Filename: ICQ-0909.TXT - Added to LordNews, Issue #5 archive, 10/21/00.

ICQ Chat Log File - Started on Sat Oct 10 04:50:12 1998
Interview with Seth Able (ransom)

<Diadem> Logging on.....
<Diadem>
<Ransom> hehee
<Ransom> CONNECT 2400
<Diadem>
<Diadem> I remember those days..... no one realy complained about speed back
         then..... didn't think we could get anything better.. but now we
         have a 10baset and complain.. hehehehe
<Ransom> Yeah, I started with a 1200 baud.. sweet speed
<Diadem> What inspired you to write LORD?
<Ransom> Hmm...
<Ransom> I lived in a calling area of 7000 people...
<Ransom> About 10 had computers, I had to make my BBS special to get called.
<Ransom> I had an Amiga, and the door game selection BIT...
<Ransom> So I wrote this crazy thing where you could flirt with the waitress
         and add to conversation, that was how it started.
<Diadem> How long was it until you let other bbs's download the game?
<Diadem> ANd when did the fights and rpg stuff come in?
<Diadem> (Bows) respectfully in greeting
<Ransom> Pap works at RTsoft so I invited 'em :)
<Pap> (Dances) and rocks out in greeting
<Diadem> Yeah.. I remember you blaming him for all the lord2 delays ;)
<Ransom> woah
<Ransom> hehe
<Pap> YEAH damnit!
<Ransom> he made that map WAAAY too big
<Pap> Whatever, you kept on screwing it up
<Ransom> It would have taken years to properly script for a map that size
<Pap> Anyway, we finally agreed on a apropriate size
<Ransom> Yeah, when I started editting in WALLS on everything one night
<Ransom> That's why the ocean looks crappy in places, I was freaking out so
         I added them to stop the land
<Diadem> So it wasn't origionaly an island?
<Ransom> It was going to be bigger if Pap had his way
<Ransom> that's all I remember
<Pap> I don't know, I'd have to look at the drawing of it I did originally
<Ransom> back to lord.. I sold 7 copies for the Amiga
<Diadem> I'm sure the public would have no problem with that:) well...
         except for those diehard sysops with the xt's <G>
<Diadem> Only 7?
<Pap> Yeah, I was busy playing sex olympics at the time :)
<Ransom> yep..
<Ransom> So I said.. Amiga's are the wrong way to BBS.  I need to port it
         to IBM
<Pap> Yup, what were U thinking
<Ransom> SO.. I went to a friends house
<Pap> You had friends?
<Ransom> and used his computer at nights to do the port in this crazy new
         language called Turbo Pascal
<Ransom> hahah
<Pap> Sorry, just entertaining myself
<Pap> YEah TP rulez
<Diadem> How did you learn Pascall? Was it self taught, did you read books,
         what?
<Ransom> It took a month to do the port, I learned it during that time.
         That is mostly why the code was REALLY ugly.. :)
<Pap> WAS?
<Ransom> ha-f*cking-ha ;)
<Pap> hehee :p
<Ransom> Pap is sitting about 5 feet from me so if he acts up too much I can
         beat on him
<Diadem> Hay, for me anythign with comments is clean :) you should see some
         of the newer bbs's projects out there....
<Diadem> Hehehhe
<Diadem> cool
<Ransom> I stole..ahem, borrowed the com routines from a kit called door
         driver
<Ransom> I basically learned tp from the examples it came with.
<Pap> Don't beat me
<Pap> Examples rule!
<Pap> I'm more like 7 feet from you assmaster
<Ransom> I wrote another door called TEOS then went back and updated LORD
         off an on for 7 years
<Pap> TEOS ROCKS!"
<Ransom> Yeah, and when did you come in to work today????
<Ransom> a little LATE???
<Ransom> 1:30 AM to be exact
<Pap> ok ok, my bad
<Diadem> WOw, so a programmer's life is realy what its roomered to be?
<Diadem> (After college I mean)
<Ransom> hehehe
<Diadem> Take that as a yes.... hehehe sounds fun!
<Pap> Yeah, but we need more pop
<Pap> And Ice
<Ransom> It's great, except for the guilt.. knowing that you watched
         infomercials until 5 AM...
