My Report From CGDC
Fastgraph
By Diana Gruber
Saturday, April 22
------------------
Ted and I arrived in San Jose around noon, and rented a big comfy
Lincoln, and headed over to the Westin hotel. There we were met by
Tom Mayer, our favorite Coriolis sales guy, standing on the sidewalk
smoking a cigar. Tom handled our luggage including Ted's brand
spanking new Pentium which had arrived safely through the labyrinth
of airport security, zealous gate attendants and flight personel. Ted
and I proceeded with Tom to the exhibit hall to set up the system
along with lots of signs and books, but on the way we got distracted
by such old friends as Keith Weiskamp, Charles Kramer, Mary Ellen
Foley and of course the loveable and affable Ernest Adams. Ernest
straightened out the badge situation, always tricky but with a little
help from Karen Crowther and Tim Brengle, I managed to get
appropriate badges for the whole Coriolis Crew, including Ben Sawyer,
Jeff Duntemann, Lary Myers, and Dave Roberts. Whew! Advance work was
complete, time to start enjoying the show.
Ted and I headed over to the Computer Literacy bookstore, where we met
up with Michael Abrash, Zen master supreme, and Lary Myers, who was
pleased to get a badge and also hold my purse while Michael signed
books. Robert John Mudry gave us a tour of the CLBOOKS Web page, then
we headed back to the Westin to prepare for the evening's festivities.
The Logitech party was quite noisy and exciting. The best part, of
course, was running into old and new friends. Chris Howard spilled a
drink on my shoes. George "The Fat Man" Sanger looked dapper in his
rhinestone cowboy duds, and Rob Wallace entertained me with stories of
his new projects. During all this, Ted was curiously absent, and it was
later discovered he was in his hotel room coding Fastgraph for Windows.
Ted... get a clue. It's party time.
I also dropped by the Warner suite, which left me humming the theme
song from "Animaniacs" the rest of the night.
Sunday, April 23
----------------
Highlight of this day was my book signing at the Computer Literacy
bookstore, along with Lary Myers and Dave Roberts. I got to see Lary's
new ACK-3D engine in action, with the Windows editor and some new demo
games. It was awesome! Also present were the authors of Slob Zone
(renamed Hurl), Ken Lemieux and Andy Hunter. I gushed over Andy's
artwork, like always.
The rest of Sunday afternoon was spent on booth duty, highlighted by
industry celebrities stopping by and introducing themselves. It turns
out the guy with the dredlocks wrote Descent. Wow! Contest of the day
was whoever could hit Larry O'Brien with a Fastgraph airplane got a
free book. I nailed him a couple of times.
Sunday night was hospitality suite night. I kept getting separated from
people. First I lost Ted, then I lost Bobby Prince who was fascinated
by the 3D Doom sounds in the Microsoft suite. Charles Kramer took me to
the Silicon Graphics truck which was parked out in front of the hotel.
It was cool, but not nearly as cool as Bobby Prince's wrist watch,
which reads bar codes and has me programmed into it. We arrived at the
Techmart building too late to get an Accolade soccer ball, so we
drowned our sorrows and continued on.
Speaking of free stuff, Gravis gave me a great nerf dart gun. My kid
loves it. Somebody reported security was concerned about Fastgraph
airplanes being thrown off the roof. I retired to the hotel lounge,
where eventually Ted showed up. I shared a chocolate bar with Dave
Taylor and American Magee of Id fame, and then headed upstairs,
exhausted.
Monday, April 24
----------------
Booth duty again! Are my feet getting tired. Wasn't I supposed to
attend some seminars or something? Alas, I missed them all, due to a
short attention span. A crowd gathered as I threw Fastgraph airplanes
off the mezzanine balcony, but the real applause happened poolside
where pre-banquet entertainment consisted of gliding the little planes
across the water without getting them wet.
We queued up for the banquet around 7:00 and Karen made a drink run.
We were joined by Keith Weiner and Erik of STK fame, who looked
smashing in their formal wear, and Andre LaMothe who looked sexy in his
motorcycle leathers. Michael Medvinskiy noted he hadn't stood in a line
that long since he left Russia.
