look at this: I think, that Biggles have written these Lines:
[b]
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder - The Early Days
September 21st, 1999. A Tuesday, if I recall correctly. For two weeks now the developers had been oddly quiet on the forums at Sierra. There were far fewer greens, purples, vorklifts and aardvarks (see Inside Jokes, below) than usual. Instead, the most common phrase used was "We are not Homeworld." Some developers even talked about getting t-shirts with this phrase printed on them. At the time we fans were starting an advertising campaign for the game. We had begun this because of our disgust at Sierra providing a pitifully small marketing budget for the game. We were also eagerly awaiting the news that the demo had been released to the Babylon 5 magazine. All this came to a screeching halt on that Tuesday when one of the developers announced that Sierra had cancelled Babylon 5: Into the Fire.
The exact details of the cancellation were sketchy at first. Over the next 24 hours many things happened. First there was the usual disbelief and an abundance of threads with titles like "Is this a joke????". Then the fans rallied. Grinner set up a forum on B5:ITF's main fan site, [url]www.firstones.com.[/url] Messages were posted on the Sierra board telling everyone to go to this forum when Sierra shut down the official board. Meanwhile, the developers filled us in on the situation.
It seemed that B5:ITF was not the only casualty. The company had gone through sweeping changes in order to "save money". Over 100 employees lost their jobs that day. For some it was worse than others. Many of the developers who lost their jobs had moved themselves and their families across the country 6 months earlier when Sierra had decided to close down Yosemite Entertainment. Among the games affected were B5:ITF and the MMORPG based on Lord of the Rings. Most of the developers said their goodbyes and went off to have some much-needed time alone.
It was not long before the Sierra board was almost entirely abandoned in favour of the board at Firstones.com. As the news articles about the events at Sierra spread around the Internet, the fans began a massive mailing effort. E-mails were sent to all the gaming magazines and news sites we could think of. Meanwhile, the fans of the other games that were cancelled drifted off to find new boards. It seemed that only the Babylon 5 fans were not going to take what Sierra had done sitting down. Soon most of the news articles concentrated on the fact that a huge fan effort had begun to save B5:ITF. Word got around and the trickle of new members who had never even heard of the Babylon 5 game before began.
Over the next few weeks the news articles dried up. A few of the ex-developers popped in to say hi and tell us of their plans or new job prospects. There was the occasional interview and at one point an IRC chat with the ex-developers. Two of the ex-developers even appeared on the Game Dive, and Internet radio show. But the next three months were all too quiet.
A Late Delivery from Avalon - The First Chance
At the beginning of 2000, rumours began to spread throughout the Firstones forums about a company called Codemasters who were interested in buying the game IP (intellectual product) off Sierra and finishing it. Codemasters, a UK game developer, was interested in spreading into the USA. They bought the old Yosemite Entertainment company. Ken (alias: KC), an ex-producer for B5:ITF, was working for them now and began pitching the game to them as an excellent first product for their US offices. The fans, of course, sprinted towards this ray of hope, promising to do everything that was asked of them. Ken collected the names of as many members as possible via e-mail to present as part of his pitch to the managers at Codemasters. Things were looking up. Then, in March 2000, disaster struck with an event that seemed all too familiar.
Codemasters decided that the future of gaming was in online multiplayer only games. Many employees of Codemasters lost their jobs, including Ken. His attempt to get them to pick up B5:ITF failed because it would not fit with their new business plan. It seemed that we had lost all hope. A lot of the first ones left after this news.
War Without End
When the news of the decision from Codemasters was reported on the boards, most of the fans went into shock. They were very quickly pulled out when from out of the blue came a message from someone called Rick (alias: Rick :)). The thread was titled "Out of the Fire", and the post was filled with good news:
Out of the Fire (posted 03-25-2000 02:28 AM)
�If you go to Z�ha�dum, you will die...�
�You can�t save them all...�
�Babylon will fall. This place will be destroyed...�
Most of you will undoubtedly recognize those phrases. Some may even be able to quote the episodes. All three share a common thread. Sheriden proved them all wrong.
I thought that now would be the best time to come forth and talk about �Into the Fire,� what has happened, what may happen, and what all of you, the precious fans of this wonderful world jms gave us, can do to help.
My name is Rick. I�ve been working with the ItF team since but a few days after the incident last September. Together Dan, Marc, Randy, Byrt, the ItF team and I gave our best to find a new home for this game. Out of respect to my wishes, they kept my involvement in this process silent. To this day, I consider the ItF team to be one of the best pools of talent I�ve ever had the pleasure to meet.
While I cannot talk about the details of the arrangements we worked upon, I can say this: the gaming industry is filled with wonderful, understanding people�you just have to have the good fortune to find them. I�m very glad to count Dan and Marc as two very good friends.
There were two publishers we were working with. Both of them gave solid, compelling offers. The team picked Codemasters. Over the past few days I�ve heard some disturbingly negative comments about Codemasters�I feel compelled to say that no one could have foreseen the events that transpired. Ken, Craig, and the entire CM team gave it a good shot...but tragedy is commonplace in this industry...things just did not work out.
