Re: JMS posts on the situation
September 21, 1999
Yeah, I got word of this today from one of the developers on the game; apparently the problem is two-fold: 1) because Sierra has taken so long to get the game out, it has become expensive, and the additional million bucks used to relocate the facility north (and everyone involved) was charged against the game, and 2) they made a deal with WB for X number of games in Y years, and they've chewed up most of that time already, and WB is (I'm told, haven't had a chance to verify this yet) loathe to renegotiate since it's now taken --what?-- three, four years to get this first game out.
There's rumors that another studio might be interested in picking it up and finishing it off -- it was literally inches from being finished, and it's a spectacular game -- but again that's only rumor, I don't know anything beyond that.
(The game would have allowed players to go through all of the major wars of the B5 universe -- the Dilgar War, the Earth/Minbari War, the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War -- with a chance of affecting the outcomes and dealing with the
temporal stresses caused by that.)
jms
October 20, 1999
This got sent to me from someone who got it off the Wired.com site...figured folks might be interested.
jms
--------
'B5': Back B4 U Know It?
by Andy Patrizio
3:00 a.m. 20.Oct.99.PDT
The dedicated fans of a game based on the Babylon 5 television series are doing their level best to find a new home -- and life -- for their favorite pastime.
When Sierra announced in September that it was killing off three games -- including "Babylon 5: Into the Fire" -- as part of a massive reorganization that included 105 layoffs, angered fans went bonkers.
"A lot of people wanted to take out the Sierra servers and do other things to try and take Sierra out of the business," said Kevin MacNeil, aka Drazi Guy, one of the three coordinators of the FirstOnes.Com, a fan site that had been following development of the game.
"It took about a week to get everyone under control and to get ourselves coordinated and decide what direction we were going to head," he said.
The plan was to spread the news of the game's demise to every gaming site and Babylon 5 fan out there. It proved to be an effective tactic.
One editor for a gaming publication said he'd received more than 2,000 emails on the issue. Wired News has also been flooded with feedback from upset B5 fans.
Another target was game developers, and that campaign has also paid off.
"There are four companies who have shown interest in purchasing B5. We are now in discussions with all of them," said Dave Williamson, Sierra's senior vice president of business development. "Some have reviewed what we've got and some
are in the process of scheduling meetings with us. So, we are actively pursuing the opportunities."
The B5 team members, who were all laid off together, bonded quickly with the FirstOnes crew. "They have been a great help for the team as far as morale, when it all first happened," lead programmer Dan Foy said.
Foy has been in the games industry for 10 years and has never seen anything like the FirstOnes' effort. "The show's popularity is certainly a part of it," he said.
Another reason for the loyalty is that the developers took an active role in the FirstOnes forums to discuss nuances of the game. "People really enjoyed participating with us and took it more personally when the project was cancelled," said Foy.
Even though the B5 team has a good severance package from Sierra, the crew is eager to renew work on the project. Foy said they need a pretty clear picture on a possible buyer within a month or they'll start losing members to other jobs.
At that point, a new team will have to be rebuilt, which would delay the game even further.
He described the game as 65 percent complete. The engine is pretty much done, but artificial intelligence and some missions still needed work.
The FirstOnes faithful continue their work as well. A Web ring dedicated to spreading word of the game and trying to find a new publisher has sprung up. So far it has 16 member sites. Petitions to find a new publisher have almost 600 signatures, and the message board on FirstOnes.com has 700 users posting to it.
How long will they carry the torch? "We're going to hold out until the development team has moved on to other projects and there's no hope left," said MacNeil.
*****************
It looks like I overstated the percentage of completion for the game.
