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Name: Tim Train
Title: Producer/Designer
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
Tim Train: My main contribution was writing, editing, shooting, and producing the multimedia footage in the game. This was a lot of fun, and involved combing through hundreds of hours of archival footage, as well as a trip to 1997's Gettysburg re-enactment for a little filming. I also assisted with the marketing\PR effort on the product, and worked on many miscellaneous development support tasks, such as manual writing, playbalance, and tutorials.
LDespot: What are you working on for Alpha Centauri?
Tim Train: Two main tasks: working with Brian on the game design, and organizing parts of the development effort. I'll also probably be writing the manual, providing marketing support, and assisting Mike Ely with the multimedia.
LDespot: How did you end up at Firaxis?
Tim Train: I'd worked with Sid on several products; the original Civilization was one of my first assignments as a MicroProse playtester, and I tested every single port of Civ that came out in the next three years. I'd also been friends with Brian since joining a group of bridge players at MicroProse four or five years ago; that group included other industry notables like Sandy Petersen, Doug Kauffman, and Al Roireau. My first project with Brian was Civ II, where I worked on the multimedia with Mike Ely. When Brian and Sid left for Firaxis, I hoped they'd need a multimedia guy, and so they did!
LDespot: Are there any suggestions you would have for someone trying to get a job in the game industry in a position similar to your own?
Tim Train: Learn C, and work and play well with others.
If you are just starting out, playtest is a great entry-level position; you work with lots of different teams, see all sorts of projects, and make your professional mistakes early. You get a lot of exposure as well. It's an oft-repeated comparison, but Playtest is much like the Hollywood mailroom in the 1920s--the place where the delivery boy catches the eye of some bigwig, and gets his big chance.[/texthighlight]
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Tim Train: Focus on Firaxis: A Look Inside the Company
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Created by:
Martin Gühmann
- Published: October 22, 1998, 18:30
- 0 comments
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Brought to you by The 14th Brigade and Beyond Alpha Centauri
What is this anyway?
"Focus on Firaxis: A Look Inside the Company" is an inside look, via interviews, at the company that brought the world a little closer to the Civil War through Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and is now taking us to the stars through their latest work, Sid Meier's Alpha Canturi. SMAC, which is the subject of this web site, is a turn based game similar to Civilization and will be released by Firaxis sometime in 1998. These interviews, done in February and March of 1998, were meant to give you a closer look at the minds that make up Firaxis.
Questions about Firaxis' present, past and future
To the Interviews...
Company Founders
Jeff Briggs, BMOC (Big Man on Campus)
Brian Reynolds, Designer for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Sid Meier, Designer for Sid Meier's Gettysburg!
Artists and Animators
Programmers and Designers
People that don't fit into the above categories
Thanks...
Thanks to all the employees of Firaxis that took time from their busy schedules to answer the questions. Special thanks go to Lindsay Reihl at Firaxis for helping to set this whole thing up and acting as a middleman (middlewoman, whatever). Thanks go to Susan Brookins for listening to me whine. Thanks also go to Mike Ely for being the super cool guy that he is. And of course thanks to the Gamestats Family for supporting this web site.
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Channel: Inside Firaxis
October 22, 2011, 19:04 -
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Name: Susan Brookins
Title: Master of Miscellaneous
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
Susan Brookins: Kept coffee, soda and snacks in good supply and planned the "shipping" party. LDespot: What are you working on for Alpha Centauri?...-
Channel: Inside Firaxis
October 22, 2011, 18:55 -
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Name: Lindsay Riehl
Title: Marketing
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
Lindsay Riehl: I worked with Origin's marketing and public relations department to get the word out on how cool Gettysburg! is....-
Channel: Inside Firaxis
October 22, 2011, 18:52 -
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Name: David Evans
Title: Mr. Sound Guy
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
David Evans: Sound fx, sound driver programming, recording, and anything else related to sound....-
Channel: Inside Firaxis
October 22, 2011, 18:49 -
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Name: Mike Ely
Title: Technically Programmer/Designer, but in practice I do all kinds of stuff. I'm also the Firaxis Webmaster, which is a pretty fun job.
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
Mike Ely: I did a lot of work on both of the manuals, created the tutorials, helped a little with the multimedia, and wrote the line draw routine used to draw the fences in the game (yes, I'm pretty proud of that last one)....-
Channel: Inside Firaxis
October 22, 2011, 18:45 -
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Name: Tim Train
Title: Producer/Designer
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
Tim Train: My main contribution was writing, editing, shooting, and producing the multimedia footage in the game. This was a lot of fun, and involved combing through hundreds of hours of archival footage, as well as a trip to 1997's Gettysburg re-enactment for a little filming. I also assisted with the marketing\PR effort on the product, and worked on many miscellaneous development support tasks, such as manual writing, playbalance, and tutorials....-
Channel: Inside Firaxis
October 22, 2011, 18:30 -