And so, here we are, today, that proverbial, �shining beacon in space...all alone in the night...�
Which leaves you with this question: �What about ItF?�
I believe in Babylon 5. I�ve spent the better part of the last 6 months ferreting over market segmentation data, Gantt charts, production schedules, artwork, business plans, completion plans, recovery schedules, conference calls, road trips, NDAs, demos-- basically pasting everything together in an effort to get someone to pick up this game and let the team dive in and make it happen. There are times I wake up in the night wondering, �what did I do wrong? Could I have done more?�
It took allot of time and soul-searching to realize we did all we could.
All that is left to do now is something different.
I do not want to be excessively optimistic and mislead you. The facts are simple. The programming department is all but gone, and the art department is close behind. What we are looking at here is rebuilding the staff from the ground up. The game itself may even take a new form. All I can say is that I have an undying loyalty to the design concept, and deep friendships with the people that came up with it. It would be an utter shame to see ItF die, and I would rather not let it pass into the �Greatest Games Never Made� category.
Randy and I have discussed, at great length, what needs to be done to finish this game, and he has kindly offered his support and assistance in making one last try. Some of the original staff has offered to do the same.
This is Coriana 6. Do or die.
For my part, I have offered to piece together completion and business plans and present the plans to potential investors to see where that leads.
Please keep in mind that there are now five hurdles, as opposed to the four we faced before:
1. Raise the capital
2. Purchase the assets
3. Obtain a license
4. Rebuild the team
5. Find a publisher
If it can happen, it will happen. We will launch a new studio with ItF as its flagship. However, this is not going to be an easy task. It may even be impossible.
Time will tell.
The remnants of the team have allot to do right now. We will do our best to keep you updated and in the loop, either directly, or through Drazi Guy and Grinner. Please understand that there are just some things we cannot talk about, either out of professional courtesy or due to the NDAs we must honor.
In closing, I offer these words to you, that in them you will find the inspiration that jms gave so many of us, the courage to look beyond what we are, and to see what we truly can be...
�Though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are�One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will�to strive, to seek, to find...and not to yield.� -Sheriden, quoting "Ulysess" by Alfred Tennyson
Best Regards,
-Rick
Less than a week later Rick posted again informing us that Sector 14 Studios had just had its first staff meeting. Sector 14 Studios was formed from some of the former developers from Sierra with the intention of gaining the game IP from Sierra and finishing the game. The post asked for our support and patience as they began organising this new company and preparing a business plan.
"Sector 14 Studios" (posted 04-03-2000 04:34 AM)
All�
I�d like to take this opportunity to announce that Sector 14 Studios (LLC pending) had it�s first staff meeting on Friday, March 31, 2000, in San Jose, California.
Randy, Christy and I had our first organizational meeting, at which several topics were discussed.
Among them were:
· Plans on raising startup & venture capital
· Licensing Plans
· IP Acquisition Plan
· Business model review.
· Completion plan review
· Staffing issues
· Preliminary marketing plan and marketing research review
· General discussion on new opportunities under the DirectX 8 feature set.
This *is* happening. Do not take �no news as bad news��it is a good thing, because it means we are busy with making things happen. And things ARE happening.
We know that you are all very eager to help, however, the best thing you can offer at this time is your support, patience, and faith.
We will need you. We always have. When the time comes, myself, Randy, or one of the other Sector 14 staffers will post a topic to let you know what you can do to assist us. It is very important to present a united front at this critical point �that alone helps more than you will ever know.
Our action plan is solid, and in some ways, better than what we started with last fall. Opportunities for funding and publishing are already presenting themselves.
"You must choose to create the future, or others will do it for you, and the choices you make will determine that future."
Best regards,
-Rick
Over the next 6 months or so things continued at the same pace. Very little happened and only the occasional post from one of the Vorlons or Rick kept us going. The business plan was drawn up, edited, and used as to pitch the game to potential sources of funding. Here are the status reports:
The Status of the Station (posted 05-05-2000 02:14 AM):
There are allot of things going on right now, and most of them are good. As Jack Nichols has said in another thread, because of the state we are in, we often can't tell you what is going on. But once we do secure our license, all that will change. Please bear with us, and please understand that this is the slowest, most painful part of the process, both for you and for us-- we're doing all we can to keep you all informed about the things we can disclose. There's just allot of waiting going on right now, and, at this point, all we can do is be patient.
In the meantime, go ahead and keep those creative juces flowing! We've seen a few excellent proposals in the "Sector 14 Logo" thread. We can't promise you that any of them will be our final choice, but we can say that several have caught our eyes.
One person suggested an E-mail based newsletter. That may not be a bad idea. We'll try and coordinate that with the FirstOnes.com staff. For your part, please do all you can to make sure your info is current in your profile settings, and to drag as many of your B5-loving friends here as possible.
We have the deepest respect and admiration for all of you, and we want to thank you for all your kind words and support.
Best regards,
Rick Brewer
Sector 14 Studios
State of Affairs (posted 05-27-2000 02:44 PM):
Hi all-- Sorry that I wasn't able to stay at the chat session-- my EFNET connections always seem to be poor--- here's the lowdown:
Wow. What a week. Aside from having my �91 Miata pushed through an intersection by a Mack truck, things were very productive.
To answer your questions:
You all will be pleased to know that we have our first draft business proposal done, and are now going through the process of editing, re-editing, re-editing, and re-editing. Did I mention re-editing?
