April 12, 1989
The game is coming together. I spent an hour at QA today watching them play it. They’ve been developing levels and playtesting them on their own time, just for the fun of it. That’s a good sign.
Everyone says POP will be a huge hit. Everyone. I can’t walk from one building to the next without someone stopping me to tell me how great it is. This product has both grass-roots and top-down support.
All I have to do is finish it.
The urge to go to my Mac and work on the new screenplay is overpowering.
(Patience… just a few more months… Hang on to that urge. You’ll need it. Put it away somewhere where it’ll be safe. You’ll have the whole rest of your life to pursue your screenwriting and directing dreams… after you finish the game.)
April 14, 1989
Robert got into Yale!
April 22, 1989
By the time POP ships I’ll have been out here three years. Two years of actually working on the game, plus six months working on screenplay stuff and another six months screwing around and traveling and so forth in between.
April 24, 1989
Dropped in on QA. Will and Randy showed me some of the levels they’ve worked up for Prince of Persia. It was a strange feeling, picking up the joystick and finding myself in a world I didn’t create. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of what this game must seem like to everyone else.
Met with Brian and Bill McDonagh to ask for an advance to pay for the IBM conversion. I don’t think there’ll be any problem.
April 25, 1989
Paul Dushkind showed me his sketches for the package design. I wasn’t blown away. So, when I got home I made a few of my own. Now I have a problem; namely, how do I show them to Paul without making him feel threatened?
It’s not that I insist on doing everything my own way. I’m always hoping someone else will come up with something better than I would have done myself. But when they don’t…?
April 26, 1989
I didn’t have the nerve to show Paul my sketches, so I showed them to Robert. “They’re a lot better than Paul’s,” he said. Uh oh.
Doug Greene spent yesterday over at Jim’s, setting up to get started on the IBM version. They’re coming to Broderbund on Monday. Doug’s really pumped up. I’d like to have a really hot demo to show them, to maintain their current level of enthusiasm.
It’s a strange feeling – all this machinery is being set in motion without me. People are going off and doing things on their own. It’s exciting.
