loonygames' MailBag: Issue #5

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The "What the Heck Are You People On??" Dept.:
MailBag for Issue #5

Comments by Stephanie "Bobbi" Bergman

Every week our associate editor takes on the big ol' pile of mail for your reading enjoyment...got something to say? Send it in. You just might win a swanky loonygames t-shirt. Letters are presented exactly as they are recieved.

Hargrove on Hargrove.

Subject: Hey Bobbi, quick mailbag thing

I already gave Jason my article for this (well, next) week, but after checking today's mailbag and the letter from "Dean M." I thought I should throw a quick reply to the readers...

Yeah, I'm being a bit ambitious with the column. But any delays I encounter along the way (and there will be delays) will mostly get cancelled out by the fact that there's only one article every couple weeks. Even though there's 14 days in between each new issue, I don't spend more than a few hours on an article (code included) scattered over a few evenings... time which I might otherwise just be lurking on IRC or doing something even less meaningful. Either way, I won't allow it to intervene with my work schedule; articles are only worked on late in the evening before I go home, when everyone has either already left, or they're playing games, or doing other unrelated stuff. When crunch time hits on Duke, I can compensate by making the articles a little smaller and scatter a topic over several issues. Besides, it's not like there isn't enough to talk about; I'm having to cut the details short now as it is. So article size may get adjusted every now and then, but I seriously doubt I'd have to drop the column completely, even in crunch time.

Regardless, I don't consider the column an infringement on my free time. I'm writing the column because I want to, and because I enjoy it. So I consider that part of my free time. Like I've told people before, game programming isn't my job, it's a hobby that I get paid for. So spending a bit of my free time doing game code shouldn't be that outlandish a thought. :)

- Chris

Wow...I think I can safely say you've made everyone reading this extremely jealous right now Chris...people DREAM of getting paid to do their hobby. :)

Thanks for answering all the questions.

An...objective view on "Birth of a Gamer"

Subject: Elaine O'Neal

I think Elaine is fabulous!!!

YOU GO GIRL!!!!! We want more, more ,more!!!!!

All I can say is...HI CINDY!

Subject: Newbbee article

I found her to be entertaining. It is nice to see some women taking an interest in internet gaming and even more entertaining to gain a glimpse of the female mind at work. {lol}

There have always been women around on the internet gaming, it's just a matter of people seeing us. And as for seeing the female mind at work....I wish you luck understanding Elaine...I've been trying for years.

Subject: Pure, unconditional love

Hi guys,

Thnx, for a great page, this is something else, not the boring black background (I love black backgrounds), not the flashy icons (Love those things), and of course leaving the beautifully rendered pictures out was a great idea (I used to rip those for my own page)

Anyways, great site, even better attitude and awesome columns. I got you guys on my startup page on startup thingamajing

Oh yeah, wanna tell Elaine I fell in love with her and wanna ask her to marry me ? (I'm a bit shy)

Cya guys!!,

Martijn

Thanks Martijn. And Elaine's response: "hahahahahahahahha! if that isn't a message to wake up to, I don't know what is." :)

Have we heard of Tresspasser???

Subject: Games (duh!)

First of all I want to say that your site rulez, the columns are acutually intresting to read...! But anyways enough with the niceness. Here's what really pisses me off. There are a lot of good games out there (Soon to be released) but some of the best are unknown...Here's a great example. One such I think is incredible and could literally revolutionize 3D gaming, almost like Quake/Doom did with multiplayer..... Trespasser... have you heard of it? If you haven't you'll now be wondering what I'm talkin' about...Halflife is a great game...and it has been so promoted that almost every gamer (If they don't know about it they don't deserve to call themselves a gamer) knows about it. Halflife= Great Graphics, Revolutionary A.I., Good storyline/plot. Then there's Trespasser... when I read the previews I didn't know what to say... shocking. A.I. based on emotions (yeah basically curiosity, hunger, fatigue, anger, etc..) with a locomotion A.I. that drives the enimies deciding what they do. No PRESCRIPTED ANIMATIONS. Thats a first. Then add in a fully 3d indoor/outdoor environment with a +2Km clipping plane, Jurrasic Park storyline, dinosaurs and you've got a winner. Not to mention a FULLY physics based engine and realistic water...=) Sweat..... Only one downside cause' of all the above they really can't add multiplayer so no multiplay. But the thing that pisses me off is that no one (key words : No One) has really heard much about it.What do you guys think about the game...do you think its gonna take the industry by storm? Or will it disappear consumed by all the Quake clones? Does this letter make the rage of this insanity burn from within? Sorry the letters so long my exuse its Friday school's out (for now).

Have we heard of Trespasser?? Ever heard of Keep Out!? Loony started the site. It's a Trespasser site, the first there was, if I recall correctly. And one of our columnists over in the Developer's Corner? Rich Wyckoff. Guess what he's working on? Trespasser.

Lessee, loony at E3. If you couldnt find him, there was no doubt where he'd be...over by the Tresspasser display (which was a teeny setup behind the EA tent of sorts) drooling.

I was shown the game twice. Once by the actual developer, and once by LOONY, who was such a fanboy when it came to the game, it was adorable. I can't tell you how great Tresspasser looks...it's going to be incredible. I don't think comparing it with Quake/Half Life/SiN, etc. is accurate though. Sure, it's kind of a shooter. But it's sooooo much more than that, it's creating a category of its own, in my opinion.

(Continued on next page)

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Credits: MailBag logo illustrated and is © 1998 Dan Zalkus. The MailBag is © 1998 Stephanie Bergman. All other content is © 1998 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited and not nice.