1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with Text Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Either everyone, and welcome to Text Stuff. 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren volk Plump, and today 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: we're taking uh an interesting subject, one that is near 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:23,919 Speaker 1: and dear to both our hearts. Yes, we are going 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: to tackle in a two parter the company Bunging, makers, 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: famously of Halo, among many other things. Also, I have 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:36,520 Speaker 1: an announcement to make. This is unfortunately my final episode 9 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: of or or episodes of Text Stuff. After this, I'm 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: going to move on. I'm staying with How Stuff Works 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: in order to pursue a bunch of other opportunities within 12 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: the company. You'll still be able to hear me on 13 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: our other show, Forward Thinking, So don't worry. Jonathan and 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: I are not in any kind of ancient grudge match 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: which only one of us will survive. Probably Joe is 16 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: a great mediator, and Joe is the other co host 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: on Forward Thinking, and he is the one who is 18 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: able to keep us in line. No, this is something 19 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,199 Speaker 1: that is very exciting for you, Lauren, because here here's 20 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: the thing, folks behind You're gonna get a peek behind 21 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: the curtain. We did this for episode six, We're gonna 22 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: give you another peak right now, which is that working 23 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: at how Stuff Works is amazing, but it's a lot 24 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: of work, right Oh yeah, And I mean there's a 25 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: lot of stuff going on within the company and so 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: so yes, but but we we really wanted to do 27 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: this episode on Bungee as my kind of send off 28 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: because we are both so fond of the series and 29 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: it's interesting bookends because I think the very first episode 30 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: you and I recorded together was about survival horror video 31 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: games Silent Hill, Right, yeah, we specifically did. So that's right. 32 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: We're we're coming and going on or I'm coming and 33 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: going on a on a video game kick. And uh 34 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: and for those of you who are wondering about the 35 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: fate of tech stuff that will continue and I'll talk 36 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 1: more about at the end of the next episode. Let's 37 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: let's move on to talking about Bungee, this company that 38 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: created a game that both of us have grown to love, 39 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: and I became the world's best sniper bullet magnet in 40 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: that game. So so let's where those bullets went spawned death. 41 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: But the story of Bungee actually begins way back in 42 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:30,959 Speaker 1: nineteen one. That's when a fellow named Alex Serropian, who 43 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: was attending the University of Chicago as major in computer 44 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: science and mathematics, was interested in creating a company of 45 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: his very own. He was kind of always sort of 46 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: a business minded in that respect. Now, back in nineteen nine, 47 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: so the year before this this story really begins, he 48 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,959 Speaker 1: had created a clone of a popular early computer game, Pong, 49 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: and he created it for for the Apple Macintosh platform. Yeah, 50 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: which I know for those of us who are more 51 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: recent uh computer owners, probably don't realize the Mac platform 52 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: for a very long time was catering to a much 53 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: smaller audience. Oh yes, and almost no games were available, Yeah, 54 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: very few and far between. So he created a Pong clone, 55 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: which he creatively titled Good Knop Pong Backwards. Um. He 56 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:30,959 Speaker 1: distributed the game for free, so this was not some 57 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: money making scheme. He was really kind of doing this 58 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: as an exercise in his interest in in gaming in 59 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: general and in Apple in particular, because he had always 60 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: personally been I think an Apple and Mac user and 61 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: was sort of lamenting the fact that more stuff wasn't 62 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: available for for computer users like him. Yep, So he 63 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: ended up deciding, you know what I think this is 64 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: what I want to do. I think I want to 65 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: go into developing and publishing games, And so he got 66 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: back to work to think the first official Bungee title, 67 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: you could say, Ganap is sort of a Bungee title 68 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: they often lump it in, but in a way that 69 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: was sort of the predecessor that led to right, it 70 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: was a precursor. Um. The first game that they would 71 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 1: actually publish was Operation Desert Storm, which was a tank 72 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: shoot or like a like a top down tank shot. 73 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: It makes me think of the old hundred, which had 74 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,359 Speaker 1: a combat with an exclamation point that involved top down 75 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: tank battles where it was a two player game and 76 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: you would maneuver through a maze sort of similar to that, 77 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: a little bit more more sophisticated. The graphics were certainly 78 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: more sophisticated than the old at twenty s um and it. 79 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: I remember specifically that it had copyright protection in the 80 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: form of a manual where you would you start the 81 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: game and the game would ask you questions that you 82 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: had to answer by flipping through the manual and finding 83 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: the right answer on the right page, like like what 84 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: what word is on or whatever? Yeah, those were the 85 00:04:59,839 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: day as man when your copyright protection was involved a 86 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: hard copy of the documentation that came with the game, 87 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: because back then most of us didn't have access to 88 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: things like scanners, so it was a viable means of 89 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: copy protection and not so much these days. Uh. You 90 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: would control this this tank, and you maneuver through these 91 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,679 Speaker 1: maze like areas, fight other tanks mortars, complete specific tasks 92 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,359 Speaker 1: whatever that happened to be for that level, and you 93 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: could pick up a little power ups. Um. You had 94 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: you know, health as well as fuel that you had 95 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: to keep an eye on or else you would lose 96 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: that that game, you lose a life. Um. And it 97 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: was pretty primitive. But then Sarropean was a soul designer 98 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: working on a game. This was back in the day 99 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: when people still occasionally did that. We were getting into 100 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: by the nineties, into the era of games where you 101 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: would have larger teams working on a title, increasingly large teams. Yes, 102 