Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ IGN

Deus Ex: HR Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête chats with IGN UK in a conversation that largely centres on why they chose to keep the depth of Deus Ex, instead of streamlining:

IGN: I keep thinking back to Bioware, and how with Dragon Age and Mass Effect they're gradually stripping away the less intuitive elements.

JJB: Yeah... I'm not gonna tell you what I really think of them doing that. But there's always a way to make something rather complicated work well. Our game director is a pragmatic, no-bullshit kind of guy and I'm really lucky to be working with him... one of his main skills is to ask what the reason is for something, and then make it usable and understandable.

And that's what design is! Whether it's game design, graphic design, industrial design, it's the perfect marriage of complexity and usability. If you have a graphic interface that looks beautiful but nobody understands what it is or how to use it, or if an industrial designer makes a beautiful chair that hurts your back when you sit in it, that's bad design. There's always a way to make something work.