Last week's News
News article for the week of 8/24/08.
Gen Con: After the Madness
Part 1: Getting ready for the party.
By, Puns McKenna
It’s strange the people you run into in life. Gamer geeks, fellow writers, and others. Try flying in a plane full of them. Talk of this game system and that, dice, characters, etc. filing the air. I tell you, it makes for a rather interesting flight. And unless you are one, you really can’t understand the lingo flying back and forth across the aisles. However, it isn’t hard to identify who the gamer geeks are if you are observant.
There are of course different flavors of gamers. There are the weekend warriors that only play their favorite dungeon crawls. There’s the average happy go lucky gamers that have a regular gaming group and satisfy their needs regularly. And then you have the super uber hardcore gamer geeks. We all know what these ones look like. Strung out on little sleep, caffeine overload, and junk food. Heck, I wouldn’t be half surprised if some of you reading this are that particular brand of gamer geek. The type of person where work is only really necessary to support your addiction to gaming and sleep is completely optional.
I’ve observed several of these gamers in action. In truth, I know a couple that fits the description perfectly. They are a match made in… hmm… not sure what descriptor really fits. Not to put too fine of a point on it, they’re made for each other. They work ostensibly to pay the bills, but everyone knows it’s to support their current gaming addiction… MMO RPG’s. Alphabet soup isn’t it? Things were so much simpler when it was just plain pencil and paper gaming... before we had the mass marketed acronyms. By the way, for those of you who are not geeky enough to know what the acronym soup means, it’s Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game.
In the space it took me to write that garbage, I could have just said D&D and just moved on. As it is, I’m surrounded by the uber hardcore gamer geeks, a whole plane full in fact. And why are all of these flavorful gamer geeks flocking together? Two words… GenCon Indy. That’s right! We’re all herding like cattle to Indianapolis to prove just how big of geeks we are. So the lot of us are going to spend the next four days sweating, eating, and huddling around large tables gaming. Sounds like a load of fun, right? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Ten Questions to the men behind the scenes....
The following are ten questions I asked several gentlemen behind the scenes for Classic Battletech.
The first person I interviewed was Chris “Bones” Trossen. This is what he had to say in response.
Q. What is your role in the development of Battletech?
A. Been there… done it all at least once.
Q. Since the rebranding, i.e. the release of the new books, have you noticed an increase in interest in the game?
A. Yes, it’s going over like gangbusters. I’ve seen more interest this year than last, and it’s growing all the time.
Q. What changes have been made in the process of creating the product?
A. Creators are creating, and the writers are the backbone. The process has been streamlined more to add to flexible creativity.
Q. If someone wanted to break into the gaming industry, specifically into Battletech, what advice could you give them?
A. Become known, work hard, and keep at it.
Q. As a developer of a major gaming system, what do you enjoy the most?
A. Running games, and the creative process involved in bringing a product to fruition.
Q. Do you play the game?
A. Absolutely! Every chance I get.
Q. What is your favorite unit, and why?
A. Battlemech’s are my favorite, in particular the Highlander. It has a certain flavor all it’s own.
Q. What is your favorite faction?
A. The Federated Suns. (Die hard FedRat)
Q. Of everything in the Battletech Universe that you’ve helped to create, what are you the most proud of?
A. The FedCom Civil War.
I asked the same questions of the line developer for the gaming system. Herb Beas. Here are his responses to the same questions.
Q. What is your role in the development of Battletech?
A. Line Developer, Continuity Checker, Everything…
Q. Since the rebranding, i.e. the release of the new books, have you noticed an increase in interest in the game?
A. Yes, there has been a general increase in popularity. We’re getting both new and old players.
Q. What changes have been made in the process of creating the product?
A. The process has been streamlined. And the creative process has been loosened up enough to allow for more ideas.
Q. If someone wanted to break into the gaming industry, specifically into Battletech, what advice could you give them?
A. Become known, work hard, and keep at it. Also one must understand that the universe belongs to everyone. It isn’t something that exclusively belongs to anyone.
Q. As a developer of a major gaming system, what do you enjoy the most?
A. Building the stories and the fun.
Q. Do you play the game?
A. Absolutely! Every chance I get, though not as much as he likes.
Q. What is your favorite unit, and why?
A. Battlemech’s are my favorite. Nothing beats the lumbering firepower of a walking tank.
Q. What is your favorite faction?
A. Quite honestly, the Hell’s Horses. Most people think Word of Blake, but they’re just my current pet project. I’ve always been a fan of the Horses.
Q. Of everything in the Battletech Universe that you’ve helped to create, what are you the most proud of?
A. The Jihad. It is the most dynamic project we’ve ever done. It’s a story that is being told as it progresses rather then after the fact.
Q. Is there anything you would like to say to the fans old and new?
A. Thank you.