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:57,559 Speaker 1: but but but it wasn't unheard of at the time 103 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: for for especially a relatively simple game like this with 104 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,919 Speaker 1: a relatively small release, to have a single dev Yeah. Yeah, 105 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: so this was I think he pretty much got in 106 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: at at the very tail end of that era. Like 107 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: if it had been much later, it would have not 108 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:18,360 Speaker 1: been a very viable business. Oh shure. I mean also 109 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: within the next few years, UM blockbusters like Doom would 110 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: come out for for PC and kind of blow the 111 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: entire market wide open. But but that that is that 112 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: is up and coming. So in two he would get 113 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: together with a former classmate, Jason Jones, who had been 114 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: working already I think I think unto himself on a 115 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: game that he called Minotaur. Yeah, the full title is 116 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: Minotaur the Labyrinth of Crete. Yes. By the time it published, right, 117 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: they got together to to finish up the game and 118 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: published it under Bunchie. Yeah. So this at this point, 119 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: Sarropean and Jones had met in an artificial intelligence class 120 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: and so they both had this interest in games. And 121 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: when Jones found out about Serapians plans and Seropian found 122 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: out about Jones's work on this game, they thought, well, 123 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: this partnership would make sense. We'd have a lot more 124 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: chance of success working together. And the game itself was 125 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: a multiplayer game, which was pretty innovative at the time. 126 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: It was again for the Mac, and it would uh 127 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: allow up to seven people to play on a local 128 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: area network or land and UH although I did read 129 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: one thing where it said a player and up to 130 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: seven others, So whether it was seven or eight, I 131 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: don't know. I I wasn't playing Mac games at this time, 132 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: so I have no personal expertise with this particular title. 133 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: I always assume things going even numbers and multiples of specifically, 134 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: so eight is probably more likely. Uh, but that's based 135 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: on consoles, not Yeah, that's true. That's true. Uh, the 136 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: same here though, because seven just seems like a weird number, 137 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: but it was appropriate for Bengie, I guess. So, I 138 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: guess so that it does feature pretty heavily any Sorry, 139 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: they have the entire seventh column thing at any rate. So, 140 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: so the game is a dungeon crawler style, right, So 141 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: you have a little character and you're moving through a 142 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: dungeon maze. The whole purpose of the game, at least 143 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: the multiplayer version, is to kill all the other players. Um. 144 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: In fact, they came up with the the slogan kill 145 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: your enemies, kill your friends, enemies, kill your friends, and 146 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: that that slogan would show up in other future Bungee titles, 147 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: usually on game types like like a death match or something, 148 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: and that would be the little descriptor uh. So this 149 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: was a pretty simple game, although the networking made it 150 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: again pretty innovative, interesting title. It only sold around a 151 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:46,199 Speaker 1: thousand copies, so not a huge success by any stretch 152 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: of the imagination, but it convinced both Jones and Seropian 153 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,839 Speaker 1: that this was a good idea to have this company, Bungee, 154 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: and to work together to create games. So Jones is 155 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 1: often credited as co found or of Bungee. So even 156 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: though European was really determined to create this company before 157 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: Jones got involved, it wasn't until Jones had had started 158 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: collaborating that it really became a thing. So uh. Their 159 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: original headquarters was an apartment on the South side of Chicago. 160 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: Just an apartment, just apparently there was, according to a 161 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:26,679 Speaker 1: documentary on Bungee's twentieth anniversary, a crack house behind set apartment. Um. 162 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: They actually had a lot to say about that. If 163 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: you haven't seen the twentieth anniversary documentary, it's a fun video. 164 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: It's an hour long. It's up on YouTube so you 165 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: can watch it. And those guys have a really great 166 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,199 Speaker 1: sense of humor, and so it's really fun to kind 167 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: of get some of the behind the scenes. Um, there 168 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:45,960 Speaker 1: are a lot of a lot of bleeps and bloops 169 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: that are they're they're they're colorful group. But yeah, they 170 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: had like a room and a half according to one 171 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: of the developers, that's about how much space they had. 172 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: And uh and before too long, Jones and Seropian would 173 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: end up high tiring on more people to kind of 174 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: join the group and start working together to make more 175 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: complex games Likerees Entry Pathways into Darkness. Yeah, yeah, this 176 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 1: one was interesting. It's a first person shooter game, but 177 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: it also incorporates action adventure type gameplay and role playing 178 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: game type gameplay altogether, so it wasn't as cut and 179 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: dry as a first person shooter like Wolfenstein three D 180 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: or Doom Right. It had other elements. There were some 181 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: puzzle solving elements, You had some stats that could increase 182 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: over time as you played, and it was pretty cool 183 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: that Jones himself had gotten the idea of really developing 184 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: a more complex version of the first person shooter when 185 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: he looked at Wolfenstein three D, which was not in 186 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: three out for the Macintosh platform. Eventually, of course, it 187 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: would be released for like everything, um, but it wouldn't 188 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: hit mac until the next year. So so when he 189 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 1: when he saw that, he was like, there's an opportunity 190 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: for this kind of game wise in't it on a map? 191 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: Let's make it? And what was fantastic? I mean I 192 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: played Wolfenstein back in probably so I could totally see 193 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 1: where he got the like, like looking at the gameplay 194 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 1: of Pathways, I see where the inspiration came in. But 195 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: also this would be when you'd start to see Bungee 196 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: coming up with some really incredible storylines that get really 197 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 1: complex and some some tropes that you can still see 198 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: in their games today, which is so fascinating. Yeah, I 199 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: mean it's it's a shooter, and most of us when 200 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: we play a shooter, we're used to a pretty bare 201 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: bones storyline. Oh sure, well, I mean especially I think 202 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 1: in these days with stuff like like Doom and Wolfenstein 203 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: three d Um that was very run and gun, and 204 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: I mean, and the objective was killed bad guys, where 205 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: the bad guys everyone you meet right and then get 206 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: to the exit at the end of the level. It's 207 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,559 Speaker 1: usually really a linear kind of level. I mean, you 208 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: might have twist and turns, but really there's only one 209 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: way to get from point A to point B and 210 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: kill everything that happens to be in between point A 211 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: and point B. That's about it. But this was a 212 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: game where they wanted to add in a really rich mythology. 