Here's
a quick quiz. Who wrote these four successful books: The
Hobbit, The Once and Future King, The Thorn Birds and
The Road? Chances are you knew most, but for those
who didn't, the authors in order are: J.R.R. Tolkien, T.H.
White, Colleen McCullough and John Ehle.
Now
let's take the same quiz with software. Who wrote these four
successful programs: BobsTerm Pro 128, The Bard's Tale,
Gridiron! and Championship
Golf. If you answered Bob Lentini, Michael Cranford,
Edward Fletcher and co-authors Jerry Shurman and Henry Perkins
your awareness is exceptional. I would be surprised if more
than a few scored 100% on the second quiz. Instead of the
program's author, it is usually the software publisher's name
we associate with a title.
Contrary
to what software pirates want you to believe, software does
not just appear; it isn't birthed through spontaneous generation
nor created by super computers. Each title is developed slowly,
lovingly and laboriously by sleepy-eyed programmers. Many
willingly risk years of their lives and even their futures
on project ideas they believe strongly in.
Like
most successful authors through the ages, the efforts of a
would-be professional programmer are not always as quickly
acknowledged as he/she would prefer. As a result, most must
endure some lean, hungry, even penny-pinching times waiting
for their chance to be published. Thankfully, for each of
the guys I talked with, those lean years appear to be behind
them. To a man they began on their individual road to professional
programming just like the rest of us computer owners —
they had an unquenchable enthusiasm for computers and recognized
the possibilities they possess. Each began his career with
a different background, at a different age and ultimately
achieved a different position in the industry. But they are
all doing exactly what they want to do, all are successful
and each has been financially rewarded for his contributions.
The
best way to learn their story is from their own words. If
you have any ambitions to program professionally, heed well
their words, and perhaps you can avoid some of the pitfalls
they had to endure. If you are a user of software rather than
a doer, you'll probably come away with an elevated appreciation
for the efforts and hours put into the programs you enjoy.
Brian
Fargo is a 24-year-old programmer turned business owner. He
is president of Interplay Productions, a California-based
software company which employs a staff of equally young computer
specialists like Jerry Shurman, Henry Perkins and Michael
Cranford. In a four-year period they have developed nearly
60 software titles which are distributed by large publishing
companies like Activision and Electronic Arts. Fargo grew
up with a computer. His company is best known for graphic
adventures and sports simulations.
Edward
Fletcher, though three years older than Fargo, has been programming
professionally for only two years. He is the co-founder of
Bethesda Softworks in Maryland and the author of 'Gridiron!,
the yet-to-be-topped football simulation for the Amiga.
Fletcher became involved in computers while in college. His
interests are in the entertainment and simulation fields of
programming.
At
age 37, Bob Lentini would be considered the dean of the group.
His introduction to computers was quite different than most.
He gave up a good paying job traveling the country, rubbing
elbows with the top performing singers of the time to explore
computers. In a very real way, he was drawn to computer programming
both out of curiosity and for relief from boredom. Before
his first successful effort,
Bobs Term Pro, he
paid the bitter, hungry dues of an artist seeking to be discovered.
Lentini still lives in Las Vegas, but commutes to the east
coast regularly to write for a company which has not only
given him the freedom he needs to be creative, but also the
financial rewards a true artist deserves. He has concentrated
on developing productivity software.
Each
programmer insists he doesn't view programming as a job, but
instead a labor of love. All admit they wrestled with times
of frustration when coding obstacles slowed them and each
has resented the irritations of having to contend with the
demands of the business side of marketing and selling their
products. But each was drawn to the profession not in quest
of financial rewards, but simply because he loved computers
and the pleasures of working with them. Here are their stories:
How
and why did you get involved with computers?
