Don't excommunicate me for this blasphemy

Barshy · October 23, 2002, 22:58

Ok... please don't flame me or kill me or turn the MOO3 secret police on me...

I'm just totally curious. Ok, I'm one of those fans who really followed MOO3 development 2-3 years ago heavily, then totally stopped, then recently came back on to check things out.

And I'm just curious what happened to Alan Emrich... everyone talks like he didn't exist. I'm just curious as to what happened. I've combed the threads and I couldn't find anything on it, except a brief reference to some gaming magazine trying to spread gossip about what happened or something.

Anyway, I'm gonna buy the game regardless. Thanks for entertaining my question!

*ducks*

H Tower · October 23, 2002, 23:35

/me acts clueless

oh wait!

We made him moderate the civ3 forum, and his head exploded at all the naifs and trolls in the genreal forum

actually, i really have no idea

SeanV · October 23, 2002, 23:44

Well Barshy I don't know the whole story behind it but basically Alan was dropped from the MOO3 project sometime last year. IG said that he had done a good job but he was no longer needed. Quite a few people believed that something much more sinister was afoot and there was a big stink both here and on the official forums. IG's PRD went through the roof and several other things happened (which no doubt other people have well documented.) But in the end everything quieted down... whether the doom-gloom people were right remains to be seen.

Atragon · October 23, 2002, 23:49

Bets on him surfacing as the lead designer for another 5X game? with IFPs?

SeanV · October 24, 2002, 00:03

Nope, no bets!

(Stupid I am.)

But who knows... MOM2...

vmxa1 · October 24, 2002, 01:15

I seem to remember Alan posted a bit of a goodbye here. He could not be compleely open of course.

MarkG · October 24, 2002, 01:47

search our news

http://apolyton.net/news/search.php

moomin · October 24, 2002, 05:06

IG got tired and kicked him, all parties concerned showing an overabundance of white teeth in a display of false smiles and false cordiality that would've graced the Orion Senate. Amazing amount of corporate bullshetese fallout too.

Grumbold · October 24, 2002, 10:04

Alan and others left the project in a bit of a shake up around April time. Unsurprisingly the departees all sounded a bit strained when saying their goodbyes to the forum.

Sollos · October 26, 2002, 05:18

You know, I was going to post a question exactly like this one. Alan was an okay guy, and even replied in email to say he was glad I was a interested fan like a yr ago.

There must have been some heavy concept issues going on. Alan took the wrong side and bought it?

It probably had to do with streamlining the game and he pressed for more (not necessarily fun) detail?

Grumbold · October 26, 2002, 09:12

If you've read the news links Markus points to, you'll see that there was a bit of a rift shortly before he was let go. Interestingly a lot of what he said about the way projects change was echoed in Rantz's recent Dev diary.

Sarxis · October 26, 2002, 11:04

Alan Emrich never existed. (Feds come take Barshy away).

vmxa1 · October 26, 2002, 13:39

I just wish he would write a guide for Moo3 as the guide he made for Moo was the best guide I have ever seen. So much information was packed in there and a good tutorial mode was built in.

Trifna · October 27, 2002, 12:58

www.orionsector.com may be the best source specialized on MOO. Didn't Alan chose to take some distance, to be able to do more what he wanted in personal life? Building a game may be very invasive on personal life I guess... But whattever the reason, I guess it's his decision

moomin · October 27, 2002, 17:14

Actually, as the conspiracy theorists would have it, it wasn't his decision. Oh well, that's water under the bridge now. Well see soon enough what - if anything - of his legacy survived in Moo3.

playshogi · October 30, 2002, 00:01

I was kind of hoping that Apolyton would become the major source of MOO3 strategy.

vmxa1 · October 30, 2002, 00:22

I would think that the chances are good.

moomin · October 30, 2002, 05:20

So do I. We've been a major source of strategy for every other game covered here, so I see no reason for us to drop the ball on this one.

Unless it really, really sucks, of course.

Like Civ3

BleedTheFreak · October 30, 2002, 13:36

EMRICH LEAVING QUICKSILVER
(17 April 2002, 07:33 | MoO3 | 81 comments) The formal ties between myself and Quicksilver [Software] have been untied is how Alan Emrich, Lead Designer on the said company`s upcoming Master of Orion III strategy game, describes his pending departure from full-time employment at the company. Until May 1st, he will remain part-time. Bill Fisher, QS Executive Producer:

With the main design phase complete, Alan will be stepping back as a full-time Quicksilver employee and will instead be shifting to a contracting role for potential future projects which are now under discussion. He will still be available for consultation on MoO3, of course, and will be here from time to time to check up on the project.

We are delighted with the depth and breadth of the design and look forward to the opportunity to work with Alan again in the future.

Emrich himself on his new relation to QS and MoO3:

I’ve stated to both Bill Fisher and Constantine my willingness to remain involved in whatever capacity we can work out between us. [..] You may see me do a bit of playtesting and offering my suggestions about MoO3. Whatever works out. But chances are you won’t see me much here on the boards. I’ve got other things in my life besides MoO3, and under the circumstances, it’s time I pay them a lot more attention. [..] I really won’t be much of a ‘presence’ here and I doubt if I’ll be saying much publicly of a MoO3 nature in the future.

He also addresses his own personal situation:

I’ve spent much of the past couple weeks rearranging my personal life, investigating other work possibilities, and preparing for the wonderful world of "independent contractor work" (known to cynics the world over as "unemployment"). I’ve made a lot of friends on these discussion boards, and have received permission to make this posting to say my ‘good bye’ to you all in my own way. I just want to tell everyone not to worry about me.

Thanks to `player1` for the news tip. - DanQ

H Tower · October 31, 2002, 23:52

Quote:

Originally posted by moomin
So do I. We've been a major source of strategy for every other game covered here, so I see no reason for us to drop the ball on this one.

Unless it really, really sucks, of course.

Like Civ3

well, the official forum for the game might give us a run for our money, especially since that's where the game developers post (except for rantz of course) and i'll bet you that somewhere among the stuff that gets installed will be a link to the official website, and the forums there.

vmxa1 · November 1, 2002, 00:40

Thats ok, we can steal from them.

Sarxis · November 1, 2002, 01:01

Quote:

...and have received permission to make this posting to say my ‘good bye’ ...

So the world's fascists have been hiding at QS/IG afterall?

I can almost picture the gun being held to Emrich's head at this point.

Rantz · November 1, 2002, 14:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Anunikoba

So the world's fascists have been hiding at QS/IG afterall?

I can almost picture the gun being held to Emrich's head at this point.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*sniff* ok, hang on, let me catch my breath...

sorry, that's just too funny. a.) the idea of anyone here being a fascist, or b.) andone holding a gun to *anyone's* head. Ok, I gotta stop or I'm going to break down into hysterics again...

H Tower · November 1, 2002, 15:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Rantz
Ok, I gotta stop or I'm going to break down into hysterics again...

how about a few quick screenies before you do?

vmxa1 · November 1, 2002, 17:46

Hold the screens, leave us the mystery, it is only weeks away.

moomin · November 1, 2002, 19:32

I'm quite amazed at the fervor shown... calm down, people. It'll be out soon and then you can check out for yourselves. There's plenty info and shots around for everybody to know what's coming by now and the one remaining question - is it any good? - won't be answered until you've played it anyway.