<Ransom> when you should have been working
<Ransom> yep
<Ransom> maybe we should hit that store later btw.. pepsi sale
<Diadem> You can multitask.. that's what we do with college.. only we use
         surge here
<Diadem> [tv and code]
<Pap> Ahh, yes I have some friends down south who only use Dew
<Pap> guilt or playing golf that is
<Ransom> lot of golf
<Diadem> :)
<Ransom> We listen to music nonstop, in TEOS I remember using TONS of
         beattles lyrics in the code
<Pap> If you get Ultima again you realize we'll dissapear off the earth.
<Ransom> yay for winamp
<Pap> Yeah, that and cock != whore"
<Ransom> .. heheh, I have never wasted so much time... ultima was great
<Pap> I have, I watch TV
<Ransom> look, varible names can be ANYTHING ok..???
<Pap> Hey, I know, just check out the pap adventure
<Diadem> Gee, what typ eof person would name their variubls like that?
         (twiddles thumbs)
<Pap> Ransom!
<Diadem> (attempts to look innosent)
<Ransom> hehehe
<Diadem> It keeps the fun in the code!
<Ransom> So when I sold the code about 10 months ago, I knew they were in
         for a suprise...
<Diadem> Though for me it kinda scares the professor
<Ransom> hehehe
<Pap> Professors need to be scared
<Diadem> Hehehe which seems to have raised some contraversy... but everyone
         would have done the same... moving on to a new and better medium
<Diadem> Good point
<Diadem> Still, the professor can allways tell if i did my code 3:00am the
         morning before or not by the variubl names....
<Ransom> It was a tough choice, but I think I did the right thing.
<Ransom> I still answer tons of email regarding tech support for LORD/etc,
         I don't really mind
<Diadem> Did you have to handle all the checks and such, or did someone
         take care of that for you?
<Ransom> At one time we were getting 45+ a day, I had someone helping me
         then.
<Pap> We like just cash them and say screwit
<Pap> ok, maybe not
<Diadem> hahaha
<Ransom> haha
<Diadem> Now now... seth able's name should NOT be placed near tao's
<Ransom> If it takes me more than 2 hours a day, I hire
<Diadem> Since your switching to directx, do you have to do anything
         diffrent when your setting up the regs and such?
<Ransom> risc is good
<Diadem> Hay man, old videogames (emulation) rules... we've goot an entire
         gaming room setup in our suit's common area...
<Ransom> hehe
<Pap> Sweet
<Diadem> (with nintendo's and such)
<Ransom> I'm totally into emulation...
<Ransom> We just need a NEO GEO emu with sound...
<Ransom> and I'll be real happy
<Pap> I miss the old TG-16, military madness, it rocked
<Diadem> Those carts are like 170+ megs
<Pap> So much for efficiency
<Pap> (and spelling)
<Ransom> Mega bits.. most carts are under 40 megs zipped
<Diadem> Bad spelling is the first sighn of a good programmer:)
<Ransom> Nam is like 18
<Diadem> Oh yeah
<Diadem> You can fit all the atarii's into like 2 megs
<Diadem> total
<Ransom> Those old 2600 games are tons of fun :)
<Diadem> Yeah.... but they are real hard to get a hold of now.. i mean the
         actiual carts not the roms
<Diadem> I mean I have a PONG system and still can't get many 2600's
<Ransom> We no longer call the things we sell 'Registering' - for Dink, we
         sell the CD.  Took a long time to break the habbit here
<Diadem> In otherwords Demo vs Shareware?
<Pap> Yeah, and you still wanna make a super scheme so we can go back sir
<Ransom> So who else have you interviewed??
<Diadem> Tim Strike, Mary Lu White, uhmm.. Comatose  (Iniquity BBS author),
         Rad Man (acid founder), etc
<Diadem> Your the biggest interview so far though
<Ransom> hahah, nice of you to say
<Pap> uhh, what
<Ransom> Did you interview Mary before or after she closed Wishing??
<Diadem> Hay man your a living legend! And from the looks of it a pretty
         cool guy too ('cause you and pap seem to act exactly like my best
         friend an di... only oyu finish your programs instead of plan then
         do 90% and goto a new one)
<Pap> Isn't one of those a porn star?