Personally, this is a tremendous load off my shoulders. The first draft is bit like writing a script or a novel�you want the quality to be there so you will be able to defend it from the barrage of attacks that are a part of the whole process of obtaining venture capital. But, at the same time, you want to let it go so you can move forward, as well as keep the detail down so as not to overwhelm the reader. It can feel almost like a Catch-22 when viewed from the inside.
So now we move forward. All that remains is polishing our financials, and we�re good to go to pitch the studio.
Given where we are right now, I�m reminded of the following exchange:
"What if I fall? How will I know you'll catch me?"
"I caught you before."
"What if I die?"
"I can not create life, but I can breathe on the remaining embers..
It may not work."
"But I can hope."
"*Hope* is all we have."
-- Lorien & Sheridan, "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"
Our sincerest thanks go out to all of the fans supporting S14.
Best Regards,
-Rick
A Call to Arms (posted 06-14-2000 07:29 PM):
We need your help. As we engage the final steps of our planning, we're finding we need more information, and maybe you can be our Rangers, and help us out.
We're looking for approximate sales numbers for a few popular Space combat games. Specifically, we're looking for numbers on the wing Commander Series, Star wars series, and Homeworld.
While we could go directly to PC Data for this information, it is quite costly, and for the purposes we are intending to use the data for, we do not require the most up-to-date-every-last-unit accuracy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you post numbers, please reference the source (magazine & page number or URL if possible).
If you'd rather e-mail privately, send correspondance to [email]sector14studios@yahoo.com[/email]
Onward to victory!
-Rick
A message from S14 (posted 08-04-2000 04:18 AM):
Not long ago, I promised that I would post an update, as soon as time allowed. And so, time allows...
One thing all of you should know, though I�ve said it many times�as frustrating as silence and our occasional �Kosh-isms� are, they are a good sign. Just as jms would not publicly confirm or deny (or even acknowledge) the possibility of additional B5-related projects that are in negotiation, we must do the same. To do anything else would just jeopardize all that we, the developers, and you, the fans, have been fighting for during the past 10 months.
Rest assured:
The right people are looking at our proposal.
The right people are impressed with it.
And that�s all I can say, in public, at this time.
We would not have gotten this far without the dedicated help of you, the fans, and the assistance of the fan sites at Firstones.com, b5itf-finland.org, and several other SCS and B5-related sites and organizations. We had a tremendous outpouring of support recently not only from fans, but other game developers in the business�that means more to us than they�ll ever know. Thanks, guys (and you know who you are).
Soon, things will be even quieter...but then again...
It�s always darkest before the dawn.
"Faith sustains us in the hour when reason tells us that we can not continue, that the whole of our whole lives is without meaning. Not useless, but it is also not enough. Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one. That's all that faith requires. That we surrender ourselves to the possibility of hope. For that I'm content."
-- Brother Alwyn in the Babylon 5 episode, The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
Best Regards,
Rick Brewer
Sector 14 Studios
Then, in October 2000, disaster struck once more. Rick posted a new status update on the forums:
Sleeping in Light...an update from Sector 14 Studios (posted 10-04-2000 02:54 PM)
To the Into the Fire fans, and those who�ve offered support over the past year�
These last two weeks have been very difficult on us at S14, and we wanted to be sure there were no options left before making this announcement.
It is with deepest regret that I must inform you that our efforts to finish �Babylon 5: Into the Fire� have failed.
It is not due to problems with Sector 14 Studios, nor is it due to lack of interest by publishers, or lack of funding, but rather the current holder of the materials recently informed us they were no longer interested in selling the game assets. Appeals to the highest levels of management at Havas in France were not able to change their stance.
This outcome is unfortunate, for several reasons. Those of you close to the project know just how revolutionary the game design and gameplay would have been, and given the rather stagnant performance of space combat games, many to us knew in our heart of hearts that ItF had real potential to turn the market around, and get some of the life that the first person shooter market has been enjoying for the past 3 years. Technology-wise, we had many features in the design that are now becoming common-use tools such as multithreading and hierarchical AI�it was exciting to push the boundaries of technology in that way. For the fan of Babylon 5, it is another blow�the last remaining unseen footage of the cast and crew will remain unseen. This is a tragedy in itself.
What does this mean for Babylon 5 gaming? What�s next for Sector 14 Studios? Time will tell. More than a few of us have put our blood, sweat, and tears into this project. Personally, I�ve been working on this as a second job, logging in 10 plus hours a day for the past year on top of the demands of a full-time engineering career. Sector 14 Studios is a labor of love for us, and we won�t let it die. It is as much a way of thinking as it is a development studio�we�ve shared a special bond with our fans, and we hope that bond continues in the future when we are ready to start anew. We have ideas where we might go, but for now we need a rest�it�s a time of closure, as many of us have been putting 110% into ItF for over 3 years. In the meantime, we�d be happy to hear from any of you. Please feel free to send us your thoughts at [email]sector14studios@yahoo.com[/email] or contact me directly.
