BB Game

Of all the strange and wonderful stories I could share about my time in the game industry (including six-figure sushi spreads in LA, hotel rooms ablaze in Beverly Hills, all-night parties in Vegas and SF, sweet suite tickets at NFL, MLB and MLS events in the NW as well as soup served in 1000 year old turtle shells in Tokyo) my social media guru advised me to just keep it simple and name drop a little.  So, I’m taking you back to my first summer at Big Bang.

3D Lode RunnerI lived and breathed that game all through a particularly hot Seattle summer.  The game suffered on multiple fronts from being a melting pot of ideas from a slew of temporary designers … by the time I had arrived the art department had taken over design and a lot of stuff wasn’t working as intended while the different worlds were falling victim to “feature creep”, pushing the experience even further away from the core Lode Runner mechanic than the initial concept of sweeping splines in 3D space originally had.  Mildly put, there was a lot more important stuff to shore up in the months till launch than fixing bugs in the editor which was the last thing that Robert (the only engineer on the project) had time for.  This coupled with the fact that level building now was nearly back on schedule, added to my surprise one afternoon when Scott asked me if I could come in on the following Saturday to teach the editor to a new designer.

“It’s a friend of mine, his name is Alexey Pajitnov.  He created Tetris, you’ve heard of him?” asked Scott.  Really?!  Even my folks knew what Tetris was.  I arrived early that hot Saturday morning and propped the front door open with a large rock then got busy building levels.  Sometime later I looked up to see a large, heavily bearded man looking at me from the darkness of the inner office.  I got up and introduced myself then blurted out “I really loved Tetris!”, but was met with a dismissive sigh – only then did it occur to me that nearly everyone he met probably said the exact same thing.  To my defense, I doubt many of the previous fan-boys loved Tetris exactly as I did; twice I played for 72 hours without stopping for any reason (once holding a piss for a day and a half).  I remember that after 30 or so hours of continuous play the TV would jiggle and expand until the screen wrapped around my head and the Tetris pieces filled my consciousness (probably something akin to video games’ seizure warnings).  I swear that I experienced virtual reality without a headset several times while playing that crazy game.

Photo taken a decade later at the release of Lode Runner on Xbox 360
Photo taken a decade later at the release of Lode Runner on Xbox 360

The next couple hours with Alexey weren’t exactly a joyride, but I did learn how to swear in Russian.  I’d blurt out “Wait!” or “No, don’t do that!” a second too late and Alexey would crash the editor and grumble something… then we’d start over.  When he could take no more he thanked me and left with the software and an instruction pamphlet I had created.  I received a few exasperated phone calls in the following weeks, but eventually he returned with an interesting sample of levels that had a very unique approach.

That fall, Scott accepted the job of president at newly founded Nintendo Software Technology, which was just down the road a mile in Redmond.  We were about two months from completion of 3D Lode Runner and Scott brought six of us over to finish onsite and help start up the new enterprise along with some good people coming “over” to NST from DigiPen.  At that time, NST and Digipen shared most of the upper half of a Nintendo warehouse located a couple blocks from NOA headquarters (the rest of the loft was packed full of old Nintendo coin-ops wrapped in plastic – some uncirculated, which of course, eventually I got my hands on).

After working on a few games like Pokemon Puzzle League and Ridge Racer 64 I got word that I’d be on the team developing a new Wave Race game for the GameCube.  But, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to first come over and look over this new dev group in person.  I must say, this celebrity encounter was a little less personal than meeting the famous Alexey.  Shigeru toured the space rather quickly, stopping only briefly to examine the small group of designers.  Quickly moving from one to the next, he peered intently into our eyes as a Jedi Knight might stare at a Storm Trooper… I was never sure if he was trying to pass on some vitally important piece of information or was simply scanning our brains to see if there was a decent idea floating around the room.  But, that was the extent of it.  I made some great friends and learned a lot while there, but left after a couple years to pursue some personal projects that just couldn’t be denied any longer.  OK, enough with the past – from here forward we’re blogging to the future!

