In 1989 while I was in the UK where I grew up, I had an idea for a game after spending long hours on my Viglen computer. In those days, I had no experience whatsoever, didn't even know enough about my computer and the only magazine worth reading was Byte. You have no doubt read about my story already and how I got here in dozens of reviews, articles and interviews. Most of it is now history.
In everyone's speculation about who I am, where I came from and how I got here, one fact remains clean, clear and naked. I'm a true gamer and I don't think anyone out there can dispute this.
In between juggling work, first as a computer salesman for several IBM resellers in the UK, then as tech support and finally as developer and troubleshooter for some of the big names in US and UK industry, I found time to continue the design for my game at the same time going to college part-time. During this time, I had to learn, from scratch how to program first in Basic, then Assembly, then C, then moved over to the bloated C++ environment and delved in Borland Prolog every now and then and finally my own AILOG language. I didn't know a thing about game development. The closest I got to 'game development' was to play someone else's while trying to figure out how they did it. By the time I figured out what I was doing and getting a grip on technology, something else improved and I had to go and learn that.
I have spent thousands of hours in lectures, part-time and full-time courses learning a little about this and a little about that and thousands of pounds and dollars on books, software, hardware etc. You name it, I got it and still have it. You'd be surprised at what they don't teach you in college. Today, I can safely say that about 75% of what I know about game development, is self- taught. I have every book written by Lee Adams. Who can forget Newman & Sproull or the bible of all computer books by Foley, vanDam, Feiner & Hughes? What about Bruce Artwick and Peter Norton's books? I think I am one of very few people who actually licensed a copy of the Real Time Animation Language by Sublogic back in 1986. I still have it. Yes, that was my first real experience with 3D interactive graphics. How many of you developers know of a real rule based language called RAL, developed by Charles Forgy and Douglas Philips for C? This was one of the first language to implement object oriented rule-based capability to the C language, which, like every language then, was procedural. That was back in 1991 when I was well on my way to causing myself considerable aggravation by delving into the world of artificial intelligence. RAL lasted a few months of testing, didn't suffice and I moved on. In 1992, I was well into the development of my own language from the ground up, Artificial Intelligence & Logistics, AILOG. In an objected oriented framework, it was designed to be rule based, built on top of C and C++. Today, not only does it surpass it's original design by handling neural net based methods, it also outputs, from it's own code subset, correct C++ code which can be used with any ANSI compliant C/C++ environment.
I have spent my life in research, in classes and working all over the world (as far away as Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa) in one environment or another. I grew up in a life where you were either somebody or you were nobody. I have always believed that as long as what was in my head was intact, that I could always live a financially secure life. The career path I chose, allowed me to continue increasing my knowledge of the industry and at the same time studying to maintain academic credibility in a society that demanded it. Like anyone aspiring to be a lawyer, doctor or carpenter, I just wanted to be in the computer industry writing games and having fun doing what I found interesting and fun. Though we all try to convert our acquired knowledge into fame and fortune, to say that these were not my goals too, would be dishonest. I wanted to be famous for what I was doing. I wanted to be recognized for whatever contribution I ended up making. I wanted to be able to earn enough money to continue doing what I did best. Most of all, I wanted to remain committed to what I believed in. My work. Sure, I'm not researching the cure for AIDS nor writing the next greatest thing in software development, but to me, it was important enough to continue doing it.
My work on BC3K encompasses several genres and years of development. The same way that you can play the first Ultima game today, you can play the first ever public demo of BC3K that was previewed in Computer Games Strategy Plus, issue 18 of May 1992. The file is called BC3K1992.ZIP. That was the article that started it all. A second demo was done the following year. The file is called BC3K1993.ZIP. Both files are now in the cargo bay section of my web site. Running these two demos and comparing against the game as it stands today, is a testament to where I've come. I have chased technology throughout my entire development history and have delved in almost every facet that would later find it's way into BC3K. Enlisting the help of trusted friends and colleagues around the world (Peter in the UK, Gerhard in Germany and Jim in New York) my own very knowledge and ideas were augmented by combining years of experience. Without feedback, input and development assistance from these friends and the support of so many gamers around the world, BC3K probably wouldn't be here today.