<Diadem> Yeah I did
<Diadem> Unforutnatly, the mag was releaced right after it was closed
<Diadem> no before
<Diadem> sorry
<Pap> COol, go seth!
<Ransom> It's sooo hard to finish stuff
<Ransom> The last %10 takes %70 of the time, always
<Diadem> more like 90%:S
<Diadem> So its the cures of every programmer then, eh?
<Pap> Yeah, my Q2 movie will never get done .. ;(    now I cry
<Diadem> Why not?
<Ransom> finish it, wuss
<Pap> I got sick and just can't seem to concentrate on anything for more
      than like 10 seconds
<Pap> I think my brain ram got corrupted
<Pap> I need to underclock again ..
<Diadem> Just wait until your inspired to do it agian.. thats what usaly
         helps me... that and a deadline
<Ransom> Deadlines are the only way I'll work all night.. so I'm all for
         them
<Diadem> You'd be supprised what amazing shit you can pull when something
         is due in 6 hours
<Ransom> I did 30% of dink in the three days before the deadline to burn
         it...
<Ransom> hehe
<Ransom> so trye
<Ransom> true also
<Diadem> :)
<Diadem> Who distro's your cds, anyways?
<Ransom> Us
<Ransom> We're self publishing in the US
<Diadem> Woah... sounds tedious
<Pap> ME
<Ransom> hehehe
<Diadem> Guess you at least get 100% of the proffits (minus coppyrighting..
         which is like what .. $20?)
<Pap> Wait no ... but we used my car to go to the post office
<Ransom> Iridon Interactive is helping us out in europe though
<Diadem> What would you say is the hardest part of making a game?
<Pap> Dealing with the half assed head programmer
<Diadem> Hay, I represent that comment
<Diadem> :)
<Ransom> Well - it's like this.  I figure you take it in the a*s your first
         game no matter what, (judging from the deals we were offered) so
         I said screw it, we'll do it.
<Pap> Uh, no, actually for me I'd say keeping a clear vision of it all and
      where you're going with it, I found I got caught up with too many
      little things from time to time
<Ransom> hehe
<Ransom> like going to taco bell every 3 hours
<Pap> Yeah, taking it in the ass helps too
<Pap> Keep plenty of drink around
<Diadem> Got it... so when in dobut, take caffine
<Pap> Mmm, water too ... too much sugar sucks
<Pap> (My god did I type that??)
<Diadem> Depends.. my roomate has a tolerance for it.. i mean he can down
         surge faster than water
<Pap> Oh yeah, I can down pop pretty fast, usually a can before it's my
      turn to tee off
<Ransom> pap downs a 12 pack a day,  we should screen shot the CAN
         STRUCTURES he creates weekly
<Pap> Yeah, that' my biggest level design there really
<Ransom> i like knocking it over
<Diadem> Evil:)
<Pap> But you should see Seth and some Frappucino, it's cool
<Pap> yeah, stop knocking over allready
<Ransom> except he's always a smart ass and only half drinks the top can...
<Diadem> Hahaaha... (picutres the suds everywhere)
<Pap> WHATEVER
<Ransom> We used to get 6 of us together every thursday to play ultima,
         we'd play all night
<Pap> THat's like sam or tOm's can those fuckers always leave undrinken
<Pap> (undrinken ... when did I make that up?)
<Ransom> Me and pap set a record, something like two days straight we were
         in vesper???
<Pap> Yeah, that ruled!!
<Ransom> So how is GCom doing???
<Diadem> GCom?
<Pap> As in Gcom
<Pap> (uhh sorry)
<Ransom> Galacticom, wasn't Striker the CEO?
<Pap> Ted Striker
<Ransom> Tim
<Pap> he flew over macho grande
<Diadem> Oh.. Tim Strike is in charge of Telegard if that's what you meant
<Pap> oh
<Ransom> Oh ok
<Ransom> Damn, who am I thinking off...
<Diadem> I never could get into majorbbs w/ galacticom
<Diadem> none of the local sysops ever changed away from the defaults
<Ransom> I did when I ran it!!!  Probably like the 3rd guy to do it in the
         world
<Diadem> you ran galacticom?
<Ransom> I used Renegade until I hit 4 nodes, then I had to switch, things
         were just getting too clunky
<Pap> Ransom, how come I always died in TEOS when I played on your board?