BB Game

Upon completing courses and graduating at the top of my class in 3D Animation & Multimedia, which was still very obscure in 1996, I struggled to find work in the tech industry.  The following year a fellow student and close friend, Bob Lindenmayer, wasBob 4 hired as a 3D artist at a small video game company.    Big Bang Software was nearly two years into the development of a 3D version of Lode Runner for the N64… unbelievable!?! Lode Runner was quite possibly my favorite game back in the heyday of the Commodore 64.  In my youth I had spent countless hours creating custom levels with the built-in “game generator” (the first ever level editor to accompany a game at release).  Of course, I told Bob to keep his ears and eyes open for a chance to get me in.

A couple months later he told me that the designer had “left” and that the game had a history of design problems:  A long line of designers had been through the revolving door since the company started – none panning out.  The company was now juggling the budget and schedule and wasn’t even looking for a replacement.  But, he also said that there was a shiny, blue Silicon Graphics rendering machine connected to a PC in the designer office.  It was set – I carpooled to the office with Bob early the next morning.  No one had turned on the lights (no one ever did) and Bob Lode Runner C64quietly walked me down the dark hall past artist’s rooms and the engineer.  Robert Champagne, the engineer who was dividing his time between the tool creation, game code, testing and level creation, looked up as we walked past.  “Hi” he said, “Hi” I returned and quickly slipped into the next office.  “Well, good luck!” said Bob smiling, before walking out.

I figured out that incredible editor – and buggy as it was, I was completely enthralled.  I went home that first night but stayed countless others.  Having sold my car to fund a small film a year earlier I was at the mercy of the bus system, and I decided sleeping under my desk was easier than a three hour commute.  A couple days later, after convincing the producer that I had been OK’d by Champagne, who kind of shrugged and nodded as I pleaded my case, I could finally turn on my light during business hours without fear of getting tossed out.  I hadn’t actually been hired and definitely wasn’t getting paid, but I was on a creative tear… already producing levels far superior to what had been saved by Scott 2previous designers.

One morning a week or so later, I looked up to see a Japanese man standing in the door of ‘my’ office.  He appeared to be rather important.  He looked at me and then at the steaming wine bottle on the desk.  “It’s coffee”, I sputtered… “It really is!”  “And you?” he asked.  “I’m Brett…. the, uh, new level designer.”  He was Scott Tsumura, the founder.  He asked how long I had been sitting there, he looked at a few levels and then said he’d give me a two week temporary contract – he then told me to straighten up if at all possible; investors from Japan were stopping by.  My shoe was firmly wedged in the door…

BB Game

It’s an exciting day for all of us who have toiled in recent months to complete Crossword Combat… with our company website not even fully completed we officially release the first Blue Fondue game!CC blog

Crossword Combat is a fast paced update to the classic word game.  Clues have been
removed altogether; if a word fits, it’s right!  But that doesn’t make it child’s play – you’re racing the two minute timer and battling all other players worldwide to use the most bonus letters and the least penalty letters possible.

Special thanks go out to Jun Pan, Kevin Lai and Jun Tsujimoto of Studio Voltz in Vancouver, BC for their help in developing the online version.  It runs in any browser, just go to www.crossword-combat.com to check it out.

We’re also pleased to announce that we’re working with Hans Olsen of Game Promoter for the first time.  He is handling the press release and stirring up general support and enthusiasm for the game!

Brett Ballow

Hi. I’m Brett Ballow. To clarify for the reading voice in your head, Ballow is pronounced like balloon without the n – or like the friendly bear in The Jungle Book, if you prefer that imagery.

I am a video game designer/producer and an avid puzzle collector and bB Bearuilder.  While I am the principle creative here at Blue Fondue, my lovely wife Flora handles most of the yucky business stuff… and I think she actually enjoys it.  We are the core, but our many talented partners really push the envelope of what we do creatively.  Yes, we work with some large, well-known companies but mostly small groups and motivated individuals who share the vision of our mission statement; artists, illustrators, coders, cartoonists, mechanics, machinists and small manufacturers, we all pride ourselves in creating unique, highly polished objects of art!

You already know some passionate, independent developers hell-bent on personal expression – go ahead and stack us up as one of them and follow along.  I look forward to introducing you to our extended team and finding out how many of you share my dual interest of puzzles and video games!