Westwood Associates .. Studios .. whatever

Kotaku recently did a post on Westwood Studios, called Let's Pour One Out for Westwood Studios. The gist of the story is comparing the take-over of Westwood to EA's new acquisition of PopCap. You can read the article here - Westwood Studios

Kotaku got a number of things right. When you're purchased by EA, it's a slow and painful assimilation. I saw first-hand what it did to many of my friends and if I have any advice to the employees of PopCap; it's don't purchase anything you can't fit into a suitcase.

Kotaku also go a few things wrong. But first let me -es'plain ...

A long time ago, in the late 80's I worked for Westwood Associates. I guess you could call me an employee - although I only made around 17k a year, had no health insurance and at that time Brett Sperry, the owner tried to convince everyone to be a contractor. - this is NOT a hit piece on Westwood, they were small, had no money and were trying to compete with well established companies. Not to mention we were all in our twenties and had no idea what the hell we were doing. So no regrets ..

That's me in the back by an eye.

I was a designer and a writer. I was a designer on Dune II. I was a writer on Eye of the Beholder II and there were other products.

I am not going to go into the whole history of Westwood. I will save that for another post. I'm just going to address some of the conclusion in the Kotaku post.

1. Brett Sperry was not the originator of the RTS. It was a game called Herzog Zwei created by Technosoft. A great little two-player game for the SEGA. Everyone loved playing it at the office. In another post, I will explain how Dune II became an RTS - mostly due to a wretched French company called - Cryo Interactive.

Brett was genius at taking embryos of ideas and designs and making them into something great. He did the same thing with Eye of the Beholder, Circuit's Edge and even Kyrandia. Why some company like Apple never picked Brett up as a VP of design I'll never understand.

2. Eye of the Beholder was NOT just another RP. It was the first (okay second) interactive RP. Games like Black Ops and Halo can thank EoB for establishing the engine. Also, games like World of Warcraft have taken a step backwards - they could learn a thing or two from EoB. *Trivia* - If you really want to the see the first - very first off-rail FPS game - check out DragonStrike. Louis Castle has an incredible mind.

So here is a big, huge, money-making tip for any wanna-be designer from your friend, The Mighty Kmuzu. Go git yerself a copy of EoB, EoB II and Lands of Lore. Play the crap out them and start  thinking of elements in those games that have vanished from modern day RP games. You will make a bucket load of money. good luck .

3. EA was not the destroyer of Westwood. Brett lit the fuse long before EA came around. Once again this is not a hit piece. I do not blame Brett or Louis, nor do I think they acted unreasonably. It was those damn Brits at Virgin Interactive. Brett fell in love (in a platonic way) with the guys at Virgin - hell, we all fell in love with the guys at Virgin. They were charming, funny and from Irvine - which at the time seemed a whole lot more groovy place than Las Vegas.

I left Westwood before Virgin actually took over. I did wait until after Virgin drove us all down in a bus to a some huge park for a party. The volleyball game between Westwood and Virgin is a priceless memory.. I will tell that amazing, funny story later.

After Virgin, there was Viacom and after that, EA grabbed what was left .. and by that time the poker game was pretty much over.

4. Westwood is not gone. It still remains today in Petroglyph Games. It's not run by Brett or Louis anymore, It's run by Mike Legg and Joe Bostic. And quite frankly, I think they're doing a better job - to be fair, its almost 30 years later and both Mike and Joe have a lot more maturity and experience under their belt.

I'm fairly sure Petroglyph is going to stay independent for a while. You can thank EA for making Mike and Joe gun shy about the beauty and fun of an acquisition.

I smell what this article is cooking and I agree, PopCap has no idea what's in store for them. EA has not been a design or game company for a long, long time. They're some kind of distribution company, who don't care if the games are good or bad or whatever - as long as it gets to the channel on time.

Kotaku Article --> Westood Studios

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Pony Craft

Lately it seems I find a video I want to share, but the video also spawns a whole back-story that has nothing really to do with the video. And I end up posting this whole back-story and end it with a video that has nothing really to do with the preceding post ...

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am going to post a back-story and then present the video and it will seem that the two are not really connected - except in my brain they are. This is just a warning.

I purchased StarCraft II the day it came out. I'm a fan of StarCraft and WarCraft but it's a love / hate relationship.

A long time ago, back in the late 80's, I worked for computer game company called Westwood Associates. I was a designer on the first RTS (real-time strategy) game called Dune II. I was "a" designer. Brett Sperry was really the one who created the genesis of the design. He was a big fan of a German game on the SEGA called, Herzog Zwei.

Herzog had all the elements of an RTS but I still consider it an arcade game. There will always be a debate whether the first RTS was Dune II or Herzog - but it certainly wasn't Blizzard's WarCraft or StarCraft. I'm also very suspicious as to where Blizzard got their code. At that time, employees at Virgin Entertainment (Westwood's parent company) and Blizzard were very close and their offices were practically next to each other in Irvine, California. - This is just my speculation - most former Westwood folks don't think there's any connection.

Anyway, Brett had a particular talent of taking a design to the next level. He did this with Dune and in role-playing games like Eye of the Beholder, which was an iteration from Dungeon Master by FTL. You can even see elements of modern day flight simulators in DragonStrike and interactive elements and free-flowing AI in Circuit's Edge

Westwood is gone. It was eventually purchased by Electronic Arts and sucked into the giant vacuum of EA LA. Remnants of it remain in the game company, Petroglyph Games, which is owned by Mike Legg and Joe Bostic.

----> Back to StarCraft II. I've been playing this game off and on for over six months and have yet to win one multiplayer game. I've not even gotten close to winning a game. There are way too many professionals out there - and they are so fast and efficient. Sometimes I feel bad for my guys who are just Zerg fodder.

Which leads me to this video I found on Kotaku; it's a new game called PonyCraft. Big eyed, rainbow colored unicorns - now that's something I can get my head around.






Read Kotaku article ---> Stop what you're doing