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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 22</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../corner/index.html"><font size="-1">Behind 
          the Curtain</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          Mechanical Evolution</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Matt &quot;<a href="mailto:thraka@xenocide.org">Thraka</a>&quot; Gilbert</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="right"></p>
                
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What I get, as a console 
          programmer on a bleeding edge machine, is as follows: a development 
          system that looks something like a high school science project; development 
          tools that are often buggy and barely adequate; a set of iron bound 
          tomes written in human blood, containing arcane knowledge that has not 
          been entirely translated from Japanese to English; and as much phone 
          time as I want to technical support, who are almost as clueless as I 
          am. Yes, that’s correct: there are a number of poor bastards who exist 
          only to explain to me and my brethren just what the hell the grimoire 
          is trying to say. (Judy, baby, you know I love you forever!) They say 
          that dentists have the highest suicide rate, but I suspect that they 
          don’t count the cases of spontaneous human combustion amongst console 
          technical support.</font>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Lest you mistake this as 
          a slam on console manufacturers, let me remind you once again: <i>things 
          move fast in this business</i>. You never have enough time. The show 
          must go on.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, here I am a complete 
          idiot about the hardware in my hand. I read the manuals, and I try to 
          work out a plan. The art staff is looking at me and drumming their fingers: 

          they want to know hard numbers: what kind of bit depth can I give them 
          for their artwork? How many textures? How many faces? I try to give 
          them a number that I won’t have to change too many times. It’s never 
          enough. The artists are professionals, and they always want <i>infinite</i> 
          space. Needless to say, it ain’t there. I do my own juggling act, and 
          try to work out something we can both live with. And, you guessed it; 
          it’s never really the number either of us would like. Why? Because there 
          is only so much storage space, and so much CPU power. And, to top it 
          all off, three out of four times, we’re wrong and we have to scramble 
          to make up the difference at some point in the future. I rewrite my 
          graphics engine; the physics programmers struggle to find a way to reduce 
          the calculations they are doing without sacrificing the feel of the 
          gameplay; the artists tear their hair and curse while they redo textures 
          with fewer colors and reduce their 3D masterpieces to pale, faceted 
          shadows of their former glory. The in house management smiles nervously 
          at the idle talk of mass suicide via Rube Goldberg renditions of Dr. 
          Kevorkian’s little machines. The publisher’s producers bite their nails 
          in painful impotence, praying that this will all come together, that 
          we haven’t overestimated the capabilities of the machine and the team. 
          We get on each other’s nerves, we ask forgiveness for our failings, 
          and we keep slogging toward the prize.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And one day, if we’re lucky, 
          we find ourselves playing our game and saying, &quot;hey, man, this 
          <i>rocks</i>!&quot; Assuming the licensing hasn’t fallen through, and 
          that our schedule hasn’t slipped beyond redemption, we keep hammering 
          at it until it’s done.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Finally, it’s QA, testing, 
          bug fixes. This is standard for any sort of development, really: simply, 
          a large group of people play the game over and over, testing various 
          features, etc. They report where they crashed, or where graphics glitches 
          show up, etc. This usually goes on for a month, sometimes more, as you 
          get lists of bugs and fix them, then submit new revisions.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But now, there’s a new hurdle: 
          standards. Our trusty console manufacturer has a vested interest in 
          making sure that our game doesn’t suck, and that it doesn’t piss off 
          any touchy-feely pressure group. In addition, the console manufacturer 
          likes things to be a certain way; maybe he wants a certain button to 
          always behave as ‘Cancel’ or something like this. And, naturally, there 
          will be certain hardware that we are required to support, such as some 
          special controller, or force feedback device, etc. If your producer 
          and/or lead tester is on the ball, they have already made you aware 
          of these things, but even the best can be surprised by a new set of 
          standards. Depending on the project, this can be a breeze, or a nightmare 
          of self-censorship and design compromise. But hopefully, your standards 
          issues got bugged in QA, and you breeze through.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After you get the great rubber 
          stamp blessing from the console manufacturer, you’re pretty much done. 
          Masters are submitted for burning to CD or EPROM. You go to Vegas.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Next time: how second and 
          third generation products raise the bar, and some discussion of the 
          differences from PC development.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp; 
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><i>- 
          Matt 'Thraka' Gilbert is a console programmer, currently working at 
          StormFront Studios. These are his own ravings, and have nothing whatsoever 
          to do with his employer.</i></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><i><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">.</font></i></p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Beaker's Bent logo illustrated by and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Behind 
      the Curatain is &copy; 1999 Matt Gilbert. All other content is &copy; 1999 
      <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi productions</a>. 
      Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so don't do it. And ignore 
      the man behind the curtain. He's just got a shotgun aimed at your head...nothing 
      to get alarmed about.</font></i></td>
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