From fe1cc0d79ca45a3f79aad9a4b7061185dd8d5dda Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: arcattack Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2026 23:35:50 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] 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) --- context/project-overview.md | 3 ++ docs/CREDITS.md | 55 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 58 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/CREDITS.md diff --git a/context/project-overview.md b/context/project-overview.md index f3991eb..793ec6a 100644 --- a/context/project-overview.md +++ b/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] diff --git a/docs/CREDITS.md b/docs/CREDITS.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2115a32 --- /dev/null +++ b/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.