Warren Spector wants to mine new ’emergent gameplay’ from System Shock’s nostalgia

All of Warren Spector’s games over the past few decades have been about “emergent gameplay,” which give players choices so that they can solve problems in their own way. Spector has been religious about this view, which contrasts to the tastes of game writers such as Amy Hennig, creator of the Uncharted series, where games more often follow a single path with a cinematic, movie-like structure.

By contrast, his own games such as Deus Ex and Epic Mickey are intended as canvases for players for more creative expression and for choosing different ways to solve problems. Spector has been teaching game design for the last three years, but now he’ll get a chance to show what he means again. Spector announced last week at the DICE Summit, the game event in Las Vegas, that he was joining Paul Neurath’s OtherSide Entertainment to create System Shock 3.