August 4, 1989
Brian’s on vacation.
More controversy over the package design: Dianne Drosnes saw it and threw a fit. So Bill McDonagh put it on hold until Doug got back.
Doug glanced at it first thing yesterday morning and said: “Looks fine.” Today a bunch of irate women put a message on the LAN to Doug, Bill, and Ed Auer complaining that it’s sexist and offensive.
Doug wrote a two-page response to cool them down. It looks like we’re in business again, though this cost us a week. The whole thing is ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with the package design.
Tech support is crazy about the game. Everyone thinks it’ll be a megahit. I keep getting asked if I’m going to do a sequel. The first one isn’t even done yet.
David is back from Japan.
August 5, 1989
Got an idea for POP 2. A ripoff of Ladyhawke.
That’s how you know the end is in sight, when you start thinking about the sequel.
August 7, 1989
Finally got down to work and fixed a couple of long-standing bugs. What I need to do is keep this up for a few more days.
Got a speeding ticket on the way home. I was so clearly guilty, I didn’t even try to plead with the officer. One of these days I’ll get one ticket too many and my insurance will go up to $3000 a year.
Robert’s MG has broken down. With only three weeks left to finish his game, he just said “I don’t have time for this,” and left it at his mom’s house in LA. Now he’s riding his bike to work.
To meet my own deadline, allowing one week for copy protection, I need QA to sign off on the game within the next ten days. If I fix all the bugs by the end of this week, that leaves me a few days to fiddle with it and put in stuff like the mouse. (There has to be a mouse – I promised Tomi.)
August 8, 1989
Woke up in the middle of the night and didn’t know why I was awake. It was a quarter past one, just an hour after I’d fallen asleep. Half a minute later, the bed began to shake. The room was shaking. I lay there half asleep as the shaking went on and on, and suddenly the adrenaline hit and I was scared shitless. I realized the building could fall down and I could die.
Later I found out it had only lasted 30 seconds. It felt like longer.
5.2. Epicenter, San Jose. Five percent chance this is just a precursor to a bigger quake within the next few days.
An encouraging day. Cathy (Brown) saw the game for the first time in months and was as thrilled as I could hope for. Oliver delivered a bug report that was reassuringly thin.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This game is going to be a hit. All I have to do is finish it.
Weird weather. Lightning storms, flash floods, forest fires all over the West, and now this quake. It’s like signs from God. But what does it mean?
Why do I feel so sad tonight?
August 9, 1989
Slowly but steadily, I’m fixing bugs. The only new things left to do are the Vizier walking, the Princess embracing, and… the mouse.
August 10, 1989
A very productive day. Fixed a few of the very nastiest bugs I’d been dreading facing for months. Now, suddenly, it seems very close to finished.
Saw the sell sheet mechanical. Pretty exciting.
Met Andrew Pedersen, clean-cut young marketing guy just hired a couple of weeks ago. I like him.
