Tuncer : Welcome to the Inside Games conference!
Our special guest tonite is Jason Jones from Bungie
Software. Jason is the Lead Programmer at Bungie
and tonite we'll be discussing their new release,
Marathon.
At the end of the conference we'll be giving away
a FREE copy of Marathon so stick around!
OK, here we go!
BungieCorp : hey guys, great to be here.
BartF : Jason, tell us a smidge about yourself before we get
to questions.
BungieCorp : well I'm still a student here at the U of C as lots of
people know, trying to decide between career...
and school. it's getting to be tough...
especially with the recent success of bungie. i wasn't
expecting the company to take off like it did.
I started programming on the Apple ][ a long, long time ago
and have been doing games for years. It's great to finally
be able to spend all my time doing it, instead of doing it
between class or other jobs.
I'd really love to answer these questions, I hate talking
about myself all the time.
Sabotage : Are you planning to have it over the modem? I heard about a
patcht that will allow ARA coming soon or that will allow
you to play it over ARA
BungieCorp : we are not planning to add any explicit modem support to
Marathon, although it will soon work with ARA.
early versions of the game did work with ARA
but the feature didn't make it into the final release
i'd expect to see a patch soon (in the next 2 weeks)
the patch will also include some other fixes, like for the
quadra 630 acceleration bug.
TimCarroll : The installer for Marathon was rather arcane, are you
planning on changing this? Everyone complains about this
that I've talked to
BungieCorp : the original installer was indeed arcane and that has been
fixed in the latest copies we are sending
out. only the first 4k or so had the bad installer.
TimCarroll : So it has been fixed! -- great! You still expecting to see
new levels in April or so?
BungieCorp : april or so, right
CWallner : First, congrats on releasing a great game for the mac! There
are of course the unavoidable to DOOM <ug>.
BungieCorp : of course...
CWallner : You have the networking down much batter..
BungieCorp : we spent a lot of time working on the networking, maybe even
too much.
Peter A. : Are you planning to make any other Physics models??? I would
like to do some zero G stuff.
BungieCorp : Bungie will not be releasing a Marathon level editor in the
near future, although I am working with several independent
programmers who are working on level editors.
Peter A. : Cool, but when will they be out?
BungieCorp : i hope we start to see basic editors in a month or so, and
maybe even a physics model editor in a few weeks.
CourtJ3 : WHat does it take to get started making games like Marathon?
BungieCorp : well, doing Pathways first helped a lot, because we learned
a lot from that project. most of the networking
know-how came from our previous game, Minotaur, which some
of you may have seen.
That's sort of a general question and I don't know how else
to answer it; as with any creative project we built on our
previous work...
KEATS4 : What kind of Programs did you use to program the gane?
BungieCorp : Marathon was written entirely in MPW C and assembly. We
had to write a lot of custom tools to create maps, edit the
shapes, etc. Photoshop and Painter were used heavily in
working with graphics, and some MIDI programs I'm not
familiar with to do the QuickTime music.
Halibut : Will it ever be possible to play multi-player games on the
non-network levels?
Is it at all possible now?
BungieCorp : It's possible now, with a little hacking ... :)
Seriously, it's a great idea that we're looking into.
We ran out of time to keep working on the network game a few
months ago and that was one of the ideas we didn't have time
to address. honestly, most of the solo levels would be boring
when played over a network, but a few would be pretty cool.
I was hoping that someone else would write a hack for that
and we wouldn't have to wait for Bungie's next official release.
Boone : What advice cdan you give to get into programming, Bungie?
BungieCorp : Boone, first I'd say that to be successful at programming you
really have to be doing something you want to do. I love
writing games, so it's easy, but if you treat it just like
any other job it can get boring (I know plenty of people
like that).
Find a cool project, maybe a small one, and throw yourself
into it if you're really interested in starting programming.
(like, maybe a physics model editor ... <grin> )
Boone : TYeah, but what programming software do I buy?
BungieCorp : i'd suggest metroworks to get started.
PBGuru : I have two questions - first - grenade hopping, why did you
require that tactic?