Brian
Fargo: "I was still in high school when my father
brought home the first computer. And as you can guess, I fell
in love. I became a computer junkie. I'd wake up in the morning
and sit at the thing until after midnight. All I know about
them is self-taught. I bought every book I could find about
computers and simply put
hours and hours of hands-on experience into it That's how
I learned my craft. Fra 24, and working on computers is all
I've ever done. I worked in a ComputerLand store helping repair
computers. While doing that I started a software company called
Sabre Software where I did everything —programmed, manufactured,
drew the artwork and distributed the software. So computers
have been my life."
Edward
Fletcher: I've been interested in electronics since the
early '70's so I decided to go to engineering school to become
an electrical engineer. While in school, I took a FORTRAN
course which was required of all engineers. I loved it. Later,
I moved in with a roommate who had one of the early self-built
personal computers and I taught myself BASIC. I started writing
simple games using that computer. In 1980, my sister and I
split the expense of buying a computer so I had one close
by on which I could practice BASIC. I continued writing simple
adventure games. "These early experiences began my dream
to create a game of marketable quality. While still in school
I worked with a company which designed digital equipment,
and I continued with them after I graduated. But I've only
been programming professionally about two years. Until then
I had primarily been writing debugging utilities for the digital
hardware I was developing—nothing very serious."
Bob
Lentini: "I was an audio engineer before I got interested
in computers. I worked with some of the major stars like Paul
Anka, Tony Orlando, Diana Ross and people like that. That
kind of job requires that you spend many days in hotels, buses,
etc. That was fine when I was 20, but I'm 37 now, and I know
there is more to life than sitting in a motel room. I became
very disillusioned with my position in the audio industry.
I began looking for something else to occupy my time. The
Sinclair ZX81 hit the market, the little computer from England.
The size and price was right so I picked one up just to occupy
my time. The needle was in. In two weeks of playing with that
little computer I was hooked.
"I
expanded it to 64K and carried that computer around in a briefcase
and learned and learned and learned. After two weeks of programming
with BASIC, I realized that BASIC wasn't the answer. On that
computer it was notoriously slow mainly because of the way
it handled the video. That forced me into Z80 machine language.
Within months I was doing some
pretty decent Z80 routines with that machine. So I was totally
self-taught. I just bought some books, got into the thing
and went at it. I was forced by that computer to learn machine
language.
"I
continued on the road for another year,
practicing on my computer in between working my audio job.
You have to understand that I was making a very good living
as an audio engineer. I was one of the top paid engineers
out there. When I came to the decision to quit that job to
become a full-time programmer it was very difficult. But I
had a love for computer programming and I saw a lot more potential
in that than going from hotel to hotel and pushing buttons
for the stars."
Tell
us how you became a professional programmer and what you are
doing now.
Brian
Fargo: "I really don't program anymore. I'm really
sort of a director here at Interplay. We have a graphic artist
here, a guy who is an expert with sound, we have a programmer
who is the main guy. We have a designer who adds the real
meat to our products. The programmer provides the skeleton
of the product, so to speak, and the designer fills it out.
We have writers because we need well-written text for our
games. I sort of collaborate all of these individual talents
into the final product. Interplay is my company so I get to
do the more mundane things required to run a company, but
80% of my time is spent creating software. My background in
software makes my job a lot easier. The company has been around
for nearly four years and everyone here is under 30."
Edward
Fletcher: "A friend, Chris Weaver and I formed a
company called Bethesda Softworks. The plan was to design
a game for the Amiga. We concentrated on keeping the overhead
as low as possible. I did some consulting and contracting
work for some engineering companies in the area to keep us
alive and money flowing into the company. When I could find
time, I was working on Gridiron! as much as possible.
I did the majority of the game in an intense six-month period.
Although programming is my primary job, I do spend part of
my time working on hardware. And I like that. Being able to
switch between the two keeps me from getting into a rut. So
far our only program for the Amiga is Gridiron! which
is selling pretty well. We are now porting it over to other
systems. About 80 to 90 percent of the program is written
in Lattice C and the real critical timing stuff was done in
assembly language."
