David Jaffe delivered the PAX Prime 2011 keynote address, recounting some of his experiences and sharing lessons learned in the game design industry.
He began gearing up for his next big thing, which was called Heartland. He described the game as Red Dawn meets Saving Private Ryan, and Jaffe said that he wanted it to serve as a political allegory while also achieving “the Holy Grail of game design,” which is to make players cry upon completion for the right reasons.
The problem with this game, Jaffe said, was that he was making it in order to chase after the next big thing, instead of following his passion. The game was eventually given the green light, but it didn’t take long for members of the team to be reassigned to work on Sony’s reboot of the Warhawk franchise. Jaffe said that if he were honestly in love with Heartland, he would have never let this happen to his team.
“Your life is going by so quick, the only thing you can do is the thing you have to do.”
— David Jaffe