BungieCorp : grenade hopping isn't required anywhere in the game as far
as i know, except to get to some of the secret areas ... of
course it's an essential tactic in network games for
invincible players ... :)
Sabotage : How about putting out a network team level for the regular
game so you could go through the levels..
so you can have someone at your back?
BungieCorp : like I said before, there were a lot of ideas we had
for the network game that didn't make it into the final
release ... better team play was one of them. hopefully
you'll see something like you're talking about soon.
There is a lot of room for improving team play, and we're
looking into that. We spent a lot of time making the game
fun to play head-to-head. Expect more detailed team play
(and in general better player/player interactions) in the
near future (but not as part of the original Marathon).
Timster : What game in the marketplace is your game similiar to if any?
BungieCorp : in the Mac marketplace I guess you could compare
Marathon to Wolf3d or Sensory Overload or Pathways, but it's
really very different from all three of those games,
especially with the detailed network play. I'd say Marathon
was Pathways on steroids, and was written with full
knowledge of what we did in pathways that people didn't like.
LTC : I'm a begining programer (13).All I know is Hypercard. How did
you start progaming. Any tips for me?
What software should I use?
BungieCorp : LTC, I started back on the Apple ][ about ten years ago. I
can't give you much advice except to stick at it and do
whatever you think is cool. It takes a long time to really
get good at this stuff.
I'd start with Metroworks if you're working on a Mac.
Ralphey : I heard that someone was coming out with a VR program to
allow games like Doom to be 3x as good as...
Marathon. Is this true?
BungieCorp : hmmm ... a vague question; do you have anything
more specific to ask about? I know nothing about what you're
talking about.
Ralphey : I was told not to buy Marathon because of a revolutionary
program coming out
Is this true?
BungieCorp : Ralphey, I haven't heard of any revolutionary 3D games coming
out, especially on the mac. usually when you hear stuff like
that, it's smoke (in my experience).
Dsweet : What is your personal view on software security?
and the philosphy behind it?
BungieCorp : if you mean copy protection, I think you can guess my
attitude toward it by looking at the copy-protection in
Marathon: after typing in a serial number you never have to
do anything ever again.
Todd fox : Is there a production problem at Bungie? No mail order place
has it in stock. I've waited a month.
BungieCorp : we were overwhelmed by demand for Marathon, and have
been rushing to find as many places as possible to build
units as fast as they can. All I can say is that we're
almost on top of the problem, and that it will almost
certainly be solved within the next two weeks. We'll also
never let it happen again (or somebody will get fired!)
Tuncer : You're fired Jason ;-)
BungieCorp : The unavailability of Marathon is really embarassing.
MaryT1021863 : When'd you think of the idea for: Sensory overload,
Pathways, Marathon, ect...[doom type games]?
BungieCorp : Mary, I have to admit that I first started working on
Pathways a few years ago because I was annoyed that nobody'd
written one of those 3D texture mapped games for the Mac
... both Pathways and Marathon, however, I think have a lot
of stuff you won't find in any other 3D game (especially the
very flat ones like Wolf3d or Doom).
SAmies : Did recent speed advances in hardware alow you to manipulate
the 5 dimentional freedom? How was this acheived?
Texture on the fly has a Stunning effect on Power macs.
BungieCorp : yeah, Marathon rules on PowerMacs! Apple Rules!
Motorola is great! Long live the apple, ibm, motorola trio!
KEATS4 : Are you planning on making a sequel to Marathon?
(Like Doom 2)
BungieCorp : I can't talk about unannounced products (and neither
can our PR people anymore ... <grin>) but I think you can
answer your own question if you think hard enough about it.
John Burkey : THE BULLS ARE KICKING ORLANDO BUTT- I THOUGHT YOU
SHOULD KNOW
Saffron : Folks, please try not to talk unless you are asking a question
(and you have been called on)
BungieCorp : yeah, john, stifle it about the bulls :)
LStanford : Is there any hack that will allow different aliens in the
network levels?