213 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: They created this science fiction alien world type thing. There 214 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: was an alien race called the jar oh which that's 215 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: important because they'll come back um and uh. The whole 216 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:25,479 Speaker 1: thing takes place in a pyramid in the Yucatan Peninsula, 217 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: and you actually have to go into the pyramid and 218 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: go underneath. There's in the mythology a big evil alien 219 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: monster that that rests Cathulhu like underneath the pyramid, and 220 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: you come up with this brilliant plan based upon these 221 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 1: these kindly aliens called the jar oh Um to destroy 222 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: said monstrous entity, or at least slow it down. Yeah, 223 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,679 Speaker 1: by by detonating a nuclear weapon the pyramid. You know, 224 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,839 Speaker 1: it's a measured response. Yeah, well sure, I mean also, 225 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: I guess you know, especially in the early nine days, 226 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: if you're the president and you get a phone call 227 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: from aliens and then a completely reasonable response is to go, yes, 228 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: I will blow up this ancient artifact. Yes this is 229 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: This would clearly be the administration before the one that 230 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:14,439 Speaker 1: we saw an Independence Day, where they try to take 231 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: a much more measured approach um, you know, this was 232 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: this was one of those things that as I read 233 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: about it, it it really tickled me. I mean, I could 234 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:25,559 Speaker 1: definitely see where the seeds were planted for future Bungee titles, 235 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: but it just made me think of, uh uh, the 236 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: I could just imagine the exchange where the aliens say, yeah, 237 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: do you have any huge weapons that you can use, Like, yeah, 238 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,079 Speaker 1: we've got these these nuclear bombs, Like all right, you 239 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: should totally go into the pyramid and use one of those. 240 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: And the President says, oh, and that will kill it 241 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 1: and oh no, that won't kill it. It'll just slow 242 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: it down long enough for us to get there and 243 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 1: handle it from there. At any rate. You play as 244 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: a special Forces agent who is part of a team, 245 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: and at the very beginning of the game, you're separated 246 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: from your team and you lose all your equipment. So 247 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: it's basic kind of first person shooter where you start 248 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: off with some of the lower power pieces of equipment, 249 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: basically nothing, and you have to kind of run through 250 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: the pyramid picking up equipment and solving puzzles and killing 251 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: stuff or you know, at least avoiding being killed as 252 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 1: right as possible, and you have a time limit, so 253 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: that's interesting too. You had to be able to set 254 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: off the bomb and escape, either by getting out of 255 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: the pyramid and calling for pick up or if you 256 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: did not have a radio beacon, because that was one 257 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: of the things you had to find running far enough 258 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: to get outside the blast radius of a nuclear bomb. Um. 259 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: And if you did those things, you got the successful 260 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 1: ending of the game. So the game could end in 261 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: various ways depending upon your choices, which was pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, 262 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: And I also found it really interesting. One of the 263 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: game elements was that you could find this this yellow 264 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: crystal that would let you converse with dead people. Um, 265 00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: and that that's that's where all the story elements came, 266 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, I mean, which I'm sorry to saying 267 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: that sentence out loud always makes me giggle just a 268 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: little bit. Um. But of course you have to have 269 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: the yellow crystal to talk to dead people. This isn't 270 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: a crazy game, um, but but yeah, yeah, it was 271 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: a lot of backstory about what was going on and 272 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: would give you a lot of clues for what you 273 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: where you should go, and what you should do next. 274 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: And and that is a story element is so rampant 275 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: throughout not only most of Bungee's video games, but a 276 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: lot of other video games in the industry after this. 277 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: So I just think that it's kind of terrific to 278 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: have seen this in exactly. Yeah, this idea of of 279 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: incorporating your story elements into the game itself where the 280 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: player has to come into contact with it an Yeah, 281 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: whether now in this case it is this yellow crystal 282 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: that lets you talk to dead people, but in other 283 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: games it will be like terminals, right, so going to 284 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: get over that, um yeah, yeah, right, right, terminals or 285 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: cassette tapes or whatever it is, right, so, uh, and 286 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: you would run into all these other like adventure were 287 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: types who had died in pursuit of this pyramid. Yeah, 288 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: and a few right because there had been like a 289 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: Nazi expedition there in some Cuban treasure hunters, I think. 290 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: So it's all these like like different eras of people 291 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: who had one at one time or another, had attempted 292 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: to infiltrate the pyramid and had not been terribly successful, 293 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: but you get to hear about it because you have 294 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: the yellow crystal. They failed successfully, That's true. So the 295 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: game ended up being a big success for Bungee. Keep 296 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: in mind, a big success on the Mac platform was 297 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: smaller than what you would find for the PC platform. 