Hey there!
Sometimes I get asked questions about the "Good Old Days," and instead of letting them sit in an email no one will read, I want to make them public. Here's one of them!
A gentleman online purchased an old patch from Privateer 2: The Darkening on my eBay store, and this is what I sent him.
I worked at Origin from '92-98 and it was one of the best, most difficult jobs I've ever had.
The Maverick Team (Chris Roberts) had been cranking out Strike Commander, Armada, Wing Commander 3 and Wing Commander 4, and I watched them as I worked on other games. In '94 I was asked to go to England to help start the Rugby franchise because they were in crisis near the end of the project and they were overwhelmed. When that was done, I was asked by Erin Roberts (Chris Roberts' brother) to work on The Darkening, which was another space game being made in Manchester. Since I was needed on a project back in Austin, I politely declined and returned to Austin.
When I got back, I worked on Abuse, which was a side-scroller created by Dave Taylor of DOOM fame.
After that I was brought on to run the PlayStation 1 version of Wing Commander 5, which did not have a title yet. Chris Roberts left Origin to start his own company, leaving the Wing series completely. The design team had already begun work, and we soon realized we needed to conserve our resources so I had to fire some of my friends that were working on it. It was SO painful. It was one of the worst experiences of my life to that point. Then, our lead designer, Phil Wattenbarger, decided to leave as well, so I took over his role.
That was the beginning of the hardest job I ever had. My role was to be certain that the Engine Team, the Art Team, the Design Team, the Marketing Team, and Creative Services were all working in synchronicity. It required me to work unpaid overtime for almost 2 years. But the result was a fantastic game that I will be proud of for the rest of my life.
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