Designer and Godus co-creator Jack Attridge is moving on, leaving behind the troubled god game and its equally troubled developer, 22Cans. As Peter Molyneux’s number two, he seemed like the heir apparent, but he’s ready “to steer his own ship” now, he told The Guardian, not further down the line.
The timing of the announcement makes it look like a reaction to some rather explosive criticism in February, which then led to emotional interviews with Peter Molyneux resulting in the veteran developer swearing off interviews entirely. Indeed, he said he’d never speak to the press again. It looks that way, but Attridge assures that this isn’t the case.
“It was January that I said to Peter I was looking to leave 22Cans and go off to start my own thing,” he said. “I was really worried that it might be perceived that I was leaving the studio because of that. It really is a shame because that felt like such a terrible time for us to part ways.”
The break up has been an amicable one, Attridge explained. And he had nothing but positive things to say about his ex-boss and mentor.
“I decided that it was time to go off and try my own thing and I explained my idea to Peter who was really supportive. He was sympathetic and gave me loads of advice, he just did everything he could to help us. He signed a waiver so I could start my own company straight away, and he advised me on running a team and a business.”
Attridge’s new project has, so far, spawned a tech demo, but he’s keeping that under his hat for the time being, no doubt learning from Molyneux’s frequent mistakes when it comes to over-promising and under-delivering.
“I vowed that I’m not going to say anything about this new game until we can show it,” he said. “It’s really tempting to show it off and talk about it now because we think we’ve got something magical on our hands. We’ve shown only two or three people for feedback so far. We want people to be able to see it and to feel it and to understand that it is the product in front of them and not something else”
Before he left, Attridge put together a documentary about 22Cans, spanning the birth of the studio up until the events of February this year. It will be made available to Godus backers soon.
Cheers, The Guardian.