December 2, 1989
[Albuquerque, NM] Freezing my butt off in the McDonald’s parking lot, waiting for Janice Kim to show up. She works nights at Video World down the block. We’re going to have a cup of coffee and then hit the road again.
George wants to drive straight through the night. I think he’s crazy. We’ve been on the road since 8 this morning and he’s snoring within 30 seconds every time he closes his eyes. If he falls asleep at the wheel we will both die.
December 3, 1989
[Pasadena] Yes, you read it right. Despite all my resistance, George wore me down and we drove straight through the night. We took turns napping in the passenger seat, stopping only once (I pulled over to the side of the road 100 miles from LA, just before sunrise, and slept for an hour). We pulled up in front of the Castle Green Apts. at 8 a.m., 24 hours and two time zones after we left Archer City.
December 4, 1989
With George in L.A. Checked out AFI. I’ll still apply, but I’m pretty sure I’d rather go to NYU. I didn’t get a sense of the excitement or community of a large university. It was just a beautiful bunch of buildings in the Hollywood hills, next to a Catholic girls’ school. When class is over you go to the parking lot and get in your car and drive to the Hamburger Hamlet, or home, or something.
December 12, 1989
A great review in Computer Gaming World, by Charles Ardai. He called POP “the Star Wars of its field.” I’m quoting it heavily in my resumé. Also got a plug in Bob Schwabach’s syndicated column, which should help Christmas sales.
Alan Weiss, back from Japan, says Tosei is eager to do the Game Boy conversion but is waffling on Nintendo. We discussed the possibility of doing Sega and NEC versions instead. It’s a tough sell. In any case, Game Boy looks like it’s happening, which is great news. They can’t start till March, but they hope to finish by June.
Danny Gorlin has offered to do the Amiga conversion.
January 10, 1990
Larry Turman agreed to write me a recommendation for NYU. He thinks NYU and USC are the best schools. His son Andrew just started at USC.
Prince of Persia won “Game of the Year” from Computer Entertainer magazine, according to Brian.
January 11, 1990
Made a six-minute demo tape of POP on the Broderbund video editing console, to submit to film schools. It took me six hours.
Late dinner with Roland at Marin Joe’s. We stayed past midnight discussing our past and future in the industry. I proposed that when he’s done with Print Shop Companion, we start a software company together. I’ll design the games (starting with POP 2) and he can program them.
The truth is, I like going into the office every week. I’d go crazy if I had to sit at home all the time. Anyway, it’s another gumball in the gumball machine of life.
I pitched Bill McDonagh on Amiga POP. I asked for $20,000 advances, to pass on to Danny Gorlin.
“Can we collateralize it against your other royalties?” he asked. I said sure, why not. He beamed like a kid: “What a guy! Even I can’t think of a reason to say no to that.”