For those of you getting started in the games industry, and are interested in what it takes to propose a game to a publisher, we�d be happy to offer what knowledge we�ve taken out of this entire process. Truth be known, the work there is almost as much as what you spend immersed in working on issues with multithreading your sim, renderer, and AI successfully, or how to squeeze a few more FPS out of your engine to let your artists� work shine. The more you know about your market and how your game fits into it, the better. I may post a �game neutral� version of our business and completion plans, if there is enough interest to do so.
We have built some good friendships, business and otherwise, over the past year. At this time we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to those who helped us make it as far as we did:
Deepest thanks to Dan Foy, Randy Littlejohn, Marc Hudgins, Christy Marx, David Gehringer, John Trauger, Jack Nichols, Keith Landes, Victor Crews, John Walker, Jeff Reitman, Benito Gonzalez, Robin Phanco, Dave Artis, and Byrt Martinez � you are the model of a great development team, and all it can accomplish. Even though we did not get the results we hoped fore, take pride in the work we did, and rest easy knowing now that we did indeed do all we could to save the game.
A special thanks to Scott Johnson at Warner Interactive�you couldn�t ask for a better person to work with on a licensed property. We wish you success in your future endeavors, and hope that we might partake in some of them when the time is right.
Thanks also go out to American McGee, Barett Alexander, RJ Berg, Rick Johnson, Scott Draeker for helping us build our network of publishing contacts
Thanks to Mike Abrash for remembering me from the briefest of meetings, and helping us get in touch with the X-box team at Microsoft.
Additional thanks to Will Binder, John Carmack, John �Milo� Dimattio, Steve �Blue� Healsip, Sean �Redwood� Martin, Jack �Morbid� Matthews, and Alisa Schreibman.
Deepest gratitude to Janne S. Pionte, the creator of S14�s logo, and arguably one of Finland�s best artists.
Thanks also to the many developers in the game community who offered their words of support through this year of fire. Those words helped keep us going.
A special thanks to Mike Klumper at HD interactive � A true gentleman by the definition of the word. It�s one of my greatest hopes that someday we�ll be able to work on a project together.
And, of course, our thanks go out to J. Michael Straczynski. Thank you, Joe, for giving inspiration to us all and letting us play in the backyard of your imagination.
But most of all, we�d like to thank Lorien Newman, Kevin �Drazi Guy� Mac Neil, Michael �Grinner� Lu, �Sanfam,� Vesa �Freeze�,Juusola, and all the fans at [url]http://www.firstones.com[/url] and [url]http://www.b5itf-finland.org[/url] who have supported our efforts in the most passionate way. Without you, we wouldn�t have made it this far. You are the Army of Light. And you made the world stand up and take notice.
To the fans- I�d like to encourage you to support those who supported us: HD Interactive, EA, Gathering of Developers, Microsoft X-box, Raven Software, and id Software. All of these people are working hard to bring innovation to gaming, just as we have.
The game may die, but Babylon 5�Babylon 5 endures.
Best regards,
Richard G. Brewer
CEO, Sector 14 Studios
[email]richardgbrewer@hotmail.com[/email]
------------------
"...In the end it would hold because what is built endures. And what is loved endures.
And Babylon 5...Babylon 5 endures." -- Delenn in the Babylon 5 episode Rising Star
This post contained the worst news we could possibly hear. Sierra was refusing to sell the game assets. It seemed the end had arrived, and there was nothing anyone except Sierra could do about it. Needless to say, we were pissed, and we weren't going to give up so easily. Sierra had given no good reason not to sell the game assets. A new petition was started. Over 1400 names were collected and sent out with a cover letter. And oddly enough, it actually worked. Who says fan power is useless? 2 months after we were told the horrible news Randy replied to a fan's request for information on the current plans saying that suddenly Sierra was willing to sell the game IP again. The way he said it says something about the sort of things people can accomplish when they set their mind to it:
(posted in the thread "Some info please." at 12-19-2000 09:16 AM)
To answer the question - it's a long story.
Sector 14 Studios was formed with former ITF team members in order to complete the ITF simulation, and then to continue doing more interactive entertainment after that. This board started out in support of the Sierra effort and then continued to support the efforts of those of us who refused to give up on the sim.
At first Sierra said that they would sell us the game assets if we (Sector 14) could prove that we had the money and the rights from WB, but their asking price was high. We decided to go for it anyway after doing a business plan and seeing that it likely would still be a good bet. It turned out that WB was very happy to work with Sector 14, so getting the interactive rights was no problem. Then we got a commitment in principle from at least three different distribution companies to provide the funds for completing the game - but suddenly Sierra insisted that they had no intention of selling the game assets - there weren't at all interested - didn't need the money. (Right).
And then Sector 14's drop dead date arrived (date at which it was too late to get the game done by the date we promised the investors) and Rick publicly canceled our efforts to do the ITF game, since it looked like Sierra / Havas wasn�t going to budge. Then the fans at Firstones got outraged and went on this livid letter-writing campaign. Shortly thereafter Sierra suddenly was once again willing to sell the game assets - and they asked us to please call off the hounds.
But unfortunately the same companies that were once interested in funding the completion of the game are now less interested because it is no longer possible to get the game done by the original dates, which would have coincided with the release of X-Box � and part of our marketing strategy was to have our game shown off on the new platform.
Currently Rick is doing some meetings, but holidays are slowing the effort. I haven�t heard anything concrete in about two weeks.
