CREDITS: the printed credits page (via VGL Lynx) -- definitive roster
Lynx supplied a photo of the period credits page (preserved at reference/manual/credits_page.webp). It confirms, corrects and completes the oral-history identifications: - ECH = Eric Huffman (Audio Director / 3D audio framework) -- corrects the uncertain "Eric Nichols" guess - JMA = Joanna Mason (Simulation Code and Cameras) -- inferred mapping confirmed - CPB = Chris Brewer: "Secondary/Auxiliary Screens and Low Level I/O" -- the exact MFD gauge/mode layer this project reconstructs - GDU = Gabe Underwood: "Simulation Code and 'Mech Internal Systems" -- the heat/coolant/generator/seek economy - Full roster: Jordan Weisman (producer/designer), David McCoy (art director), J.M. Albertson (technical director), Bill Redmann (corporate director of technology), plus Corson, Edsall, Ciolek, Olsen, the artists (Burlington, Molitor, McCoy, Story; Allen Workshop: Bonilla, Peters) and sound (Bing McCoy, Effinger, Huffman). - 10 software engineers + 6 artists == Lynx's "maybe 8 dev, 6 art" memory. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# Original Developers — BattleTech (Tesla 4.10, Virtual World Entertainment, 1995-96)
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This project reconstructs a game that a small team at Virtual World Entertainment built three
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decades ago. They deserve to be named. This file records what we know, how we know it, and how
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certain we are.
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decades ago. They deserve to be named.
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**Sources.** (1) *Source archaeology*: the surviving 1995-96 file headers carry per-file
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modification tables with author initials (`// MM/DD/YY WHO what`). (2) *Oral history*: on
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2026-07-21 the initials list was read to VWE veterans on the project Discord, and **VGL Lynx**
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(who was in the room — "I was there the night we got to watch a Thor walk on terrain in
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multiplayer for the first time, on a Red Planet map") identified the people behind them, with
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additions from **Cyd**. Names are transcribed as given in that conversation; spellings are
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as-typed by the recollector and may be approximate. Treat identifications as community
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recollection (T3), the initials themselves as source fact (T0).
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**Sources, strongest first.** (1) **The printed credits page** — supplied by VGL Lynx on
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2026-07-21, preserved at `reference/manual/credits_page.webp` (period document; the definitive
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roster below). (2) *Source archaeology*: the surviving 1995-96 file headers carry per-file
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modification tables with author initials (`// MM/DD/YY WHO what`). (3) *Oral history*: the
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initials were first identified from memory by **VGL Lynx** (who was in the room — "I was there
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the night we got to watch a Thor walk on terrain in multiplayer for the first time, on a Red
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Planet map") with additions from **Cyd**; the printed page then confirmed and corrected the
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recollections.
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## Programmers (initials found in surviving source headers)
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## The credits page (verbatim)
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| Initials | Name (per VGL Lynx) | Seen in (examples) |
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|---|---|---|
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| **JM** | Jim Albertson *(typed "Jm Alberston")* | `BTDIRECT.HPP`, `BTMSSN.CPP/.HPP`, `BTTEAM.CPP` — mission/team/director layer |
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| **ECH** | Eric Nichols *(offered for "Eric"; initials fit imperfectly — unconfirmed)* | `BTCNSL.CPP`, `BTMSSN.*`, `BTREG.CPP` — console/registration |
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| **CPB** | Chris Brewer | `BTL4MODE.CPP/.HPP`, `BTL4GALM.HPP`, `BTL4GRND.HPP` — the L4 cockpit mode/gauge layer |
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| **GDU** | Gabe Underwood | `BTSCNRL.CPP`, `GAUSS.CPP/.HPP`, `SEEKER.HPP` — scenario + weapons |
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| **JMA** | Joanna Mason *(mapping inferred from the conversation flow — unconfirmed)* | `BTREG.CPP/.HPP`, `TURRET.HPP` |
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| **GAH** | Garth Hermanson | `BTCNSL.CPP` — console |
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The **MUNGA engine** (the shared sim/render engine under the game) was, per Lynx, "being
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developed/catered by a smaller team at the same time," internal to VWE, with crossover members.
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Its headers in our tree survive mostly through the 2007 RP411 Windows revision, so its 1995
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author trail is thinner here.
