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- Tell us a little about yourself, what have you accomplished in life?
Well, I always wanted to be an artist, but didn't figure I could. I had taken a graphic arts course in high school and really enjoyed it, but my instructor failed me and told me I'd never be an artist... I just wasn't good enough.
So I went on to other things... I worked fast food for several years. Got bored of that and figured I'd learn office work (it paid better too!) So I became a receptionist, then a billing clerk, then a secretary, then an executive assistant, then a contracts administrator and then... then there was this glass ceiling. Something about no more advancement unless I went to college and got a degree. Oh that really pissed me off.
You see, I personally don't hold our education system in high regards. I've seen too many people with degrees that have nothing to do with their careers, or who can't do the thing they have earned a degree in. Friends with business administration degrees who can't type, friends with computer science degrees who can't get a job because they lack practical experience, engineering degrees who don't understand the basic principals behind engineering etc., etc. In my opinion college should be used for those who truly need specialized training like doctors... many of the rest of us would benefit more from apprentice programs that teach hands-on learning rather than book learning. Too many kids are encouraged to go to college & get a degree before they really know what they want to do with themsevles... so they just get a degree in whatever and then often never use it in their actual careers.
Anyway, I was really peeved that I couldn't advance my career any further without (in my opinion) wasting a good many hours of my life to get a piece of paper. So I quit and decided to become an artist. (screw what that art teacher said!)
Jason Anderson (boyfriend then - husband now - been together since we were 17) had taught himself LightWave and gotten a job at Interplay about 6 months previous. So he helped me learn it as well. I worked on a little project for Fallout unbeknownst to Interplay and showed it to them when it was complete. It landed me a contract. Hooray!
I did several animations and movies for Fallout, but when they were complete Interplay was not in a position to hire anyone. So I went down the street (literally) to Blizzard and applied there. I was hired immediately as a member of the fledgling Cinematic department, the 50th person (and first girl) to be hired onto Blizzard's development team.
I loved working at Blizzard and was thrilled to participate in the creation of StarCraft and Broodwar (especially the playtesting... LOVED the multi-player playtesting!). Not long after starting I also discovered that I was pregnant, which made things interesting. I subjected those poor guys to 6 months of morning sickness! Plus I've never been one to like shoes, so I'd run around the office barefoot all the time - and got more than my share of "barefoot & pregnant... get your ass in the kitchen" comments thrown my way.
I worked up until the day before Gwyn was born - and the guys at Blizzard were wonderful. I also think we completely freaked out the hospital with the number of men that came to visit me in the maternity ward, especially since my paperwork showed me as a single mother. lol... now THAT was funny!
I was planning on returning to work at Blizzard after Gwyn's birth, but I just couldn't bear the thought of being separated from my baby. So I made a deal with Tim, Leonard & Jason, who had just formed Troika, that I would keep their books, do HR & Payroll, & help out with art if they would let me have a nursery at the office with a full-time nanny. They took me up on the offer and off I went.
So there I was with 6 week old Gwyn in her baby carrier - out finding office space, negotiating leases, buying 2nd hand office furniture & overseeing alarm & phone system installations. Perfectly normal, right?
The next 6 years were very full and very, very busy. Troika grew from an initial start-up of 5 employees to 32. We successfully published Arcanum plus a D&D & Vampire:The Masquerade title and we moved 2 more times to larger office facilities to accommodate Troika's growth. I had a second daughter and stepped back from production after Arcanum, although I continued to handle the paperwork side of Troika. Then 2004 hit.
That was the year our world crashed. Jason's father passed away in August. Our 3rd daughter was born in October, which was wonderful, but I had complications, double infections, a bad reaction to antibiotics & daily nurse visits. Then Jason's mother passed away unexpectedly in November. And in December we realized we were not going to be able to get a new contract in time and had to lay off all of our employees & sell of the company assets. Lets just say it was a bad 6 months and we don't ever, ever want to repeat it again.
Jason and I took stock of our lives at that point and decided we needed a break from the entertainment industry. It had been 10 years, and a lot of stress, and it was time for a break. Family had become very important to us and we decided it was time to focus more on our families. We were very grateful to have built up quite a bit of equity in our home, so we fixed it up, sold it, threw everything into storage & hit the road in an RV. Yep, we just left. (never said we were a conventional family).
So we traveled for about 3 months, visited family, saw the grand canyon, got married, you know, the normal stuff... and finally settled down in Phoenix. We both have family nearby and we really liked the housing prices compared to CA. Plus it's still close enough to visit our CA family. We took another 6 months to decide what we wanted to do with ourselves and decided.... you know what, we'd really like to get into real estate. (I know, bad timing).
