World 9-1: Little Boy Blue
Goalsoft had come a long way from its humble beginnings with Clickteam's Klik & Play. My initial goal of building a simple space shooter had evolved into so much more. Goalsoft had since undertaken everything from point and click adventures to turn-based RPGs. As the VP of Goalsoft and Chairman of RPGs, Marlon Castillo, wrote in his yearly press release for 2001, "We are expanding faster than ever before and have a vast community of visitors. In the future we will grow and grow and someday make professional games." That day would appear to have arrived. I had begun work on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, a modern 3D reboot of my very first computer game. It would be Goalsoft's ultimate test. Our first truly professional game. And it would be designed with a whole new group of developers. Mark, my fellow moderator and whimsical friend from Chris Cromer's AGI Message Forum, would serve as the game's assistant designer. Ass. designer for short. His expertise in the field of programming would almost certainly prove useful to the project. He had previously, and perhaps most notably, designed a series of desktop applications during his college years. A brand new chapter was just beginning, not unlike the school chapters that came before. Despite the ongoing pressures of game design, I would still find time for other things in my life. I continued to correspond with my middle school friend and pen pal, Melissa, through old fashioned letters of a handwritten nature. It was a joy to see something new in my mailbox every few weeks. We would come to find that we still had much in common. I also still found time to watch television on occasion. I had discovered a new program on the Discovery Channel that seemed to peak my interest. It was known as Mythbusters. Various myths and urban legends were put to the test by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. They were my new science teachers. My very explosive science teachers. And of course, I would still find time to play the Nintendo GameCube. Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! had just recently joined my collection, and they would soon be seeing quite a bit of playtime. Especially once my nephews and nieces arrived for the holidays. Let the games continue.
Space had fascinated me from the time of childhood. Every star offered a new possibility in a void that appeared to stretch onward into infinity. Throughout my childhood, my dad would bring home trinkets from his workplace at Rockwell International. Everything from display models of the space shuttle to buttons and pins. My dad always seemed so proud of them. After all, he did play an instrumental part in constructing the actual shuttles. He helped craft the sheet metal that would eventually be used on the outer shell of those space crafts. I may not have said it at the time, but I was quite proud of my dad and the work he did for Rockwell International. I could only imagine the amount of work that went into what he did. The capacity of my own abilities were of a far more limited scope by comparison. I had however begun to develop a talent for writing and storytelling. Naturally, one of the storytelling settings I was most fond of exploring was that of outer space. The sheer vastness of the cosmos filled my head with an abundance of ideas for stories. With my sights now set on rebooting Space Ruckus, I wasted no time drafting a treatment of the game's story. Bill Grig would soar through the stars once more. My boy would finally reach his full potential.
In a distant star system, an orbital base has been constructed for the purpose of mining the resources of Ralin V. A Class V gas giant with enough natural materials to power an entire fleet. A formal request was recently made for additional personnel. The base had found itself short-staffed for several lunar rotations. A transport ship is due to arrive shortly. Captain Seth Trilobite monitors incoming communication signals from the bridge of the orbital base. His crew is eager to see some fresh faces. A signal is soon detected from the transport ship. It has requested docking bay permission. Captain Seth Trilobite stands in attention and simply bobs his head to indicate approval. The transport ship lands in the docking bay. An "All Clear" message is given over the loudspeaker. Captain Seth Trilobite departs from the bridge and enters the lift. A stream of multicolored lights pass over him as he descends through the lower decks. The new fleet personnel begin to emerge from the transport ship. A man in a blue suit steps out onto the deck of the docking bay. He approaches a security officer with a clippad in their hands. The officer asks the man for his name and rank. The man replies with a grin on his face, "Bill Grig. I am only a rookie, but I promise you won't be disappointed!" A man in a grey suit emerges from the transport ship. His name is Joe Commer. These two men were previously stationed together on the Ethorian orbital base. They are very good friends. Captain Seth Trilobite welcomes the new personnel to the Ralin V base. He only wishes that Commander Bob Gunner could have been there to welcome them himself, but he is currently away on a deep space assignment. Members of the existing Ralin V crew greet Bill Grig, Joe Commer and all the other new arrivals. They are then escorted down the corridor and assigned crew quarters where they take a few moments to settle in. Bill Grig enters his quarters and has a seat on the bed. In an effort to give his new living space a touch of home, he removes a photo from his bag and places it on the overhead boarding. In the photo, Bill Grig's mother can be seen holding a delicious looking cake. Back on his homeworld of Orth, she is a renowned chef specializing in desserts. Bill Grig is proud of everything she has accomplished. A message is soon transmitted over the intercom. All new personnel are ordered to report for duty.
[A closer look at the story of Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion and its early development phase]
Space Ruckus: Development Center
[A section on my experiences with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle]
[The first signs of trouble for Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, including the stories of Gordon and Vlad, two developers with which problems ensued]
[A section on my experiences with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Vice City and GTA3, with a special nod to Anthony Albera, who first introduced me to the series so many years back]
World 9-2: Palpitations
[A section dedicated to my early experiences with the original Psychonauts in 2005. It may even be fun to write a passage set in my own mental realm. A realm that could consist of things from childhood school experiences. This section could possibly end with a Bill Hicks quote. "The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, cause that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round; it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud and it's fun... for a while"]
[While working on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, I would sometimes take a walk over to Starbucks for a cup of their venti, their largest coffee at the time. Dad would often accompany me on these walks. On one of those occasions, we stopped by the park playground on the way back. I was surprised by how agile he seemed that day. Moving around and navigating the equipment with ease. This was also about the time I began to experience my heart palpitations. It may have been a combination of the strong coffee, lack of exercise and anxiety]
[World 9 Finale: Dad and I just happened to drive over to Best Buy on the morning of the Nintendo Wii's launch. There was a long line outside the store, and we decided to stand in it (not really knowing what it was for initially). A store clerk eventually came around and gave everyone a ticket. We were just a bit too far back in the line to receive one. When we finally entered the store, I got my first look at the Nintendo Wii and its peripherals as other customers were picking it up. I felt more than a bit disheartened. It was at that moment that I became determined to secure a console for myself. I didn't leave the store completely empty handed that day, however. I bought a new high definition TV to replace my old standard definition TV set. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to go home]
It was time to join the Nintendo Wii revolution.
The Beatles' Revolution
"It certainly has been a rough first three years for the project, but I'm glad that we are holding together in hopes of seeing it through to completion. The Development Team has certainly seen quite a few face changes throughout the project; however, we still have a small handful of charter developers with us that manage to keep the project held together and on the right track. Most importantly, large credit goes to Mike's great passion for Space Ruckus, and inability to let it slip away, which has been there since the beginning to constantly keep the project fresh in our minds when we tend to wander off to do other things."
-Mark Gillie (meelWORM)
"I make lists for projects. This can be daunting. Breaking something big into its constituent parts will help you organize your thoughts, but it can also force you to confront the depth of your ignorance and the hugeness of the task. That's OK. The project may be the lion, but the list is your whip." -Adam Savage
"As I've experienced, this 'when I have free time' kills productivity pretty successfully, which might account for the lack of frequent updates around here. At least we have this game planned out very well." -Eero Ränik
"I'm quite comfortable modelling/texturing inanimate objects. I'm currently trying to learn more on the rigging and animation side of Maya. Really looking forward to helping out on this project. Done a little video game stuff to date, but not much, so hope to learn a bit from you guys also. Really looking forward to getting started." -Gordon Wallace
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