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## Hardware design (the Tesla II pod)
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Identified from initials **MC, AC** raised by Cyd:
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| Initials | Name (per VGL Lynx) |
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| Role | Name |
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|---|---|
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| **MC** | Marek Ciolek *(first offered as "Marek Cooley", immediately corrected)* |
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| **AC** | *(unresolved — the reply also mentioned "Violet"; mapping unclear)* |
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| Producer and Designer | **Jordan Weisman** |
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| Art Director | **David McCoy** |
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| Technical Director | **J.M. Albertson** |
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| Audio Director | **Eric Huffman** |
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| Corporate Director of Technology | **Bill Redmann** |
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## Team size (per VGL Lynx, 2026-07-21)
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**Software Engineers**
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> "Dev team was maybe **8 people. 6 people on art.** MUNGA was being developed by a smaller
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> team at the same time. Crossovers in the dev team too. Everything internal."
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| Specialty | Name |
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|---|---|
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| Framework and Simulation Design | **J.M. Albertson** |
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| Secondary/Auxiliary Screens and Low Level I/O | **Chris Brewer** |
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| Low Level I/O Design and Programming | **Marek Ciolek** |
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| Framework and 3D Video Rendering | **Greg Corson** |
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| Animation Simulations and Tools | **Jerry Edsall** |
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| Macintosh Design and Programming | **Garth Hermanson** |
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| Framework and 3D Audio System | **Eric Huffman** |
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| Simulation Code and Cameras | **Joanna Mason** |
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| Graphics Research and Art Tools | **Ken Olsen** |
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| Simulation Code and 'Mech Internal Systems | **Gabe Underwood** |
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No outsourcing. For scale: this ~15-person core shipped a networked 8-pod simulator with
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per-subsystem heat/power/coolant economies, full damage zoning, an authored per-map/time/weather
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environment system, and the physical cockpit integration — in 1995. As David "Auric" Hernly put
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it in the same conversation: *"They were inventing the future."* People still walk up to the
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30-year-old pods at Gen Con and, per Auric, "their minds are blown... STILL."
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**Artists & Animators** — 3D Art and Animations: **Tom Burlington, Duane Molitor, David McCoy,
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Lex Story**; Allen Workshop 2D Art: **Victor Bonilla, Tom Peters**.
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**Software Tools Group Leader:** Ken Olsen. **Sound Samples/Designs:** **Bing McCoy, Tom
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Effinger, Eric Huffman**.
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Ten software engineers, six artists — matching VGL Lynx's recollection ("dev team was maybe 8
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people, 6 people on art; MUNGA by a smaller internal team, crossovers, everything internal")
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almost exactly.
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## Initials in the surviving source ↔ the credits
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| Initials | Person | Their credited specialty | Seen in (examples) — and what this project found there |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| **JM** | J.M. Albertson (Technical Director) | Framework and Simulation Design | `BTDIRECT.HPP`, `BTMSSN.CPP/.HPP`, `BTTEAM.CPP` — the mission/director framework |
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| **ECH** | **Eric Huffman** *(corrects the oral-history guess "Eric Nichols")* | Framework and 3D Audio System | `BTCNSL.CPP`, `BTMSSN.*`, `BTREG.CPP` |
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| **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 |
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| **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 |
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| **JMA** | Joanna Mason *(the inferred mapping, confirmed)* | Simulation Code and Cameras | `BTREG.CPP/.HPP`, `TURRET.HPP` |
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| **GAH** | Garth Hermanson | Macintosh Design and Programming | `BTCNSL.CPP` |
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| **MC** | Marek Ciolek (hardware-side initials, per Cyd) | Low Level I/O Design and Programming | (the RIO/serial layer) |
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| **AC** | *(still unresolved — raised by Cyd for hardware design; not on this credits page)* | | |
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## Notes
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- **Jordan Weisman** — FASA co-founder and the creator of the BattleTech universe — is the
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credited producer/designer.
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- The credits page may correspond to one of the pages missing from our manual scan
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(`reference/manual/Tesla40_BT_manual.pdf`, p2-3 noted missing).
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- As David "Auric" Hernly put it when these names came up: *"They were inventing the future."*
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People still walk up to the 30-year-old pods at Gen Con and, per Auric, "their minds are
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blown... STILL."
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## Corrections
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