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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 25</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 
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        <p align="center"><font size="+3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8">The 
          Unreal Cliffy B.<br>
          </font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Jason "<a href="mailto:jason@loonygames.com">loonyboi</a>" Bergman</font></b></font></p>
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        <p align="LEFT">&nbsp;</p>
        <p><img src="../../images/letters/c.jpg" width="26" height="40" align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">liff 
          Bleszinski, aside from having one of the harder names to spell in the 
          gaming industry, is somewhat of an oddball. In the last year, two games 
          he worked on were released: one you all know as the uber-first person 
          shooter that is <b>Unreal</b>. The other…well, believe it or not, was 

          the cuddly side scroller known as <b>Jazz Jackrabbit 2</b>, which actually 
          has a lot in common with the other game, believe it or not. We decided 
          to find out just who the heck could possibly put out two games like 
          that…hence this interview. Enjoy!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Just who the heck are 
          you, and what do you do?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Cliff Bleszinski, of Epic 
          Games. I do lotsa stuff here, but my main focus is on level and game 
          design. I also assist with producing, recruiting, PR, dabble in art, 
          produce sound effects and voice with outside studios, etc...I spend 
          the majority of my time either designing levels, playing other level 
          designers' work, or assisting with the design and direction of our products.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>How’d you come to work 
          at Epic, anyway?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Everyone who has come to 
          work with Epic and has done well has done one thing- make something 
          cool. For me it was a little Windows graphic adventure I put together 
          (programming, art, etc.) I sent it to Tim years ago and he liked it 
          and hooked me up with Arjan Brussee and we did <b>Jazz Jackrabbit 1</b>.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Hey…waitasecond…aren’t 
          you a bit young to be that successful?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'll be 24 very shortly. 
          I've been doing this since I was 17. You're never too young to get started 
          in this biz.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>How early on were you 
          brought onboard? (For those who don’t remember, Unreal was in production 
          for a loooong time)</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After 6-12 months or so, 
          I worked on <b>Unreal</b> for appx. 3 of the 4 years. If I recall correctly, 
          the first 6-8 months it was just James Schmalz, and then Tim and Dave 
          Carter, and then myself.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Were you at all intimidated 
          by the concept of working on a major game over the Internet? How strange 
          an experience was that?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I had done it somewhat before; 
          Jazz Jackrabbit was developed in the crappy "virtual office" situation. 
          The entire experience wasn't really anything strange or odd, I had already 
          known these people for several years and trusted them and their abilities.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Working on games via virtual 
          office sucks beyond all comprehension. There is no substitute for walking 
          into someone's office and saying "Yo, my bots aren't using the Redeemer. 
          Come take a look."</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>How close to your original 
          vision did the final version of Unreal turn out to be?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Unreal</b> was a mix of 
          many different visions, really. James' initial vision of <b>Unreal</b> 
          was a mech game that took place on rolling landscapes and in dingy caverns. 
          Tim didn't care, he just wanted to make cool shit. I wanted to make 
          something fun that scared the hell out of the player.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>If you could go back and 
          change something about Unreal, what would you revise?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'd push for better sounding 
          guns with recoil animations that looked more like guns!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Do you play any of the 
          user-made Unreal maps?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hell yeah! There are some 
          cool ones out there. I jump on servers all the time and beat down our 
          loyal customers.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Got any strange tales 
          of Unreal’s development to share?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, two of Myscha's dogs 
          gave their lives so that you could enjoy Unreal. So go buy it dammit!</font></p>
        <p> </p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>So let’s get this straight…you 
          were working on Jazz Jackrabbit and Unreal at the same time? How’d that 
          come about? </b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, each game was taking 
          so friggin' long that I had a bit of idle time on each, so it worked 
          out rather well. My work for <b>Jazz 2</b> was actually finished 1.5 
          years before it ever hit the shelf, so it really didn't get in the way 
          of <b>Unreal's</b> development.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Did you find the two projects 
          to mesh in some bizarre way?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are similarities with 
          all games, such as resource management, offensive and defensive skills, 
          and player movement and physics, but other than those generalities the 
          games really are drastically different. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Would you say that Unreal 
          influenced Jazz Jackrabbit in any way?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Each product was being developed 
          by entirely separate teams; I was the only common link between the two. 
          I can't really say that one influenced the other.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>In my review, I commented 
          that Jazz Jackrabbit is the, &quot;Unreal of side scrollers&quot; when 
          referring to its incredible number of engine effects and gameplay modes 
          (that are usually expected from a first person shooter…not a platform 
          game!) Would you agree with this statement?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sure! I love gratuitous and 
          obvious engine effects, and these are things that most users notice 
          first and appreciate, so we use them all over the place. Regarding gameplay 
          modes, I know that I love variety and simple variations such as CTF 
          or Darkmatch really add a lot of value to a product.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>There’s a sign in Jazz 
          Jackrabbit that reads, &quot;Mark wears briefs. Hoo hah!&quot; Care 
          to explain that one?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A certain Marketing fellow 
          I know of tends to enjoy walking around in his underwear often and I 
          felt the need to let the world know of the Tighty Whiteyness of it all.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Are there other strange 
          little easter eggs in Jazz 2?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are oodles of hidden 
          messages throughout Jazz2, as well as some fantastic idle animations 
          from both characters.</font></p>
        <p> </p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Let’s get this one right 
          out in the open. First id makes their announcement that Quake 3: Arena 
          is going to focus on multiplayer, with a deathmatch style single player 
          mode. Then a short bit later, you guys announce Unreal Tournament. Coincidence?</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Great minds think alike, 
          I suppose. When you see <b>Tournament</b> you're going to see piles 
          of fantastic levels, oodles of new art, awesome new player meshes/animations, 
          and rocking new weaponry. We made the decision to do <b>UT</b> at E3 
          last year at an internal development meeting. Even if id were not doing 
          <b>Q3</b> with a deathmatch focus we'd still do Tournament because the 
          time is right for a product like this.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp; </p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1">(<a href="index2.php">continued 
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Illustration &copy; 1999 Michael Krahulik. The Unreal Cliffy B is &copy; 
      1999 Jason Bergman and Cliff Bleszinski. 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 try it...or you'll 
      pay. Oh, how you'll pay.</font></i></td>
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