 |
May 1999 |
 |
|
17
May 1999 |
Once again, E3 was awesome and E3 was draining. You
develop a serious case of sensory overload from both the show and all the people coming
and going. For me, the best is meeting people you know only through email or their work.
This year, I got to finally meet the Michael Angelo of Webpages, Sir Walter Costinak. The
dude is incredibly talented, the best actually, yet so mild and down-to-earth in person.
I was bummed at not getting to meet Chris Moeller and
Chuck Austen who were going to try and show up. These are the two bent geniuses behind the
Tripping the Rift AVI and I wanted to thank them in person for all the laughing they've
provided our entire office. I am also bummed at not getting to meet up with Blue. I
remember yakking with His Looniness a couple of times and Blue says that he was in fact
there, saw the demo and we shot the shit for a while, but I can't remember that for the
life of me. THAT'S what has me bummed!
I think the best of all though, was hanging with Kevin
Eastman and Julie Strain. Again, two majestically talented and famous people, yet so
humble. In particular, I love the video we have of Robert The Anarchrist demonstrating
FAKK2 to Kevin. Robert of course, has this puppy dog look of awe as he turns to Kevin and,
in return, Kevin shows the same look os esteem as he looks back at Rob. Awesome, awesome,
awesome.
I want to write more, but I think I'll save it for a
start-up entry on levelord.com where I can include pictures and such. Expect no reporting
on "other" games, BTW, as the Good and Humble Levelord has absolutely no
interest in them ;)
|
19 May 1999 |
More from E3... "I'm going to KICK Lara Croft's ASS!" - Julie Strain, May 15,
1999.
...nuff said!
|
26 May 1999 |
America is one fucked-up country! Don't get me wrong, we do some pretty cool shit over
here and I truly love my home, but we are so fucking hung up on sex and nudity that it's
amazing we even progenerate at all! I just had the
most wonderful 5-day vacation I've ever had, and now I'm reminded of the American priggish
prudeness. An old girl friend came to visit. Actually, Kelly Ann is a POSSLQ that I spent
alot of time with and had alot of fun with. Unfortunately, we had so much fun that I
believe I'm in love again for the first time in a decade... ...what a drag because I
thought all that shit was past me. That's another story, though.
We spent the entire time making, ...well, making jigsaw
puzzles. You know, with the interlocking pieces and all. We even took pictures to remember
it all. Kelly is a fun girl ;) This is all related to America because I just found out
that it's against the law for photo shops to develop any pornographic pictures. Nudity is
okay, but any touching or contact is right out. They'll develop a decapitation auto
accident or murder, but any contact between to loving adults is simply not allowed. How
fucked-up is that?!
This hits so close game development because we want so
badly to put nudity and soft-porn in our games but do not for fear of lossing shelf space.
We can blow-up babies and massacre crowds of innocents, but show even a nipple and we're
banished. For those of you that know what we're doing in FAKK2, please also know the
tremendous risk we are taking ;) ...and I'm moving to Europe the first chance I get!
|
| 26 May 1999 |
Thanks for all the cool emails wishing me good luck in my new found old
love. The problem is, though, that she's in New Jersey and the Levelord is here in Texas.
Also, POSSLQ stands for People of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters.
|
27 May 1999 |
Sacré bleu! I have been honored as the "Link of
the Day" on Blue's News?! Momma, I'm on top of the world! ... ;) There's a new entry on Dick's Place (www.levelord.com/dicks/). Not quite as exciting
as usual because it's about me, but if you're bored, please do check `er out ;) I don't
want to get alot of emails saying "No way! ...you're making this up as you go
along!" because it is true.
|
15 May 1999 |
A few last Irish tidbits before it's all lost and
forgotten. What a sad thought... ...Ireland was so cool and, again, I highly recommend it
to any and all travellers! Anyhow, a few Irish
Enigmas... ...(1) I haven't seen so many people eating so much fatty food in 20 years, yet
noone seemed to be overweight. Not like we get here, at least. Three kinds of meat with
their eggs in the morning, lunchs that would fill me for three meals, and dinners that
were even larger. (2) I've never seen so many people drink so heavily and so long into the
night, and still get up early and chipper in the morning. (3) Finally, I wonder how long
it takes them to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road.
A quick bit of humor to-boot... ...the "Foreign
Shits!" Girl. The lasy night that we partied with the press found us all back at the
hotel waiting for the residents bar to open. Strange set-up over there in that there are
different types of bars... ...some that close at 11pm, others that can stay open till 3am,
others, ...well, they wouldn't let me in those others.
