Posted March 06, 2015
Hello friends. This is something I wanted to explain a bit to someone some place, even if it was just wide open and on a forum. I got this notion last night and it was legitimately keeping me up because I started thinking about logistics and possibilities with it. Nothing is final, but I wanted to run it by anyone willing to listen to see what they think about it.
Concept:
In short, this documentary would be about the accomplishments of three primary programmers in the early days of gaming history which goes back to the mainframe era.
First would be Silas Warner of Muse Software, who created games such as Robot War, Castle Wolfenstein, and even programmed the unreleased Super Mario Wacky Worlds. Mr. Warner is unfortunately deceased, but while looking into gaming history (more below) I kept coming across his name and was astounded at his accomplishments. His story definitely needs to be told.
Second would be Nasir Gebelli who started as an Apple II programmer, but then moved to Japan and coded the first three Final Fantasy games and Secret of Mana. He came to my attention when Brenda Romero, wife of Doom creator John Romero, mentioned him in an episode of Matt Chat. His work basically built the foundation for Squaresoft as a company. To my knowledge, he is still alive, but the only interview he ever did was years ago for John Romero's Apple II programmer reunion, which you can find on Youtube.
The last one is a bit of a toss up. I feel that a film like this would need three figures to really have a compelling narrative, but I haven't found a figure which fits in the same category as those two pioneers. What I'm running with to start off is Don Daglow, who was one of the original Intellivision programmers. He's far from an unknown name and was one of the founders of the Game Developer's Conference, but I feel like we don't really know much about him, and especially his early mainframe games. His involvement with those mainframes, consoles, and the rise of online gaming would be a good "fall back" of sorts if either of the other two narratives come up short.
How I Came to This Conclusion:
For the past six months or so, I've been writing a chronological history of the video game medium which traces the design and business trends throughout the ages. I've been doing it to answer my own questions of when certain mechanics first emerged and why certain industries succeeded/failed, which I think really gets drowned out from popular histories. It's also meant to be a database that people can access and use if they ever want to find out anything regarding the games, tech, and events that I'll be covering.
I will likely return to this forum in the future to explain the project a bit more, but I just wanted to give an overview of why I'm so interested in these three guys. It was last night, after I had written the sections on both Castle Wolfenstein and RobotWar that I came to realize just how influential, seemingly unknowingly, Silas Warner was. There's only three pictures of him which exist on the internet, and his incredibly legacy will never be told unless someone steps up to the plate and figures out who he even was. Same for Nasir Gebelli, who is a completely unrecognized US/Japan success story years before Argonaut Studios made Star Fox.
Vague Logistics:
I am currently a student and I have good relationships with students in the film department. I would definitely be able to get filmmakers interested and to have access to equipment, but I am rather immobile, all things considered. One of two things could happen: I form relationships with other interested people to get the interview footage (possibly publishing it in Creative Commons under the style of Get Lamp), or I do a Kickstarter/Patreon to be able to fly and get the interviews personally.
Either way the filming would take place, my absolute baseline plan is this:
1. Schedule and do the interviews.
2. Start looking into rights issues regarding the games which will be featured.
3. Dedicate time and hire a visual artist for some limited effects (again, look at Get Lamp for the scope).
4. Spend a dedicated month or so editing the film and getting connections for distribution.
5. Release the film into local film festivals and onto digital sites like GoG (see, it's related!).
The intention is not to establish a huge business with this as the first project, but rather to just capture the people's perspectives before they disappear into the unknowable ether that many other voices have.
By far the biggest problem is going to be in acquiring the rights to showing the games. I don't imagine that either of Nasir's or Silas' early Apple II games are going to be a problem, though Wolfenstein might be stuck in a weird copyright limbo at the moment. However when you're talking about console games, you have to start dealing with higher-ups, which I am far from equipped to do. The biggest hurdle will be Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, because that's an unreleased game using a Nintendo property on the console they want to forget, the Philips CD-i. The story wouldn't necessitate showing it, but it would be nice to be able to.
Possible Interviewees:
Ed Zaron and Jim Black, co-founders of Muse Software.
John and Brenda Romero. They know Nasir Gebelli personally and are huge historical enthusiasts. John would also be able to tell the story of acquiring the Wolfenstein rights. Equally John Carmack or Tom Hall as well.
Bob Bishop, legendary Apple II programmer whose voice software served as the basis for The Voice used in Castle Wolfenstein.
John Daleske, creator of the PLATO mainframe game Empire which was one of the first games that Silas Warner worked on. Equally, Bruce Artwick who was inspired by Warner's later games would be a good figure to talk to.
Tommy Tallarico, co-worker of Warner (basically any other Muse Software employee that I can dig up)
Dr. Kari Ann Owen, Silas' wife at the time of his death.
Doug Carlston, co-founder of Broderbund who encouraged Nasir Gebelli to program on the Nintendo Entertainment System and also worked with Don Daglow.
Hironobu Sakaguichi, creator of the Final Fantasy series who worked closely with Gebelli on many games. Of course, the problem is that I don't speak Japanese so this would require either connections or expense.
Any of the people in this picture or this video. The original Intellivision programs, specifically Eddie Dombower who worked closely with Daglow on World Series Baseball.
Will Wright, whose Sim City was only approved because Don Daglow had made games like it.
Trip Hawkins, who hired on Don Daglow to EA through most of the 80s.
Any other employees at TSR or Stormfront Studios, specifically regarding the creation of AOL's Neverwinter Nights.
What Do you Think?
Too ambitious? Too niche? Interested in helping out? Any and all perspectives would be helpful, and I don't even care if someone steals this idea. I really just want to tell these stories because I'm interested to learn about who they are and why their games mean so much to us.
