Scott Youngblood - Red 5 Q&A

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Posted April 22nd, 2007 by Cody Bye

Joining a New Tribe

Ten Ton Hammer Interviews Scott Youngblood, the Newest Addition to Red 5 Studios

By Cody “Micajah” Bye

April 22, 2007

Red 5 Studios, creators of a yet untitled upcoming next-gen massively multiplayer game, made headlines a few weeks ago, stating that they had scooped up Scott Youngblood and he would fill an unannounced position within the company. This was big news coming from the company who had also picked up D&D designer, Ed Stark, and collectible card game designer, David Williams.

While Youngblood may not be a household name to everyone, anyone who's played a recently released multiplayer FPS battle owes Scott Youngblood their thanks. As the lead designer for Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2, Youngblood has been on the cutting edge of multiplayer games for years. His other work include several Syphon Filter titles and a large measure of work on the cutting-edge adventure title, Majestic.

Youngblood has many titles on his resume, but what he doesn't have is a bevy of MMO experience. Ten Ton Hammer sat down with Scott and discussed his upcoming plans to innovate the MMO genre and how his previous work will help him overcome his relative inexperience with MMO design.

Micajah: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Scott. For starters, when did you start gaming and was there a moment in your life that you knew you were going to be making video games as a career?

Youngblood: My first video gaming experience was in a bowling alley in Salem, Oregon in the mid-1970's. They had very early video games (Pong, Tank, Indy 4 etc.). I was completely enthralled with them. I still have vivid memories of that first experience. From that moment forward I was hooked. Luckily, so were my parents as they bought all of the early console systems (Atari 2600 etc.) that came out. Even though I was an avid gamer it didn't really dawn on me that I could make games for a living until I accidentally landed a job with Dynamix in 1990 as a network technician. I'm not sure why I never thought of it as a viable career until then. Once I was on the inside I decided to switch out of being a network guy and became a tester and worked my way up from there. It took my parents a few years before they stopped telling me to get a "real job."

Micajah: In the past, you've worked on a pretty large variety of games. For instance, your first published title with Sierra was actually a sports game! You've come a line way since Frontpage Sports and the Sierra team. In your opinion, what’s driven your career to where you are today? Ambition? Determination? Talent? Or just plain luck?

Scott Youngblood of Red 5 Studios

Youngblood: Desire and challenge. I love the challenge of making games. Even though I wasn't a sports fan, I was drawn to making the sports games just for the challenge of it. The challenge was working with the team to create fun games that mimicked the real sports as closely as we could, better than anyone else had. These days what drives me is the desire is to make games that I want to play. If you can spend a significant amount of time and effort creating something that you personally find enjoyable when its done, perfect. If other people find it enjoyable as well. thats even better. Ambition? No not really... for me it's all about the game. I want to be in the trenches, as close to the action as I possibly can be. You won't see me stray too far from the “roll up the sleeves” game designer position. My philosophy is simple: find out what you love to do, keep doing it for as long as you can. Lucky? In a sense I do feel very lucky for being able to live the dream job of being a game designer. I don't think that there is anything else that I would rather be doing!

Micajah: Are you a fan of any particular genre or style of video game? What is/are your favorite title(s)? How have these games impacted your game design?

Youngblood: I've always loved roleplaying games. When I got my C-64 with a tape drive the first game I bought was Epyx's Temple of Apshai. I also love shooters (of course), and today I find myself splitting my time between MMOs, RPGs, and FPS games primarily.

Micajah: You seemed to have a pretty solid relationship with Sony before you made your transition to Red 5, creating two Syphon Filter games between 2004-2006. What made you leave your current role with Sony to join Red 5?

Youngblood: Leaving Bend, Oregon was a very hard decision for me. I absolutely loved the town and the people that I worked with. I could have been happy there for years to come. But when Red 5 came along and showed me what they were up to I was torn, I agonized over what to do. Ultimately, I look at life as this... "I would much rather regret doing something that I've done than something I haven't done." I looked at the opportunity that Red 5 offered and determined that I didn't want to kick myself later for not following what seemed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Micajah: Mark Kern has mentioned you in an interview along with their “Golden Ticket” recruiting scheme that involves calling their 100 top people in the industry. Was it a refreshing thing to be offered a job by the President and CEO of a company rather than a recruiter? Have you added any names to the Golden Ticket list?

Youngblood: The golden ticket list hasn't changed as far as I know, and I don't think that any more ipod packages are going to be sent out. Now, that being said, there are other people that I totally respect and would love to work with again. People who I think would be a good fit for Red 5 that haven't already been contacted get added to a normal recruitment channel. Jeff Lawniczak (Red 5’s Recruiting Manager), will then contact them and determine what their interest levels may be and handle where it goes from there.

Continue reading to learn more about Youngblood's interactions with the Red 5 team and how he plans to adapt his design goals to meet the demands of MMOs!