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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 27</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
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              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.25/feat/index.html">Serious 
                Brass Ones</a>: Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman sits down with 
                Derek Smart, the man behind <b>Battlecruiser 3000 AD</b>.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../bgnbn/index.html">The 
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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">Guest 
          Editorial</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          History</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          <a href="mailto:dsmart@pobox.com">Derek Smart</a></font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:randyp@home.com"></a></font></font></p>
        <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>SMART SPEAK</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By now, you already know 
          who I am, what <b>Battlecruiser 3000AD </b>is and of course heard about 
          or experienced the 1996 botched release of one of the most eagerly anticipated 
          and hyped titles of all time. The abuse, the insults, the finger pointing, 
          the blame etc. have all been shoved back and forth since 1996 and to 
          this day, the controversy continues.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What happened to <b>BC3K</b> 
          in September 1996?</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Everyone, from the publishers 
          to the Usenet detractors who don't even own the game, has a version 
          of what they believed really happened. The gaming press and general 
          populous at large, have stirred up story after story, theory after theory, 
          with no idea of what really happened. Every story, every thread, every 
          flame war reeked of speculation, conjecture and even blatant lies. The 

          Usenet has generated in excess of 65,000 posts since the game's release. 
          Everyone has an opinion and unless you're Derek Smart, you won't have 
          a clue as to what it takes to watch a decade of hard work go up in flames. 
          Someone woke up one morning and made a decision that was to change my 
          life forever.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This, is my story.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>HOW IT ALL STARTED...</b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The story of this game's 
          evolution to what it is today and the stuff I had to go through to complete 
          it would fill volumes. I'll try to keep it short. I was in London back 
          in 1988-89 when I had the idea for this game. At the time I had no idea 
          what I was in for or where it would take me. The details are pretty 
          sketchy now, but not completely beyond the realm of recall.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The genesis (or perhaps this 
          story is better analogized to the trials of Job) of <b>Battlecruiser 
          </b>dates back to a phone call to Velocity in the US for tech support. 
          I bought a copy of <b>Jetfighter</b> with my brand new top of the line 
          Amstrad computer and I couldn't get it to work. Boy that baby was slick 
          (do I hear you chuckling and does this story sound familiar?). Anyway, 
          I had to make an international call to get the tech support I needed. 
          I spoke to Matt Harmon who was pretty helpful and in no time, I was 
          flying over San Francisco ready to shoot down anything that moved. In 
          the days that followed, I became virtually obsessed with the game (This 
          is beginning to sound very familiar, isn't it?) and since I could find 
          no other meaningful use for my machine, I continued to buy games.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the months that followed, 
          Matt and I built a relationship during which I expressed the desire 
          to get into the gaming business (yep, this story is getting very close 
          to home). At the time it was a novel and niche market in which only 
          the elite of the elite prospered, but many fresh from their new Walter 
          Mitty environments dreamed of entering. Was I qualified to undertake 
          such a daunting task? Hell, my programming skills were more geared toward 
          vertical market type applications and other software that one could 
          actually admit in public to be the focus of one's livelihood. Even with 
          my background and education, I didn't even know what would be the first 
          module to write for a game. Notwithstanding these obstacles, my newfound 
          passion for gaming triggered by games such as Jetfighter was not going 
          to be quenched by dreams alone or the work of others. I knew then that 
          I wanted to write a game, not just any game, but THE GAME.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After much prodding of Matt 
          in between his tech support calls, I was convinced that this is what 
          I wanted to do for the rest of my life. All I needed was to get in (Opening 
          Hollywood-type scene: "Mr. Mayer, my name is Derek Smart and I'm ready 
          for my screen test now"). Naturally, this conflicted with those mundane 
          facets of life. Like working as systems engineer and programmer, going 
          to college at night, dealing with a demanding boss and coping with a 
          new marriage (now it is becoming crystal clear, this isn't only my story 
          is it? It could be the story of anyone, who, like me, was bitten by 
          the bug of this fantastic form of entertainment).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In between designing the 
          game, bothering Matt and pretty much everyone in the UK who knew anything 
          about the subject, I became much more proficient in programming areas 
          that the ultimate game would require, including graphics, AI processing 
          and data structures. Most of all, I needed a good design for a gaming 
          concept that was largely little more than a general notion residing 
          between my ears. I wanted a game that combined most, if not all, of 
          the elements of existing games. THE GAME would be a game that was completely 
          immersing and gave the player total control or as much control as the 
          player wanted. THE GAME would transcend game genre boundaries such as 
          role-playing, simulation, strategic wargaming and other sub-genres of 
          gaming--all gamers would be welcome at Derek Smart's table of gaming 
          delight.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What a nightmare that grandiose 
          vision turned out to be. It wasn't the 60's so I couldn't blame it on 
          drugs and bell-bottoms. The long and short of the matter is, I was basically 
          out to lunch to think I could pull this off and plain crazy to even 
          attempt to do so. Now you're beginning to get the picture. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The design of THE GAME itself 
          when through several revisions, from a basic planetary flight sim, to 
          role playing, back to flight sim, back to role playing . . . &lt;continue 
          design iteration loop until those men in those nice white uniforms show 
          up at the door to take you to the special game designer's department, 
