This post has done the rounds but it's so good I wanted to preserve it for posterity.

This is the TRUE Story behind the Marathon delay.






From: swashin@eis.calstate.edu (Steve Washington)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Day In The Life Of Bungie
Date: 8 Nov 1994 06:48:07 -0800
Organization: California Technology Project of The Calif State Univ
Lines: 96
Message-ID: <39o337$t6u@eis.calstate.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: eis.calstate.edu

Bungie Work-Day Time-Line for Tuesday, November 8, 1994:

6:00AM  Timers at Bungie HQ automatically fire up the PPCs and
        the coffee pots (all 10 brew decaf)

6:05AM  A coffee pot malfunctions, spewing scalding hot coffee
        onto 2 PPCs, rendering them useless.  Higher powers are
        notified that coffee pots should not rest atop the
        computers.

6:30AM  The office is still quiet, save for a lone janitor playing
        the Marathon Zeta instead of mopping up decaf.

7:00AM  Bungie programmers, marketing personnel, and errand boys
        begin to enter the offices.  Each pours self a cup of decaf
        while secretly resenting the management for their lack
        of caffeine.  The 2 damaged PPCs have been magically replaced.

7:30AM  Donuts arrive.

7:45AM  Secretary arrives just in time to field the first nasty 
        phone call of the day.

8:30AM  The day's schedule is posted and read by all.  Primary
        motivations include canasta at 10, lunch at 11:30, and
        completion of the demo.  However, due to the head programmer's
        lateness this morning, canasta is postponed until 10:30.

9:27AM  New civilian added to Marathon.  He bears a shirt reading, 
        "I purchased Marathon at MacExpo '91 and all I got was this
        lousy T-shirt."  Shooting this civilian renders the player
        with god-like abilities.

10:00AM Multiple decks of cards are shuffled, and reshuffled, and
        reshuffled...

10:29AM Head Bungie programmer strolls in, apologizes for lateness,
        and announces that canasta play will now begin.

11:30AM Lunch

12:13PM Security breach detected in Bungie mainframe.  The password
        was 'guest'.  Hacker can download anything desired.

12:30PM Lunch break is over.

12:35PM Bungie's public liason logs onto c.s.m.g. to catalog beta
        confessions.  The evil plan is working!

12:48PM Hacker posts note to c.s.m.g.  Except to follow:
        "...that the zeta blows the theta away!  Space walking is
        now supported thanks to the requests posted here!  I
        strongly recommend you get a hold of this (although asking
        me for it will result in immediate denials that I ever
        HAD the zeta in the first place..."

12:49PM Hackers address is noted while, simutaneously, another
        donut run is in the works.

1:00PM  Time to clock some hours.  Programmers appear busy.

1:05PM  Donuts arrive.  Struggle begins over the last remaining
        jelly-sprinkle.  It is noted that the frosting on a cruller
        looks a lot like that guy in Wolfenstein 3D.  The omen is
        ignored.

1:30PM  Bungie's entire staff is in full swing.

2:19PM  There are new features to test, but programmers pour through
        reference materials to find out which letter follows zeta.

2:25PM  In state of panic, a new letter is created, 'blamma'.  The
        blamma version is posted on the mainframe, and random lots
        are drawn to determine the next lucky c.s.m.g. subscriber
        to receive it in their mailbox without even asking for it.
        It's fun!

3:00PM  Boy, it's been a long day.  I wonder who's on Oprah?

3:13PM  During a commercial, a little coding is done.

4:00PM  Since nobody bothered to change the clocks at Bungie HQ for
        daylight savings, everyone goes home thinking it's already
        5.  Before anyone can leave, though, the day's schedule is
        xeroxed and tomorrow's date is scribbled at the top.  Idle
        chit-chat begins in the parking lot.

4:10PM  The janitor, an agent for the Doom developers, resets the
        coffee pot timers.  Decaf is loaded up to minimize productivity.



David Barabe'
Hate mail: swashin@eis.calstate.edu