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Tell us a little about yourself and what your job is with respect to Empire Earth.
I'm the oldest person on the team, but don't hold that against me. My programming background is long and varied, including robotic and laser control, image analysis, networking and of course game programming. AI was my computer science focus in college, back in the days when it was assumed that we could eventually make a computer behave like a human. We're still a ways off from that…
My present responsibilities include the overall civilization, strategy, and unit AI. I think we've built a solid AI team here and am proud of the work we're doing.
I've had a finger in just about every other part of the game as well. When I first arrived, I spent a few months designing and laying the ground work for our multiplayer engine, a job that has (mercifully and expertly) been taken over by Brian Stephens.
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What task will you be working on next?
My last major task is victory condition strategy, where I finally put to good use all of the AI infrastructure that we've built up in the last year or so. After that, there will be a whole lot of minor adjustments to get things just right - the whole reason for playing a game is to have fun, and we'll make sure you have fun playing against the computer player.
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What's the best thing about working at SSSI?
After reading all of the other interviews this will sound kind of derivative, but the best part about working here is the people. The talent here is top-notch… even the artists. Actually, the artists are pretty amazing - wait till you see what they've been able to do with low-poly units. The textures and animations still amaze me!
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What game(s) are you currently playing just for fun? What do you like or dislike about it (them)?
Right now I'm playing "The Longest Journey" and liking it a lot. The artwork is great and the dialogue and story are pretty mature for a game. I recently finished Baldur's Gate 2 - played it through once with a full party and once with a solo cavalier (although I wasn't able to finish the last battle due to that #%@*^ Maze spell). Before that I was addicted to Diablo 2, but three times through that was enough (I'll probably give it another go when the expansion comes out). Other than that, I'm looking for another "quick" game - something I can sit down and play for 15 minutes at a time.
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Besides games, what other hobbies or interests do you have?
I read a whole lot. I used to read more, but there's only so much non-programming time available. Still, I usually get through 3-4 books every month. Not to mention my "technical journals" (Trek fans will understand).
Other than that, movies are a big hobby - I've got a decent home theatre setup and a small but growing collection of movies. DVD only of course - VHS just doesn't cut the mustard anymore. I also enjoy music - I'm in the middle of transferring all of my CDs to MP3 and loading up my shiny new jukebox.
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What place that you have not been to would you most like to visit, and why?
Well, funny you should ask. I've always wanted to see Australia and New Zealand, and my wife and I are planning on going there at the end of the year. Everything I've read about NZ makes it sound like perfection - it's got the entire range of terrain, an incredible variety of animal life (although sheep outnumber everything else) and the people are incredibly nice. Australia has the Great Barrier Reef (the only living animal visible from space), rain forests, desert and picturesque cities. Plus, I get to finally see what the stars look like down there.