Bob
Lentini: "I'm a programmer. I live in Las
Vegas and work for a company on the east coast. I'm using
company-supplied equipment that is incredible — hard
disk, etc. I'm no longer programming on the Commodore line
of computers although it
was the 64 which got me started as a professional programmer.
That's where I first began making money programming.
I spend my days in a room
surrounded with nine
different computer systems including the Commodores."
How
many hours a week do you program?
Brian
Fargo: "Everyone
is expected to put in at least 40 hours which has never been
a problem. There are no set working hours, everything here
is pretty relaxed. If someone
wants to program at midnight, that's fine. Producing software
is a creative process. Although outsiders may not see it,
there is some method to our madness, but perhaps more madness
than method. We are working with very creative people turning
out creative programs — you can't just turn on the creative
processes like machines on an assembly line."
Edward
Fletcher: "I
usually program an average of 45 to 55 hours a week. I usually
work the traditional nine to five hours."
Bob
Lentini: "Basically
all day and all night (he laughs). It's a full-time job. I
like to think of my
work as creative programming rather than just turning out
code. I feel that I an creating an environment for the user
to work under. I see that as a very creative project. I've
never been able to put a time clock on true creativity. I
can't punch in at nine in the morning and quit at five and
be creative just during those hours. There are many nights
when the creative juices only flow from midnight
until eight or nine in the morning and other days when they
flow from seven to three. I just go with the flow. It's a
wonderful way to work and I'm fortunate the company allows
me to work that way."
Do
you get mental writing blacks similar to those experienced
by traditional authors?
Brian
Fargo: "No,
we really don't. We have so many people here with so many
ideas we don't have to rely upon just one person."
Edward
Fletcher: "Definitely.
I think game programmers
are really prone to this problem because games involve so
many intangibles. They are not simply working out algorithms
to do such-and-such. You have to evaluate what you are doing
as to how fun it is, how easy it is to use and how good it
looks. There is no set way to do these things. You just play
it and see how it feels, and if it doesn't play just right
you have to decide what to keep and what to change. After
you've tried three or four approaches to a problem and it
still doesn't feel just right, it's easy to feel frustrated.
I remember sitting and staring at the screen asking myself
*what in the world am I going to do?' I finally just had to
get away from it for a couple, three hours to clear my mind.
Then I came back with a fresh approach."
Bob
Lentini: "Yes I do. I reach points when I just can't
create anymore. I just start short and can't get past a particular
part of the program. But there are other times when the thought
will just flow and the program will make tremendous strides
in just a matter of days and friends are amazed at how much
I can do in such a short time."
Is
there an advantage to programming alone, rather than working
for one of the large software companies?
Brian
Fargo: "The
worst part of running your own business is taking care of
the mundane tasks like paying taxes. Before our contract with
Electronic Arts, one of the worst parts was negotiating contracts
and convincing people to trust us to do good work. That takes
time and a lot of just banging on doors. Hopefully, that's
behind us now. The most enjoyable aspect of the job is being
able to work with a group of creative, intelligent guys and
turning out a creative product. The tough part in the beginning
was not getting paid — that's a real disadvantage."
Edward
Fletcher: "I like having total say about the way
a product is created. I wrote Gridiron! almost entirely
alone so I was free to let my creative instincts go. I can
work flexible hours if I want to. There is no pressure to
conform to anyone else's ideas. The greatest advantage of
working alone is being able to use my creativity to its fullest
extent. I've always felt a little stifled working according
to other's specifications. So writing Gridiron! allowed
me the chance to work the entire project from start to finish.
Don't get me wrong, I had input from other people as to what
they did and did not like. But the concept was mine. I really
enjoyed seeing my ideas become a reality.
"The
worst aspect of working alone is the absence of other people
to bounce an idea off. It would have been nice to have had
more people around to get their input on how to tackle a problem
or fine tune critical aspects of the game. I involved as many
people as I could in those decisions but none of them were
programmers so it wasn't the same kind of input you would
get from a fellow worker. Another disadvantage of working
alone is loneliness. During
the six months working on the first project, I found myself
just wanting to get away from the computer and talk to someone.
