diff --git a/docs/CREDITS.md b/docs/CREDITS.md index 2115a32..ecc4933 100644 --- a/docs/CREDITS.md +++ b/docs/CREDITS.md @@ -1,53 +1,73 @@ # Original Developers — BattleTech (Tesla 4.10, Virtual World Entertainment, 1995-96) This project reconstructs a game that a small team at Virtual World Entertainment built three -decades ago. They deserve to be named. This file records what we know, how we know it, and how -certain we are. +decades ago. They deserve to be named. -**Sources.** (1) *Source archaeology*: the surviving 1995-96 file headers carry per-file -modification tables with author initials (`// MM/DD/YY WHO what`). (2) *Oral history*: on -2026-07-21 the initials list was read to VWE veterans on the project Discord, and **VGL Lynx** -(who was in the room — "I was there the night we got to watch a Thor walk on terrain in -multiplayer for the first time, on a Red Planet map") identified the people behind them, with -additions from **Cyd**. Names are transcribed as given in that conversation; spellings are -as-typed by the recollector and may be approximate. Treat identifications as community -recollection (T3), the initials themselves as source fact (T0). +**Sources, strongest first.** (1) **The printed credits page** — supplied by VGL Lynx on +2026-07-21, preserved at `reference/manual/credits_page.webp` (period document; the definitive +roster below). (2) *Source archaeology*: the surviving 1995-96 file headers carry per-file +modification tables with author initials (`// MM/DD/YY WHO what`). (3) *Oral history*: the +initials were first identified from memory by **VGL Lynx** (who was in the room — "I was there +the night we got to watch a Thor walk on terrain in multiplayer for the first time, on a Red +Planet map") with additions from **Cyd**; the printed page then confirmed and corrected the +recollections. -## Programmers (initials found in surviving source headers) +## The credits page (verbatim) -| Initials | Name (per VGL Lynx) | Seen in (examples) | -|---|---|---| -| **JM** | Jim Albertson *(typed "Jm Alberston")* | `BTDIRECT.HPP`, `BTMSSN.CPP/.HPP`, `BTTEAM.CPP` — mission/team/director layer | -| **ECH** | Eric Nichols *(offered for "Eric"; initials fit imperfectly — unconfirmed)* | `BTCNSL.CPP`, `BTMSSN.*`, `BTREG.CPP` — console/registration | -| **CPB** | Chris Brewer | `BTL4MODE.CPP/.HPP`, `BTL4GALM.HPP`, `BTL4GRND.HPP` — the L4 cockpit mode/gauge layer | -| **GDU** | Gabe Underwood | `BTSCNRL.CPP`, `GAUSS.CPP/.HPP`, `SEEKER.HPP` — scenario + weapons | -| **JMA** | Joanna Mason *(mapping inferred from the conversation flow — unconfirmed)* | `BTREG.CPP/.HPP`, `TURRET.HPP` | -| **GAH** | Garth Hermanson | `BTCNSL.CPP` — console | - -The **MUNGA engine** (the shared sim/render engine under the game) was, per Lynx, "being -developed/catered by a smaller team at the same time," internal to VWE, with crossover members. -Its headers in our tree survive mostly through the 2007 RP411 Windows revision, so its 1995 -author trail is thinner here. - -## Hardware design (the Tesla II pod) - -Identified from initials **MC, AC** raised by Cyd: - -| Initials | Name (per VGL Lynx) | +| Role | Name | |---|---| -| **MC** | Marek Ciolek *(first offered as "Marek Cooley", immediately corrected)* | -| **AC** | *(unresolved — the reply also mentioned "Violet"; mapping unclear)* | +| Producer and Designer | **Jordan Weisman** | +| Art Director | **David McCoy** | +| Technical Director | **J.M. Albertson** | +| Audio Director | **Eric Huffman** | +| Corporate Director of Technology | **Bill Redmann** | -## Team size (per VGL Lynx, 2026-07-21) +**Software Engineers** -> "Dev team was maybe **8 people. 6 people on art.