Anecdotal Evidence: Like Ninja Smoke Bombs

Excerpt from mail sent in 2001, when I was a programmer on the game "New Legends":

Friday was a long day. I think I finished working at 1am. I stuck around for another couple of hours to see if we'd make our deadline, then I gave up, went to Paul's apartment to crash on his couch. Paul didn't get home until 6am.

Apparently we made the deadline, but broke many things along the way. I spent most of Monday undoing egregious hacks I'd put in on Friday.

Like, there was this henchman of yours who is supposed to lead you through the maze. But he was getting confused, and trying to walk through walls--not so useful. So, after he delivers his helpful dialog, I hacked the game so that he blew up. Just exploded all over the place. Fortunately, there was an enemy tank nearby so, you could sort of believe that maybe he was supposed to blow up right then.

It's amazing how many programming errors can be hidden through gratuitous explosions.

| comment? | | home |