BungieCorp : Right now there isn't, but one of the things I hope people
start working on is some way to change the number and type
of monsters and items in the network game. The physics model
editors will go a long way toward making the network game
more interesting (by changing gravity, projectile types,
speeds, damage, etc.) but being able to change the frequency
of items and monsters would be really cool.
NelsonT : I'm still NOT getting background music,w/ all QT extensions on
(PPC) w/ 5100K, any ideas to help?
BungieCorp : are you using the demo or the release version of the game?
the demo had some problems which were fixed ... the best i
can say is make sure you have the musical instruments file,
give it more memory and if it still doesn't work call doug...
CM72 : i have 3 questions......1 why havent you visited the forum on
AOL.and 2 why all the mess near release time and
3 when will the ARA patch be released?
BungieCorp : 1. well, we've been busy. believe it or not, we're so
understaffed that I'm personally answering mail on AOL right
now until we can get someone to do PR.
2. what do you mean, "mess" ? marathon as a product had a
long history of being delayed, rewritten and improved because
we didn't want to release a product we thought didn't kick
ass, and I hope we were successful.
3. the ARA patch will be done soon (I've already fixed the
Quadra 630 problem, and the ARA is next). A few weeks.
It'll be available everywhere once it's done.
Ottoman Bill : Just curious:what is "grenade hopping?" & is there any
secret places/things you can share?
BungieCorp : "grenade hopping" is what people have named the technique
which involves pointing down at the ground, running forward
and shooting grenades at your feet. the effect is that you
can "jump" up on ledges. this is not required anywhere in the
game, except to get to secret areas, but it does come in
handy a few times. I won't say much about the hidden areas,
except that you can find all the weapons a few levels ahead
of the time if you look close enough (there's a really cool
secret room on the last level, ignie ferroque).
CWallner : 3 quick questions: First: Who kicked who's butt at the
Marathon tourney at Macworld? ...
Second: Did you play?
Third: Can you make the films availalble here on EWorld?
BungieCorp : The winner of the Macworld tournament was me, of course.
Saffron : LOL
Tuncer : hehe!
BungieCorp : Just kidding, I don't know the guy that won, but he was
pretty good. After the tournament was over we played a game
with the top two contestants, myself and two other people
from Bungie. The bungie guys, of course, won. I'm looking
forward to seeing how good people get by Boston Macworld,
where we'll have another tournament. Yes, the films will be
coming soon, we haven't had the time to unpack after the show
Teachin : First, I'd like to say your game is does indeed kick ass!!!
Second, is your game going to have a VR helmet option?
BungieCorp : (thanks, teachin)
Marathon works with VictorMaxx's CyberMaxx helmet, which is
still in the prototype stage for the Mac. When it is
officially release (the Cybermaxx, that is) we'll release a
patch to make sure Marathon works with it. We were demoing
the CyberMaxx at Boston Macworld last August.
Teachin : how much would that set me back?? The one I saw
was 700 bones.
BungieCorp : The Cybermaxx retails for around $700, but like I said it
isn't done yet .. they're working on the ADB interface.
Sabotage : Did finals in college get in the way of putting marathon out?
BungieCorp : Not really, I was able to plan ahead so finals were easy. I'm
not taking a full load, of course ... honestly I really didn't
even slow down on Marathon, I just got a whole lot less sleep.
I'm glad that's all over now. :)
Sabotage : also where can you find the flame thrower in the full version
and Missle launcher?
BungieCorp : The flamethrower appears several places in the full version,
I think you can find it first on "Smells like Napalm,
Tastes Like Chicken" in a secret room ... It isn't until the
alien ship levels that you're given it outright.
Sabotage : IS it hidden?
BungieCorp : yes, it is hidden on SLNTLC.
CWallner : (methinks Jason is a big B&B fan)
BungieCorp : CWallner, don't make me come over there and ... oh ..
CWallner : Hmm heh hmm hmm heh
KEATS4 : What's with all the talk about network games?!?! I don't
have the game.
BungieCorp : well, everybody is talking about the net game because you
get to see bodies explode and slide across the floor.
check it out.
Tuncer : Net Marathon is too cool! Get it!
Nolen : I want to start by saying that I work at a little known
risc-powered computer company...