So I'd just stop and call someone, just to hear another voice."
Bob
Lentini: "The
greatest advantage is working on your own schedule. There
is no time clock on your creative juices. I personally could
not work on a nine to five schedule and come up with the same
quality of programs
that I have done. I can only work well on a project which
means something personally to me. I can't be told what to
create and be given a deadline and turn out top notch code.
I did Bobs-Term Pro because I needed it first. In
the process of creating it I realized that the rest of the
world needed it also. That's the kind of project I like working
on. The word processing and secretarial work station that
I'm working on now is such a program. The company I'm working
for needed the program, but I did also. I needed it for me
first, but we're finding out that other people like the concept
the way I like it. That's the way I work. I work on projects
which are interesting to me, not things which are assigned
to me. As a result, I think my products are better. It may
work differently for other people. They may be able to take
assignments and deadlines and turn out good code. It just
doesn't work that way for me. My projects are labors of love."
Is
programming profitable and would you advise young computer
enthusiasts to follow in your footsteps?
Brian
Fargo: "I
think so. You can't deny the
fact that computers are going to be everywhere in the next
10-20 years. They are going to be in every walk of life and
anyone who doesn't have a computer and doesn't know how to
use it is going to be at a real disadvantage. I know some
of the colleges actually demand that you have a computer with
you. Programming is a great profession, there are going to
be plenty of opportunities for those who know how. I also
recommend that you do a lot of hands-on work and don't rely
entirely upon school because a lot of what is done in this
industry requires skills that are not taught in the school
system. It's important that you learn the machine itself and
not just how programming works in general.
"Yes,
programming can be profitable, but it is tough to survive.
Trends are constantly changing. If you are good at hitting
a moving target, this is the industry."
Edward
Fletcher: "I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this
profession to others. There's no question in my mind that
programming is one of the best ways for a person to express
his creativity. There still seems to be a strong demand for
good programmers, so the money is good. At the same time this
isn't a job of drudgery. Each day offers new challenges to
face. There's a lot of satisfaction derived from getting a
computer to perform the task you want it to."
Bob
Lentini: "It
can be, but it hasn't been as good for me as you might think.
The two versions of BobsTerm Pro have been very successful.
It has become quite a standard in the Commodore industry,
but because of my deal with the distributor, it didn't change
my life financially. It gave me some "play* money in
a sense. But I couldn't go out and buy an expensive car and
sit back and invest my wealth. If I had to rely on my income
from those programs to survive, I would be a bum in the street.
Programming for me now has become profitable due to the company
I am now working with. But just getting a program published
doesn't mean the wealth everyone used to dream of in the old
days when people would have a hit game and go out and buy
a Ferrari. Times and market have changed. If you can get that
deal, good for you. I didn't get it."
Could
you describe the steps required to start, finish and market
a program?
Brian
Fargo: "You'll
need to come up with a good idea and a very strong prototype
before showing it to the publisher. If the product shows some
promise you may be able to get the publisher to front you
some money to finish it. Or you may need to finish it completely
before you show it. We've done all that ourselves, but now
that we've proven ourselves with some of our better selling
products like The Bard's Tale II, Mindshadow, Borrowed
Time and Championship Golf plus about 50 others,
we sell the products differently. Now we'll sit down, spec
the product out, do a story board, bring up some screen shots,
really try to think the product through. Then we'll talk to
our publisher and tell him what we want to build, how long
we think it's going to take, and we'll get an advancement
which is treated as advanced royalties. There'll be some milestone
checks with the publisher along the way to satisfy him that
what we are creating is what we agreed upon."
