docs/CREDITS.md: name the original 1995-96 VWE developers

Source archaeology (the per-file modification tables in the surviving
headers) surfaced six programmer initials: JM, ECH, CPB, GDU, JMA, GAH.
Read to VWE veterans on the project Discord (2026-07-21), VGL Lynx --
who watched the first multiplayer Thor walk terrain on a Red Planet map --
identified them: Jim Albertson, Eric Nichols (uncertain), Chris Brewer,
Gabe Underwood, Joanna Mason (mapping inferred), Garth Hermanson; hardware
initials MC = Marek Ciolek (AC unresolved), via Cyd.

Team size per Lynx: dev ~8, art ~6, MUNGA by a smaller parallel internal
team with crossovers, no outsourcing.  Identifications marked T3 (oral
history, as-typed spellings) against the T0 initials; a corrections
invitation is included.  Linked from context/project-overview.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

context/project-overview.md

@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Port VWE's arcade **pod** games (Tesla platform, release 4.10, ~1995-96) to mode
 ultimately, the actual arcade pod hardware. Primary target: **BattleTech (BT)**; **Red Planet
 (RP)** shares the engine. Full detail: `docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md §1-3`.
 
+The ORIGINAL 1995-96 team — the initials in the source headers matched to names by VWE veterans
+(dev team ~8, art ~6, MUNGA by a smaller internal team) — is credited in **`docs/CREDITS.md`**.
+
 ## The stack
 - Two games, one engine: BT + RP. Engine = **MUNGA**; HAL = **L4** (`MUNGA_L4`). Game logic =
   `CODE/BT`, `CODE/RP`. [T1]

docs/CREDITS.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# 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.
+
+**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).
+
+## Programmers (initials found in surviving source headers)
+
+| 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) |
+|---|---|
+| **MC** | Marek Ciolek *(first offered as "Marek Cooley", immediately corrected)* |
+| **AC** | *(unresolved — the reply also mentioned "Violet"; mapping unclear)* |
+
+## Team size (per VGL Lynx, 2026-07-21)
+
+> "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."
+
+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."
+
+## Corrections
+
+If you are one of these people (or know them) and a name, spelling, or attribution here is
+wrong: corrections are gladly taken — this file exists to credit you properly.