I'd always loved houses, my poor roommates could attest to this. I used to make them move every year because I'd be bored of our house and wanted to rent a new one. So I got my realtors license and Jason and I bought a fixer upper to work on. He'd grown up fixing up old houses with his parents, so this wasn't new work for him. Just back to the old family business.
So that's where we are at the moment. Working on fixers, building this new business and spending pleny of time with our daughters. We do miss the game industry, but life is certainly a lot less stressful now! You can check out my website at www.nwPhoenixProperty.com <http>
- What are your favourite computer games/board games and why?
Honestly since becoming a mom I have not chosen to dedicate any time to gaming in my free time. I know, horrible to admit, but it is true. I don't have very much free time and generally the last thing I want to do is sit down and get stressed out by a game - trust me, I have enough stress in my life. Now that Gwyn is approaching 9, Jason and I are looking into changing that and may be incorporating a twice a month gaming night into our routine and involving a few homeschool families in it as well. He just received Khet as a gift, and we have old favorites like Risk & Scrabble and are planning to pick up several more to try out.
The girls have their own computer, so I am fairly well versed in little kid's software which is so much better than it used to be. There are a lot more choices for parents now, which I am very happy about, but the quality of some of the software still sucks. We've made sure the kids know their way around a computer and Gwyn actually types better than she writes (not sure if that is good, but it's true!) And you should see my 2 year old - that kid can use a mouse better than a lot of grown ups I know (although she clicks with her thumb - since her little hand isn't big enough to reach the top buttons). I actually have to limit her computer time or she'd be up there playing Kelly Clubhouse, Fisher-Price Pet Shop and Little People Airport non-stop.
When I do play computer games I prefer playing multi-player computer games over single-player. I always have - I'm guessing I like the human interaction and the unpredictability of the play that comes from having human opponents. That is why I loved WarCraft 1 & 2 & StarCraft so much. I'd either play those games at work, or at home with all of my roommates (6 roommates & a 4 PC LAN setup at home - so it usually wasn't hard to get a game going).
- What hobbies do you have besides computer games?
Well, my hobby time is rather restricted. But I do have a couple.
First, I love to read. I used to read sci-fi and fantasy a lot, but I got bored with the million sequel series. I like self contained stories or maybe a trilogy at best. I don't care for books that go on and on and on through 20+ novels. That's just too much for me. I suspect its quite a strain on the author too, but that could just be my opinion. Lately I read romance novels. I know, how cheesy, but actually a lot of them have really great stories. I especially love the ones with time travel, fairies, druids or vampires in them. (apparently I'm always going to be drawn to fantasy). And it is probably really crazy to say this but I find myself annoyed with the steamy sex scenes in them because I really, really want to find out what is coming next... "how is she going to figure out how to get back to her own timeline?" ..."doesn't he know she's not human?" ..."oh crap, the dark mage is coming to destroy them and all they can do is tear eachother's clothes off! What is this, a bad B movie?" Yes, I am crazy. The romance novels also feature strong female heroines, which I have always identified with, having a rather strong personality myself. And I like happy endings, which you're pretty much guaranteed with a romance.
I also dabble in photography. We've had digital cameras since Gwyn was born - and take a ton of pictures all of the time to keep all of the relatives up to date on the kids. So I've had lots and lots of practice, and have become pretty good at photographing children. And one of the common challenges of parents with multiple kids is getting a good group shot. (most of the families I know have 3 or 4 kids) So a couple of times a year I set up a backdrop scene and put up the lighting that Anderson was kind enough to buy me and invite a few families over. I shoot one kid at a time, taking about 20 shots each. Then I mess with them in Photoshop and taking the best shot of each kid, composite all of the children into one single picture. Its pretty cool - and everyone is so happy to have a picture of all of their children looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. I have a lot of fun doing it.
- What are your favourite bands/artists (music)?
I have a fairly eclectic taste in music, but prefer some weird mix of pop songs and heavy music. I usually just listen to whatever is on the radio in the car, but I do tend to switch stations frequently, plus part of my car time is dedicated to Radio Disney... Lately I've been listening to Korn, System of a Down, Nickleback, Bullet for my Valentine, Tool, 3 Days Grace, Shinedown, Jonas Brothers, Gwen Stefani, Evanescense, etc., etc. I really annoy the hell out of Anderson too - because he is VERY into his music and can tell me all about the subtleties of different sections of a song and the influences of particular bands - which just goes completely over my head. I can't even remember the names of bands, let alone who influenced them.