298 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and we'll talk a little bit about that 299 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: in another couple of years down our timeline. Yeah, but 300 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: it meant that the company was able to actually start 301 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: really ramping up and going into their next project, which 302 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: was one of the If it hadn't been for the 303 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: Halo series, I think this would be the big one 304 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: that people would remember. And a lot of Mac gamers 305 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: are very fond of this articular series. Oh sure. I 306 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: think the only reason that it's not more wildly widely 307 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: remembered is just the sheer disparity of Mac two PC 308 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: PC users, especially in in the mid nineties here. But yes, 309 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: Marathon is the name of this game, and it was 310 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: set in the same universe as Pathways. Actually yeah, it 311 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,919 Speaker 1: was not a sequel to Pathways. Uh. Pathways took place 312 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: in what was then modern day uh Earth, which today 313 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,160 Speaker 1: would be like well those mid nineties Earth temporary Earth. 314 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: It's a period piece now, but at the time it 315 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: was supposed to be taking places during the modern day. 316 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: Marathon was set in the future and uh It was 317 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: originally called Marathon zero as a working title, and it 318 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: was shown at the San Francisco Macworld Expo, just a demo, 319 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 1: like a you know, kind of a sizzle real type 320 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 1: thing in January. Yeah, and it featured a sort of 321 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: a faster gameplay than Pathways. Also had some new features 322 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,439 Speaker 1: that have become standard in first person shooting games, like 323 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: dual yielding weapons. That was one of the things they 324 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: showed off, which not very many first person shooters had 325 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: really done up to that point. Um, and also alternate 326 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: modes of fire for your guns, so if you had 327 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: a gun that had burst mode versus single fire or 328 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,440 Speaker 1: you know, grenade launcher or whatever and had that kind 329 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: of gameplay as well. Now, according to Jones, it was 330 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: kind of met with a tepid response. So the development 331 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: team said, who oh, we have a problem here, a 332 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: potential problem. I mean, if the if people think that 333 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: this is just yet another first person shooter clone, like, oh, well, 334 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: you guys are trying to do the same thing that 335 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein and Doom are doing, then we've got a problem. So, uh, 336 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: they decided to go back to the drawing board and 337 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: really revisit Marathon and and pour some new energy into it. Yeah, 338 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: they hired one Ryan Martel to to create a new 339 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: rendering engine for them. Yeah, and he also created a 340 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 1: map editor tool, which again becomes kind of a hallmark 341 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: of Bungee products, where they create rules that allow players 342 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: to do their own sort of editing and make their 343 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: own kind of maps. Um. You'll you'll find that again 344 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: and again in various Bungee titles, not all of them, 345 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:12,640 Speaker 1: but enough of them where you see that they really 346 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: understood that player communities could be really creative and become 347 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,640 Speaker 1: evangelists for your product. So if you support that, they 348 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: tell everybody else, Hey, this game is awesome and I 349 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:26,959 Speaker 1: made this awesome map. But for you to be able 350 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: to play my awesome map, you need to go out 351 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,919 Speaker 1: and the game right. Um. Although this feature would not 352 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,400 Speaker 1: be released to the players as of Marathon, I think 353 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be until Marathon three that that would happen. 354 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Um. They would 355 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: also hire um Greg Kirkpatrick to help them develop the 356 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: pathology of this game world Yeah, which again very complex. 357 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: Like Pathways, was a much more complicated world than what 358 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: you would typically see in a first person shooter. They 359 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:02,120 Speaker 1: were further enriching this mythology that had been created during 360 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: the Pathways experience. Later in Bungee also brought on a 361 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:11,119 Speaker 1: programming named Alan Roy or a Lane Roy, who began 362 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: to build in multiplayer functions to the game, which originally 363 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 1: was not going to be one of the game features, 364 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: but then they thought, oh, we could support some you know, 365 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: local area network play and uh. And again that ended 366 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: up being a huge deal to Marathon success. Uh and 367 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:32,439 Speaker 1: again something that Bungee would be very interested in continuing 368 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: in further titles. Yeah. So, just a few months later 369 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:41,880 Speaker 1: in July, they debuted this another demo of the game, 370 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: which they had officially decided to call Marathon, at the 371 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 1: Boston Macworld Expo, and and it received a pretty huge response. Yeah. 372 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: Bungee ended up even decided to take pre orders on 373 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,879 Speaker 1: the game. Originally promising, oh, this this thing is ready 374 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: to go into boxes in two weeks. We'll have this 375 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: shipping out in two weeks. It actually would not ship 376 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: until December, so from July to December they realized there 377 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: was still a lot more work to be done on 378 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:11,400 Speaker 1: the game. Jones says that the reason that this game 379 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:13,880 Speaker 1: was so late was partially because the team had become 380 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: obsessed with playing it in multiplayer, and so instead of 381 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: actually working on the game, and they tended to just 382 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: fragging each other. Yeah, I could see that happening. I've 383 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: been I've I have joined groups where we were having 384 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: lots of plans for the day and it all ended 385 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,360 Speaker 1: up being, you know, just a massive land party. Um. 386 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: Then it was right around this time in the early nineties, 387 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,920 Speaker 1: so yeah, it was someone on the team who said, 388 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: you know, the single player campaign probably doesn't have the 389 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: full attention that it needs for it to be a 390 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: satisfying experience for a player, so perhaps some of us 391 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: should stop, you know, killing each other and develop it 392 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 1: some more. And so they they did that. They started 393 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: going into full on crunch time working on the game. 394 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because I mean but by the time they 395 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: realized all of this, they really would have had to 396 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,679 Speaker 1: have shipped it like two weeks previous to get it 397 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: out by Christmas, which is always the