Marathon on PowerMacs on Ethernet RULES!
But my question...
Finished the game last night. Will new levels really be
available in March or is X-mas more realistic
BungieCorp : Now that we've got all the tools done and a good team
together, I think we'll be done long before christmas. i
don't know where you heard march, though ..
Nolen : The brochure that comes in the package says march.
Lll333 : Is marathon much faster on a 110Mhz than on a 80MHZ
BungieCorp : uhh ... yeah, 110<80 ... is that a trick question?
actually we found that having a cache card (for PowerPCs)
made more difference than raw clock speed.
LTC : You said use Metroworks. Where can I get it, how much does it
cost and exactly is it what is it??
BungieCorp : you should be able to get metrowerks mail order for cheap
ETrekker : I heard that Marathon used code from the IBM version.Is there
such a thing, and did take code from it?
BungieCorp : there is no PC version of marathon.
(so no, we didn't use any code from it)
CourtJ3 : Are there any different weapons in Marathon then in the demo?
BungieCorp : most of the weapons were in the demo, but a few
were sort of hard to find unless you were playing net.
FisherD : In the Demo and the real version of Marathon, there is an
option to accelerate the game for a Quadra 630. I've got a
630... what kind of acceleration does it provide, and how
do you do it?
Do you use the new video buffer chip?
BungieCorp : the quadra 630 and similar models have double-
buffered video hardware, and support hardware pixel-
doubling. the demo supports these modes, and lets you run
in 16bit low-res faster than 8bit low-res on an 840AV.
pretty cool. unfortunately this didn't work in the release
version and is being fixed. the patch will be released soon.
yes, we use the valkyrie chip.
FisherD : uh... English please?
BungieCorp : in english "the Quadra 630 rules if you write
directly to it's video hardware).
Boone : What is your major?
BungieCorp : my major is classics (ancient med.)
Peter A. : Will Marathon ever be playable over the Internet?
BungieCorp : Bungie is not planning to add internet support in the near
future, and since the game is nearly unplayable (from what I
hear) over IPRemote, things don't look good. Anybody want
to do the coding? <grin>
Halibut : a couple questions...and a comment
Halibut : You suprise me with your support for writing hacks for
Marathon. Do you have any interesting...
hacks that you might want to upload somewhere soon?
BungieCorp : We don't have to hack things, Halibut, we've got the source
code! (and no, i'm not planning on uploading it, heh) ...
There's so many cool things we didn't have time to do to
Marathon, I just hope somebody else gets around to it while
we move on to pursue other projects.
Halibut : Will the Macworld in Boston tourney be with the CyberMaxx?
(I'll be there anyway)
BungieCorp : if you played with the CyberMaxx you'd not only vomit
immediately after the game, you would have also gotten
creamed. the technology is cool, but it still has a long
way to go.
LEW002 : 2nd..r u coming out w/a sequel to marathon? and if so can i
get the demo?
BungieCorp : LEW002, I've already answered the sequel question once by
saying that Bungie isn't talking about unannounced produts,
and if the past is any guide to the future, we may not even
talk much about our announced products from now on!
TimCarroll : Are there any plans on producing a "full screen version" that
has any of the displays on it? I love the full screen, but
it is too easy to get sandbagged by other network players.
All that is really needed is a transparent HUD that shows
the motion detector.... Either that, or make the screen
larger for us 17" monitor owners. :-)
BungieCorp : full screen was obviously not as well thought out as it could
have been, and of course we'd all like to have a HUD which
displayed the motion sensor, energy, oxygen, ammunition, etc.
I think you'll see that in our next game, but I wouldn't
expect to see it in Marathon.
and like you said, it'd be great if the game took advantage
of big monitors, but there aren't that many of you guys.
but isn't that "choose monitor..." button in the prefs slick?
BarkerJr. : (1) I'm having trouble getting a hold of Marathon; can I order
direct from you guys at Bungie? Please?
and (2) where are you going to school? I'm in med school in
Dallas, myself.
BungieCorp : you may order directly from us, but you'll get it sooner
mail-order (like macwarehouse).