- Tell us a little about your role in the making of Fallout 1/2/3 (Van Buren)/Tactics?
I was a 3D Artist for Fallout and I worked as a subcontractor, meaning I was not in the office everyday with the team. (Although I showed up in the evenings to play a lot) I did several of the base creature modeling & animations (2 headed brahman, dog, Mr. Handy), a few cut away shots (the death screen and the pull-back shots of the vault's water level lowering) plus the dipped in the vats/turn you into a mutant movie & the exploding mutant vats movie.
I guess I was used a lot as a sounding board of sorts as well. I mean, what do you think Jason and I talked about in our free time for 2 years?....Fallout. What did we talk about when we went to lunch with different friends and team members?... Fallout (and the occasional office gossip, of course). So I heard a lot about the design going back and forth, about the creative process, about the meetings that were held and the decisions that were made higher up and I got to give my opinions, ideas and comments regarding various choices. So while I wasn't part of the day to day team, I'm pretty sure I heard about most everything that went on.
- What's your favourite Fallout memory?
Oh, I have a ton of fond memories of working on Fallout and being around the team at Interplay. Here are a few:
As a contractor, I was not in the office with the guys full-time. I actually spent my days lazing around by our pool and generally worked from 4 in the afternoon until about 2 or 3am, with a lengthy break for dinner. As often as possible I'd show up at Interplay between 6 & 7pm, because you were guaranteed sometime in that hour the workday would come to a screeching halt (or at least temporary break) and the crazy chaos of WarCraft 2 would ensue. I'd find a way to insinuate myself into a game and become part of the hollering and cursing being heard up and down the halls along with the sounds of ogre's berserking and dragon's screeching. It was great!
Hanging with the fledgling 3D department was always fun, and they were always up to something. 3D was fairly new, and I'm sure all the guys will admit that they were more than a little full of themselves as part of the "elite" Interplay 3D team. Heck, I remember the first Interplay Christmas party we all went to during Fallout. The 3D click took it upon themselves to outshine everyone else at the party by showing up in formal tuxedos. It was pretty funny - but I'm fairly certain they ruffled a few feathers that night, acting like they were all that. I've got at shot of the main group of bad-asses... Anderson, Beardsley, Boyarsky, Dean, Moore & Platner, most of who worked on Fallout and/or Fallout 2.
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Of course my favorite memory is the discovery of the Fallout Babies. It was about 2 months after Fallout shipped... I was over visiting Jason for lunch (Blizzard was only about a mile away from Interplay) and we were in Jason & Leonard's office talking about something when Leonard came in all excited and says "Guess What?... Tracy's Pregnant!" He was so excited and happy, it was so cool to see... so Jason piped in with "So is Sharon!".
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Samantha and Gwyneth were born 6 days apart. ...Now we know what developers do when they get some downtime.
- How was it to be a part of the Fallout team?
Even though I was just a subcontractor on Fallout, the guys really made me feel like I was part of the team, and I really appreciated that. That is one of the things that really drew me to the game industry, the chance to be part of a great group of people working so hard to create a game that (hopefully) many, many people would enjoy.
Making a game is a huge gamble, and an immense amount of work. You spend years pouring your heart and soul into it - fighting over what is great and should be added and what isn't working and should be pulled, who has the best vision for the artistic style, how people are going to perceive the features you've chosen, etc., etc. And all you can do is hope that all of your hard work comes together into what you envisioned. It is a huge undertaking and a lot of pressure is on everyone involved to give 110% day in and day out for months, often years to see a game all the way through to completion.
The Fallout Team was one of the most dedicated teams I have seen - when negotiations over the GURPS license fell apart in the middle of production, Tim Cain and Chris Taylor pulled together and came up with SPECIAL. When dialog was way behind and falling flat, Leonard and Jason got together and came up with quests and wrote dialogs. I think everyone on the team went above and beyond what was expected of them and it shows.
- Were there things that you wished you had added to either Fallouts?
Looking back, you are never satisfied with the quality of your artwork, but that is just par for the course. I cringe when I see my animations for the 2 headed brahmen, the dog, Mr. Handy, etc., etc. I see faults with the "death screen", tons of problems with the movies and all that fun stuff. But they were my best work at the time. And they are still cool to look at. It always comes down to time. If I would have had more time, I could have made it look sooo much cooler! ah well...
