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Name: Jerome Atherholt
Title: Artist/Animator
LDespot: What did you do for SMG?
Jerome Atherholt: Generals' portraits (both sides), Options Screen, Side selection screen (not the paintings in the frame which are the work of Don Troiani) "F10" map of Gettysburg, Scenario Briefing screens, Union and Confederate Desktop artwork. Also lent my voice for some of the Generals in the scenario briefing.
LDespot: What are you working on for Alpha Centauri?
Jerome Atherholt: Portraits of faction leaders, datalink screen, icons and paintings.
LDespot: How did you end up at Firaxis?
Jerome Atherholt: After Firaxis formed I became curious as to what they were "up to." This curiosity led me to a meeting w/Jeff Briggs who described the general philosophy behind the new company. This philosophy was so compelling that I soon found myself applying to and subsequently (I'm happy to say) working with Firaxis.
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?
Jerome Atherholt: Keep your ear to the ground, your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grindstone. You may look funny and feel terribly uncomfortable but, with patience, you'll find a company suited to you and you to a company.
LDespot: Is there anything else you would like to say to the gaming community (This is your chance to vent, praise, or babble to the world)?
Jerome Atherholt: I'm relatively new to the previously mentioned "community" (3 years) and have, thus far, found it to be a curious and most peculiar creative. The old phrase, "It's only a game." Has taken on a new meaning, for to even the most passive inhabitant of this world of games, a game is just that: a world, not the world; the person who believes that is usually found in places where sharp objects are forboten. But it is rather a world. A world that's to be conquered, or mastered, or understood. A place to immerse oneself in for whatever reason, for however long a period. This I found interesting and encouraging. Human nature takes its play seriously.
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Jerome Atherholt: Focus on Firaxis: A Look Inside the Company
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Created by:
Martin Gühmann
- Published: October 22, 1998, 18:01
- 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 -