Warren Spector wants to make small, detailed worlds

By Brenna Hillier

Deus Ex creator Warren Spector would rather make a game world “an inch wide and a mile deep” than “a mile wide and an inch deep”.

“When people think about worlds, virtual worlds, they think about enormous, fully explorable, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, that stuff,” Spector told Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

“I’ve never done that. I never wanted to do it.”

Spector admitted that in the Ultima days, he did make some large worlds, but by the time of Underworld, System Shock and Deus Ex he was already moving towards smaller spaces with more complete simulations – the birth of the immersive sim genre.

“I got a lot more interested in really deeply simulated smaller spaces. I’d rather do something that’s an inch wide and a mile deep than something that’s a mile wide and an inch deep,” he said.

“I want to create worlds, but by worlds I mean someplace where every object is interactable. The NPCs actually have something to do other than kill you. Every door can be opened and there’s a reason to open them. That’s what I mean by creating world. It’s not about size and scope, it’s about depth and interactivity.”

Yes please, Spector. Make it so.