I'm going to school at the University of Chicago (yeah,
the freezing cold hell in the middle of a slum).
Todd fox : Given the shared experience here, can you give us one big
secret(not who killed Kennedy) for the game?
BungieCorp : ok, you talked me into it. on the last level (which should
be spelled "Ignie Ferroque") there are three secret doors
behind each of the three teleporters at the end of the maze.
open these doors, and expore well. you'll find another
door and a teleporter beyond it .... make sure you're ready
to die when you step through the teleporter. :)
Doug Lier : are the 'bobs' of any importance?
BungieCorp : of course bobs are important. think of them as blockers.
<grin>
Phfor : I got this thing off the internet called Vulcan. How do I use it?
Tuncer : Phfor, where did you get this Vulcan?
BungieCorp : and shut up about vulcan already!
Tuncer : BTW everyone, Phfor (Ryan Martell) was also involved in the
production of Marathon. Say hi to Ryan!
BungieCorp : yeah guys, start sending all those annoying one-on-one
messages to ryan instead of me!!! :)
ChrisSuley : Hi Pfhor! Did you write the "Choose Monitor..." window?
BungieCorp : no way, the choose monitor button is way to cool to have been
written by ryan. :)
Cconway : Are any of the level editors available yet? Where do we find
them? Will Bungie release it's tools?
BungieCorp : Bungie will not release it's tools.
Bungie will not release its tools.
In fact, bungie won't release its tools.
I double we'll ever release our tools.
Phfor : You speaking in riddles, boy?
BungieCorp : <grin> ... hopefully someone else is working hard on a level
editor and will release it soon. I'm working with a couple
people over email on physics editors, but at least one person
is working hard on a map editor. if you know any programmers
willing to throw away the next few months of their lives and
fail out of school, have them email me. my address is
somewhere in the resource fork of marathon, and i'll be more
than happy to help anyone serious about working on a map
editor.
SAmies : Any luck on any planetside exploration in the future?
panoramic outside view would be intense.
BungieCorp : no kidding. we've got plans. i was working on exactly that
this morning.
SweetFairy : What are the system requirements for Marathon?
BungieCorp : SweetFairy, i have no idea. i mean i forgot. i deny
everything ... something like 3.5meg, 020 or higher, system
6.0.5 or higher ...
Ken Erfourth : Will Bungie license Marathon engine to other game makers?
Heretic is an excellent game made using DOOM code. I would
like to see the same thing with Marathon.
BungieCorp : Ken, I can't talk about that right now, but I will tell you
that plenty of people have been asking ... <grin>
CM72 : i have talked to the author of the marathon cheat programs (in
fact i uploaded the release cheater on AOL ) why did you keep
changing the saved game formats.....the egg man was a little
annoyed. also will your next venture be a CD based game?and
i loved your comment in the "Text" resource
BungieCorp : well, i have to admit that the first thing that ocurrs to me
when i change the saved game format is not "gee, will this
break all the cheaters out there?" ... sorry man.
marathon should be out on CD soon, and all our products from
now on will be shipping on CD and disk.
ChasScott : I'm having trouble with Pathways 2.0/PPC. I've detailed it in
the Bungie support section.
BungieCorp : ChasScott, I haven't seen your message and I'd bet that
no one else here at Bungie has had the time during the last
few days. we're doing the best we can to get back up and
running. sorry!
LADY HAWK : and when is marathon coming here or are you going to
make an online game and when if so
BungieCorp : the online services have been really slow in providing games
developers with APIs so that they can move their games online.
as soon as we get the information from eWorld, AOL, etc.,
we'll be all over it. Until then ...
TSamson : If the game was written to use an FPU, would there be any
improvments in the speed or physics model?
BungieCorp : TSamson, I doubt it, and it would make it difficult to port
to machines with poor FPU performance. we've been tempted
to write FPU code on the PowerPC because of its blazing
speed, but have so far been able to resist ...
Peter A. : What is the Modem speed requirement for Marathon to run
smooth over ARA???
BungieCorp : We haven't done a lot of ARA testing (obviously, sheepish
grin) but I'd imagine that anything faster than 14.4k would
work great. We'll probably release some performance notes
with the patch in a few weeks.