However, one problem had been replaced with another. Sector 14 Studios no longer had funding. The interested companies were no longer quite so interested. And so the process began again, truly seeming like a war without end.
The Temporary Days
For about 6 weeks in March and April we were relegated to some temporary forums during a period of intense server trouble. During this time we received some good news. At the end of March a meeting took place at an unknown location with an "entity" (to quote Randy). All we know is that this meeting went extremely well, was not with Sierra, and was the first part of the first step of a 3-step plan. The other part is a tech demo (no, we don't know how they are going to do a tech demo without actually having the game IP either). The post from Randy (via Freeze):
Information from Sector 14 Studios (posted 03-23-2001 02:18 PM)
I guess you guys killed the server last night? LOL. I didn't sleep much myself.
The "meeting" went VERY well. A tech demo is next - then we should have a definitive answer for "step one" in this 3-step final push.
In case you're wondering, a bunch of us spent the better part of 5 hours using the boards as a chatroom while waiting for the news about the meeting we were told would be arriving at 5pm. Hence the "dead server" thing. :) Anyway... According toRick, once step 1 is done step 2 should be a lot easier, and once that is done their momentum should carry them past step 3 with very little trouble. Since that date we have not had much in the way of updates other than that things are going very well and this may be our best chance yet. We can only hope and keep fighting.
Sleeping In Light
On the 11th of June we received the final blow. Sector 14 Studios had failed for the last time. I think Rick's post describes it better than I could.
Twilight (posted 06-11-2001 05:42 PM)
"It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past."
--G'Kar in Babylon 5:"In the Beginning"
Nearly two years ago, Sierra On-Line turned out the light on an extraordinary creation � an advanced interactive tale based on Mr. Straczynski's epic, Babylon 5. Now, it is with deep regret that we must finally say that this light will remain extinguished.
Our one last effort has failed.
There are no feelings of animosity with those we were working with; quite to the contrary, in fact. We understand the decision. It makes sense. We see this, even though it was not in our favor.
>"That's not fair."
"No, it's not, but that's what we're stuck with."
--Lyta Alexander and Dr. Kyle in Babylon 5:"The Gathering"
Do we regret it? No way. In fact, we�ve probably done more than most will ever know to secure the future of Babylon 5, and that, in itself, is reward enough.
"There is � so much I still don't understand."
"As it should be."
-- Sheriden and Lorien in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"
It has been a long road. We fought the good fight. We shared moments of utterly insane humor, we challenged ourselves in heated debates, we've cried--
We became friends.
More important than even that - we helped to create our own little international community, proving the basic goodness of ordinary people can transcend differences in faith and government; and by doing so we have succeeded in a way, because we believe that this is part of the message JMS was trying to communicate with Babylon 5.
"Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another. It changed the future...and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future...or others will do it for us. It showed us that we have care for one another, because if we don't, who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely places. Mostly, though, I think it gave us hope; that there can always be new beginnings-even for
people like us."
--General Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"
What's next?
Randy will be continuing with film and TV projects and his obsession with the development of effective interactive storytelling.
Christy will continue with her television career and various interactive projects, some of which you will be playing, no doubt.
Rick will be starting fresh on a completely original project, though the medium, at this point, remains open. Nothing beats being in control of your own destiny.
And the rest of the crew? Dan and Stuart are still working hard at Microsoft on future successes; Marc and family are enjoying east-coast living while he continues developing games at Firaxis; John Walker lurks here still, and when not experiencing �redneck life� firsthand, he�s experiencing the newfound joys of parenthood; Jack recently became a certified Web Designer, taking on a job at a local school; Keith continues his successful career at Foundation Imaging, bringing us some of the best effects work in the industry; and Jeff, at last call, was working on projects unnamed at Monolith.
And pretty much everyone reading this knows what The Great Maker is up to�
�Faith manages.�
--JMS, �Sleeping in Light�
Have hope. We believe that JMS will do us proud when "Legend of the Rangers," hits the screen, and, with a bit of luck, a new legacy will be born. Who knows what may grow from it?
Finally, our heartfelt thanks to you, the best, most loyal, zany, wonderful friends from around the world who joined us on our journey.
"This journey has ended. Another begins. Time ... to rest now."
-- Lorien in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"
With heartfelt thanks,
- The �Into the Fire� Development Team
------------------
"...In the end it would hold because what is built endures. And what is loved endures.
And Babylon 5...Babylon 5 endures." -- Delenn in the Babylon 5 episode Rising Star
And so it ends. We did fight the good fight, and it has been a long, hard road for those of us who have been around since the beginning, and those who haven't. I am glad to have been around such an amazing bunch of people for so long. Hopefully those new people reading this will be around for a while, and will grow to feel the same way about all of those people at Firstones.com. If you are wondering what will happen from now on, we don't know for sure. But we do know that Firstones.com will not die. With any luck, you are reading this years from when it was written to find out about the origins of Firstones.com. But no matter who you are or why you are here, you are welcome to the best community in existance (unless you are here to cause trouble of course :). Keep the faith.
Inside Jokes Explained for Newbies
Vorlon - An ex-developer or Sector 14 Studios Staff.
