Game Devs Push For Standardized Credits

via IGN

A push to standardize how game developers are credited in their projects was already underway before the recent brouhaha involving Rockstar Games' snubbed Vienna studio, but the issue has picked up momentum in the story's wake.

In September, the International Game Developers Association posted a public "beta" of their proposed Credit Standards Guide in wiki form on their web site. Today, the organization announced its Credit Standards Committee will host a roundtable discussion during the 2008 Game Developers Conference entitled "The IGDA Credits Movement: The Revolution Is Already Here."

In a statement on its web site, the IGDA said that "the recent controversy around the credits of Manhunt 2 serve as a significant example of why crediting standards are needed in the game industry."

Last week, a former producer at Rockstar Vienna complained on his personal blog that his team worked on Manhunt 2 for more than two years but was not credited on the final product.

We're all for giving game-development credit where it's properly due (after all, we're the nerds who actually read them), so we're all in favor of the IGDA's efforts. We do have one request, though.

All end-game credits should follow the Portal format, for the good of all of us. Except the ones who are dead.

I don't think we need an agency hounding game developers over the proper way to do the credits. For the most part the industry does fine as it is. If anybody's not satisfied, let 'em complain. They'll get more attention that way than if they had been properly credited anyway.