Alan's case

[player1]

From delphi boards:

I know everyone's been anxious to hear what's going on with Alan these days so here's the scoop. As most you know we're moving on from the very detailed design phase of Master of Orion III and are now concentrating on the revision phase. This will focus almost exclusively on user interface modifications, gameplay system tuning, AI programming, and of course debugging.
With the main design phase complete, Alan will be stepping back as a full-time Quicksilver employee and will instead be shifting to a contracting role for potential future projects which are now under discussion. He will still be available for consultation on MOO3, of course, and will be here from time to time to check up on the project.

We are delighted with the depth and breadth of the design and look forward to the opportunity to work with Alan again in the future.

You can expect to see Alan on the boards from time to time and perhaps flying through the chat rooms, but don't be surprised if he's got other things going besides MOO.


Bill Fisher, Executive Producer

[player1]

And response from Alan himself:

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." – Yogi Bearra

The formal ties between myself and Quicksilver have been untied. That is, for the record, I’ve ceased to be a full-time Quicksilver employee and, at month’s end, I will not be a Quicksilver employee at all.

Obviously, I’m not a quitter by nature and this situation was not one of my choosing. Write this one off to ‘circumstances;’ when these kinds of things happen in life, you roll with ‘em.

However, being forewarned by Bill Fisher, I’ve spent much of the past couple weeks rearranging my personal life, investigating other work possibilities, and preparing for the wonderful world of ‘independent contractor work’ (known to cynics the world over as ‘unemployment’). Naturally, this personal matter has been very much on my mind of late, as I indicated in my last post some days ago (Emrich Speaks).

I’ve made a lot of friends on these discussion boards, and have received permission to make this posting to say my ‘good bye’ to you all in my own way. I just want to tell everyone not to worry about me. Many of you have my email address and some of you my home phone number, so you’ll be able to satisfy yourselves that I’m still alive and kicking whenever you want to get in touch.

Now, as for MOO3, I’ve stated to both Bill Fisher and Constantine my willingness to remain involved in whatever capacity we can work out between us. I mean, shoot, I still live 12 minutes away from Quicksilver, and Bill is still the same best friend I’ve had since Kindergarten and whom I stood beside as the best man at his wedding. If Bill asks for help, or advice, or just needs a friend to listen to him while he rails at the injustices of the universe (which he seldom does; he’s pretty stoic) – he knows I’ll always be there for him. We’ve got a lot of history, Bill and I, and a new chapter awaits to be written.

So, the future is in motion. In it, you may see me do a bit of playtesting and offering my suggestions about MOO3; maybe attend a meeting or two or take some MOO3-related phone calls from Quicksilver and try to answer any lingering design questions – maybe I’ll get to do more. Whatever works out. But chances are you won’t see me much here on the boards. I’ve got other things in my life besides MOO3, and under the circumstances, it’s time I pay them a lot more attention (starting with my wife, who has been a real trooper these past few weeks, and kids). I expect I’ll occasionally post here if I see an interesting thread, or do a ‘fly by’ in the chat room at lunch sometimes, but if things are ‘going well’ for me, I really won’t be much of a ‘presence’ here and I doubt if I’ll be saying much publicly of a MOO3 nature in the future (depending on my future involvement in the project and the desires of QS management to allow my posting on such matters).

I’ll close by saying that the support and commitment from both Infogrames and QS for this MOO3 project have been tremendous. We all must give them credit the time, money, and effort all have contributed, but most especially for sharing so much of ‘the process’ with the public that they rarely get to see. MOO3 remains a great experiment on many, many different levels. I learned from a very wise instructor in Jr. High (‘middle school’) that ‘those who reach for the stars are unlikely to come up with a hand full of mud.’ The design for MOO3 was a reach for the stars like it had never been made before; I assure you, that when you see the final product, it will still tantalize players with all that it reached for and was able to grasp.

Dig you later,

Alan Emrich

[Stormhound]

This is the news I've been hanging onto for about a month. Make of it what you will. Je n'ai plus de temps pour la folie.

[ASHBERY76]

I remember the early days on the moo3 forum alan's enthusiasm and design ideas drew me to the game.Its sad how thing's change he's out of a job and the most interesting things in his design seem to have gone with him.

[TCO]

Is it normal to release the head designer like this? While game still being worked on?

[ravagon]

Whether or not its a normal procedure I'd have to question their timing. This coming on top of everything else that's been going on lately surely can't be good for their marketing/PR dept...

[BucksRock]

Cool!

This MOO3 money will be another $50 I can put towards the down payment on a house this fall.

All mourn the pachyderm...

[Zoid]

You can also wait a few days and download it from KaZaa or Morpheus, that´s what I´ll do

[Ethelred]

I need hip waders at least, maybe a snorkle after those two press releases.

I have a suspicion that Alan was reminded about a NDA and its possible affects on profit participation and/or he could be sued. Wonder what he will say in 365 days about this.

[Infidel]

More from AE:

Quoting a doubting poster: "I will continue to believe they did not like his reaction to the massive changes they decided to make."

And there, you would be wrong. I'm 'down with' the need for the vast majority of the changes in store for MOO3. Oh, I could quibble about a decision or two, or an approach here or there -- all relatively minor stuff -- but overall the 'finishing direction' the game is taking is needed and, better still, it is 'getting done.'

Hey, if I didn't like where the game was going, I'd ask to have my name removed from the credits, you know? :-) Well, I still expect to see my name in the credits (in the usual 6-point type on the bottom of page 128 of the 128-page manual, where everyone else's name seems to get buried these days ).

Anyway, chill out all you conspiracy theorists out there. Take a Ride on the Reading, Pass Go, Collect $200, and check out MOO3 when it's finished.

Always, Alan

~~~~~~~~~~~~
As long as he has faith in MOO3's ultimate outcome, I cannot see why any of you should not, you pirating losers...

[player1]

More from Alan:

To all my well-wishers (and I had no idea there so many!), I wish to reply with my sincere and heart-felt thanks. I'm very touched; you're really a great bunch.

Now, for the record, CEOs are not lined up outside my door. Honestly, most of them don't even know my name (which I should probably change to Sid Meier, just to get 'em to return my calls ). Honestly, I'm preparing for a long siege in 'independent contractor' work based upon my long experiences with the game industry. That's why it's taken so long to set up my 'departure plans.' Bill and the team have been great about giving me the breathing room to do that, and it's made the 'landing' a lot softer.

But the bottom line is 'thanks.' The feeling is mutual and I'm glad I could touch so many lives in a positive way through this experience. It's been good for us both. :-)

Here's to better gaming!

Alan Emrich

[Master Marcus]

Whatever happened, thanks Alan for the grand design. Best. MM

[SnowFire]

Hmm... I guess all those hopes about Alan doing MOO4 or MOM2 were a bit off then. A shame.

But Alan can code, right? If he can't, I suppose I can maybe see a justification, they need to cut costs and are getting rid of people whose job is mostly over. If he can, though, then... well, I think it's fairly clear he lost out in the politics game.

For Alan's sake, I hope MOO3 does well, since people are probably more willing to hire somebody who (helped?) design a hit.

[TCO]

Alan,

I would like to know if you think the original approach was overambitious (in that scope was left too broad too long.)

I would like to know if it is normal to release a head designer like this.

[tniem]

Originally posted by SnowFire
But Alan can code, right?

I didn't think he could. He used to be a game guide writer, where he fell in love with MOO and helped organize this game. But I don't think he could either write code or at the very least, he didn't write any code on this game.