Thanks for giving this a look! It was a bit of a splurge, but that's the way I tend to operate.
Concept:
In short, this documentary would be about the accomplishments of three primary programmers in the early days of gaming history which goes back to the mainframe era.
First would be Silas Warner of Muse Software, who created games such as Robot War, Castle Wolfenstein, and even programmed the unreleased Super Mario Wacky Worlds. Mr. Warner is unfortunately deceased, but while looking into gaming history (more below) I kept coming across his name and was astounded at his accomplishments. His story definitely needs to be told.
Second would be Nasir Gebelli who started as an Apple II programmer, but then moved to Japan and coded the first three Final Fantasy games and Secret of Mana. He came to my attention when Brenda Romero, wife of Doom creator John Romero, mentioned him in an episode of Matt Chat. His work basically built the foundation for Squaresoft as a company. To my knowledge, he is still alive, but the only interview he ever did was years ago for John Romero's Apple II programmer reunion, which you can find on Youtube.
The last one is a bit of a toss up. I feel that a film like this would need three figures to really have a compelling narrative, but I haven't found a figure which fits in the same category as those two pioneers. What I'm running with to start off is Don Daglow, who was one of the original Intellivision programmers. He's far from an unknown name and was one of the founders of the Game Developer's Conference, but I feel like we don't really know much about him, and especially his early mainframe games. His involvement with those mainframes, consoles, and the rise of online gaming would be a good "fall back" of sorts if either of the other two narratives come up short.
How I Came to This Conclusion:
For the past six months or so, I've been writing a chronological history of the video game medium which traces the design and business trends throughout the ages. I've been doing it to answer my own questions of when certain mechanics first emerged and why certain industries succeeded/failed, which I think really gets drowned out from popular histories. It's also meant to be a database that people can access and use if they ever want to find out anything regarding the games, tech, and events that I'll be covering.
I will likely return to this forum in the future to explain the project a bit more, but I just wanted to give an overview of why I'm so interested in these three guys. It was last night, after I had written the sections on both Castle Wolfenstein and RobotWar that I came to realize just how influential, seemingly unknowingly, Silas Warner was. There's only three pictures of him which exist on the internet, and his incredibly legacy will never be told unless someone steps up to the plate and figures out who he even was. Same for Nasir Gebelli, who is a completely unrecognized US/Japan success story years before Argonaut Studios made Star Fox.
Vague Logistics:
I am currently a student and I have good relationships with students in the film department. I would definitely be able to get filmmakers interested and to have access to equipment, but I am rather immobile, all things considered. One of two things could happen: I form relationships with other interested people to get the interview footage (possibly publishing it in Creative Commons under the style of Get Lamp), or I do a Kickstarter/Patreon to be able to fly and get the interviews personally.
Either way the filming would take place, my absolute baseline plan is this:
1. Schedule and do the interviews.
2. Start looking into rights issues regarding the games which will be featured.
3. Dedicate time and hire a visual artist for some limited effects (again, look at Get Lamp for the scope).
4. Spend a dedicated month or so editing the film and getting connections for distribution.
5. Release the film into local film festivals and onto digital sites like GoG (see, it's related!).
The intention is not to establish a huge business with this as the first project, but rather to just capture the people's perspectives before they disappear into the unknowable ether that many other voices have.
By far the biggest problem is going to be in acquiring the rights to showing the games. I don't imagine that either of Nasir's or Silas' early Apple II games are going to be a problem, though Wolfenstein might be stuck in a weird copyright limbo at the moment. However when you're talking about console games, you have to start dealing with higher-ups, which I am far from equipped to do. The biggest hurdle will be Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, because that's an unreleased game using a Nintendo property on the console they want to forget, the Philips CD-i. The story wouldn't necessitate showing it, but it would be nice to be able to.
Possible Interviewees:
Ed Zaron and Jim Black, co-founders of Muse Software.
John and Brenda Romero. They know Nasir Gebelli personally and are huge historical enthusiasts. John would also be able to tell the story of acquiring the Wolfenstein rights. Equally John Carmack or Tom Hall as well.
Bob Bishop, legendary Apple II programmer whose voice software served as the basis for The Voice used in Castle Wolfenstein.
John Daleske, creator of the PLATO mainframe game Empire which was one of the first games that Silas Warner worked on. Equally, Bruce Artwick who was inspired by Warner's later games would be a good figure to talk to.
Tommy Tallarico, co-worker of Warner (basically any other Muse Software employee that I can dig up)
Dr. Kari Ann Owen, Silas' wife at the time of his death.
Doug Carlston, co-founder of Broderbund who encouraged Nasir Gebelli to program on the Nintendo Entertainment System and also worked with Don Daglow.
Hironobu Sakaguichi, creator of the Final Fantasy series who worked closely with Gebelli on many games. Of course, the problem is that I don't speak Japanese so this would require either connections or expense.
Any of the people in this picture or this video. The original Intellivision programs, specifically Eddie Dombower who worked closely with Daglow on World Series Baseball.
Will Wright, whose Sim City was only approved because Don Daglow had made games like it.
Trip Hawkins, who hired on Don Daglow to EA through most of the 80s.
Any other employees at TSR or Stormfront Studios, specifically regarding the creation of AOL's Neverwinter Nights.
What Do you Think?
Too ambitious? Too niche? Interested in helping out? Any and all perspectives would be helpful, and I don't even care if someone steals this idea. I really just want to tell these stories because I'm interested to learn about who they are and why their games mean so much to us.
Thanks for giving this a look! It was a bit of a splurge, but that's the way I tend to operate.
Post edited March 06, 2015 by GoodGuyA