High point of the banquet for me was seeing hundreds of my little
airplanes in the air. I missed the guest speaker because I was drinking
in the lounge with John Ratcliff.
Tuesday, April 25
-----------------
We were supposed to go to the Microsoft conference, but we blew it off
and drove the Lincoln to Santa Cruz and had lunch on the pier. I
watched dolphins leaping behind a fishing boat, fat lazy sea lions and
pelicans. We spent the afternoon enjoying the coastal scenery, then
headed home. It's good to be home.
Kirk A. Baum
Developers Conference. This was my first time attending the conference
and my perspective might be a little different than Diana's. Being from a new
startup company and new to the gameing industry I was very excited to get
to go to the conference with a couple co-workers.
Saturday, April 22
---------------------------
We arrived around Noon and checked into the Westin Hotel. The place was
filling up fast and there was an electric feeling of excitement in the air. We
waited in line with the rest of the troops to get our badges and conference
materials. After getting settled in at the hotel we went to the opening party
sponsored by Logitech. It was very crouded but fun. We ran into all sorts
of people from various companies. Through the noise and crowd we managed
to meet many new people, eat lots of food, and try our hand with the velcro
wall, the bungee pull, and several computer games positioned around the room.
Sunday, April 23
-------------------------
This was the first day of the conference. There was three different types of
conference sessions to attend, Lectures, Sponsored Sessions, and Round
Tables.
The Lectures were talks given by people in the industry about various
game related topics. These ranged from game design, to marketing and legal
issues, to 3D programming.
The Sponsored Sessions were given by a company, usually to demo a product
or technology that they have developed. Most of these types of sessions were
marketing plugs on why you should buy thier system instead of the competitions.
The Round Tables were smaller sessions were people could get together and
discuss a certain topic. These were confined to a limited number of people to
keep discussions focused. Each seesion was offered several time durring the
conference to accomodate more people.
There was also an EXPO and a Job Fair going on. The EXPO was a show room
where venders could show demos of thier products and talk to interested parties.
The Job Fair had many companies set up with booths to talk to people and
except resumes.
After attending several sessions I spent some time in the EXPO. There I met
Ted Gruber and the whole crew at the Coriolis booth. Sorry Diana, you were
busy talking to someone at the time. I bought some book and had them signed
by the authors (thanks to Lary Myers, and Dave Roberts). The EXPO was
a great place to see (and try) new technology.
That evening many, many companies sponsored Hospitality Suites. You just
walked around to the various rooms to meet with people from all sorts of
companies. We headed over to an area of the conference called the Techmart
first. There we indulged ourselfs on all of the free food at each suite. Talk about
a feast. All of the food and beverages (beer included) that one could possibly
consume in one evening, was provided. I spent time discussing the pleasentries
of Austin Texas with Richard Garriott (Lord British of Ultima fame). I was very
pleased to see someone as famous as him talking to a newcomer like me.
Soon after that the guys from ID wandered in to get some Texas beer that
Origin had brought with them. Some other highlights of the evening was getting
tons of free stuff from various companies. Gravis gave out free NERF dart
guns and game pads. Several companied were giving out t-shirts for dropping
by. By the end of the evening I was dead tired from all that walking, stuffed from
all of the food and drinks, my bag was full of goodies, and I had met people
who were almost "GOD" status in the industry. And I did get one of the Soccer
balls from Accolade :)
Monday, April 24
--------------------------
I spent most of this day going to various sessions. We tried to make sure
that we all split-up every session to get a better coverage of the conference.
Then we would tell eachother highlights of the sessions we attended durring
meals.
Monday evening was a banquet. Waiting for the banquet to begin, it was clear
that the crowd was in a playful mood. The line to get in was very long but when
it finnaly started to move it went rather fast. In the banquet hall things went
from noisy to down right rowdy. Good thing Diana didn't stay because I think
she would have been embarassed. People were throwing her little Fastgraph
planes everywhere. Even when the speaker was talking the crowd was noisy,
disrespectful and rude. Even though the speaker was a little dry, people didn't
have to act like that. It made it so others around the hall, that wanted to listen
couldn't. They had divided the banquet into two rooms. The main one was where
the speaker spoke from and then it was piped in the the other hall on big screens.