Doug Lier : will the game ever be shipped to canadian stores?and will the
game work with RAMDoubler?
BungieCorp : We are shipping to Canada (or will be shipping to Canada
soon) I'm not aware of the specific problems with RAMDoubler,
except that a lot of people have been reporting conflicts.
We'll probably have more information soon, and will make it
available on-line.
Tuncer : Bungie just loves RAMDoubler ;-)
BungieCorp : I'd just like to say, again, that I know we're behind on
Marathon shipments and we're getting units out the door as
fast as we possibly can. A bunch of us even went to the
warehouse before christmas and built boxes by hand to get as
many copies of the game out as possible before the holidays.
Saffron : awww, dedication :)
BungieCorp : (isn't it touching?)
ETrekker : You said there would be a CD marathon. Any enhanced graphics
or sound? Any previews?
BungieCorp : initially the CD version will be a duplicate of the disk
version, but I'd eventually love to see 16-bit source art on
the CD version (hmmm...)
Nolen : Should I be concerned if I didn't get a box with my order?
BungieCorp : Nolen, no don't be concerned that you didn't get a box. We
shipped a bunch of flat packs (no boxes) to MacWarehouse
before Christmas because we decided it would be better to
send them 1k flat packs than 100 with boxes. I hope
everyone agrees (same thing for Macworld SF) ... I'm just
sorry we didn't include a note to that effect in the package,
as I think a lot of people would have liked to be given a
reason for not getting a box.
CWallner : Hey Jason, we at work are also having a great time
w/Minotaur!
BungieCorp : great to hear people are still playing minotaur
maybe one day we'll get around to rev-ing it.
CWallner : I agree, an update is warrated, but the game is a classic.
Jamain : Minotaur, in a Marathon type setting...whatcha think?
CWallner : So like Jason, who do you tink would win in a fight between
Axl and Geraldo? :)
BungieCorp : AXL COULD KICK GERALDOS BUTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MacZone never knows what they're talking about
(neither do any of the other places, for that matter)
Jamain : Jason, are you aware on the PPC firing a weapon stops motion.
Or is it just my PPC?
BungieCorp : Jamain, try setting your PowerMac to 1 or 2 channel sound,
and turn off stereo output if you have it on.
Peter A. : I have noticed that Marathon has not TRUE bridges. Was it a
big priority for you to make bridges in Marathon.
BungieCorp : obviously it wasn't if marathon doesn't have any <grin>
no, we're doing that for next time.
Gavriel : Jason, do you build a BSP tree to represent the static
structures in the Map (ie: walls)?
BungieCorp : Marathon doesn't use BSP trees.
BSP trees suck, because they remind me of other stuff
that sucks.
ChrisSuley : What's your favorite tactic on Mars Needs Women? I'd bet it's
not skulking in The Coffin.
BungieCorp : no, I run around and spank people Chris. Never stop
running, never stop firing.
Hoofb : Three Qestions: 1) Are you the only programmer on the team?
2) How many total rewrites to the engine were there and
3) Did you use the Metroworks optimizer options in the release
and do they help?
BungieCorp : no i'm not the only programmer; the engine went
through three full rewrites we didn't use metrowerks but i
plan on checking out their new global optimizer when i get it
in the next few days.
Gavriel : For the renderer. You draw everything scanline by scanline,
taking advantage of coherence of polygon Z values between
scanlines. Or are you using a straight Z-buffer perhaps?
BungieCorp : polygons are drawn in scanline order, but they are
drawn as polygons. we don't do any special scanline voodoo.
z-buffering is very, very slow. we don't use it.
anything else?
Peter A. : Did you save any Mac World replays???
BungieCorp : yes we saved the macworld replays, peter, they'll be
available soon.
Gavriel : How do you do the lighting effects?
BungieCorp : a light level is assigned to each polygon surface
and never changes during the game
Hoofb : Does the program Manipulate bitmaps or does it render each
frame.
BungieCorp : each frame is rendered independently of all previous frames.