- What were you favourite places in fallout and why?
I always liked Junktown. It was just such a cool design concept. All of the stacks of crushed cars, the debris, just the overall feel of the area. Of course, I might have a special feel for that area too because Jason and I talked so much about the walls made of junk cars and how they should look. We'd follow the big semi's on the freeway stacked with crushed cars trying to memorize how they looked and wonder where they were going. It was pretty funny really - thinking that a truck of smashed cars driving down the road was the coolest thing you had ever seen. Yeah, we're weird.
- What is your hope for future Fallout games? Would you like to be a part of a future Fo team?
I really hope that Fallout has a future. It is a great concept, and I still think there are plenty of things that can be done with it and that there are many more stories to tell about the Fallout world. Anderson and I talk about different scenarios quite frequently actually...
I also think I would really enjoy being part of a team working on Fallout again. It was a lot of fun and I miss that time in my life.
- In your opinion, what are the key ingredients that every RPG should have?
Story, story and story. Oh, and great gameplay and the ability to make a difference in the gameplay environment. A great story that immerses the player and really pulls them into the world makes so much of a difference when you play a game. If you can get a player to actually care about what happens in the world, to try to make a difference and to want to change things in the world and try different things to make it happen, then that game will have so much more of an impact on the player.
And that is what I think is best when all is said and done - that a player enjoy the game you made - and has great memories of playing it. I mean after all, this is the entertainment industry right? We are here to entertain. To make sure our customers have fun and get to escape reality for a bit. The better we make the immersion into the environment, the more we get the player to connect with the game, the better time they have and the more fond memories they will have of this little part of their lives.
- How does the fan base hinder/help the projects that you've worked on?
That is a tough question. In one sense a vocal fanbase is great. I was not involved in the fanboards on Fallout, since I was only a contractor, but I was on the boards all of the time during Arcanum. I loved talking to everyone and developing relationships and getting a feel for what our fans would like to see in the game. But on the other hand, I had to be careful what I said (something I'm not very good at) because, as a developer, my opinions were often given more merit than other people's, even about things that were non-game related. And that is rather scary. I wasn't looking for that sort of power, I just wanted to voice my opinion.
Fans can also get very upset when something is changed during development, sometimes so much so that they refuse to ever play the game. This is quite upsetting to the development team, especially since development is not a finite point A to point B process. The creation of a game is an ever-changing, ever-evolving process. Technology changes, hardware & software limitations change, graphic, sound & AI capabilities are also
constantly changing. It is a very difficult process to discern what will and will not work for the type of game you are trying to create within the current technological constraints. You are tied by platform limitations, engine limitations, graphic limitations, let alone the limitations of the team you have trying to create the game. And when games begin development, they are merely ideas. The development team tries its best to bring the idea to completion, but there are always trade-offs and adjustments made to the original design. Always. That is just the nature of the beast.
- When planning the story how do you go through the process of integrating themes and story with the constraints on software?
Tough to do... and I leave that part to Anderson. He's always been really good at working between the design area and the programming area and trying to get the best fit. I do art, I write, I talk a lot - but I steer pretty clear of design integration into technology.
- If you could make any computer game that you wanted, which would it be and why?
Well, it certainly isn't going to impress the RPG fans out there - and probably stems from my life-experience of the last 8 1/2 years, but for years I've wanted to put together a really solid game for babies and toddlers. Yes, yes, not what you were looking for, but that's what I want to do. So many of the offerings out there for the little ones just can't hold their attention or are way too easy to break or screw up. Little kids just want to push buttons on the keyboard or click the mouse buttons and see some sort of response. There are some programs out there like that, but the ones I've seen are pretty low budget and not very gripping for the kids to pay attention to. And they crash a lot. I've always wanted to get together with a programmer and make a really solid little game with bright pictures and great sound effects that will help little kids understand that if they push a button, something happens instantly. And that if they push another button, something else will happen instantly. None of that delayed reaction, or "wait for the little whatever it is to finish its entire animation no matter how many other keys you hit" stuff. Strictly Action = Reaction. I think a game like that would go over big with the little kids.
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Kicking my eldest out of the house? I have no idea. I don't plan that far ahead - much more of a fly by the seat of her pants type. Contact me in 10 years - I'll tell you what's been going on.
- Any last word to the Fallout fan base?
You guys are awesome. Thanks for being so loyal. I hope any future Fallout games can live up to your expectations and that you are allowed to contribute ideas towards their development.