STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS, INC

1991

 

After the layoff at Mediagenic, I was hired by Strategic Simulations, Inc.  I was producing games (under the goofy job title of Game Developer III, which really meant 'Associate Producer') and that was great.

SSI was based in Sunnyvale, CA.  There were around 90 employees, and while the company was founded on wargame simulations, its success had been with the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games. SSI was run by its founder, Joel Billings.  He was a hardcore wargamer (as were his top management) and it showed -- he had a whole table in his office dedicated to Napoleonic miniature warfare! This was a stark contrast to Mediagenic, where the exec staff was much less "hands-on" with the gaming world in general.

My manager, Bret Berry, let me come in and do my thing. He gave me advice when I needed it but overall let me do what I thought was right for the game (within reason, of course, but I guess I never exceeded reason.)

BTW, I had another interest in joining SSI.  Earlier that year, at a Game Developers conference, I had spotted a GORGEOUS woman.  Of course, I was much too timid to approach her at the time.  When I was interviewing at SSI, I was amazed to learn she would be working with me.  Yes, friends, that's how I first met my wonderful wife, Rhonda.

Until then, I had upheld the sacred rule of "never dating fellow employees, especially ones working FOR you."  However, I was infatuated with her, thinking up many excuses to have lots of lunches and dinners together.  I did restrain myself from actually asking her out on dates until I had decided to leave SSI (more on that later), but I fell love with her at first sight!*

*Rhonda's note: if Tony thinks I didn't know how he felt from the start, he is nuts.

Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday  - Genesis

Game Developer III -  1991

 

The Sega Genesis market was expanding and Electronic Arts wanted some quick titles.  Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday was conceived as a "quickie" to convert SSI's finished Buck Rogers PC game to the Sega Genesis.  It was supposed to take less then 6 months to complete. However, some boneheaded mandates had been made long before I got there. One example was a decision to change the main viewpoint of the game, which lead to a cascade of technical and design problems. Another example was that the EA development software was buggy, causing untold delays when the it crashed, destroying all the work for that day. When I showed up, the game had already exceeded its allocated six months; in fact it was less than half done!  The original producer had left, and I was hired to finish it since I had some experience with the Genesis.  I was given a deadline of 4 months. However, There was another even larger problem: despite the close-knit nature of the company, the five principal players (the programmer, 2 artists, and 2 writers, one of which was Rhonda) were MEGA unmotivated. They thought game would never end, were not too happy to be on it to start, and felt creatively taxed since this was a port of the same game they had already worked on.  On top of all that, this new guy (me) expected them to work harder then before!

I knew I had my work cut out for me.

One of the most important things to restore harmony was create a motivational progress chart, listing everything that needed to be done on the game.  I posted it in the main area for everyone to watch the progress as I checked off items as they were completed.  Rhonda suggested using gold stars to mark the progress, like in kindergarten. It thought this was an excellent element of whimsy that added to the team's motivation. Soon, everyone was focused on completing their line on the chart, trying to outpace the others in a productive and good natured way.

In fact, the team was so motivated, every one of them added new things to the game.  Even I got to change a few things I didn't like.  The original PC game had a space combat element that was SO LAME that the writers created a way for players to never have to play it.  That junk's not going into my game, I decided.  I whipped up a new design for space combat, and figured out how to get it into the schedule without missing the ship date.  Normally this sort of thing leads to mutiny and other problems. But everyone supported me on this, partially because they knew it would be a better game, and partially because we were working like a team! The new space combat got in, and the game WAS more fun.

Of course, you can't get all this without massive overtime.  But SSI had a few strange policies (at least to me at the time) such as "No one is allowed to work past midnight."  The Director of Development, Victor Penman, was a great manager but quite strict when it came to enforcing these policies.

One night I ignored him and stayed all night to ensure the Beta milestone was complete.  I should have kept my mouth shut, but the next day I had to brag to Rhonda and some others that I stayed up all night.  Victor heard this, and came to me.  "Is this true?" he asked.  "Yeah, but I got the Beta Milestone done!" I explained.  Victor narrowed his eyes.  "Go home," he ordered.  I was stunned.  "What?  We have to stay on schedule!  There are meetings today!  There are--"  He didn't care.  "Go home, and don't come back until tomorrow."  Boy, was I steamed.  I stormed out.