          which is complete with padding and custom-fitted straightjacket&gt;.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Remember, I did admit earlier 
          that I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing? By the time I realized 
          that I was headed nowhere, but doing so with such flair and reckless 
          abandon, I had a library of over twenty games. Ranging from the Infocom 
          classics to titles by Rainbird, Microprose, Cosmi and Interstel. I was 
          drawn more toward the adrenaline pumping action that Microprose titles 
          provided, so my flight sim design aspects constantly went through all 
          sorts of revisions to achieve as close to perfect simulation characteristics 
          as humanly possible. Coming from a scientific and space research background, 
          I decided to blend in a touch of space flight modeling just to complicate 
          my life further.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was by pure coincidence 
          that I went to a store in downtown London (I think it was the Virgin 
          Megastore on Oxford street) and ran into 'Wild Bill' Stealey, then CEO 
          of Microprose who was showing off either <b>F19</b> or <b>F15 Strike 
          Eagle</b>, I can't remember (this seems to be happening a lot). Boy, 
          was I excited. I watched and listened as he demonstrated his new toy 
          to the gawking on-lookers. In between doing that, he was narrating a 
          story (for the umpteenth time) about how he and some hot shot (Andy 
          Hollis?) had the idea of doing a game. As the story goes, he had told 
          Andy that if he [Andy] could write it, he [Bill] could sell it. When 
          I had the chance, I introduced myself. He offered to show me his new 
          piece of magic on a floppy.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not being shy, lacking self-confidence 
          or otherwise reluctant to promote THE GAME well in advance of its release 
          date, at the end of the presentation, I told him that I was currently 
          working on an idea for a game which would most likely surpass anything 
          ever developed (yeah right!). He took a long hard look at me and said, 
          "Son, when you do, be sure contact me" and he gave me his card. It was 
          many years before I would see Bill again in the United States. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By the time I decided to 
          return to the States, <b>Battlecruiser: 3000AD</b> had evolved from 

          scrambled thoughts and spaghetti code to the basic framework for a game, 
          but it still wasn't THE GAME, either in concept or in preliminary design. 
          THE GAME would take a bit more time, but little did I know that it would 
          take another five years to complete. I continued to learn 3D programming 
          while honing my ai skills and basically making the transition from business 
          application programming to gaming. No easy task to say the least! Since 
          no publisher in their right mind was willing to give an unknown developer 
          a chance to create THE GAME on their nickel, I had to continue financing 
          the development by myself.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Remember good old Matt? Well, 
          I continued to plague him and he continued to provide the best advice 
          he could, since programming assistance was out of the question. Man, 
          I was buying books and games like it was the end of the era of gaming. 
          Wallowing in "research material," I got so confused and sidetracked 
          that I started to seriously consider bringing in some hired help. The 
          question was what kind of help did I need? Up to that point I wrote 
          every line of code for the game, created every screen image, design 
          specs and every other conceivable task imaginable--what kind of help 
          did I really need and where would I start looking for those to lend 
          a helping hand in finishing the quest for the holy grail of gaming? 
          I created a demo and posted it on the popular on-line services with 
          a message for anyone interested to contact me. The response was enormous, 
          but this did not produce the gathering of crusaders that I needed, so 
          I continued part time development on my own. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In 1991, I contacted one 
          publisher who had just terminated an agreement with another source of 
          game products and who was excited about publishing my game. Consistent 
          with disappointments to be expected at the outset of any new venture, 
          it never panned out. I think someone died and the deal got nixed. In 
          early 1992, negotiations with another publisher never went beyond the 
          non-disclosure agreement stage. Shortly thereafter, I remembered my 
          conversation with Bill Stealey and tried to contact him at Microprose. 
          After several attempts I received a encouraging ding letter from an 
          associate producer that stated a potential conflict between my project 
          and a pending Microprose project. Undeterred, the search for a publisher 
          willing to release the project continued with contacts with yet another 
          major player, but that deal, again, never went beyond the non-disclosure 
          agreement stage. The Strategy Plus did a front cover article in 1992 
          and all hell broke loose. Interest in THE GAME escalated and for once, 
          publishers were actually talking to me - but weren't saying much. Go 
          figure.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I continued development and 
          financing on my own with the idea that if I could enhance the game and 
          fine-tune the concept, it would be more attractive to a publisher. Surely, 
          someone in the biz would recognize THE GAME in its infancy. Back to 
          the drawing board. Believe me, being a rocket scientist is more fun 
          and is far less stressful. Later that year, in October actually, 3000AD 
          signed its first ever publishing contract. Boy, was I excited and I 
          was going to my first trade show with my game that December. CES here 
          I come!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">My new publisher terminated 
          my contract at the trade show after I was there for only, say maybe, 
          five hours citing that the press did not think that <b>Battlecruiser</b> 
          had the glitz that other programs of that genre had. This was a thinly 
          veiled reference to Chris Roberts' latest version of <b>Wing</b> <b>Commander,</b> 
          of course. Ok, what's another disappointment; at least I got to meet 
          some very interesting people, all of whom have stuck with me throughout 
          this development. These include Ed Dille, Mike Weksler and other press 
          contributors who throughout the years have added their own two cents 
          to give me an idea of where the industry was headed and what I needed 
          to do in order to compete.</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> </font> </p>
        <p align="right"><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">(<a href="index3.php">Continued 
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    <td height="22"><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Guest Editorial logo illustrated and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. This Guest 
      Editorial is &copy; 1999 Derek Smart. All other content is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited and not 
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