First One - Someone who was active on the Sierra boards before the
cancellation. Most have September 1999 as their registration date,
but there are those with the date a little later due to taking a break
after the cancellation. And then there are those who's accounts were
destroyed during one of the boards hissy fits.
Young One - Someone who joined Firstones.com after the cancellation without having
joined the Sierra boards. Also called the Younger Races.
Green, Purple - Colours.
Aardvark - A strange animal that lives in the depths of hyperspace,
occasionally attacking the first ones. Usually green or purple in colour.
Vorklift - What the Vorlons use to carry boxes around in space.
Water Cooler - A device for cooling water and dispensing it into small paper cups.
(Note: The First One and Young One names are slowly dying this far out. They are
only in here because we like our reputation. :)
OK, here's the full story for some of those:
All these jokes originated back on the Sierra boards. The use of the green, purple and aardvark terms was started by the developers. Whenever they came across a question they did not want to answer (or possibly could not :), they simply replied with one of these words (or occasionally other colours if they were really bored). Soon the fans began using them as well. This is the source of Warleader's madness, as he was targeted the most due to his constant requests for information on and pictures of Narn ships in the game. Eventually a nice little story grew up around the aardvark part, linking it with the water cooler story.
A vorklift is a cross between a forklift and a Vorlon ship. This story has quite a long history. The short version is: One day a developer and a fan were having an argument about who would beat who in a dog fight once the game came out. Eventually the developer stated that he would be able to beat the fan in a maintenance fury with one hand tied behind his back. One fan, PJH, began asking questions about this claim, most centring on whether this forklift (which is essentially what a maintenance fury is) would be called a vorklift if a Vorlon (developer) piloted it. It wasn't long before he had a nice picture made and posted. Of course, we fans being who we were (and still are) we soon produced a flood of these pictures. Even the developers joined in. Ask nicely on the boards and someone will post these for you.
The water cooler thing can best be explained by Jack Nichols, the one who started it all.
"The Water Cooler thing started internally before it reached FirstOnes. After Dave's famous news release containing the comments concerning development around the Water Cooler at Corporate (Sierra Studios), I was the one who initially posted a joke message about the Babylon 5 Station being replaced by a five mile long rendered Water Cooler on our alternate posting site provided by another former employee. I eventually posted the first rendition of that idea [on the Sierra board], and many subsequent versions hit immediately afterwards."
Once again, ask nicely and someone will post the pics for you.
Wow, it 's unbelievable, what good and bad times the Firstones - Community had. Sure, we failed cause we don 't get back Into the Fire. But, today, there is Sector 14, a few Mods and "I 've found her". It 's really cool, that Firstones is alive in the future, all over the world.
with :D vorlonical :D Regards
Chicky
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
That thing is supposed to be on the main site, but it took Sanfam many a year to make the template required, which he promptly lost before giving it to me.
Comments
I remember sitting on a computer in the library on that fateful day.
I remember reading it in my computer programing class when codemaster's failed.
I remember reading Sector 14 blocked from finishing thier mission.
Faith Manages.
[B]Faith Manages. [/B][/QUOTE]
Indeed
[B]...wow this is a sierra made game... [/B][/QUOTE]
But you see... It isn't made by Sierra, it's only published by Sierra...
;)
look at this: I think, that Biggles have written these Lines:
[b]
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder - The Early Days
September 21st, 1999. A Tuesday, if I recall correctly. For two weeks now the developers had been oddly quiet on the forums at Sierra. There were far fewer greens, purples, vorklifts and aardvarks (see Inside Jokes, below) than usual. Instead, the most common phrase used was "We are not Homeworld." Some developers even talked about getting t-shirts with this phrase printed on them. At the time we fans were starting an advertising campaign for the game. We had begun this because of our disgust at Sierra providing a pitifully small marketing budget for the game. We were also eagerly awaiting the news that the demo had been released to the Babylon 5 magazine. All this came to a screeching halt on that Tuesday when one of the developers announced that Sierra had cancelled Babylon 5: Into the Fire.
The exact details of the cancellation were sketchy at first. Over the next 24 hours many things happened. First there was the usual disbelief and an abundance of threads with titles like "Is this a joke????". Then the fans rallied. Grinner set up a forum on B5:ITF's main fan site, [url]www.firstones.com.[/url] Messages were posted on the Sierra board telling everyone to go to this forum when Sierra shut down the official board. Meanwhile, the developers filled us in on the situation.
It seemed that B5:ITF was not the only casualty. The company had gone through sweeping changes in order to "save money". Over 100 employees lost their jobs that day. For some it was worse than others. Many of the developers who lost their jobs had moved themselves and their families across the country 6 months earlier when Sierra had decided to close down Yosemite Entertainment. Among the games affected were B5:ITF and the MMORPG based on Lord of the Rings. Most of the developers said their goodbyes and went off to have some much-needed time alone.
It was not long before the Sierra board was almost entirely abandoned in favour of the board at Firstones.com. As the news articles about the events at Sierra spread around the Internet, the fans began a massive mailing effort. E-mails were sent to all the gaming magazines and news sites we could think of. Meanwhile, the fans of the other games that were cancelled drifted off to find new boards. It seemed that only the Babylon 5 fans were not going to take what Sierra had done sitting down. Soon most of the news articles concentrated on the fact that a huge fan effort had begun to save B5:ITF. Word got around and the trickle of new members who had never even heard of the Babylon 5 game before began.