Anyhow, it was about 11pm and we were all sitting
in the lounge of the hotel. The lounge was large and filled with plush couches. I was
sitting in one couch next to a Belgium dude, and across from us in another couch sat a
French girl (names withheld 'just in case';). We were talking about the cool ActiVision
fireworks at Lutterstown Castle and the Four Horsemen and all, when all of a sudden this
girl comes stumbling in. Her swagger was so exaggerated that I thought she must be putting
us on. She wasn't! She swaggers over and barely flops into the couch next to the French
girl. Her eyes were rolling and her head was swaying and she was trying to say something
as she slowly started to pass out on the French girl's shoulder. Well, the French girl
asked if she could help in any way... ...with an obvious French accent. The stupored girl
awakened immediately, looked over at me, then the Belgian, and finally the French girl and
said "Fucking foreign shits!". There was the loose lower lip and drool that
comes with any intoxicated yelling, BTW. The three of us looked at each other in complete
amazement as the drunk teetered her way to a stand and yelled once more...
..."Fucking foreign shits!" She had a think English accent, BTW ;) She then
stumbled towards the elevator, tried to scale the waste-high banaster between her and the
elevator, only to fall into the arms of two hotel personnel. Quite amusing it was,
although it looses some of its flair in the re-write...
|
16 May 1999 |
It turns out that the c|net SiN thing was on a show called TV.com which airs on ABC on
early Saturday and Sunday mornings. I didn't even know about this show and thought it
would be on one of their other four shows on the Sci-Fi/USA networks. Sorry for the
confusion... My FAKKing kinsmen and I will be
blessed with guest passes to Blue Oyster Cult's concert this Wednesday night. I'm
especially psyched, having been a devote fan since 1973.
I still remember the first time I saw Blue Oyster Cult in
concert in 1974. They were playing with Kiss and some other warm-up group in Lockhaven,
Pennsylvania. We drove down from State College in Steve Grenoble's car. Beyond the normal
entertainment of loading up a car with high school stoners and heading of for a far-away
concert... ...on a week night... ...we had the added thrill of Steve's car.
The car had no brakes, either regular or emergency, and
he had to downshift to get the car to stop. A complete stop required an engine cut-off as
first gear cranked to its fianl rotations. For the unanticipated stops, like a train (no
shit!), he had to throw it into reverse.
The most memorable part of the evening, though, was when
we booed the warm-up band off the stage... ...right off the stage, we did, ...song #3 and
they gave up. I feel bad now, knowing the embarrassment and anger they must have felt, but
we were there to hear *rock* groups like BOC and Kiss... ...not some falsetto, faggetty
singing trio like this warm-up group.
...the warm-up group was called Rush, BTW, ...little did
we know ;)
|
25 May 1999 |
My ears will melt, and then my eyes! Blue Oyster Cult was certainly awesome
last night and I highly recommend anyone of ripened years... ...Blue, ...neigh! ...young
and old alike, to go see these bastards when they swing through the neighborhood. They
played a few songs from their new "Heaven Forbid" album, ...errrr, ...CD, but
even better, they played more than an hour of their truly great favorites from albums,
...errr, ...CDs past. Very cool show, very cool indeed! The best part was getting the chance to see the boys
backstage. It's a strange mixture of feelings, meeting celebrities, in that I'm always
sort of let down to find that they are only mortals like myself, yet I'm also very pleased
to find that they are just regular people doing cool shit. Some celebs are so taken by
themselves that meeting them can be a real drag. Cracking a Corona with the likes of Eric
Bloom, however, was just plain awesome!
|
22 May 1999 |
We're, hopefully, going to be passing the pack to our beta testers
tomorrow, ...yippie kaiya, fother mucker! When it hits the streets, I challenge anyone to
find the reference to my three favorite comedians in HIP2M4 - "The Crypt". Their
names are Steve Martin, George Burns, and Shorty Berstein. Sorry kids, but The Levelord is about to swear... ...divert thine ears, o'
innocense... ...SHIT! I just checked the online version of my article (Quake Editing Tips,
PC Games) only to find that the screen shots aren't mine! SHIT, SHIT, DOUBLE SHIT!
Black-and-whites in the mag, and "someone else's" online!
|
23 May 1999 |
It's the last night before beta testing and guess whose got the two levels
holding up the entire process? ...yes, the Levelord. Two sticky maps and two that take
half-a-day to VIS. It's always at the end of a project that the real gremlins come out to
play. Just received a very cool email from
Steve Klett, editor of PC Games, apologizing for the funky screen shots. The screen shots
must have gotten corrupted in the transfer; and the people that put the article together
have never seen an editor and didn't know that these shots weren't correct. I knew it was
a simple error and not them dipping into the electric wine again, ...Californians, yeeesh!
