[HN Gopher] The Story of Maxis Software (1999) ___________________________________________________________________ The Story of Maxis Software (1999) Author : ecliptik Score : 14 points Date : 2022-01-30 21:25 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (web.archive.org) (TXT) w3m dump (web.archive.org) | Aloha wrote: | This language dates the article, and (as a queer person) amuses | me. | | "A homosexual programmer at Maxis objected to the use of female | characters as objects of affection in SimCopter. So, he decided | to protest by putting what he termed "muscle boys in swim trunks" | into the game. During the game, these characters would | mysteriously appear and kiss each other, but only on very rare | occasions. At least, that was the idea. Unfortunately, as the | programmer told Wired magazine in 1996, "My random-number | generator didn't work as I'd planned," and the characters | appeared with startling regularity. Upon discovery of the errant | code, the programmer was immediately fired, but the transgression | spoke volumes about the frenetic and fragmented state of affairs | at Maxis" | | That's a pretty hilarious easter egg though, too bad the RNG | didn't work correctly, then no one would have really noticed. | | Part of me suspects this was probably a known thing that it went | it, and he was only fired because the RNG didnt work correctly | and it appeared too often. | peterjmag wrote: | For anyone who's curious, here's a video of the Easter egg in | action, along with a some more interesting backstory on Jacques | Servin, the programmer in question: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4mh7Pc5MSI&t=495s | [deleted] | daniel-cussen wrote: | Ha, the RNG didn't work as planned. Do the women kiss anybody? | mewse wrote: | I worked at Maxis for about six months during the middle part of | the events described in the article. I started during the | tumultuous days surrounding the initial attempt at SimCity 3000 | (I didn't work on that project, though I saw its prototypes from | time to time), up until shortly after the EA buyout was announced | (but before it actually happened). | | On my first day at work there was a giant poster in the reception | area which you'd see on your way back out to the elevators, which | began with the text, "To departing staff:". The SimCity 3k | debacle was already bleeding their staff, and I remember thinking | -- even as a fresh university graduate with no real work | experience -- that that probably wasn't a good sign. (I don't | remember noticing it again after the first day; it may actually | have only been up for that one day) | | My cubicle was about two meters from Wil Wright's glass-fronted | office, with direct line of sight into it. My major regret is | that I never introduced myself to him or even spoke to him at all | (I was just a fresh university graduate and he was freaking Wil | Wright. And also, he always looked kind of stressed and unhappy | in there and I never wanted to impose) | | RE: the story's comment "There was absolutely no explanation as | to why SimCity 3000 needed to be 3D," I again wasn't actually on | that project, but it was clear to see that it wasn't possible to | make the game in 3D at that time. This was the era of the | original 3DFX Voodoo card, and there were only two of them in the | entire company (and somehow I had one of them and I never | understood why). But the reason I was given for making the game | in 3D was that it was a decision from Marketing; it was a core | game bullet point that was going to be required if SimCity 3000 | was going to save the company the way that SimCity 2000 had done. | No 3D? The company wouldn't survive. So there were epic battles | between marketing and sales saying that it was what was required | to save the company on one side, and the programmers who would | have to actually implement the game saying that it wasn't | technically possible on the other side. | | It was an interesting situation to be tossed into as your first | thing out of university, I have to say. Even if I was kind of | over to one side working on Streets of SimCity and only seeing it | in my peripheral vision. | ozarkerD wrote: | I was going to say I miss the age in video games where there were | well known players like Sid Meier or Will Wright, but then I | noticed the article was written by Geoff Keighley who I still | know of today for running the game awards. Kinda funny. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-01-30 23:00 UTC)