September 3, 1986
It’s official – I’m going to California. I have a plane ticket and everything.
“Actually,” Ed said, “I was expecting you today.”
My life is about to change.
September 10, 1986
“I thought you were the pizza man,” Tomi said when she opened the door to the Baker Street apartment and saw me there at the top of the steep steps with my two bags.
Now I’m reclining in luxury in one of their new armchairs, listening to Maurizio Pollini play Chopin preludes on their new CD player. There’s a stunning view of San Francisco Bay out the windows that makes my stomach contract every time I look at it.
Did I mention that I’m scared? Getting a ride to work this morning with Tomi, pulling into the Broderbund parking lot – that was scary.
Now that the day’s over and it’s clear that I had nothing to be scared of, I’m not scared any more – I’m terrified. I’m scared shitless.
I have to rent a car. I have to drive it. On these insane twelve-lane racetracks they call freeways. I have to find an apartment and rent it. I have to move in. I have to buy a car. I have to buy insurance. I’ve never done any of this stuff before… and now I have to do it all at once.
And on top of this – or rather, at the bottom of it – I have to make a computer game.
It’s gonna be fun.
September 11, 1986
Visited Danny Gorlin. He’s sunk more money into developing the development system to end all development systems. Saw the final version of Airheart. It’s got some staggering special effects and it’s no fun at all to play.
Danny thinks spending a million bucks on a development system will give him an edge. He might be right. But the best Apple games have been developed on a plain Apple II with two disk drives. Lucasfilm spent a million bucks to make Rescue on Fractalus and Ball Blazer, and those games aren’t significantly better than, or different from, the competition. The real strides forward – Raster Blaster, Choplifter, (what the hell) Karateka – were the work of solo programmers with no special resources.
Maybe Danny is leading game design into the 21st century. Maybe he’s just flushing money down the toilet.
I’ll stick with my Apple II.
September 11, 1986
Met with Gene, Lauren, and Ed Badasov and showed them my Baghdad ideas. (Ed B. made up the working title Prince of Persia.) The storyline didn’t impress them much, but I think they saw promise in it.
It doesn’t really matter a whole lot what they think – I’m the one that has to do it – but it sure as hell wouldn’t hurt to have them enthusiastic. In a few months I should have something to thrill them.
I’m starting to get psyched to write this game. Slowly.
September 12, 1986
Apartment hunting with Steve Patrick. We checked out one place with a pink carpet, dusty chandeliers, and an old-lady landlord who said she doesn’t like renting to kids. “They make a lot of noise,” she said. “They invite their friends over.”
“Not me,” I said. “I just got off the plane from New York. I don’t have any friends.”
“Oh, you will,” she said, ominously, sounding like Yoda in Empire. “You will.”
Steve and Tomi told me I can stay with them until they kick me out.
“You should live in the Marina district,” Doug advised. “You’d meet a lot of… (pause)… yuppies.”
September 18, 1986
Looked at a house in Mill Valley, on a shady road winding through the redwoods. When I rang the doorbell the lady peered around me and said, “Is your mother down there?”
She spent fifteen minutes showing me the house, but I don’t think I ever quite convinced her I was serious.
