that a team is solid and that the people working can develop experience and learn from those mistakes.
This is also why I’m never one of those wishing devs I disagree with to be fired. I despise that. Instead what I do is to search a dialogue so that the problems can be discussed and acknowledged. So that there is a confrontation and different points of view can be examined. That’s how things can move on. With dedication, continued observation and dialogue.
And not by jumping from company to company and game to game, while dismissing the responsibilities and that commitment that is the foundation of these games.