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:: red knight
You're who again? (A Very Brief History of SWQ)
Waaay back in 1996 I joined up with a Star Wars TC (that's "Total Conversion", a term which doesn't seem to be much used anymore) that was in development. This stint turned out to be short-lived, as the mod's leader read an article titled "Planet of the Vampires" on Planet Quake and decided to scrap the project rather than deal with the legal hurdles. Well, a few of us didn't want to quit just yet, so I gathered up those few and started Star Wars Quake as a new project. We quickly secured hosting at GamesNET and began development anew. There was just one problem: none of us knew what the HELL we were doing.
Star Wars Quake (or SWQ as it's more commonly called) has been in development in one form or another for the last six years. It has seen over a hundred people work on it over that time and gone through many evolutions. When Quake 2 eventually came along we were forced to make a tough decision - keep going with the Quake 1 route or essentially start over from scratch. We chose to start over, with the full intention of doing it right. Ignoring all the negative aspects associated with a project having such lofty goals, we were doing pretty well. SWQ began to get a decent amount of favorable press for a mod and things were looking good. However, old problems eventually rose to plague us again, primarily the greatest enemy of any mod: time. A project like this requires lots of it, because it is work. A lesson I never really learned was that you should start small, and in the end that's what shot the schedule all to hell and caused us to miss the entire Q2 window.
I suppose in that respect one might consider SWQ to be a failure. I do not see it as such. The entire point was to do something fun, and I know I had a lot of fun working on this project. I remember when we got the speeder bike working in Quake 1, watching that thing leap over hills and kick up dust when it landed was enough to put a big stupid grin on my face. Moments like that popped up throughout my involvement with the project, and they made it all worthwhile. What's more, SWQ over its lifetime had a great many lessons to teach about what it takes to bring a concept to reality and management in general. To top it all off I had the privilege to work with some immensely talented people and I consider myself a better person for having known them.
So what the hell happened?
College and a job. I resisted at first, but it eventually became apparent that there was no choice but to drop out of SWQ and the game editing scene in general once I started school. I left my various projects in the hands of those most capable to see them continue on, and the same went for SWQ. Since then the project has seen its first real release to the public and is embarking on future directions of its own. I'm no longer involved, but I do drop by from time to time to see how it's going and throw the odd word in.
As for me, I now work for a major enterprise communications company doing "forward-looking work". That essentially boils down to dreaming up future directions for the company, then making those concepts a reality. It is challenging and exceedingly rewarding work, and I love every day of it. Will I ever get back into the gaming scene? Who knows. I'd like to think the lessons that I've learned since this whole story began could be put to good use, but for now I'm content to be just an observer. SWQ's future rests in capable hands, and I'll be as anxious as the rest of you to see where they take it.
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