10 Things Your Favourite Video Game Developers Want You To Forget
And the award for "Most Regretful Teenage Years", goes to Naughty Dog...
Maturation is never something you're aware of in the moment. It's never a case of "Well, I have now identified this part of myself, and henceforth, I shall be a more articulate human being!" Instead, as your life only slows down at very specific points - post-any chunk of education or in between jobs, perhaps - that's when really meaningful self-reflection sets in.
Maybe that leather jacket wasn't actually that rebellious. Maybe your favourite TV show wasn't all that edgy - maybe Nickelback were never good and it was just that one song.
Such is the tragedy of life, and even though game developers and publishers are entire teams of people, they're still just that: People. We're all human, and we're all prone to mental lapses and ageing synapses deigning one thing cool or avoided like the plague.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and as the games industry is still in its infancy, many now-veteran coders actually started in their early 20s. Jason Rubin was only 16 when he collaborated with Andy Gavin to form JAM Software, later becoming Naughty Dog, for example.
What I'm saying is, there are more than a few "creative decisions" over the years that are best left to the annals of time...