Victor taught me a few valuable lessons that day.  First, he elegantly showed me that you can't pull one over on him.  Second, how "making lost time" didn't matter if I didn't follow the rules.  And third, I learned a bit of humility -- I wasn't "untouchable."  Much later, I thanked him for that lesson.  Of course, he has no recollection of the event!

Victor now runs his own game development company called Evermore Entertainment and is still a good friend to both Rhonda and I. Bret is currently the V.P. of Product Development at UbiSoft, which is the company (in a long chain of companies) that acquired SSI.

 

Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed  - IBM

Script Programming -  1991

When the Genesis game was coming to an end, I was asked to produce the PC sequel.  I asked Rhonda to help me carve out a basic story.* *Rhonda's note: he used any excuse he could think of to spend more time alone in meeting rooms with me.  I didn't mind one bit. We worked out the basic plot, the adventure structure, and a few of the sub-plots players could explore as they tried to solve the main plot. Then I got a call from Lucasfilm Games (more on this below.) I told Bret and Victor that I couldn't produce Matrix Cubed, as I had decided to accept a job at Lucasfilm.  They tried to talk me out of it, then said they understood. Victor decided Rhonda would take over the game as associate producer (thus turning her path from writing to producing, at least for a while.) Before I left SSI, however, I wanted to try my hand at writing a game mission, which was done using an internal programming language called ECL (Encounter Control Language).  I wrote a mission near the start of the game where the players had to go to an asteroid and search for a missing General, who had information they needed.  It was a small mission, but I had a great time creating and programming it.

Read about and Rate Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed at MobyGames

 

LUCASFILM GAMES

1991 - 1992

 

While I was working at SSI, I was contacted by an old Activision work acquaintance, Lucy Bradshaw. She was now their Director of Product Development and asked me to come work for Lucasfilm Games.  She didn't have to ask twice!  While I liked SSI a lot, nothing could compete with the allure of Lucasfilm.  (The 50% raise and promotion to full Producer didn't hurt either.)

Lucasfilm Games was in San Rafael, CA.  It was not inside Skywalker Ranch, but about 3 exits before it on Lucas Valley Road.  It was in a nondescript building, right next to some equally-nondescript ILM buildings.  About 60 people worked there.

Seeing no downside here, I left SSI, instantly went to work for Lucasfilm Games, and endured my All-Time-Worst-Ever 9 months at a job. (Each month, I told Rhonda, "Maybe next month will be better."  After 9 months, I realized it was never getting better.)

There are lots of reasons why it didn't work out, but I prefer not to air them in public.  Let's just say there were a lot of disagreements on how I wanted to do things and how they had always done things. This caused a lot of friction.

While we were having these "discussions", the Games Division was losing more money than it was making.  I was told layoffs were coming and I should look for a new job. Frustrated with the problems I was having, I started looking around before I finished pre-production of Rebel Assault (a big problem as you will see below.)

One good thing about working at Lucasfilm: the perks!  Rhon and I ate lunch at Skywalker Ranch (spotting George every once in a while), got invited to sneak previews of Industrial Light and Magic films (with applause during every ILM effect) and the Halloween and Christmas parties were amazing.  We danced next to the Han Solo carbonite sculpture and ice-skated around Moscone Convention Center! 

 December 6th, 1991, after we came home from an ILM sneak-preview of Star Trek IV, I asked Rhonda to marry me!*

*Rhonda's note: I'd called in sick to work that day, but didn't fool anyone -- they all knew by then that I kept taking days off to go hang out with Tony at Lucasfilm.

History note: The games group officially changed their name to LucasArts a few months after I left.

 

 

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (unpublished)  - IBM

Producer -  1991-1992

Back when they thought the Young Indiana Jones TV series was going to be a hit, I was assigned to produce the game.  I thought the Producer should be allowed some creative input; unfortunately, the newly-promoted Project Leader was under the impression that he was God, and that I should not get in the way of his creative process.  Hence my first problem at Lucasfilm...