Edward
Fletcher: "First you must have a good solid concept
for your program. Think about it a long time before you begin
writing. Then build the shell, the outline of the program
and then begin filling in the detail. Get everything you want
in the code and then begin letting people see it and give
you their opinion — their feedback. The last thing and
most time consuming chore is getting rid of all the bugs and
making the software elegant. Most people fall short on this
last phase. The program must be easy to use. That's why I
like a mouse interface; it's so easy for the user to handle.
I can't over-emphasize how important it is to make the program
look and feel slick."
Bob
Lentini: "The
time required is long, the final version of BobsTerm Pro
128 which you see on the shelf is two and a half years
of struggle. I'm getting faster and better now. My newest
project, a word processor, has taken only a year. But it just
takes time to develop a serious piece of code. To design,
beta test and get feedback from people just takes time. Then
you have to find out what's wrong with the initial concept
and modify it. I write entirely in machine language which
makes for much faster, tighter code but it also makes it harder
to convert between machines.
You
put a lot of time in every product, how can you be sure it
will be marketable?
Brian
Fargo: "No
one is ever sure a product is marketable, but you learn to
depend upon your instincts. Hopefully, everything works out
great. It usually takes somewhere from eight to 15 months
to bring a product from conception to market."
Edward
Fletcher: "I've always depended upon what I thought
a program should be. I just go by a gut reaction as to whether
a program will be marketable or not. I've been a computer
fanatic for a while now and I've been buying computer games
from the beginning, so I have a feel for what I expect and
want in a game. The hard thing is trying to design a game
that most people will want. If you can create a program no
one has ever done, your chances of marketing it increase dramatically."
Bob
Lentini: "I create programs that I need. If there
is something I need my computer to do which I can't go to
the store and buy, that is usually the birth of an idea. If
I buy a few programs which are supposed to do a task and they
don't perform well or the user interface is ugly or they are
just impossible to learn that usually gets my dander up. That
starts me thinking too. Whether I follow through and write
the thing depends upon if I think it is worth a year or two
out of my life to create. That's a tough decision, and it
comes slowly for me. I can't be sure the stuff I write will
be marketable other than I want it. I always talk to people
in the industry and get their feedback about what I am thinking
of programming. But I won't rush a product to market. I'm
very proud of my work and won't put my name on just anything.
I like to see a project through from beginning to end and
that means a good year of my life. That's a full year of 16-hour
days just eating, breathing, living and sleeping that project."
How
do you go about selling a product to a large distributor like
Activision or Electronic Arts?
Brian
Fargo: "It's
not likely you'll be able to sell them an idea alone if you
are un-proven. The key is showing them a finished
product. But it is very important to get the company to sign
a non-disclosure agreement to protect both you and their interests.
If the product is good, it will get to market — I have
no doubts about that."
Edward
Fletcher: "I think the best strategy for success
in the gaming industry is to try to publish and market your
own product. At least that's what we tried to do with Gridiron!
If you enter the industry planning on a distributor paying
for your development, you are going to lose out in the long
run. Even if he can sell ten times the number of games you
can independently, you still won't make any more money than
you would going it alone. You must be prepared to sell the
product on your own. Keep your overhead low, and know what
is the minimum number of units you must sell to break even.
Then if you have a good product, the distributor will come
to you rather than you going after him. You'll get a better
deal and be better off in the long run if you can do it that
way. That's what we've done, and as a result we have been
pursued by some of the larger companies." (NOTE: Just
after this interview and months after Grid-iron's successful
release, Fletcher and Bethesda Softworks signed an agreement
with Electronic Arts to distribute the game.)
Bob
Lentini: "I
was naive when I went about selling my first product and I
didn't get the best deal. But it did open up some doors. The
general procedure that I was told was that you send a copy
of your product to these companies and you try to get them
to sign a non-disclosure form and take a look at it and see
if they are interested or not. Instead, I would try to demonstrate
the product in person if I could, without physically handing
it over to them. Or maybe write them a letter to see if they
are interested in the type of product I am developing. If
they are interested, be sure to get the non-disclosure signed
before turning it over so your work can't easily be stolen.
