interview with Jeff McBride
Max Pritz
with Jeff McBride. It is also posted at the site
(http://www.strategygamefan.com/starsrus), and, for those who subscribed to
the Stars!-R-Us Newsletter, you got it a few days ago.
A few points before we continue:
1) The interview was conducted via e-mail.
2) A list of questions was compiled from the newsgroup. ALL of these
questions were forwarded to Mr. McBride.
3) Jeff reserved the right not to answer any particular question, so if
you do not see your question in the list, that is why its not there.
4) What you see below are the actual questions submitted by news readers
and Jeff's un-edited reply (though he may have edited several questions, for
the sake of brevity).
Here we go:
-----------------------------------------------------------
1) Where did you get your idea to write Stars!?
The idea to write a game or the ideas that determined the shape of the game?
We decided to write our own game due to our utter frustration at the lack of
good multiplayer LAN strategy games available. We tried everything. The
games all seemed to use sequential turns, have no security, be bug-ridden,
have terrible user interfaces, require (shudder) DOS or some some
combination of these sins.
2) Is it true that you used to work for Microsoft? If so, what was it like
working for Bill Gates?
Yes. What was it like when I started or when I left? It changed a lot over
the course of the nine years I was there. I worked with a lot of great
people and am proud of every product that I worked on. The most significant
impact that working for Bill had, aside from the day he spilled beer all
over my shoes, was the fact that management was filled primarily with
engineers. I was never in a position where I was working for someone who did
not understand what I was talking about.
3) Stars! was created by yourself and Jeff Johnson, since there was nothing
currently available that satisfied your criteria for a space strategy game,
correct? Did you ever think it would become so popular with the worldwide
following it now has?
It wasn't a "space strategy" game in particular we were looking for so much
as a multiplayer LAN strategy game. We happened to choose the SF genre
because it is something we both enjoy. We could easily have used a fantasy
or historical setting. It is the gameplay that is important, not the
setting.
When we first started selling the game as shareware over the Internet, we
were somewhat surprised by the number of countries people were ordering
from. I wouldn't say that we were surprised that people liked the game. We
just had not expected so many people from non-English speaking countries to
be interested. Stars! requires far more reading than most games.
4) Which do you prefer Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5 (or some other thing
else)?
Star Trek, Star Wars and Babylon 5 all have some important things in common.
They were ground breaking for their time and in their own ways, they flew in
the face of current network and studio thinking and the creators understood
SF. Which universe do I prefer? Which characters are the best? The world of
Science Fiction is a richer place by having all three than it would be
having any one. I much prefer the variety.
5) What is your philosophy on life?
The board game, the cereal or the state of being? It's okay, can't stand it
and so far so good.
6) What's your favourite non-Stars! computer game? (Feel free to list
several if you feel they deserve it.)
The games that have sucked the most hours out of my life over the last
couple of years were:
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Might and Magic VI
Diablo
I still haven't seen anyone put out a multiplayer strategy game worth
spending any time on (other than Stars!).
7) Who's responsible for Stars! wicked sense of humour? (cf. AR Starbase
killed message.)
Uh, can I take credit for any humor you like and blame the rest on Jeff
Johnson? No? Then, let's just say "A multitude of deranged minds."
8) One of the best features of Stars! 2.7 was that you could substitute any
music CD for the Stars! CD-ROM while playing the game. A Babylon5 soundtrack
really enhanced my playing experience during the game.
Will this still be an option with SN, or will one be required to have the
SN CD-ROM in the drive throughout the game?
Hmm. I think that the people playing version 2.6 might argue with the phrase
"One of the best features..." but I take your point. Stars! Supernova does
not play music from CD Audio tracks. It will, however, be possible to
replace the music.
9) What happened to Jeff Johnson?
The best that we can figure is that someone forgot to sterilize the test
tube.
10) How closely do you monitor the newsgroup? The web?
What newsgroup? We don't piddle around with the "web". We watch every point
in space-time at all times.
11) In which programming language is Stars! written? (C, C++, ...)
Stars! and Stars! Supernova are both written in C.
12) Do you work from home or do you fellows have offices, and please
describe your computing setup?
We're a distributed company with contractors all over the world. I work from
my home where I have 8 machines on a LAN ranging from an AMD K5/100 to a
PIII/450 and about 100G of disk space. Several of the machines are laptops.
Most of them have 17 to 21" monitors. Several of them have multiple
monitors.
13) Have you considered authoring other types of computer games? For
example, any plans to expand to a world geo-political simulation game
(something like the board game Supremacy or Europa)?
Absolutely. We'll be doing other games.
14) Are you planning on the release of a demo version of SN before the full
release, and if so, when?
The Stars! Supernova demo will be available at the same time the full game
is available.
Current best guess: SN release date. SN first patch. SN last patch.
Stars!: Apocalypse (?) release date.
For answers to questions concerning release dates please go to
http://crisium.com/Stars/Nova.htm.
15) What will be "saveable" in SN? In other words what can we save to a
file, and transfer to another player? You have already indicated that the
Chronicles will be exportable. How about the AI (if they truly learn),
battle simulations, scenarios, ZIP orders, planetary queues, battle orders
(which promise to be larger than in Stars! 2, ship designs, and anything
else I forgot?
You will be able to save a battle, real or simulated, as a stand alone file
that can be viewed by anyone with the Supernova player exe. You will be able
to import and export ship designs. You will be able to create and pass
around custom scenarios. The Chronicle and Gazette will be exportable as
HTML. Messages and correspondence are savable via the Chronicle.
16) Would you ever consider releasing the source code of the most recent
version to the Stars! community? (and granting release control to some other
3rd party group)
Nope.
17) Is the AI going to be any better in Supernova than it was in Stars!?
That is our intention.
18) If you won't let us fight the MT, can we at least give him a firm
wedgie?
What makes you think that they wear underwear? Ever try giving a wedgie
under those circumstances? It is futile and potentially very embarrassing.
Jeff