Here's my favorite story from this game: I was told one day that the cast and crew of the show wanted a walkthrough of what we were doing with the game.  4 guys and a PR woman came in, and I stated to show them around.  While we were waiting for a computer to load, I asked each of the four guys what they did.  "I'm the set designer."  "I'm the assistant director."  "I'm costuming..."

So I turn to the last one, a guy about my age wearing a parka and a peace symbol necklace. I asked, "And what do you do?" 

He meekly said, "I'm the star."

This took a second to sink in.  This is Sean Patrick Flannery, the guy they chose to be Young Indy!  "But of course you are!" I exclaimed. I then apologized and told him I had seen pictures of him but he looked SO DIFFERENT in real life.  Not my finest day.

The game was canceled soon after the series was canceled.

 

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Action Game  - IBM, Amiga, Atari ST

One of many Producers -  1991-1992

This was developed in Europe.  It had at least 5 different producers at different times, and it showed.  The game was no fun.

I got the final honor of finishing it.  At my insistence, the credits read simply "Produced by the staff of Lucasfilm Games." History note: I got this idea from the credits of the Infocom game Bureaucracy, which was passed from staff member to staff member until it was finally complete.

IJatFoA:Action was ultimately only distributed in the UK. Let me know if you ever find one of these, I never got a final copy of the box for myself.

 

Star Wars: Rebel Assault - IBM CD

Original Designer and Project Leader - 1992

This is the one that got away. Here's the short story: Lucasfilm wanted to make a Star Wars game on CD (this was a bid deal back in '91, when CDs were basically storage devices for disk games with some CD audio attached.)  But no one knew what more do with it then just put a bunch of silly, standard sub-games on the disk as a collection, and perhaps play some movie clips in-between. I conceived of a game that used the CD to play movies that the player could interact with.  The player would have the ability to pilot a starship through movie-quality canyons, asteroid fields and the Death Star.  He could interact with these items by smashing into the walls and destroying objects around him. Additionally, I added a unique concept: to have multiple movie streams "branch" into different game paths, allowing them a form of freedom of movement. Finally, I proposed a way to "rotate and slide" the movie playfield around a bit while the player flew, to make it feel more "real." I knew all of this was possible, but it had never been combined like this before.

When I presented my design to a review committee, no one understood the concept.  After further explanation, some said it could not be done. I've heard this before, so I convinced them to let me build a prototype to prove it can be done.

I spent two weeks producing a prototype with the programmer I chose for the experiment, Vince Lee. Vince was amazing, grasping the concept I laid out and doing the hard work of proving they were possible. The resulting prototype not only proved the design was possible, it also visually demonstrated how cool it was that players fly around in a movie and could "branch" to different parts of the Figure 8 canyon!  Now that everybody got it, the game was quickly green-lit, and I started to work with the Art Director and Vince to hire more artists and begin pre-production.

I completed the design, but due to the impending layoffs at Lucasfilm, soon left for Sega, handing the game over to Vince.  When the game finally shipped two years later, it became a massive hit. I rushed out to buy the game, scanning the credits looking for my name under Design.  Sadly, my name appears nowhere in the credits, with Vince Lee taking sole credit for the game design. Sigh.

History note: The franchise ultimately sold about 2,000,000 units, something few PC games have ever done. To date, it is Lucasarts largest selling PC entertainment title.

There's a life-lesson here: ALWAYS KEEP COPIES OF YOUR WORK.  Had I not handed over ALL my original designs when I left, I would have had some legal leverage to get my name re-attached to the game on later reprints and conversions (and in this industry, your name on a hit game makes all the difference in the world.)

Some may doubt the validity of this story. To them I simply say look at all of the games I have designed in my career, and notice how many of them have either helped create new genres in the industry, evolve an existing genre, or do something that had not been seen before. This is the best proof I can offer.

Read about and Rate Star Wars: Rebel Assault on MobyGames

Despite the future heartbreak I was destine for with Rebel Assault, I was off to my next job...