<Ransom> you were pathetic at TEOS!!!
<Ransom> even with the player editor???
<Pap> Oh, ok
<Pap> I never used the player editor
<Pap> for TEOS ....
<Pap> I got good at catching that passing by ship though :)
<Diadem> i turned my teos game into an rpg... was quite fun
<Diadem> Pap: hahahah
<Pap> Cool
<Diadem> Yeah... that was until the bbs scene began to die... rapidly
<Diadem> though i shouldn't be printing that
<Pap> You mean we aren't making Lord 3 !??!?!
<Pap> Mann, I've been sooo mislead here
<Diadem> I thought Gameport was doing that?
<Ransom> A lot of the same BBS people have come together on the web I've
         noticed...
<Pap> Yeah, just kidding
<Diadem> Though i'd rather tham change the .doc'sin lord first...
<Diadem> Yeah.. using netmodem for telnet and such
<Ransom> Like we have a web discussion board for Dink, and it's exactly
         like our BBS one.. lots of comradery
<Diadem> but its not the same
<Diadem> That's great
<Pap> More porn there too
<Ransom> Remember Mike Snyder?  He did tons of BBS stuff, and now he does
         web games and Dink addons, it's cool
<Diadem> that's why you have seprate areas
<Diadem> cool
<Diadem> I want to see a web based bbs that uses tcp/ip stuff instead of
         ansi doors.. mabey i'll code that hwen i learn java instead of
         just c++
<Diadem> right
<Ransom> pap will code the first door for ya
<Diadem> :)
<Ransom> he fancies himself a java programmer :)
<Pap> WHAt?
<Pap> Damnit, that's what I get for browsing on the web in the background
<Diadem> pervert:)
<Pap> Yeah, but I'm proud
<Pap> I don't know java .. I forgot it cause I never made anything with it
<Diadem> Its important to be proud of wahat you are:)
<Pap> I know Javascript, and wish I got my ass off the chair and made a
      cool applet
<Pap> I was thinking the Pap adventure 2 might be an actualy applet
<Ransom> I wish you'd touch up those damn .bmps you were supposed to...
<Diadem> Pap: No way.. you can just leach off of seth:)
<Diadem> Pap: Sounsd slow....
<Pap> Oh, yeah, I could do that
<Diadem> How long have you guys been coding, anyways?
<Ransom> 11 years...
<Diadem> DAMN
<Pap> Like  ......... hmm
<Pap> I don't know
<Pap> Not that long though
<Pap> Five ish
<Diadem> Do you just program, or do you have an other job?
<Pap> i sit around and do stuff
<Ransom> We are both lazy bastards..??  not sure if what we do classifies
         as a job or not
<Ransom> ..but we'll be lazy until money stops c.. ok
<Diadem> Guess it does....
<Pap> Yeah
<Pap> Damn horse
<Diadem> I like that philosiphy
<Diadem> horse? Or should i not ask?
<Pap> uhh ok ... there's like a horse behind us and stuff
<Pap> it lives there and makes noise from time to time
<Diadem> Woah
<Pap> sometimes it's just too funny to hear an ACTUAL horse sound ..
<Diadem> (Has to go in 5 minutes)
<Diadem> Whats it doing there?
<Pap> Ask Seth
<Diadem> (raises eyebrow)
<Ransom> we all have needs.  Urges.
<Ransom> j/k
<Diadem> isn't that what a hooker's for?
<Ransom> I rented out a stable in back
<Ransom> Any other questions for the mag?
<Diadem> Yeah just one more...
<Diadem> Is there anything you'd like to add before I end the log?
<Pap> More about the horse!!
<skynyrd> yeah whats up with the horse?
<Ransom> um... BBSing will live on!!!!  It will grow and change, but it
         will be there.
<Pap> "HAck the planet!!"
<skynyrd> uhhhh NEXGEN RULES!!!
<Ransom> ..and check out the People Farm demo in 3 months!
<Pap> Good call Skynard
<Ransom> Nexgen PORTLANT - opening SOON!!!
<Pap> oops, sorry
<Pap> Yeah yeah PORTLAND!
<skynyrd> yeah whatever
<Ransom> portland!!!!!!!!!
ICQ Chat Log file - Ended on Sat Oct 10 06:01:32 1998

End of file.
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