My company, 3000AD, has been operating at a loss since it's inception in 1992. All my money, that of my mother's and indeed development funding and expenses from three publishers were sunk into this game. Any normal, sane person would have quit. I didn't and my refusal to quit has absolutely nothing to with respect, financial loss or any such trivial issues. I am well educated and even if I hadn't even gone to college and amassed three degrees, years of experience in hardware and software alone, would have ensured that I got a decent job somewhere, in fact, anywhere on this planet. I have sold computers, I have built computers, I have done tech support, I have written documentation and specs, I program in over eight computer languages, my experience with software packages as well as advanced application design and development goes as far back as the inception of the industry as we know it, I've had 2D and 3D artistic training and have used several packages to this end back when I was truly the 'lone wolf' programmer, I know enough about game development to be a valuable asset to any company even if they locked me in a room and gagged and brainwashed me. To top it all, I have exceptional (as my team will attest to) research and development skills. I know how to reach out and touch the right people. How to make and preserve alliances as well as push the right buttons and make things happen. If anyone knows of a quicker way to gain friends and create enemies, I'm your man. In short, I could've bailed a long, long time ago and resumed consulting. I didn't because I wanted to do THIS game. My life as I know it, is in THIS game.
To this day, I have people working for me part-time without ever having received more than expense payments and knowing fully well that we were probably investing in wasted time. Yet still, they stuck by me with absolutely no guarantees that anything good would ever come from their involvement in this project. As developers and artists, we all work together on a project that belongs to us and the gamers we are writing it for. We all want to make some money for our troubles but for us, and I speak for my development team as well as the testers worldwide, this project is just a testament to something we truly believe in. Something we started. Something we have to finish. As long as I'm at the helm, my alliances and loyal supporters will always be here. For richer or for poorer, my faith in what I was doing, never faltered, was never tainted with visions of failure and I am, committed, more than ever, to follow my dreams. I have never lost a team member. Not my support developers. Not my artists. Not my musicians. Anyone who has worked with me in the past are either still working with me on contract as need be or keep in touch. I have the most dedicated testing team ever. I have a doctor, a movie producer, university students, managers and even a bona fide scientist. All professionals who put their time into testing this game because they, like me, believed. And yes, they all paid for the game in 1996. And no, their services are strictly voluntary.
When Take Two released the game incomplete and without my permission, I thought my life had ended. Why they did it, is understandable and unforgivable depending on how you look at it. Projects get canceled everyday of the week in this industry and companies write them off. Why did a company release a title it knew to be incomplete? Some blame it on me because development had taken too long. Others blame it on them wanting to make back some money for their investment in development costs, the cost of packaging etc. Most of all, canceling a project means giving back any money a publisher has taken from distributors etc.
I have asked myself over and over again, what would have happened had Take Two simply terminated the project? It's simple, my contract merely states that if for some reason the project was terminated through my own fault, that I would be responsible for paying back the publisher their expenditure. The end result would most probably have been a lien on the title which would only have been removed once they were paid back. Instead, the game was released WITHOUT my permission in October 1996. This move subjected the game, my friends and my family to ridicule and all but killed a game that had the longest development cycle in the history of the industry. The rest is history. I have made my internal peace with Take Two and hold no grudges because that very event alone defined where I am today and sealed my fate as well as my quest for closure.
As a gamer, I would be livid if I had bought BC3K back in 1996. Sure, I could've returned it but what about stores that didn't take returns? Most gamers actually returned it, only to buy it again a few months later once the word started getting out that it was worth getting.
