Harvey Smith, BlackSite: Area 51 designer and former Deus Ex lead designer, started his interview with Reporter Paul Arzt by stating that "this [Blacksite: Area 51] project was so f**ked up".
Smith then revealed that that technical problems hindered the game development time and time again. "It took eight months to get one thing working", he stated but refused to specify what that one thing was.
After spending too much time fixing technical problems, too little time was left for the actual game design. "We got hammered so hard, and we deserved it." "With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails."
"It went straight from alpha to final", Smith admitted.
After designing a level, Area 51's design team usually had 4 days to fix and polish it, compared to Deus Ex when they spent six months playing the game just to make sure everything was right.
When asked why he would be so open about the faults of the game so soon after it launched, Smith's response was, "I believe in personal accountability."
Even after admitting the game's shortcomings, Smith still believes that it has been underrated. "I would give it an 80," he said. The game scored an average score of 69%.
Blacksite: Area 51 is scheduled for European launch tomorrow.
