arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8
fe1cc0d79c
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>
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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.