I was in the main hall and it was bad, but I heard that the other hall was even
worse. I like to have fun, as much as the next person, but there is a time and
place for everything. I really felt sorry for the speaker ( I can't remember his
name, but he was a editor of WIRED magazine).
Tuesday, April 25
---------------------------
Another day of sessions that were not that exciting. On the whole I learned
very little from going to the conference sessions. The most benaficial part
of the conference was being able to talk to people from other companies.
I even met several people that I knew previously only through the internet.
It was great to finally see what they looked like and talk face to face.
That evening was a Miscrsoft sponsored party at Great America theme park.
It lived up the the Microsoft name and was a great party. There was tons
of food, rides, and fireworks. Having work at Microsoft before and know how
they like to have parties, this one lived up to my expectations.
Wednesday, April 26
--------------------------------
I went to the Microsoft Game Developer Seminar, sort of a little add on to the
Game Developers Conference, but sponsored by Microsoft and not the CGDC.
There they unvailed there plan for game platform world wide dominance. It
looks like Win95 is the platform of the future. Actually they presented a very
good solution for future games. Although it is not fully cooked yet it does
look promising.
Well, thats it. Over all it was a great time. I plan on going again next year, if
only to see people again, that I met this year.
If you have any questions feel free to send me email
Kirk Baum
SingleTrac Entertainment
kb...@infonaut.com
Fastgraph
Thanks for the report. I'm glad you went to the Microsoft conference.
It seems to be what everybody is talking about since they got back
from the show. Although we didn't attend the festivities, we did talk
to people from Microsoft, and we collected information and tried to
get tuned in on the situation. Here's my impressions (which may be
different from Ted's).
>There they unvailed there plan for game platform world wide dominance.
It
>looks like Win95 is the platform of the future. Actually they presented
a very
>good solution for future games. Although it is not fully cooked yet it
does
>look promising.
Microsoft just treated the gaming community to several days of intense
propoganda. They have some impressive demos, and the theme park
was a nice gesture. Before you leap into Win95 development, though,
you have to wonder where this platform is going.
To begin with, WHEN is it going to be released? This is critically
important if you are developing for it. I know people who started
work on "Chicago" applications a year and a half ago. What has become
of their investment? If you have an excellent program, but no platform
to run it on, then you have nothing. Sure, Microsoft says it is going
to release Win95 in September, but we have all heard release dates
before. September is still 5 months away. Are they sure they can get
it wrapped up by then?
Now, assuming Win95 is released this year, WHEN will the public start
using it? This is a big question. Maybe it will catch on right away,
and maybe it won't. There are an awful lot of people who are perfectly
happy with the way their systems are set up right now. If everything
works in Windows 3.1, why would they want to change the look and feel
of a computer they have grown used to?
What if Win95 develops a bad REPUTATION? It doesn't take much.
Remember DOS 4? A reputation for bugginess killed it. Most people
jumped from DOS 3.3 to DOS 5 and skipped over DOS 4. All it takes
is a few bugs in Win95 to make people gun shy. So far, rumors are
rampent about bugs. Will Microsoft get them all ironed out by
September?
What about a KILLER APP? I believe this is why Microsoft is courting
game programmers. They just won't ever be able to convince anybody
that their spreadsheet or their word processor will work better than
it does now. Let's face it, most software does work pretty good right
now. Even games are pretty darn playable on current systems. Sure,
maybe they will run a little faster or a little smoother under the
new operating system, but will that be enough to sell it? Who knows.
It wasn't enough to sell the Jaguar or the 3DO.
What about BUNDLING Win95 with new systems? This is the one thing
that will sell this operating system. It may happen. If all new
computers are sold with Win95 installed, then it will catch on. But
will it catch on quickly or slowly? It took years of bundling for
Windows 3.1 to catch on.
