I was a programmer on Anachronox for its first year (7/97-8/98) and its last year (9/00-07/01), and experienced both the early high-flying days of Ion and the final days of packing up our cubes.
The article is pretty accurate about the early days. At around six, all work would stop, and people would whip out the Quake/Doom action. I learned a few new words for certain parts of the human anatomy and had a blast screaming them at my coworkers as we gibbed each other. Perhaps the ultimate moment was personally inciting Romero into busting his mouse and kicking up computer cases lying around, screaming in frustration and defeat:)
What the article fails to mention is some of the crap we had to put up with, especially as the years progressed and there was no game visible from either team (Dominion does not count). But everybody has heard these things, although usually before the employees of Ion would, so there's no need to mention them again.
What really bugs me is the way the article brushes the Anachronox team off the way you would brush half a stinkbug out of your Chipotle burrito -- Anachronox being the only well-received product to ship from Ion Dallas.
This self-entitled "hardcore elegy" for Ion Storm is a disservice to the hardcore workers that managed to push Anox out the door despite the extreme lack of manpower, subsequent Loss of Any Life Outside of Work, legacy code from ex-employees that would make baby Jesus cry, and plagues of other internal problems that disheartened us every day.
In the end though, we realized that Dark Pathing -- cube-talk consisting of how much the situation sucks, talk which escalates in desperation and bitterness as more people chime in -- is ultimately less productive (but more fun) than just Sucking It Down and finishing the damn project.
More importantly, at least on Anachronox, we made the sacrifices and stuck it through, not because of the magnetic personality of John Romero, but because the main contributors shared a pride for their work, and mutual love and respect for each other. We actually enjoyed working with people who were our friends, and wanted to see the project to the bitter end.
I certainly hope that all game employers make sure to read the article so they understand that we were all pot-smoking Lost Boys who thought it was "good to have women around." Certainly this Elegy to the Hardcore is no Speaker for the Dead.
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I was a programmer on Anachronox for its first year (7/97-8/98) and its last year (9/00-07/01), and experienced both the early high-flying days of Ion and the final days of packing up our cubes. The article is pretty accurate about the early days. At around six, all work would stop, and people would whip out the Quake/Doom action. I learned a few new words for certain parts of the human anatomy and had a blast screaming them at my coworkers as we gibbed each other. Perhaps the ultimate moment was personally inciting Romero into busting his mouse and kicking up computer cases lying around, screaming in frustration and defeat :)
What the article fails to mention is some of the crap we had to put up with, especially as the years progressed and there was no game visible from either team (Dominion does not count). But everybody has heard these things, although usually before the employees of Ion would, so there's no need to mention them again.
What really bugs me is the way the article brushes the Anachronox team off the way you would brush half a stinkbug out of your Chipotle burrito -- Anachronox being the only well-received product to ship from Ion Dallas.
This self-entitled "hardcore elegy" for Ion Storm is a disservice to the hardcore workers that managed to push Anox out the door despite the extreme lack of manpower, subsequent Loss of Any Life Outside of Work, legacy code from ex-employees that would make baby Jesus cry, and plagues of other internal problems that disheartened us every day.
In the end though, we realized that Dark Pathing -- cube-talk consisting of how much the situation sucks, talk which escalates in desperation and bitterness as more people chime in -- is ultimately less productive (but more fun) than just Sucking It Down and finishing the damn project.
More importantly, at least on Anachronox, we made the sacrifices and stuck it through, not because of the magnetic personality of John Romero, but because the main contributors shared a pride for their work, and mutual love and respect for each other. We actually enjoyed working with people who were our friends, and wanted to see the project to the bitter end.
I certainly hope that all game employers make sure to read the article so they understand that we were all pot-smoking Lost Boys who thought it was "good to have women around." Certainly this Elegy to the Hardcore is no Speaker for the Dead.