Interview w/ Certain Affinity
Halo fans and industry insiders were surprised by the recent unveiling of Austin-based developer Certain Affinity. Founded by Bungie veteran Max Hoberman, the studio’s first project is the production of multiplayer maps for Halo 2.
GamesIndustry.biz sat down with Hoberman and Martin Galway, the studio’s operations manager, for an exclusive chat about the ten-person company, how they got started and what they’re planning next. Read below for some excerpts from the interview.
“I knew I wanted to start a company,” Max Hoberman begins. “I’ve known it for years and years.” Originally from Austin, he left to work for Bungie in the mid-nineties and, “After years of trying, we were finally able to come back.”
Before his near-decade at Bungie, Hoberman had other brushes with game development. He knew the founders when Mac publisher Aspyr first started, and in college he and a roommate decided to spend the summer developing a game.
“It didn’t work out so well,” recalls Hoberman. But one good result was the roommate later joined Bungie, becoming an engineer on Halo, Halo 2 and now Halo 3.
When Hoberman left Seattle, he worked on Halo 3 remotely. “Online, UI, planning… All sorts of stuff. I did that for a long time.” He also wrote initial high-level online plans for Halo 2 Vista.
When both those projects reached the implementation and iteration stages, Hoberman was no longer able to work on them remotely - “They won’t even let a build of Halo 3 leave the building.” So he started thinking about the long term.
“They’ve got too much on their plate,” Hoberman explains. “Between Halo 3, continued support of Halo 2 online… The Halo Wars thing coming out, the Peter Jackson thing, all sorts of other stuff. There was just no way it was going to work out.”
Hoberman began speaking with Bungie’s acting studio manager, Harold Ryan. “Harold proposed that I hire a few contractors to make some multiplayer maps. And it would give me a good chance to get to know some local talent.”
Back in November, prior to Certain Affinity’s announcement, Microsoft revealed that the additional maps would be available for purchase in the spring. “It started with Harold proposing it, I ran with it.”
Hoberman concludes, “Those guys have a personal interest in our success.” Which has allowed Certain Affinity to get off to a strong start.
So far, the company is self-funded, though much of the funding comes from the relationship with Microsoft. “Microsoft’s a great partner, and we’re founding this company with that partnership in place. Both with Bungie and with Microsoft.”
“Personally,” Hoberman concludes, “I like the 360 a lot. The 360 and Xbox Live, both. We have every intent of being on the 360, but we’re not obliged to be on it.” As evidence, he points to the Xbox Live features for Halo 3 - “It’s years ahead of everything that’s out there.”
Something else that Hoberman can’t say anything about is the origin of the studio’s name, Certain Affinity. “That actually goes back to stuff that I’m not allowed to talk about, from within Bungie. So I’ll have to leave it at that.”
In the end, Max Hoberman says that starting Certain Affinity isn’t about money. “If it were about the money, I would have just stayed employed at Bungie. That’s not what’s driving us. What’s driving us is making fun games. Games that we love to play.”
Who else hopes they keep proximity voice in Halo 3? That’s where you can hear your opponents talking if they are near you and don’t have the mic button pressed down. I still think that’s one of the best features of Halo 2, it really makes the matches feel more alive, when you can hear your teammates and enemies talking all around you.