'Nobody in this industry knows what they're doing' (and that's not always a bad thing)

When it comes to video game design, you can have 20 years of experience, but still have a lot to learn. That even goes for Cliff Bleszinski, best known for leading creation of the blockbuster Gears of War series. Now he’s leading his new independent studio Boss Key, working on a free-to-play shooter called Bluestreak with publisher Nexon. “Nobody in this industry knows what they’re doing – we just have a gut assumption based on the games that we can play in our head and sometimes you get it on screen and it’s fun, and sometimes it’s not,” he told Develop in a new interview. “Sometimes variables pop up that you hadn’t even considered you’d have to work around,” he added. “The thing is you pan for gold, you chip away at the marble and hopefully make a sculpture if you don’t knock the nose off.” Bleszinski, who is heading up the business side as CEO but also spending time on game mechanics and franchise development, said he’s out to “re-prove” himself. “You’re only as good as your last game,” he said. The last game he was hands-on with was Gears of War 3. Now as an independent, Bleszinski sees opportunity in working on a brand new game in which there really are no expectations that he has to adhere to. Anything is fair game. “I’m back at the helm where I have my baby again,” he said.