Old Journals

June 7, 1989

Incredibly, I turned the game in to QA today. Now the real fun begins. Six weeks to finish the whole thing.

The Apple market is dying. It’s definitely affected the level of enthusiasm for Prince of Persia within the company. No matter how hard I try to convince people that there’s going to be an IBM version, they’re behaving as if there isn’t one. I found out today from Nancy and David that Latricia/Sophie balked at spending $5500 for the box art. After making the rounds and lobbying everyone, I think they’ll OK it, but the whole thing was a really disturbing vote of no-confidence in POP.

Kevin in QA gave me more of the same. When I told him I hoped to ship August 29, he shook his head gravely and said he’s been mandated to put two men full-time on Carmen Sandiego 4 and two on some other product, which leaves no one to test the beta version of POP I handed in today.

It pisses me off.

I shouldn’t be surprised. When has Broderbund ever thrown its weight behind a game? Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka all made it on their own, on the strength of good reviews and word-of-mouth.

There’s no one looking out for me, no one to go to bat for POP. Brian is out of town, Sophie is an idiot, and Latricia – despite Doug’s instructions to the contrary – is leaving everything up to Sophie.

I should probably be putting more energy into trying to cultivate these people and work up some enthusiasm for my project; but what with having to actually design and program it (not to mention documentation, box copy, IBM conversion, etc), I just can’t spare the time.

Meanwhile, the IBM conversion, which I need so desperately, has fallen victim to Doug Greene’s angst.

Oh well, it’s a cold cruel world out there. If I’m going to be a movie director someday I’d better learn to deal with it.

Posted on Jun 7, 1989 in Old Journals | 2 comments