How about INSTALLING it on existing systems? From what I hear so
far, installation is non-trivial. Amateur users may find it
frustrating.
Is MicroSoft going to KILL Windows 3.1? Maybe they will try it. Maybe
it will work. Maybe not. Remember what happened when Coca Cola tried
to kill Classic Coke? It came back.
Please don't flame me as a Win95 basher. That is not my intention.
I am also impressed by the functionality of the new operating system.
It isn't the technology, but the public acceptance factor that has
me worried. The company that gave us "Bob" is now trying to sell us
on developing for a whiz-bang new operating system, but they can't
guarantee that anybody is going to buy it when it finally comes
out.
Regarding Fastgraph for Win95? Sure, we'll support it when we
determine there is a sufficient demand. In the meantime, we are
watching and waiting and worrying, just like everybody else.
Diana
Terry Sikes
Fastgraph <fast...@aol.com> wrote:
>Hi, Kirk,
>
>Thanks for the report. I'm glad you went to the Microsoft conference.
>It seems to be what everybody is talking about since they got back
>from the show. Although we didn't attend the festivities, we did talk
>to people from Microsoft, and we collected information and tried to
>get tuned in on the situation. Here's my impressions (which may be
>different from Ted's).
>>There they unvailed there plan for game platform world wide dominance.
>>It looks like Win95 is the platform of the future. Actually they
>>presented a very good solution for future games. Although it is not
>>fully cooked yet it does look promising.
>
>Microsoft just treated the gaming community to several days of intense
>propoganda. They have some impressive demos, and the theme park
>was a nice gesture. Before you leap into Win95 development, though,
>you have to wonder where this platform is going.
Propaganda. Now there's a nice neutral term. ;)
Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the CGDC this time, but I've
talked to two people who did, and like Kirk they were raving about the
new Game SDK from Microsoft. It sounds pretty nice to me, as it
provides support for detecting vertical retrace, hardware sprite and
Z-buffer (if supported by the card) and on and on, and with some
fairly high-level routines that are easily encapsulated into C++
classes (and yes they work with all the C++ compilers, not just Visual
C++). If anyone who attended would like to provide more info, I for
one would appreciate it. Yes, I know there were NDAs, but quite a bit
of information is also publicly releasable as well.
In fact, if there are Microsoft lurkers out there....? :)
>To begin with, WHEN is it going to be released? This is critically
>important if you are developing for it. I know people who started
>work on "Chicago" applications a year and a half ago. What has become
>of their investment? If you have an excellent program, but no platform
>to run it on, then you have nothing. Sure, Microsoft says it is going
>to release Win95 in September, but we have all heard release dates
>before. September is still 5 months away. Are they sure they can get
>it wrapped up by then?
Actually, the projected release date at this point is August. If I
had to bet my company on it, I would count on it being released by
Fall Comdex, but no later than that. The current betas are quite
solid.
>Now, assuming Win95 is released this year, WHEN will the public start
>using it? This is a big question. Maybe it will catch on right away,
>and maybe it won't. There are an awful lot of people who are perfectly
>happy with the way their systems are set up right now. If everything
>works in Windows 3.1, why would they want to change the look and feel
>of a computer they have grown used to?
My guess is that if they get it out by the beginning of November,
they'll have sold 10 million copies by Christmas. This impression is
formed by talking to quite a few people using the preview program -
they love it!
>What if Win95 develops a bad REPUTATION? It doesn't take much.
>Remember DOS 4? A reputation for bugginess killed it. Most people
>jumped from DOS 3.3 to DOS 5 and skipped over DOS 4. All it takes
>is a few bugs in Win95 to make people gun shy. So far, rumors are
>rampent about bugs. Will Microsoft get them all ironed out by
>September?
I'd suggest that you and any others that are curious stop by the
#windows95 channel on IRC. There are quite a few users there at all
skill levels, and you can get their first-hand opinions. There are
similar forums on AOL and CIS.
>What about a KILLER APP? I believe this is why Microsoft is courting
>game programmers. They just won't ever be able to convince anybody
>that their spreadsheet or their word processor will work better than
>it does now. Let's face it, most software does work pretty good right
>now. Even games are pretty darn playable on current systems. Sure,
>maybe they will run a little faster or a little smoother under the
>new operating system, but will that be enough to sell it? Who knows.
