Comment Programmers and Teams (Score 2) 605
*What interesting effects have Brian and Michael's departures affect past and current development? During a turnover time at id Software, you made posts about trying to hold on to Michael Abrash, expressing how you enjoy "bouncing ideas off of him" and how losing "one of the best assembly programmers in the world" was going to "suck" (I thought that was the world you used...). While some other posts originating from id postulated that remainents(sp) of the team were transformed into a focused machine, Abrashe's departure likely had an impact, as does the recent loss of Brian Hook and his developer relations duties.
*How will you fill the gap left by Abrash and Brian's departure? Could you comment on the following choices without offending anyone?
In one of Paul Steed's realaudio interviews, he mentions your high praise of Corinne Yu, how she's "one of the smartest people [you've] ever met", through quoting what Brian Hook overheard you say. (www.allgames.com) When asked who you'd like to get on board, after your reassurance that there are many qualified brilliant people in the industry you'd want, you went on to say that the Build engine creator was one target due to his experience as engine , editor, and level creator. He was off limits because he's back finishing school while 3dRealms has a hold of Corinne after her departure from Ion Storm.
*Did you ever try to get those two characters? Or try to get Abrash to return? Did you hold back from contacting Corinne because she was an employee of a previous workmate, and engine licenser, John Romero?
*Have you ever had second thoughs about your small team approach? Numerous times, you emphasize preference for small development teams, in both interviews and
*But, like programs that have parts ideal for parallelization, aren't there parts of game design that would benefit from larger teams, without all the problems (ie level design research/photography; not engine coding?)
-vchen(at)micron.com