game developers called, right, yeah, 398 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: you don't want to miss that holiday season because that's 399 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: going to be your most lucrative time. So they finally 400 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 1: concluded the development on December fourteenth and started shipping it 401 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,959 Speaker 1: to customers. Now, they had more than twenty five thousand 402 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,920 Speaker 1: pre orders by that time, so they're shipping partners. Because 403 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: Bungee was such a small company at the time, they 404 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: were working with other small companies they're shipping partners who 405 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: were actually the ones putting the products together and and 406 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: producing the disks and shipping them out. They couldn't meet 407 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: that capacity in a really short time. So even yeah, 408 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: they're developers were out there like stuffing boxes and shrink wrapping, 409 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: it would not be the last time. Rather that Bungee 410 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: employees would have to start getting their hands dirty actually 411 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: boxing orders and getting out the door. So when they 412 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: showed up to the San Francisco Macworld Expo in after 413 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,920 Speaker 1: the game had already gone gold and started shipping, they 414 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: brought copies of the game with them and they sold 415 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,200 Speaker 1: out of all of them. So it had gone from 416 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: a lackluster response a year previous to a sellout game. Uh, 417 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: and it was, you know, kind of a pretty cool game. 418 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: Had six chapters and twenty seven levels within the game. 419 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: Also something that you would see in later Bungee games, 420 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: this kind of multi chapter, multi level approach um and 421 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: hew a lot of basic missions like you'd have to 422 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: first person shooter, so shooting enemies would be a big one. 423 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: Rescuing people who are about to be shot by enemies 424 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 1: will be another one. Uh, dis army explosives. Yeah, so 425 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: that the enemies couldn't blow up the people who they 426 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: had previously been shooting at. You get a theme here. Uh. 427 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: Definitely had a science fiction theme again because it was 428 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: in that Pathways universe. You play as a security officer 429 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,639 Speaker 1: who is assigned to a space station that is called 430 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: marath On. It also introduced some some themes that would 431 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,360 Speaker 1: be showing up in later Bungee games, like artificial intelligence. Uh. 432 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: The station had an AI called durn Doll that had 433 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: gone sort of, um well, not necessarily bonkers, but it 434 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: becomes self aware and self determining, and it's definitely preventing 435 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: you from preaching your goals. It's an antagonist. Sometimes you 436 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: work against each other, sometimes you work with each other. 437 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:26,639 Speaker 1: This is also something you see in a lot of 438 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: Bungee games where you have to make these weird allegiances 439 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 1: that later on you turn on each other for some reason. 440 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: But the idea of an AI that gains self awareness 441 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,719 Speaker 1: or becomes a problem will pop up in later Bungee titles, 442 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: even after Bungee was done working on those titles. UM, 443 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: so that was kind of cool, and you would end 444 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: up playing the same character, this nameless security officer for 445 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: two more game titles in the Marathon series. Um, you 446 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: never were given a name. Very mysterious kind of character. 447 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: Another thing that's similar to the Halo series, which we'll 448 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: talk about in our second episode. But at any rate, 449 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: the storyline very complex, uh, and involved not just the 450 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: rampant Ai during Doll that was kind of taking totalitarian 451 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: control of the space station, but also an alien invasion force. 452 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: And so you're you're dealing with lots of stuff all 453 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: at once. And at the end of the game, during 454 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: Doll is able to transfer its intelligence from the space 455 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: station to the alien spacecraft that had been the one 456 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: that was invading, and then you know goes and says 457 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,439 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go see what what the universe has to 458 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: hold CIA and zooms off and that was the end 459 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 1: of the game. Now, the big success here wasn't just 460 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: the first play person game, which a lot of people love, 461 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,680 Speaker 1: but also the multiplayer. People really love the multiplayer Eli. Yeah, 462 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,120 Speaker 1: you could you could land up to eight people at least, 463 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: so yeah, I think yeah, And so it was one 464 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: of those things where, uh, people really latched onto that, 465 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: and it became a huge success for Bungee, which prompted 466 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: them to make some sequels. Now, this was something that 467 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,920 Speaker 1: that Jason Jones originally was not really into. He wasn't 468 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: big on let's make sequels for our gains. He liked 469 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: the idea of developing new, uh new I P each time. 470 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: But when the demand was there and the opportunity was 471 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: there to expand upon the story and mythology they created, uh, 472 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of hard to say, well, let's 473 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: not do that. This is what people want, and sure, sure, 474 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: And also I mean I think that I think that 475 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: it wound up. I think what is so special about Bungee, actually, 476 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: I feel allow me to pontificate just a wee bit, 477 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,400 Speaker 1: is that they they don't do exactly the same thing twice. 478 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: They're never working with it exactly the same story, um, 479 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:49,879 Speaker 1: you know, or it's a different segment of the story, 480 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,439 Speaker 1: or they're approaching it from a different angle. And and 481 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,359 Speaker 1: the game elements that they introduced are interesting enough that 482 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,640 Speaker 1: you feel comfortable, but you have a huge drive to 483 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: to keep playing around in this universe. And I feel 484 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,400 Speaker 1: like they enjoy playing around in their own universes still 485 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: so um so so yeah, so two sequels. Marathon Too 486 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,840 Speaker 1: was called Durndall and and it came out so just 487 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: a year later. Yeah. It was one of those things 488 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 1: where they just immediately started developing as soon as as 489 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: soon as it was clear that Marathon was going to 490 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 1: be a big hit. Uh. And this one ends up 491 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,639 Speaker 1: taking place in the game world seventeen years after the 492 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: ending of the first game, and you wake up and 493 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,640 Speaker 1: you're on