>It wasn't enough to sell the Jaguar or the 3DO.
Windows users will upgrade for a number of reasons. The new UI is
nice, the system is much stabler than Win 3.1, and there will be lots
of Win32 apps out that blow away the current Win16 crop.
And yes, there will be lots of great games. :)
>What about BUNDLING Win95 with new systems? This is the one thing
>that will sell this operating system. It may happen. If all new
>computers are sold with Win95 installed, then it will catch on. But
>will it catch on quickly or slowly? It took years of bundling for
>Windows 3.1 to catch on.
Well, Compaq, Dell, and HP have all signed agreements to bundle Win95.
I expect everyone else will also... ;)
>How about INSTALLING it on existing systems? From what I hear so
>far, installation is non-trivial. Amateur users may find it
>frustrating.
With the betas, its not perfect, but its not too bad. Most people
don't seem to have much of a problem, and everyone who got the Preview
is having to install over an existing system. Again, check out #windows95
for real-world experiences.
One expects that the final release will be even better.
>Is MicroSoft going to KILL Windows 3.1? Maybe they will try it. Maybe
>it will work. Maybe not. Remember what happened when Coca Cola tried
>to kill Classic Coke? It came back.
Heh. Most people didn't view New Coke as an improvement. I think
you'll find that most Win95 users view it as a great improvement over
Win 3.1x. Many of them also tried Warp, and have a strong preference
for Win95.
>Please don't flame me as a Win95 basher. That is not my intention.
>I am also impressed by the functionality of the new operating system.
>It isn't the technology, but the public acceptance factor that has
>me worried. The company that gave us "Bob" is now trying to sell us
>on developing for a whiz-bang new operating system, but they can't
>guarantee that anybody is going to buy it when it finally comes
>out.
You should get ahold of the preview or a later beta if you can. A
little hands-on experience goes a long ways. (Forgive me if you
already have, but it sure didn't seem like it from the tone of your
message).
There is some risk involved in developing for Win95 (just like
anything else), but from where I'm standing it looks like a darn safe
bet.
>Regarding Fastgraph for Win95? Sure, we'll support it when we
>determine there is a sufficient demand. In the meantime, we are
>watching and waiting and worrying, just like everybody else.
Like I said...get your hands on Win95...stop waiting. :)
(BTW, subscription to Microsoft Developers Network Level 2 will get
you the Build 347 beta, the Preview Program is already sold out...all
400,000 copies... :)
--
Terry Sikes | Software Developer++
tsi...@netcom.com | C++ isn't a language, its an adventure!
finger for PGP pub key | "Anyone programming in a 16-bit environment
My opinions - mine only! | isn't playing with a full DEC."
n...@gwe486.cb.att.com
visible the last two years or so....
Saturday, April 22
---------------------------
We arrived on the inevitable America West flight. Saw the same folks on
the plane as last year (Hi Tom!). Checked into the Westin. It pays to be
a Westin Premiere member. The room had everything we asked for; upper
floor, fridge, free breakfast at 6:00 AM Pacific time in our room, local
paper, .... a nice place that was jam packed, top to bottom with game
developers.
You couldn't walk around without a feral grin appearing. This crowd works
it collective selves mercilessly in pursuit of having and making fun.
I got the family settled in and kissed them goodnight - they were still on
Eastern time. I was going to spend the next week getting up on Eastern
time and going to bed late Pacific time.
The line to get badges was bloody huge. I walked forward to see how the
lines were split and so I got in the correct (I thought) line with a guy
from Computer Gaming World. The place is like that. You're about two
people away from somebody who is somebody in this close knit industry.
A few minutes later a "line walker" told us that presenters don't have to
wait in line in the sun. So I went to a line inside that had one other
person in it. I got my badge, complete with ribbon that said "speaker" and
went back outside to say high to as many people as I could find whose names
I knew. I see these folks once a year.