Over the next few weeks the news articles dried up. A few of the ex-developers popped in to say hi and tell us of their plans or new job prospects. There was the occasional interview and at one point an IRC chat with the ex-developers. Two of the ex-developers even appeared on the Game Dive, and Internet radio show. But the next three months were all too quiet.
A Late Delivery from Avalon - The First Chance
At the beginning of 2000, rumours began to spread throughout the Firstones forums about a company called Codemasters who were interested in buying the game IP (intellectual product) off Sierra and finishing it. Codemasters, a UK game developer, was interested in spreading into the USA. They bought the old Yosemite Entertainment company. Ken (alias: KC), an ex-producer for B5:ITF, was working for them now and began pitching the game to them as an excellent first product for their US offices. The fans, of course, sprinted towards this ray of hope, promising to do everything that was asked of them. Ken collected the names of as many members as possible via e-mail to present as part of his pitch to the managers at Codemasters. Things were looking up. Then, in March 2000, disaster struck with an event that seemed all too familiar.
Codemasters decided that the future of gaming was in online multiplayer only games. Many employees of Codemasters lost their jobs, including Ken. His attempt to get them to pick up B5:ITF failed because it would not fit with their new business plan. It seemed that we had lost all hope. A lot of the first ones left after this news.
War Without End
When the news of the decision from Codemasters was reported on the boards, most of the fans went into shock. They were very quickly pulled out when from out of the blue came a message from someone called Rick (alias: Rick :)). The thread was titled "Out of the Fire", and the post was filled with good news:
Out of the Fire (posted 03-25-2000 02:28 AM)
�If you go to Z�ha�dum, you will die...�
�You can�t save them all...�
�Babylon will fall. This place will be destroyed...�
Most of you will undoubtedly recognize those phrases. Some may even be able to quote the episodes. All three share a common thread. Sheriden proved them all wrong.
I thought that now would be the best time to come forth and talk about �Into the Fire,� what has happened, what may happen, and what all of you, the precious fans of this wonderful world jms gave us, can do to help.
My name is Rick. I�ve been working with the ItF team since but a few days after the incident last September. Together Dan, Marc, Randy, Byrt, the ItF team and I gave our best to find a new home for this game. Out of respect to my wishes, they kept my involvement in this process silent. To this day, I consider the ItF team to be one of the best pools of talent I�ve ever had the pleasure to meet.
While I cannot talk about the details of the arrangements we worked upon, I can say this: the gaming industry is filled with wonderful, understanding people�you just have to have the good fortune to find them. I�m very glad to count Dan and Marc as two very good friends.
There were two publishers we were working with. Both of them gave solid, compelling offers. The team picked Codemasters. Over the past few days I�ve heard some disturbingly negative comments about Codemasters�I feel compelled to say that no one could have foreseen the events that transpired. Ken, Craig, and the entire CM team gave it a good shot...but tragedy is commonplace in this industry...things just did not work out.
And so, here we are, today, that proverbial, �shining beacon in space...all alone in the night...�
Which leaves you with this question: �What about ItF?�
I believe in Babylon 5. I�ve spent the better part of the last 6 months ferreting over market segmentation data, Gantt charts, production schedules, artwork, business plans, completion plans, recovery schedules, conference calls, road trips, NDAs, demos-- basically pasting everything together in an effort to get someone to pick up this game and let the team dive in and make it happen. There are times I wake up in the night wondering, �what did I do wrong? Could I have done more?�
It took allot of time and soul-searching to realize we did all we could.
All that is left to do now is something different.
I do not want to be excessively optimistic and mislead you. The facts are simple. The programming department is all but gone, and the art department is close behind. What we are looking at here is rebuilding the staff from the ground up. The game itself may even take a new form. All I can say is that I have an undying loyalty to the design concept, and deep friendships with the people that came up with it. It would be an utter shame to see ItF die, and I would rather not let it pass into the �Greatest Games Never Made� category.
Randy and I have discussed, at great length, what needs to be done to finish this game, and he has kindly offered his support and assistance in making one last try. Some of the original staff has offered to do the same.
This is Coriana 6. Do or die.
For my part, I have offered to piece together completion and business plans and present the plans to potential investors to see where that leads.
Please keep in mind that there are now five hurdles, as opposed to the four we faced before:
1. Raise the capital
2. Purchase the assets
3. Obtain a license
4. Rebuild the team
5. Find a publisher
If it can happen, it will happen. We will launch a new studio with ItF as its flagship. However, this is not going to be an easy task. It may even be impossible.
Time will tell.
The remnants of the team have allot to do right now. We will do our best to keep you updated and in the loop, either directly, or through Drazi Guy and Grinner. Please understand that there are just some things we cannot talk about, either out of professional courtesy or due to the NDAs we must honor.
In closing, I offer these words to you, that in them you will find the inspiration that jms gave so many of us, the courage to look beyond what we are, and to see what we truly can be...