that alienship. You're still that security officer. You're 494 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,160 Speaker 1: on the alienship. Turns out During Doll really had need 495 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:38,400 Speaker 1: of you, so he took you, apparently against your will. 496 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: I have not played the Marathon games, so if I 497 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: get any of this incredibly wrong, feel free to write 498 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: in and explain to me how I have misrepresented the plot. 499 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,879 Speaker 1: But basically, during Doll has this plan to use you 500 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,440 Speaker 1: and some of the other people who were aboard the 501 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: Marathon space station as frontline soldiers in a war against 502 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: the Aliens that had been such a big problem in 503 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 1: the first game. And so uh, it's again another first 504 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 1: person shooter where you're you're continually learning more through various 505 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,160 Speaker 1: computer terminals, just like in the first game, and you're 506 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: trying to complete various missions, very similar gameplay to the 507 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: first one. They did add in some special stuff for 508 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: this sequel that had not been in the first game, 509 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: including liquid effects. So yeah, these are things where where 510 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: you as the player could jump into various pools of 511 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: stuff and it would have a different effect. Would it 512 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: would slow down your movement or or or give you 513 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: weapons effects? Right, yeah, like for example, some weapons like 514 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: a fire based weapon wouldn't fire and water also if 515 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: the if the pool were deep enough, you would actually 516 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: sink into it, so that you know, you'd start to 517 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 1: drown if you didn't, if you didn't uh surface fast enough, uh, 518 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: which in the first Marathon game all the surfaces were 519 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: solid surfaces. And really you know, this this kind of 520 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: liquid sort of thing that was fairly new for the 521 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: time of maryor Thon and Marathon too. Um. You know, 522 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,959 Speaker 1: liquid effects are not easy to pull off, especially not 523 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: easy to pull off convincingly, especially not in this era 524 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 1: of rendering exactly. So you know, running into a lava 525 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: pit usually you would just have a game where if 526 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: you touched something, you died, as opposed to you get 527 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,000 Speaker 1: engulfed in something and you start taking damage and you 528 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: have an opportunity to get out before you die. Um. 529 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: But yeah, that was one of those interesting little elements 530 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: they added in multiplayer got some new features, including some 531 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,960 Speaker 1: game types that became really popular in later games across 532 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: the genre of first person shooters. Yeah, like a like 533 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: a kill the dude who's holding the ball kind of game? 534 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: Yeah in uh in Halo that would be a skull. Uh. 535 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: There are other games where you know, there's some object 536 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: that represents I am the player that everybody needs to 537 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: kill now as essentially that. They also had like a 538 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: King of the Hill style game, which is essentially the 539 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: same style game you'll find in first person shooters Across 540 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: the board now, which is a zone on a map 541 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: is designated as the hill, and you have to take 542 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: it and hold it for as long as you possibly can, 543 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 1: and whoever holds it for a given number of seconds 544 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: within around wins. It's a really great excuse to shoot 545 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: a lot. I actually really like that game type because 546 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: it's very forgiving for people who are not good at 547 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: first procedutors like me. It involves very little strategies. Yeah, 548 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: it's most like this is where you need to be 549 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: right now, and that's all. That's all that's important. And 550 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: most of the time, if you just lag behind a 551 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: little bit, the grenades clear out everybody else and then 552 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: you come in. And I've noticed generally that you know, 553 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: if if you're if you're struggling, you know, really winning 554 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: the game, you can at the very least frustrate the 555 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: heck out of your friend. That's right. You can play 556 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: the part of spoiler if you can't, if you can't 557 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 1: actually be a good winner. Uh yeah, I love this 558 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: game type uh. This sequel was then followed up Bungee. 559 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: You know, Bungee was such a small team comparatively speaking, 560 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: that they couldn't work on multiple projects simultaneously at this point, 561 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: so they really would focus on one title and get 562 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: it out the door, and then they would start the 563 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: next title. So they had just done Marathon, and then 564 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: they did Marathon too. So the next project they decided 565 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 1: to do was Marathon three Infinity, and that would come 566 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: out just another single year in after Marathon to Darn 567 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: Doll and so that this would be the final game 568 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: in the Marathon series. It's although it's not quite the 569 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 1: last that we'd hear some of these elements, that's true. 570 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: It's also the trippiest game that they that they created 571 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,200 Speaker 1: the Marathon series because it wasn't straightforward at all full 572 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: according to according to Kirkpatrick, it was purposefully not straightforward, right, Yeah. 573 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: It was meant to challenge the player to bring his 574 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: or her own interpretation to the game to decide what 575 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: actually is going on. So, within the context of the game, 576 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: it appears that you are able to travel to different 577 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 1: alternate timelines with the goal of stopping a catastrophe from happening. 578 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: The catastrophe happens at the beginning of the game, and 579 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: then you have the this ability to potentially uh bypass 580 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: that to stop it from happening going through either alternate 581 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: timelines or perhaps you're just exploring your own consciousness, yeah, 582 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: or just alternate realities in general, not just timelines. It's 583 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: never really fully explained. You would again get bits and 584 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: pieces of information from computer terminals. So you could play 585 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 1: this game straight through as a standard first person shooter, 586 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: not interested in all in the story, and still have 587 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: a satisfactory experience just based on the gameplay. Sure, but 588 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: if you jump around to these different timelines and realities 589 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: or whatever it is you can, you can find all 590 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: kinds of different enemies and get all kinds of different 591 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: story elements, and it's a more, you know, a richer experience, 592 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 1: I would say. So, just like in UH, for those 593 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: of you who have played the Halo games, you know 594 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: you can you can zoom through those games and not 595 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: pay attention to the cut scenes or anything. But if 596 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: you do really pay attention to the details, you start 597 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 1: to try to pick up all of the backstory elements. 