Nolen : Didja notice that the panning seems to shift disproportionately
near the edges of the viewable area?
BungieCorp : that's the way the perspective projection works with
the parameters we are using.
Nolen : So, it's intentional, then?
BungieCorp : never, what do you mEAN!!?!? THE RENDERER HAS NO
BUGS!!!!!!!!!!!! blasphemer!!
Jamain : Shield regenerators would be neat in the net levels...
BungieCorp : shield refuels work in the net levels, we just
didn't add any ... sounds like a job for somebody ...
Gavriel : Does that represent the reflectance of the polygon, or some
absolute light value?
BungieCorp : absolute light value.
Sabotage : How about adding bombs in Marathon?
How about time bombs for those aliens chasing after you?
BungieCorp : no bombs. too annoying. too much like mines in bolo.
Peter A. : What gave you the idea for exploding BOB's?
BungieCorp : well, we hate bobs and couldn't think of anything more
fun than having them get their guts scooped out by the
aliens and packed with dynamite and sent back to the marathon
on a kamakazi mission.
cool, huh?
Inside Games : do the "Bobs" in marathon reflect the "Bob" of Microsoft?
BungieCorp : hehehe ... actually i think the downfall of microsoft will
result from their choice of name for "microsoft bob". ....
who could take that seriously after playing marathon? :)
Sabotage : WHat's wrong with bolo, it was the next best network game
after FA/18 until Marathon came?
BungieCorp : bolo rules, i was just saying the mines get
irritating after a while.
what about bob?
ChrisSuley : What format are the alien and gun images stored in?
BungieCorp : chris, email me if you want shape formats. (not here, on
the internet)
Sabotage : Do bob's have any importance at all, I know there are some
leveles that claim I should save them but..
then at the end it says too many are killed if I saved them
all would it make any difference?
than if I just shot them all?
BungieCorp : leela harshes on you if you kill too many, but other than
that there is no actual effect on the outcome of the game.
sigh.
where's your humanity?
Gavriel : If you represent the light values as absolutes for each
polygon, how do you handle muzzle-flash?
BungieCorp : by being extremely clever.
Gavriel : ??
BungieCorp : actually, it's just a natural extension of the light
the player naturally casts (with a decay back to normal)
Hoofb : Does BOB stand for anything? If not were they named after a
real person?
BungieCorp : bob stands for "born on board'
although we only invented that in retrospect.
Tuncer : Jay, I think Bob should get a raise ;-)
BungieCorp : Bob doesn't work hard enough. He's always getting in my
way and saying stuff.
ChrisSuley : Is Bob's scream actually Doug?
BungieCorp : bob is doug. doug is bob.
be one with bob.
Inside Games : what's the deal with the "Tuncer Mirage Effect"?
Hoofb : I thought it was named after a irritating customer
Tuncer : Yea, I'd like to here that one
BungieCorp : teleporting objects cause the tuncer mirage effect.
watch somebody teleport in a net game
Gavriel : Is the light the player casts handled in the same way
room-lights are handled?
BungieCorp : no, it's based on distance from the viewer.
ambient lighting is all static.
(actually it's not all static, some of it changes, but it
doesn't depend on the viewer is what i'm saying)
Gavriel : Do you have to recompute distances between the player and
every visible polygon every frame?
BungieCorp : yes; between the player and each scan line, actually.
Semiosis : Can I have a free game???
BungieCorp : uh, like, no.
(heh) ... i mean, you missed the giveaway
Gavriel : Can't the light level change across the scanline?
BungieCorp : yes, but not horizontally across a floor scanline
or vertically across a wall scanline
Hoofb : How about some stats. How big is the company? How Many
Programmers? Are you payed well?
BungieCorp : the company is small. less than seven people. three
programmers. i get paid well.
Tuncer : Dude, you get paid? No way
BungieCorp : pretty cool, huh?
we only started paying people last month. they think it's
pretty cool.
Hoofb : What compiler did you use? Any Assembly in Marathon? Did you
enjoy your vacation?
BungieCorp : marathon is all mpw c and 68k/ppc assembly.
my vacation was cool, but i want to go somewhere warm again
soon. chicago is freezing.