Before darkness fell I had written a page of notes into the back of my
copy of the proceedings. Stuff I had to do for folks, email to send, all
the results of shaking hands and saying hello. Jon Taylor of Kesmai gave
me this great idea that, damn him :-) , I might do something with. It's not
like I need more things in life to fill up my time.
I got my bag-o-stuff and the first of many T shirts. This one from
Virgin, "more experienced than you think" Games. I had packed light,
knowing that I'd get a year's supply of T shirts. The bag-o-stuff had a
bunch of stuff for Sunday night and of course the MicroSoft invite.
Then it was Logitech time. The first fifty velcro-wall and the first fifty
bungie folks could get a free top of the line joystick. The food was top
notch. Thanks, Logitech. They gave out canvas bags of stuff. Oddly
enough, if you got one of the joysticks, it wouldn't fit into the Logitech
bag. Ooops. The lines for velcro were huge. I declined, but I had wanted
to see if I could do a flip (or a 90 degree twist). I saw very nearly
everyone I knew and a bazillion folks I hadn't met yet. I was the guy who
spent the weekend in the navy blue blazer, with my badge pinned to the left
lapel by my BMW pin.
While hobnobbing around I nearly double the amount of extra stuff I had on
hand for my presentation. If you want to get a job in computer games, go
to the conference. Anyone who can't get a job that way is either
unqualified or totally hopeless.
Sunday, April 23
-------------------------
>This was the first day of the conference. There was three different types of
>conference sessions to attend, Lectures, Sponsored Sessions, and Round
>Tables.
... And seminars. Let's not forget seminars. Mine was first thing,
9:00 AM. I think much of my audience was a bit hung over. I hoped they
got out of the talk what they came there to get. I'll know more when I get
my ratings. Lurking in my seminar were three employers scoping out the
audience.
The sessions I went to were pretty neat. I caught Chris Crawford's talk on
his (finally) finishing a workable way to do interactive story telling. I'm
curious as to what the market will think.
I moderated a roundtable that went tolerably well. I was hoping to do as
good a job at moderating as I saw The Fatman do last year. Mostly it was
keeping the folks on topic, and from monopolizing the floor.
>That evening many, many companies sponsored Hospitality Suites. You just
>walked around to the various rooms to meet with people from all sorts of
>companies.
I ran myself out of business cards. I was given many t shirts, even though
I only asked at a few specific places for one. I was
given a Gravis game pad (which I tested out today - some doc would have
been nice). I had *A* beer. I used the stairs instead of the elevators.
I didn't make it to Accolade in time for a soccer ball, but my three year
old doesn't know that.
The high point of the evening was the interactive band in the Westin
Theater. There's microphones on the desks, so the audience can push to
talk. In our case it was push to sing the chorus in something only
resembling the correct key. Good music. It's been years since I just sat
in a place with live music that I *liked*. I got to hear the theme from
Wing Commander One played live on electric guitar to a rock beat (by the
Man who wrote it no less). My only complaint was that I didn't have my
earplugs with me, cause it was loud in there.
Monday, April 24
--------------------------
Session to left. Session to the right. Folks to meet, folks to meet again.
I attended a round table moderated by Dr. Cat on MUDs. Good session.
I hit an RT on game AI and wound up contributing more than I expected to.
I was pleasantly surprised to note that the stuff in my 1991 paper still
was applicable. At the end of the RT I was chatting with three people and
we wandered out of the room into the hallway. There I realized that the
guy asking pointed questions was American McKee of ID software. He's in
the midst of doing monster AI for Quake. We chatted at length, I owe him
email. I asked him about his motorcycle and he was surprised that I even
knew about it. I'd heard from a friend from Texas who'd been in a Ferari
that could do 105 MPH at the end of the ramp... The conference is like
that. I still think the coolest T shirt I saw at the conference is the one
that says DOOM on the front and WROTE IT on the back.
I saw Diana at the FastGraph booth and waved. She was busy talking so I
let her get business done.