598 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 1: Crazy complicated. So yeah, at any rate, um, you would 599 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 1: face different enemies and different timelines. Sometimes you would face 600 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: uh and sometimes an enemy in one timeline would be 601 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: an ally in another timeline. So it would be one 602 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: of those things where you might be used to blowing 603 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: these alien guys away repeatedly, and then you go to 604 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 1: an alternate timeline suddenly you're working with the aliens and 605 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: you're shooting humans, and um, you would have to just 606 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: adjust to whatever the timeline demanded of you. And it 607 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: shipped also with these map making tools we had talked 608 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 1: about and asset editors. They were called Forge and anival, right, 609 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: and anyone who is familiar with the with the Ladder 610 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: Halo series will very much recognize those elements. So this 611 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: this gave you the chance to make your own multiplayer 612 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: maps and and tweak weapons and and all kinds of 613 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: other stuff like that. Yeah, so if you wanted to 614 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: have a game where everyone had super overpowered weapons that 615 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: are one shot kills. Uh and and are you know, 616 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,320 Speaker 1: invisible and running around a really complex map, you could, 617 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 1: in theory do that. Yeah. Yeah, you can set your 618 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: own physics and and physical structures within within these maps. 619 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: And I it kills me that this was. Yeah, they 620 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:21,719 Speaker 1: did release a couple of very tiny titles. They're not 621 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:26,319 Speaker 1: even really included in Bungee's full history if you look 622 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,120 Speaker 1: on their website. But one of them was called Abuse. Uh. 623 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: This was These were games that they kind of worked 624 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,480 Speaker 1: with other people to help publish them. Abuse was a 625 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,439 Speaker 1: game where you played as a prisoner trying to escape 626 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 1: a penitentiary while fellow prisoners are all being turned into monsters, 627 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,040 Speaker 1: thus making prison even worse than it normally would be. 628 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,719 Speaker 1: And then the other one was called Weekend Warrior. And 629 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: I've never seen this game. It was developed by Pangea 630 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:56,440 Speaker 1: Software and then completed and published by Bungee. And the 631 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: description I read said it was a game show world 632 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,520 Speaker 1: where you win prizes by sl puzzles, disarming traps, and 633 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: beating the crap out of competing contestants. So it made 634 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: me think of a slightly more sophisticated version of Smash TV. 635 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 1: I think that was the name of it. It was 636 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:13,800 Speaker 1: an arcade game that. Yeah, absolutely, big money, big prices. 637 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 1: I love it. It just makes me think of that. Um. 638 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: So the company was growing quite large at this point. Yeah, 639 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: although I I did want to put in all these games, 640 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,760 Speaker 1: I believe we're We're for were for Macintosh, right, Yes, yeah, 641 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: they were just developing for the Max. Some of the 642 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: games like Marathon To eventually got ported overtop. Right, they 643 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,799 Speaker 1: would get popular enough that they would make ports. Yeah, 644 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: but they weren't. They weren't being developed for any other 645 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 1: platform other than the Macintosh. Uh. You know, if it 646 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 1: had enough of an interest, they would attempt to port 647 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: it to Windows based PCs, but it was that was 648 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 1: not their intended audience. So in in nine seven they 649 00:35:55,760 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: officially grow right. Yeah, They would found a satellite studio 650 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,440 Speaker 1: out in California called Bungee West, which would begin to 651 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 1: work on a game called Tony, which was a a 652 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,440 Speaker 1: third person shooter adventure kind of game that that was 653 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: highly inspired by a lot of of of anime, like 654 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: a like Ast in the Shell. Yeah, if you ever 655 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 1: look at this game, you can tell where they pulled 656 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: their inspiration from. Uh. That was a troubled developmental process 657 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,000 Speaker 1: for that game. Well well yeah, yeah right, we'll cover 658 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,439 Speaker 1: it later, but suffice it to say that I think 659 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:36,319 Speaker 1: that Bungee and Bungee West didn't generally agree all the time. Yeah. Yeah, 660 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: there were some issues, um between the two teams, and 661 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: even within just the Bungee West team itself, also within 662 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: Bungee itself. These are these were a lot of creative 663 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:52,959 Speaker 1: young UH individuals who more often than not really worked 664 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,439 Speaker 1: well together as a team. But sometimes you know, if 665 00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: the if the elements weren't just right, things could take 666 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:00,720 Speaker 1: longer than they needed to, And especially as the company 667 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:02,759 Speaker 1: was going through these growth spurts, it's easy to get 668 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 1: a little bit off track. Um. Also, they would release 669 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:10,319 Speaker 1: myth The Fallen Lords, one of their one of the 670 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: games that that that strategy players on the Mac absolutely loved. UH. 671 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: It was a fantasy real time tactics game. Some people 672 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 1: call it like a real time strategy game, but it 673 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,160 Speaker 1: didn't have the micromanaging that you would have in a 674 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,520 Speaker 1: typical RTS game, like you didn't have to build a 675 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: um barracks that would produce units. In fact, it was 676 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:36,839 Speaker 1: it was a really unforgiving game in the sense that 677 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: when the level started, you would have a certain number 678 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,400 Speaker 1: of units at your disposal and that's it. They could 679 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,720 Speaker 1: not replenish themselves. If you lost them, they were gone. 680 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:49,880 Speaker 1: Casualties were a huge deal. And not only that, but 681 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,440 Speaker 1: if you weren't careful with the way you played your characters, 682 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: your own guys could end up destroying half your units 683 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 1: in friendly fire, Like don't put your archers behind mine 684 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: your knights, is what I'm saying. So it was a 685 