Today, BC3K is no longer being mastered and worldwide units are all but gone. I fought long and hard with Take Two to get the rights back to the title because without it, I would have to take them to court in order to justify any mitigation of damages in ever releasing this or any title associated with it. The game upon release as v1.00 in October 1996 was a mess. That much is obvious. Today everyone playing it can attest to it's technology and as someone said to me recently, "...it's hard to believe that there truly was a game here" Any title that was released before development wrapped would have the same fate. It's that simple. Today, most of you have seen this game. Yes, some of it's graphics do show signs of wear and tear in this age of advanced graphics technologies, but BC3K shines for a game that was born in 1989. The world never got to see BC3K in all it's glory and even now, in order to see it, you have to go out and find a dud v1.00 unit and spend time downloading a 7MB patch and a 4MB manual.
I have always maintained one thing. I decided to write games when I first started playing games though I knew nothing about the subject. The computer industry is not as cut and dry as going to school to become a doctor. It takes years of changes to even keep abreast; where reading about a new technology is not the same as being able to learn how to develop your game for that technology. By the time you're out of school, you're just about ready to pull out your hair because there is a chance that about 50% of what you know, will get thrown out of the door when you land your first job. There is no consistency, no time to pause, no time to think, no time to ponder. While you're doing all these things, as a developer, another developer, somewhere out there is coming up with new ways to make your life a misery either with a new technology, compiler, environment, graphics standard or a new method of doing things. You have no choice but to play 'catch up'. I have done my share.
In saying this however, while BC3K has been playing catch-up in the graphics department with the likes of current competition, it is still technologically superior in terms of gameplay, features and sports the most complex and advanced living galaxy in any game of it's class. This is what makes this game so special. The complexity and advanced feature set is what makes this game so unique because it shows years of research and development. Most of all, as everyone now says, the game is fun! You won't get bored. You won't get stuck in a single mission waiting for a friend to tell you what to do or make a 1-900 call to a hint line. You make your own rules. You play the way you want. You have friends who help and you have enemies waiting to tattoo a bullseye on your ship's hull. The universe is so huge that even I have not spanned all of it and I single handedly, designed, scripted, built and tested it!
The other day I was on Mars testing the surface roving logic for the mining drones. In previous versions, they did not move when deployed (see titbit on the web site GNN area) so a special roving logic was developed for them which allowed them to roam the surface, stop, mine, move on and if they collided with an object, would turn around and seek a new path. Anyway, while I was hovering in an interceptor watching it to see if there were any flaws in the logic, I decided to hop over to Sygan and deploy one on another planet with a different topology. I didn't last more than five minutes when I entered the region because apparently some military forces had decided to take on the raiders and I ended up in a a fire fight I knew nothing about nor had anything to do with.
That single event cost me several ships and I barely managed to limp out of the region to perform repairs. When I returned with a plan to slip past the station and deploy my drone on the planet (I was determined to run this test) I was only met with small resistance in space due to heavy losses for the bad guys in the previous skirmish. On entering the planet as soon as I broke cloud cover and flew close to the ground, I was attacked and destroyed. All I wanted to do was peacefully deploy a drone and run some tests. You never, ever know what is going to happen in this game. No matter how many times or how long you play, you just never know. That's the fun factor.
I'm not even going to begin to talk about graphics technology. BC3K is a 100% DOS game, but take a look and see what we have achieved with what little we have. Three weeks ago we embarked on putting in 3Dfx Glide support, it works, we're happy with it and once a few quirks are ironed out, it's done. The Rendition guys offered to help by providing some of their boards and DOS api, we're planning on putting in Rendition support too for v2.0. The days of spending months on end re-inventing the wheel are gone. We are more experienced, trained and savvy. That's what we've achieved over the years in this project. We have learned a lot and BC3K gave us that. It gave us the subject, the task and reasons. We just ran with it. Even if I worked for a gaming company full time all these years, sure, I would probably be richer, but I would never, ever have gained this much experience.
I know a lot of people in the press. Some I have never met and some I have met and known throughout my career. I deal with the press at a peer to peer level and maintain a level of respect for those who have earned it. To the best of my knowledge and experience, it's a mutual agreement. You, in the press, have a job to do and I, as a game developer, have to help you do that job. I will tell you about my product. I will tell you about my struggles if it pertains to development and release. I will tell you about my next great thing. I expect you, in turn, to pass that on to the one person we both work for. The gamer. I do not expect favoritism. I do not expect vendettas. I do not expect hidden agendas. Freedom Of Speech is not an excuse to screw around with someone's livelihood or enjoyment, nor is using a magazine as a forum for such activities, appropriate.
