“Linear Games are Easier to Make” – The Last Of Us Co-director

As we know, the Last of Us is an action-adventure game & the latest iteration was released in September, last year, i.e., Last of Us Part 1. Now, the co-director of the last of Us franchise, i.e., Bruce Starley, conveyed his thoughts on linear games, saying that linear games are easier to develop than non-linear ones.

For those who don’t know, linear games are those non-open-world games in which the players have a set path to follow, whereas linear games are open-world games & the players will need to travel to multiple to achieve the goal.

Moving on, the famous developer suggests that the idea of developing non-linear open-world games is less complex, and it looks like it is the silent truth that everybody has accepted in the gaming world.

Well, Bruce Starkey stating that is kind of big as he has years of experience with some masterpieces under his belt, and he’s also credited for shaping the last of Us franchise, which is one of the best story-driven experiences in the industry.

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The Naughty Dog developer is well respected in the gaming industry and among young gaming developers. Nonetheless, his opinions have left people divided, with some agreeing to it and some stating otherwise.

Additionally, The tweet went viral, and many other notable names in game development scenes and most of the prominent figures agreed with the renowned developers on it. Alex Hutchman, creative director of Assasin Creed’s III and Far Cry 4, also shared his opinion that “linear games are less interesting in general“ while agreeing with Bruce’s tweet.

Well, it seems the hot take made by Alex did not go well with people as they voiced against it with a constructive approach, although one example where one user said, “You have Far Cry in your resume, your opinion is invalid.”

The current co-founder of the Outsiders behind Pay Dsy 2, Bad Comanmy 2, David Goldfarb, said many noted that the linear experiences tend to be quality targets, which have some truth to them taking into account the emergence of plain open-world games that have come out in the last ten years. 

Some people raised questions about the linear experience of the AAA titles of the studios when compared to the launch of open-world games. Many insisted that an inexpensive eight-hour linear gameplay is much better than a bland open-world game priced over $50.

While others have taken a neutral approach by asking not to generalize both. Moreover, both linear and non-linear have their advantages and disadvantage 

Well, open-world games provide a good experience if they are built well, although they do require expertise, a good budget, and usually a longer testing period, whereas linear games are small-size pieces that can be enjoyable at times & cherish those moments without spending hefty money.

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