00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 1: dark fantasy world. Also had a lot of gore to it, 686 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: although when I say gore, you're talking about these tiny 687 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 1: little cartoonish figures and blood pixels and it would just 688 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,040 Speaker 1: be that blood would splatter the whole board. But it 689 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,040 Speaker 1: but it wasn't. It wasn't realistic in the sense like 690 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: they were all very cartoon sure, sure, although at the time, 691 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: certainly I think a lot of people were very up 692 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:27,480 Speaker 1: in arms about even cartoonish video game up in arms 693 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:33,239 Speaker 1: being a slightly unfortunate UM but in development, in fact 694 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:36,879 Speaker 1: that the game had been called the Giant Bloody War Game. Yeah, 695 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:41,040 Speaker 1: I think, yeah, that was that was pretty telling. Originally, 696 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 1: this was going to be a little, you know, kind 697 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:45,759 Speaker 1: of side title that they were going to publish while 698 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,759 Speaker 1: they also tried to create a new first person shooting game. 699 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 1: But then Quake came out, and when Jason Jones saw Quake, 700 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:55,759 Speaker 1: he felt that any game Bungee would make at the 701 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 1: time would be compared unfavorably to Quake. So instead they 702 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:03,239 Speaker 1: decided to elevate Myth to being their primary focus rather 703 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,759 Speaker 1: than the secondary title, and they really went in on that, 704 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: uh and it turned out to be a good a 705 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,440 Speaker 1: good project because once it came out, people really responded 706 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: positively to it. Some critics said that there were some 707 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: elements to the game that made it a little more 708 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:23,879 Speaker 1: difficult than it necessarily had to be. Like, your your 709 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,319 Speaker 1: field of view was very limited. You couldn't zoom out 710 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,479 Speaker 1: very far, so you had a little radar that would 711 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: kind of show you where enemy units were in comparison 712 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:35,600 Speaker 1: to your units, but you couldn't really see them, and 713 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:38,720 Speaker 1: it made it hard to plan out your strategy because 714 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:40,719 Speaker 1: you know, you might have someone flanking you and you 715 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: can't you just can't physically see that far off the map. UM, 716 00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:47,800 Speaker 1: And so there was that there were some other issues 717 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,400 Speaker 1: with the user interface. So Bungee ended up releasing a 718 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,399 Speaker 1: patch and upgraded the game to Myth one point one, 719 00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 1: and that patch ended up adding in more more streamlined 720 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: user interface, zoomable field of view, that kind of thing, 721 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:04,719 Speaker 1: and that made it um address a lot of the 722 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: criticisms that they got early on. It was popular enough 723 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,800 Speaker 1: that by they would release a sequel called Myth two 724 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,240 Speaker 1: Soul Blighter. Yeah. Uh, this game is famous for something. 725 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it almost shipped with like the worst bug 726 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,920 Speaker 1: in the history of all video games ever. Yeah, in 727 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,719 Speaker 1: which by by trying to uninstall the game, you could 728 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:33,000 Speaker 1: delete your entire hard drive. Yeah. You could literally destroy 729 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: your hard drive like, well, not literally, I guess you 730 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:38,719 Speaker 1: could data your heart. Yeah, I mean you would. You 731 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:41,840 Speaker 1: would wipe it absolutely clean. And this was discovered un 732 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:46,440 Speaker 1: format it and an unfortunate marketer. Yeah, I heard that. 733 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,000 Speaker 1: I heard that it was a lady um Overseas actually, 734 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,919 Speaker 1: who who had been doing a test on it and 735 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 1: and uninstalled as many people do, by by just going 736 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,440 Speaker 1: to the going to the root files and by by yeah, 737 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,880 Speaker 1: and then oops, her her computer was no more. Yeah, 738 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,880 Speaker 1: there were some great commentary about this particular uh, this 739 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:11,319 Speaker 1: particular bug by folks like the Penny Arcade guys who 740 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,239 Speaker 1: were like, you don't like our game, screw you, We're 741 00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,480 Speaker 1: taking all of your data. But it was non intentional 742 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 1: no um, And they did catch it before it shipped. 743 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,920 Speaker 1: It had unfortunately already been printed and boxed. So this 744 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:30,080 Speaker 1: was another time at which Bungee employees like the developers 745 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,720 Speaker 1: had to go out into warehouses and unshrink crap games 746 00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:36,600 Speaker 1: and switch out the disks. Yeah, they physically had to 747 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,640 Speaker 1: remove bad disks and put in good disks and then 748 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,879 Speaker 1: package it all back up again. Uh. The estimates I've 749 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:48,240 Speaker 1: heard for this mistake were like, what was the cost arrange? 750 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,400 Speaker 1: Right around a million dollars a k A about what 751 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:57,040 Speaker 1: the game made, which was a really severe blow to Bungee. 752 00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 1: Bungee was was kind of operating like right in the 753 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,920 Speaker 1: margin this whole time, like they were they were seeing success, 754 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: but they were also trying to ramp up and yeah, yeah, 755 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,160 Speaker 1: and so making basically nothing on a game because of 756 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 1: this mistake was it was huge, huge, and so that 757 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:15,439 Speaker 1: would end up affecting their decisions in the very near future. Um, 758 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:17,799 Speaker 1: you may have also heard about myth three, but that 759 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:22,480 Speaker 1: game did not come out from Bungee because of something 760 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 1: that happened in the year two thousand. But here's the problem. 761 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:31,359 Speaker 1: My notes stopped for part one, so I can't even 762 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,640 Speaker 1: talk about two thousand yet. We're gonna have to wait 763 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:35,800 Speaker 1: for a whole new episode and find out what happened. 764 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:39,439 Speaker 1: Contractually speaking, we're not allowed to say anything else, right, 765 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 1: So for those of you who have no awareness of 766 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,200 Speaker 1: what happened in the past, tune in next time so 767 00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:48,279 Speaker 1: that you can find out that the exciting conclusion to 768 00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,560 Speaker 1: the Bungee story. In the meantime, if you guys have 769 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:56,160 Speaker 1: any suggestion for future episode ideas for tech Stuff, please 770 00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 1: let us know. Send an email to text stuff at 771 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,080 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, or drop a line at 772 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:06,319 Speaker 1: Twitter at Facebook at tumbler tech Stuff hs W is 773 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,279 Speaker 1: the handle, and we'll talk to you again really soon 774 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,320 Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Because 775 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:26,280 Speaker 1: it has stuff works dot Com