** MUNGA was being developed by a smaller -> team at the same time. Crossovers in the dev team too. Everything internal." +| Specialty | Name | +|---|---| +| Framework and Simulation Design | **J.M. Albertson** | +| Secondary/Auxiliary Screens and Low Level I/O | **Chris Brewer** | +| Low Level I/O Design and Programming | **Marek Ciolek** | +| Framework and 3D Video Rendering | **Greg Corson** | +| Animation Simulations and Tools | **Jerry Edsall** | +| Macintosh Design and Programming | **Garth Hermanson** | +| Framework and 3D Audio System | **Eric Huffman** | +| Simulation Code and Cameras | **Joanna Mason** | +| Graphics Research and Art Tools | **Ken Olsen** | +| Simulation Code and 'Mech Internal Systems | **Gabe Underwood** | -No outsourcing. For scale: this ~15-person core shipped a networked 8-pod simulator with -per-subsystem heat/power/coolant economies, full damage zoning, an authored per-map/time/weather -environment system, and the physical cockpit integration — in 1995. As David "Auric" Hernly put -it in the same conversation: *"They were inventing the future."* People still walk up to the -30-year-old pods at Gen Con and, per Auric, "their minds are blown... STILL." +**Artists & Animators** — 3D Art and Animations: **Tom Burlington, Duane Molitor, David McCoy, +Lex Story**; Allen Workshop 2D Art: **Victor Bonilla, Tom Peters**. +**Software Tools Group Leader:** Ken Olsen. **Sound Samples/Designs:** **Bing McCoy, Tom +Effinger, Eric Huffman**. + +Ten software engineers, six artists — matching VGL Lynx's recollection ("dev team was maybe 8 +people, 6 people on art; MUNGA by a smaller internal team, crossovers, everything internal") +almost exactly. + +## Initials in the surviving source ↔ the credits + +| Initials | Person | Their credited specialty | Seen in (examples) — and what this project found there | +|---|---|---|---| +| **JM** | J.M. Albertson (Technical Director) | Framework and Simulation Design | `BTDIRECT.HPP`, `BTMSSN.CPP/.HPP`, `BTTEAM.CPP` — the mission/director framework | +| **ECH** | **Eric Huffman** *(corrects the oral-history guess "Eric Nichols")* | Framework and 3D Audio System | `BTCNSL.CPP`, `BTMSSN.*`, `BTREG.CPP` | +| **CPB** | Chris Brewer | **Secondary/Auxiliary Screens** and Low Level I/O | `BTL4MODE.CPP/.HPP`, `BTL4GALM.HPP`, `BTL4GRND.HPP` — the MFD gauge/mode layer this project reconstructs; his 30-year-old `BTL4MODE.HPP` mode-bit table answered a 2026 bug | +| **GDU** | Gabe Underwood | Simulation Code and **'Mech Internal Systems** | `GAUSS.CPP/.HPP`, `SEEKER.HPP`, `BTSCNRL.CPP` — the heat/coolant/generator/seek-voltage economy this project spent days inside is his | +| **JMA** | Joanna Mason *(the inferred mapping, confirmed)* | Simulation Code and Cameras | `BTREG.CPP/.HPP`, `TURRET.HPP` | +| **GAH** | Garth Hermanson | Macintosh Design and Programming | `BTCNSL.CPP` | +| **MC** | Marek Ciolek (hardware-side initials, per Cyd) | Low Level I/O Design and Programming | (the RIO/serial layer) | +| **AC** | *(still unresolved — raised by Cyd for hardware design; not on this credits page)* | | | + +## Notes + +- **Jordan Weisman** — FASA co-founder and the creator of the BattleTech universe — is the + credited producer/designer. +- The credits page may correspond to one of the pages missing from our manual scan + (`reference/manual/Tesla40_BT_manual.pdf`, p2-3 noted missing). +- As David "Auric" Hernly put it when these names came up: *"They were inventing the future."* + People still walk up to the 30-year-old pods at Gen Con and, per Auric, "their minds are + blown... STILL." ## Corrections diff --git a/reference/manual/credits_page.webp b/reference/manual/credits_page.webp new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1923c83 Binary files /dev/null and b/reference/manual/credits_page.webp differ