At best, this is a bad situation for the programmer. The companies
have the upper hand. Most will offer a non-disclosure, but
in turn they expect you to sign a form saying you won't show
the product to another company for 90 days. This is their
decision-making period. Now for the programmer this is a nightmare
because he's got a hot product ready to go and in order just
to show it to someone, he's got to say he won't show it to
anyone else. Then if the three months go by and the company
isn't interested you've lost valuable marketing time. Who
knows how many other products have entered the market while
you were waiting so you could offer it to another company?
I think that's an ugly method and I won't follow it again,
simply because I've reached a point where I have some sort
of name and hopefully I can get more respect than that. But
the first time out I was against that wall.
I
live in Las Vegas, and the Consumer Electronics Show is held
here once a year. So I made appointments with the heads of
the software companies exhibiting there and demonstrated my
product on the spot. I was able to get immediate feedback.
But I still got tied up in the system, and there was a delay
in getting my product to the market. I did not get the best
deal I could have gotten, but I was starving at the time,
I was in debt up to my ears, I had absolutely no income. I
learned a lot, but I definitely would not want to go through
that ordeal again."
Can
you describe a typical financial arrangement between a programmer
and the distributor?
Brian
Fargo: "We
work on a royalty arrangement. We sell them an idea, they
advance us royalties to begin production and when it is finished
we receive a percentage of every sell. We are the manufacturer
of software and they are the distributors. By the time they
copy and begin marketing our products, we are already working
on the next project."
Edward
Fletcher: (NOTE:
At the time of this interview the financial arrangement between
Bethesda Softworks and Electronic
Arts had not been
finalized.) Bob Lentini: "Well I can only speak
for my deal. But it appears the general proceedings are that
they will offer you a few thousand dollars front money as
advanced royalties. The average royalty payment today appears
to be somewhere between seven and 11 percent of the net sales,
which isn't that good. For instance, if a program like BobsTerm
Pro markets for $79.95 they might sell that to a distributor
at about $40. Your percentage is based on the wholesale price
not the retail. It's not big money. I think the split should
be more even."
You
all have had successful, acclaimed titles; what do you see
yourself doing ten years from now?
Brian
Fargo: "I
hope I'll be doing the same thing only on a grander scale.
With the CD-I (Compact Disk Interactive) technology coming
along I think it is going to be really exciting when we have
computer graphics as good as what you see in the movies along
with real actors and true sound track and animation. That
is really exciting to me. So I'm hoping entertainment will
continue to be as popular as it is so the market just keeps
going and more and more people get involved. This is what
I want to do. I love this business."
Edward
Fletcher: "I plan to stay in the entertainment industry
as long as possible. I'd like to do some simulation if there
were commercial applications. I enjoy doing just what I'm
doing and I don't want to quit. I think the keyboard will
become less important and other types of input more important
in the future — like voice recognition software. People
will be able to relate to computers better in the future because
computers will begin behaving more like humans. The sights
and sounds coming out of computers are going to be more pleasing
and sophisticated, and people will begin to appreciate them
for their artistic value. That's why I think this industry
will always be a growth industry and I plan on being a part
of it."
Bob
Lentini: "I can't begin to answer that. If anyone
had asked me four years ago what I would be doing today, it
sure would not have been programming for a living. My past
has been filled with changes. My career has jumped from one
extreme to another. I can't speculate on what I'll be doing
even a year from now. I may try to mix computers with my former
interest — audio." After listening to each man's
story it be came apparent that the difference between success
and failure was neither luck or fate but timing and dedication.
Although all three entered professional programming with a
different background, their love for computers propelled them
to the same professional level. And perhaps the most surprising
truth to surface is that all learned the bulk of their programming
skills, not in school, but with hands-on experience with a
personal computer. For them, the time spent with their nose
pressed against the monitor's screen and the hours of sleep
lost exploring their computer's memory has finally paid off
with big dividends.
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