Software and Technology Services: Planet Moon Studios

more on Planet Moon from DOM-CB

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=8058294

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200311/N03.1126.1602.26825.htm

GI: What was the most difficult phase of the game’s development?

AL: About seven months before we finished (March of 2003) was the worst time. We weren’t happy with the game yet because we had focused so much on technology and character design that we hadn’t gotten the huge over-the-top stuff in yet; it just wasn’t the fun game we wanted. There’s nothing worse than working really hard on something you don’t love yet, and we were all working our brains out. Bob Stevenson, our co-Design Director and co-founder was just saying about this period of the game’s development to me today that there’s an expression, “You work just as hard on something mediocre as you do on something great,” and it’s just not true. You work harder on something mediocre because it sucks the life out of you. And we were definitely not having any fun in those days because our game just wasn’t cool yet.

One day Tim Williams and one of our engineers, Jim Mazrimas, were experimenting with something for a few hours. Then they said to everyone “Hey guys, come check this out.” There are only ten of us at Planet Moon, so that’s a pretty easily heeded call. All of us huddle around a monitor and Tim has Roman run out into an area filled with guys. He hits a button, and Roman activates the Topsy Turvy Bomb for the first time. Suddenly the world turns upside down and all of the guys go falling off the screen. Then they all go falling back. We kept yelling “Do it again! Do it again!” We were instantly in love with our game. We were all inspired. Another one of our engineers, Dave Aufderheide, added this cool little bounce to the guys when they smacked into the ground after falling back down. The sound department at LucasArts recorded one of the sound guys, Jim Diaz, screaming at the top of lungs for, like, ten seconds, so we could have the grunts scream as they fell into the sky. It was like a stone soup of brutality. Making Armed & Dangerous was never difficult after that. It was a lot of work, but it was never difficult.

http://headlinesniffer.blogspot.com/2008/10/planet-moon-studios.html