>Monday evening was a banquet. Waiting for the banquet to begin, it was clear
>that the crowd was in a playful mood. The line to get in was very long but when
The poor speaker. I was in the teacher-less study hall that was also known
as the "other" or little room at the banquet. It felt like a ghetto. The
food as so late you wouldn't believe it - I put fork to chicken at 9:00 PM.
The people in the room acted like the trouble makers many of them/us
were/are back in grade school. It was proven to me that the wine list
makes a very poor paper airplane. I was a bit pissed off at first. Finally,
we just started telling war stories. The poor speaker was, well, clueless.
He had something to say. He didn't say it well. He's a visionary, and his
vision required thought out of the audience. By that time of night, many
of those present couldn't be bothered. Especially if they disagreed with
part of what he said.
The spotlight products were, to the best of my memory:
Relentless, UFO - XCOM, Road Rash for 3DO, Somebody's soccer for 3DO,
Descent, Master of Magic, Tie Fighter, Wing Commander III, Magic Carpet.
When they talked about Descent, they used what I wrote and stuff other
folks said that was a bit better. The "worthy successor to DOOM" bit was
mine. I was quite pleased because some of the words they used last year
about DOOM were mine.
The band got together a half hour after the dinner ended and they were
rockin. We all got up and danced. It was fun. Some of the Conference
Associates were incredible to watch dancing. After two days and nights of
hard labor, at least two of them were seriously cutting up the rug. The
rest of us were just having a good time. It was late before I crashed.
Tuesday, April 25
---------------------------
The Windows 95 session by Alex St.John was cool. I forget what joystick
maker has one that understands WinDOOM II and so when you fire the combat
shotgun, it kicks the stick back. Fire the auto cannon and the stick
wobbles back and forth. The Win95 content "Direct XXX" has been posted so I
won't go into it here.
The neatest session was "War Stories - the making of ShockWave." The
session was neat for two reasons. First it talked at length about how EA
made the title and the things they had to do to get there. Second was the
video clips from Shockwave itself. Damn near enough to make you want to go
out and buy a 3DO. The interesting bit of wisdom about set top boxes was
this: The new crop of set top boxes are public R&D efforts done by the
companies that want to own the set top when the bandwidth (of cable or
whatever it will be) and capability (of the boxes) is sufficient for them
to become as common and as desired as VCRs. So a company with deep pockets
and a long term view can afford the losses and low profits now in order to
have market share and proven capability later when it counts.
>That evening was a Miscrsoft sponsored party at Great America theme park.
>It lived up the the Microsoft name and was a great party. There was tons
It was an OK party. The food could have been better. There was a
demonstration of civil disobedience at the IMAX theater. The loudspeaker
had said to arrive early for best seating. So we did. Then the IMAX folks
said for everybody to move all the way over [so the late people could have
our seats]. And they wouldn't show the flick until everyone was sitting.
We refused. We did stand and politely let anyone who wished to walk past
us, but we were not going to move. Eventually, they all got past us and
the flick began. Managing Programmers is like Herding Cats. Maybe the
folks at Great America weren't expecting this, but the folks at MS should
have seen it coming. We had all night and we weren't going to move. I did
a quick eyeball count and decided that the security force present didn't
have enough handcuffs for us all. We were polite but uncompromising.
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There were other sessions that I went to that I don't recall what day I was
there. Walt Freitag's session was pretty good. One of the neat points was
that you don't need to have a causal virtual world. For example, the
player can find just the clue they need in say the nth place they search
where n is a random small number. Each time they play the game will feel
different. Most players will attribute this to so AI kind of effect. It's
pretty humbling for AI writers to be beaten be pure randomness. There was
a lot of other good stuff in his talk too.
Carrie Washburn talked about on line games again.
I'd need to grab my schedule to remember all the rest of them...
The web page for tapes is at
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ma/makingit/www/cgdc.html
you can order tapes of various sessions.
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Then we spent three days vacationing in the Bay area.
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Neil Kirby DoD# 0783 n...@babel.cb.att.com
AT&T Bell Labs Columbus OH USA (614) 860-5304
President Internet BMW Riders
It's very red. It's very fast. And it's mine: 1994 R1100RSL