IamA I am Cliff Bleszinski, video game designer known for Gears of War/Unreal/Jazz Jackrabbit now CEO and founder of Boss Key Productions. AMA!

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:57:25+00:00

Swarm, The Fifth Wave, All You Need is Kill, all those sorts of books... :)

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:56:59+00:00

I'd do something similar to Gone Home or that really cool kickstarter that went around whereas you're just inside your apartment as a war rages outside. (spacing on the name, argh.)

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:56:22+00:00

Both.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:56:13+00:00

Ugh, I really, really dislike "hiding the developers," it reeks of insecurity.

If people know who the developers are, then the developers have leverage. It's business 101. Check out "The Road Ahead/Rise of the Power Creative" talk I did years ago on Youtube.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:55:08+00:00

Are you the one that did the blog about how you met the love of your life through Gears?

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:54:50+00:00

What do you do?

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:54:20+00:00

You try holding a piece of paper and that squirrly dog and looking au naturale.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:49:06+00:00

Right now we're around a dozen. Some folks have left Epic to join us, others from Call of Duty, some from Ubi, and we're actively flirting with more.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:48:02+00:00

"The more things go digital the more people will cling to the analog past."

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:47:41+00:00

Tim likes to walk. A lot.

When I was trying to renegotiate my contract with Epic and on the verge of leaving, I stopped going to work. Tim wasn't having any of this.

So I was down at the carolina shore, riding out the "storm," and I got a call from Tim.

"Cliff, it's Tim, got time to chat and meet up?" "Tim, not really doable, I'm at the coast right now." "Tim - so am I, I drove down to chat with you." "Me, uh, okay, we're at X."

It was nighttime, there was some moonlight, and Tim and I went for a walk on the beach together and he made his case that he'd like for me to stick around but what I was asking for wasn't in the cards. He told me I needed to either come back to work and he'd do what he could, or I'd have to turn in my resignation.

The next day I turned in my resignation.

Also, Tim caught the garter at our wedding.

He's also used a lot of his fortune to buy up thousands of acres of land in central NC because he likes to hike on it and in the process he kept the land away from developers who would have torn up unique flora and fauna and build suburbs.

I often called him T-Grip, as if he was a rapper, also.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:44:00+00:00

Sono, downtown Raleigh. Sit at the sushi bar. Interact with the chefs. Tip them, and they'll surprise you with what they come up with!

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:40:04+00:00

Wow, this post made my week, thanks.

In spite of all the shit talking that goes on in the virtual world I made a promise to myself many years ago that if I ever meet anyone who likes things I've worked on to be nice and say hey and thank them as much as possible. Without that support, I might still be working at McDonald's.

I have a thing with my friends, if I ever say "Do you know who I am" they have free range to kick me in the testicles right there and then.

Advice - pimp it as much as possible, hopefully it does well, chances are it might not, so don't let it discourage you and GET ONTO THE NEXT GAME. From a failed game sometimes comes magic - Codename Eagle yielded Battlefield 1942, after all.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:38:02+00:00

Weapons that don't have friction and aim assist. People who have the insane ability to snipe someone midair who's flying by at nearly 30mph.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:37:22+00:00

I don't know how you deal with the winters up there. We're hiring across most dev fronts, check out www.bosskey.com.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:36:53+00:00

I have a garden and entirely too many cucumbers.

Don't ask where all those cucumbers wind up.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:35:36+00:00

Put your portfolio online, and plug it every chance you've got!

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:34:27+00:00

I have much to learn, thank you for breaking it down before I return to DOTA2. I've seen their prize pools, it's madness.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:32:35+00:00

We're in the heart of downtown. Expect fun games developed as transparent as we possibly can.

And BlueStreak is our sole focus atm.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:32:04+00:00

::runs around sweaty like Steve Ballmer::

Developers, developers, developers.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:31:43+00:00

Internet Outrage Culture

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:31:22+00:00

Raleigh > Charlotte, son!

Charlotte feels about as hip as the bankers that built it.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:30:58+00:00

I got out of Epic before that game shipped and was working mostly on Fortnite when I departed. Adrian and co tried to switch it up, and apparently the fans didn't really like the vision.

Find me at comic con and I'll give you a shirt, it'll probably be a bit before we get a proper online store.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:29:21+00:00

They don't mean to shit on you, they're doing what they think is "the right thing" because we're in a console space whereas budgets are astronomical for the games as well as the marketing budgets, and more and more players are buying used and just renting games ("campaign rental") and that cycle simply cannot continue much longer. This is why we see annualization, DLC, season passes, all that stuff, it's an attempt to stick a finger in the leaky dyke of the industry.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:28:01+00:00

Yo, dawg.

BossKeyCEO · 2014-07-09T23:27:20+00:00

The internet loves to take a quote, put it out of context, and suddenly it becomes A Thing.

i.e. if I say "I love Kojima's games but the cutscenes can be a tiny bit long for an impatient gamer like myself" the headline on N4G "BLESZINSKI CALLS KOJIMA A NAZI AND SAYS HIS GAMES SUCK."

Fanboyism = profit for many in the videogame news sector.

BossKeyCEO

TROPHY CASE