At the Electronic Entertainment Expo of 2006 (the last one, as it happens), an independent Canadian developer, Silicon Knights, displayed its latest project in development, entitled Too Human. The demo was, by all accounts, a disaster– technical problems abounded, nobody understood the product and the enthusiast press were quick to pile on large helpings of ridicule. Since then, the founder of the studio, Denis Dyack, has been visibly upset, defensive, and borderline obsessed with the fallout of that demo. He mentions it to nearly anyone who interviews him and he even tried posting on Internet forums to defend himself and his studio (to predictable results). Recently, he said he feels like he’s been through “eighteen months of hell”.

I do hope we all can stop picking on him and his project, at least until it is released. All parties acknowledge the game was not ready to be shown in May of 2006, and any further hounding of the people behind this title seems rooted solely in the knowledge that Dyack is a risible figure– he will react if we tease him, so tease him we must. As hardcore gamers, we are used to being cynical. But as fellow developers, perhaps we can show some support for this independent studio with a solid track record (Eternal Darkness, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes) and their pursuit of their huge ambitions. Denis Dyack is easy to make fun of because he wears his heart on his sleeve, as the saying goes. He is genuinely trying his hardest to push the medium forward in the best way he knows how. Why can’t we support him? It’s clearly what we would want, if we were in his shoes.