The God Project: Warren Spector on the making of Deus Ex

pcgamesinsider.biz:

In 2000, Ion Storm released Deus Ex - a sci-fi cyberpunk title that combined elements from a variety of different game genres. There were hacking and stealth mechanics, combined with shooter and weapons, creating something entirely unique and ground breaking at the time.

The game began life in 1993, when developer Warren Spector had an idea for a project called Troubleshooter. Having become bored of the popular game genres of the time, as well as their settings, he conceived of an ambitious project that combined different elements from different games.

"The initial idea was to make what I called 'the real-world roleplaying game'," Spector explains.

"I was really tired of fantasy and sci-fi and thought it'd be cool to make a game set in the real world. Related to that was the idea of letting players solve problems however they wanted to. I was tired of games that forced me to fight or sneak (the two main game verbs at the time). I wanted to make a game that would support either or both of those - and let players come up with stuff even the developers didn't think of. Every detail of the game changed, but that core survived until the day we shipped."

Having tried to get this game made at his previous employers, Origin and Looking Glass, and these ideas did make their way into an unreleased project called Junction Point. This game was cancelled and Spector laid off. But he found a new home at John Romero's studio Ion Storm, the developer also working on the wildly ambitious - and ultimately critically panned - Diakatana.

"I had just left Looking Glass and was looking to do a start-up," Spector says.

"I was about to sign a contract to make a game based on an existing IP for someone else when, out of the blue, I got a call