# 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.

**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.

## The credits page (verbatim)

| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Producer and Designer | **Jordan Weisman** |
| Art Director | **David McCoy** |
| Technical Director | **J.M. Albertson** |
| Audio Director | **Eric Huffman** |
| Corporate Director of Technology | **Bill Redmann** |

**Software Engineers**

| 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** |

**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

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.