Doing Credits Right

May 6, 2008

I just finished Half-Life 2: Episode Two again. Playing it through on my new computer was a real treat, and the ending of this episode still brings a tear to my eye. One thing jumped out at me for the first time on this play-through: the end credits. Valve has chosen to present the end credits in a short, yet elegant way. Every contributor is listed in alphabetical order by last name, with only a few notable exceptions (all the voice talent is singled out, for example). The result is a short, concise credits sequence that isn't a bore to sit through. Compare this with the end credits for Call of Duty 4, which go on for so long that a rap song is performed to break the monotony (I believe the end credits are on the order of 3 or 4 minutes long in that particular title).

I'd really like to see more end credit sequences patterned after Valve's design. Others may disagree, but knowing who did what on a project isn't very important. Listing each contributor in a single group levels the playing field and gives everyone an equal measure of thanks.

1 Comment

kip

12:56 PM on May 6, 2008
I don't really mind credits that list what everyone did, I think if I had worked on the game I would want to be listed along with what I worked on. Although I don't think I'd like it so much if the credits were set to rap music... For a different take on credits, Okami's credits are very artistically done. Actually, the whole game is very artistically done and I'm thinking about trying the Wii version. (I saw those credits linked from an article about how the original developers' names were cut from the Wii version's credits.)

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