FisherD : You mean Windows 95 or the city or BOTH??? BOTH, I think.
BungieCorp : heh. the city.
Inside Games : any advice for another small company soon to release its
1st commercial product?
BungieCorp : self publishing is the way to go. advice is only that
the process will suck, almost certainly, for a long time.
stick with it.
ChrisSuley : "Never pre-announce."
BungieCorp : Chris, are you insinuating something? heh
Tuncer : And don't forget to say "Two Weeks" to everything
BungieCorp : hey tuncer shuttup!!!!!
BungieCorp : the big bungie event at the boston macworld show this year
will be the burning of doug at the stake for crimes against
our user base. "two weeks" he'll shout, as he toasts in the
flames. heh heh.
ok, ok, not.
Gavriel : Sure it can. If your facing a corner, you should have two
polygons per scanline (ignoring the floors)
BungieCorp : multiple polygons per scan-line, you are correct.
i meant the light doesn't change over one scanline from one
polygon
Gavriel : Across the scanline the z distance grows towards the center of
the corner, and recedes along the other
BungieCorp : remember, walls use vertical scanlines, not horiz.
Inside Games : how valuable would you deem having an online presense is
for such a company? did you get anything positive from being
on aol and eworld?
BungieCorp : yeah. very important.
Kernel : timing...no, it's the spiders again! Get 'm off me!!!
BungieCorp : AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! the spiders are BACK!!!!!!! Gaehrr!R!
ErikF : Bungie, were you at the MW booth?
BungieCorp : i was personally, yes. this is jason
ChrisSuley : What was cool about the Macworld tournament was that it
was on 6100s and 7100s.
BungieCorp : + ethernet
ErikF : :-) Great. I was there, great booth. The setup was great
too. Man the last couple days, those guys were really good!
BungieCorp : erik: and really tired.
heh heh heh.
ChrisSuley : Is there anything in the game, besides the installer, that
isn't optimized?
BungieCorp : no. we spent a lot of time on the game, and then punted
on the installer. sort of stupid, huh?
the installer sucked rocks.
it wasn't even an installer, it was a compact pro self-
extracting archive. very stupid. alex almost got fired for
that one.
but it's kinda like putting a really, really,
hard puzzle right at the beginning of the game. a lot of
people just didn't get it.
Hoofb : Jason: What was the main computer you programed on? (From
start to finish)
BungieCorp : 840av, pb 540c.
Inside Games : i bet the pb 540c really helped coding (in the bathroom,
bedroom, driving to work, etc), right?
BungieCorp : actually i rewrote the entire rendering engine over a week
outside during the summer on the 540c. scared the hell out
of everybody when i didn't show up at work for a week.
Gavriel : Do you transform all the verticies of every polygon each
frame, or are you doing something funcky to
BungieCorp : every vertex every frame; we actually didn't even
get clever enough to only transform shared vertices once.
it didn't seem to matter.
ChrisSuley : What would be cool is multiple viewpoints. Like a 'bot
floating above and behind you.
Kernel : Any inside reports from apple as to when QT 2.0 will be native
(for music, obviously...)?
BungieCorp : apple is working on the native sound manager.
yeah, arbitrary view replays would be cool. hmmm...
ChrisSuley : Hmm, could you derive a different viewpoint from what was
stored in a film file?
BungieCorp : yeah, easy, i'd just have to code it.
Telesoft : Jason, how old are ya?
BungieCorp : i'm five; be six in feb.
Inside Games : in dog years???
BungieCorp : heh heh.
Telesoft : wow, I'm glad you're not sarcastic!
BungieCorp : me too. i'm 23.
Gavriel : Did you have to use assembly to get the texture mapping and
blitting code going fast enought?
BungieCorp : yeah. it's pretty easy to find the assembly if you
poke around in resedit..... "gee, THAT didn't come from a
compiler".... look for unrolled loops.
Gavriel : You guys didn't leave the MacsBug names in the code 8-( Not
like hornet. 8-)
BungieCorp : uhhh ... because i'd sooner die than leave macsbug
symbols in my code.