Jim and Mark are showing Tom some of the cool tricks and
secrets of Rise of the Triad. I'm still convinced that it is the best deathmatch game of
it's time because of the weapons and all the different ways of attacking and defending.
Just wait till these brains are unleashed on Quake ;)
|
25 May 1999 |
Saturday morning, ...errrr, afternoon, ...errr, late afternoon, and all is
right with the world ;) The last level finally finished VIS'ing last night and the pack is
off to the beta testers. My old friend Cid
visited yesterday. I've known her since the summer of 1971 and we always have a great time
together. By the end of a day with Cid, you're garaunteed to have aching sides and soar
cheeks from all laughing and smiling. She has a way of clearing off much debris, too, and
the next day I always feel refreshed and recharged; like a toy with new batteries.
We all took a trip to the Dallas Zoo with Cid to
celebrate the beta testing commencements. With few exceptions, zoos are such sad places.
Nothing is more wrenching to me than to see poor animals locked in such small cages. The
human animal is truly the cruelest. One lonely lion sat in the most decrepid of cells;
such a majestic animal. It must have been near feeding time, or perhaps it was the sight
of Jim, but the lion began this long session of boweling and roaring just as we passed his
cage. As familiar as you think you are with these cats, there is nothing more
panic-inducing than to hear them up close and raw. The bass of the roars literally vibrate
your chest as the rest of your body stands uselessly petrified from the sounds alone. You
wouldn't even be able to start an escape if this meeting was in his element. As he
bellowed, I could see straight down his throat into his dark, empty gullet and I thought
of the horror of smelling his hot, stenchful breath as he ripped away pieces of me and
gulped them into this cavity.
After the zoo, we headed for the West End. The West
End is the more posh of the two party places in Dallas. This is where our new office will
be, up on the top floor of a five-story building looking down on the city life. I look
forward to the Saturday afternoons, after 'working' on games all day, when only a short
elevator ride delivers me to this bussle of bouncing youth, ...it's cool to be Hipnotic ;)
|
26 May 1999 |
Actually, it's still Saturday to me, but the clock says it's Sunday. Ron
Jomero is on his way over, ...said something about needing a lesson or two in some game
called Quake ;) Well, it turns out
that Sgt. Hadwin is the man tonight! He usually reigns supreme whenever Paradox isn't
around... ...damn Army bastard!
|
29 May 1999 |
There's a new section on the WorldCraft Editing Site at PlanetQuake
catering to Quake level editing questions. It's called "Ask The Guru"; seems the
Lord is into meditation and transcendental tripping now. Thanks to Chris Bokitch, aka,
Autolycus, for setting this up and fielding the questions that go out of bounds.
I'll be joining Stephen "Don't it make your blue
eyes Blue" Heaslip on the QuakeCast tomorrow night. Hope y'all stop by ;) ...hope my
phone is still connected.
Hmmmmm... ...went for a bite to eat, came back, and
Paradox and Dr. Dose are gone. Harry sez that they're over at Ion Storm... ...Ion Storm,
...you don't suppose Don Romero made them an offer they couldn't refuse? I guess Paradox
isn't gonna need this dual Pentium anymore... ...we'll just slide it over...
Redneck Rampage is a game after my own heart! I've been
watching Sgt Hadwin play it for a few hours now and it has churned more than a few
chuckles. Great humor, ...great humor, indeed! I think my favorite, having grown-up on
Bugs Bunny, is ultra-violence mixed with intelligent humor.
Everyone seems to be praising UltraQuake and I must
agree it has great potential. I hope Avatar invests the time to fine-tune the art
(weapons, power-ups, etc.) because this could be a great alternate to standard DM and CTF.
Actually, there are quite a few great add-ons and enhancements out there and I hope I'll
have more time to check them all soon. ...did we mention, the pack is almost done ;)
|
31 May 1999 |
So far, so good. Not too many problems reported about the pack yet; a few minor fixes but
generally the reception has been good. I can't wait to see this baby on the shelves.
Seems like everyone is coming down Dallas-way this
weekend. Everyone's going to the Star Wars thingy tonight; I think I'm headin' for Deep
Ellum and more frothier horizons, though. Star Wars was a cool movie, but something about
going to see it with a group of people who weren't even born when it was first released
kinda makes me feel like Rip Van Winkle. I saw it in Hawaii when I was in the Navy,
...what an old fart!
Then there's the big shindig tomorrow night with Rogue. I
wonder who'll be pumped-n-primed come Sunday morn', ...and who'll be picking up the
tattered pieces of their pretty, little pink panties.
|
|