Some of you guys shouldn't even be in this industry, let alone be allowed to write about games. Writing about games, should be about games. Who cares if the developer goes to church on Sunday or rides a bike every weekend? What you should care about is being informative about the game. If it quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck and looks like a duck; for crying out loud, it ain't a chicken! If you have a thing for sports games, heck, pass on reviewing sims or you will end up misleading the gamer. If your thing is for arcade type games, pass on high end titles. Reviews are based on personal experience and once you make that decision and give that score, whether you like it or not, there's some poor gamer out there (who doesn't know any better) who is going to take your word for it. Guess what happens when someone he knows goes and plays the same game you just trashed or reviewed highly. Previews should be the norm and like the warning on a cigarette packet, the writer should make it clear that his review is based on personal experience etc. If you guys are doing a review of a finished title, get a number of people to play it and then rate it based on a majority vote. You guys got beat up over reviewing games that were incomplete and now we have 'previews' and 'reviews', yet still, you're STILL doing it WRONG! What's it going to take?
Why am I even discussing this here, because I have had numerous enlightening experiences in developing BC3K with regards to the press. Yes, BC3K upon release was unplayable. But of course! However, some magazines took that opportunity to pick on BC3K consistently because it was inoperable out of the box. In fact, numerous large companies are releasing UNFINISHED and BUGGY titles that you guys are giving high scores to. Oh sure, let's er, give it 10 points for having cool graphics and ignore all the bugs, a crappy manual and the fact that a patch became available just as the game hit the shelves. What's that about? I did not nor have I ever condoned the premature release of my product or any other for that matter. My continued work on the title, above and beyond it's original specs, is proof positive of that.
Even if BC3K had been released when ready, I would never have received adequate financial compensation for my work, my time or my ideas. Neither my development team nor my testers would ever have received compensation commensurate with their contribution. Today, what we lack in finances we have tenfold in knowledge. I am content and still think I'm ahead. In saying this, due to the recent rekindled interest in the game and in looking forward to a bright future, I have decided to put this game in the hands of the gamers and let them decide for themselves.
At 12:01AM on Friday, February 13th 1998, I will be releasing BC3K v1.01D7C to world for FREE at the 3000AD web site and other sites around the world that I have contacted. The files will be available from the Cargo Bay section of the web site for download.
This being the same version everyone is now playing. The same version the press are now playing and writing about. The same version from a game everyone said was crap but has nevertheless outsold most completed games currently on release. I provide this version for free as my contribution to the industry and gamers everywhere. I want the world, to see what it is I envisioned, what it is I created and what it is, I have been slaving on for these long years. The gamer no longer has to pay $15 for v1.00 and then spend time downloading it. They can get it from their favorite magazine or download it for free. With the pending release of v2.0, they can then make up their minds as to whether or not the title or any incarnation thereof, is worth getting. This time around, I'm going to let the game speak for itself. They can then decided whether or not they want to invest any more time or money on the title. If they don't, no harm done, it's a free look at a full game. If they do, then they can upgrade to v2.0 when it becomes available.
The print magazines, can also carry it with 2 conditions:
(1) that a short precis based on my reasons for giving this title away is printed in the same issue carrying the program. You also have the option to print this release in it's entirety if you so choose.
(2) that the game is a cd-rom issue feature and not hidden in some obscure sub-directory. Print magazines wanting to carry this version on their cd-rom can either download the same version from the above site or request a cd-rom from me which will also include the 55MB intro animation not included in the download version. The Adobe Acrobat Reader v3.01 will be included on the cd-rom.
(3) That the printed article have the program logo (attached) I am NOT sending cd-roms outside of the US unless the magazine in question is paying for the shipping. So, that's all I wanted to say and if I got long winded, my apologies.