�Though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are�One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will�to strive, to seek, to find...and not to yield.� -Sheriden, quoting "Ulysess" by Alfred Tennyson
Best Regards,
-Rick
Less than a week later Rick posted again informing us that Sector 14 Studios had just had its first staff meeting. Sector 14 Studios was formed from some of the former developers from Sierra with the intention of gaining the game IP from Sierra and finishing the game. The post asked for our support and patience as they began organising this new company and preparing a business plan.
"Sector 14 Studios" (posted 04-03-2000 04:34 AM)
All�
I�d like to take this opportunity to announce that Sector 14 Studios (LLC pending) had it�s first staff meeting on Friday, March 31, 2000, in San Jose, California.
Randy, Christy and I had our first organizational meeting, at which several topics were discussed.
Among them were:
· Plans on raising startup & venture capital
· Licensing Plans
· IP Acquisition Plan
· Business model review.
· Completion plan review
· Staffing issues
· Preliminary marketing plan and marketing research review
· General discussion on new opportunities under the DirectX 8 feature set.
This *is* happening. Do not take �no news as bad news��it is a good thing, because it means we are busy with making things happen. And things ARE happening.
We know that you are all very eager to help, however, the best thing you can offer at this time is your support, patience, and faith.
We will need you. We always have. When the time comes, myself, Randy, or one of the other Sector 14 staffers will post a topic to let you know what you can do to assist us. It is very important to present a united front at this critical point �that alone helps more than you will ever know.
Our action plan is solid, and in some ways, better than what we started with last fall. Opportunities for funding and publishing are already presenting themselves.
"You must choose to create the future, or others will do it for you, and the choices you make will determine that future."
Best regards,
-Rick
Over the next 6 months or so things continued at the same pace. Very little happened and only the occasional post from one of the Vorlons or Rick kept us going. The business plan was drawn up, edited, and used as to pitch the game to potential sources of funding. Here are the status reports:
The Status of the Station (posted 05-05-2000 02:14 AM):
There are allot of things going on right now, and most of them are good. As Jack Nichols has said in another thread, because of the state we are in, we often can't tell you what is going on. But once we do secure our license, all that will change. Please bear with us, and please understand that this is the slowest, most painful part of the process, both for you and for us-- we're doing all we can to keep you all informed about the things we can disclose. There's just allot of waiting going on right now, and, at this point, all we can do is be patient.
In the meantime, go ahead and keep those creative juces flowing! We've seen a few excellent proposals in the "Sector 14 Logo" thread. We can't promise you that any of them will be our final choice, but we can say that several have caught our eyes.
One person suggested an E-mail based newsletter. That may not be a bad idea. We'll try and coordinate that with the FirstOnes.com staff. For your part, please do all you can to make sure your info is current in your profile settings, and to drag as many of your B5-loving friends here as possible.
We have the deepest respect and admiration for all of you, and we want to thank you for all your kind words and support.
Best regards,
Rick Brewer
Sector 14 Studios
State of Affairs (posted 05-27-2000 02:44 PM):
Hi all-- Sorry that I wasn't able to stay at the chat session-- my EFNET connections always seem to be poor--- here's the lowdown:
Wow. What a week. Aside from having my �91 Miata pushed through an intersection by a Mack truck, things were very productive.
To answer your questions:
You all will be pleased to know that we have our first draft business proposal done, and are now going through the process of editing, re-editing, re-editing, and re-editing. Did I mention re-editing?
Personally, this is a tremendous load off my shoulders. The first draft is bit like writing a script or a novel�you want the quality to be there so you will be able to defend it from the barrage of attacks that are a part of the whole process of obtaining venture capital. But, at the same time, you want to let it go so you can move forward, as well as keep the detail down so as not to overwhelm the reader. It can feel almost like a Catch-22 when viewed from the inside.
So now we move forward. All that remains is polishing our financials, and we�re good to go to pitch the studio.
Given where we are right now, I�m reminded of the following exchange:
"What if I fall? How will I know you'll catch me?"
"I caught you before."
"What if I die?"
"I can not create life, but I can breathe on the remaining embers..
It may not work."
"But I can hope."
"*Hope* is all we have."
-- Lorien & Sheridan, "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"
Our sincerest thanks go out to all of the fans supporting S14.
Best Regards,
-Rick
A Call to Arms (posted 06-14-2000 07:29 PM):
We need your help. As we engage the final steps of our planning, we're finding we need more information, and maybe you can be our Rangers, and help us out.
We're looking for approximate sales numbers for a few popular Space combat games. Specifically, we're looking for numbers on the wing Commander Series, Star wars series, and Homeworld.
While we could go directly to PC Data for this information, it is quite costly, and for the purposes we are intending to use the data for, we do not require the most up-to-date-every-last-unit accuracy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you post numbers, please reference the source (magazine & page number or URL if possible).
If you'd rather e-mail privately, send correspondance to [email]sector14studios@yahoo.com[/email]
Onward to victory!
-Rick
A message from S14 (posted 08-04-2000 04:18 AM):
Not long ago, I promised that I would post an update, as soon as time allowed. And so, time allows...
One thing all of you should know, though I�ve said it many times�as frustrating as silence and our occasional �Kosh-isms� are, they are a good sign. Just as jms would not publicly confirm or deny (or even acknowledge) the possibility of additional B5-related projects that are in negotiation, we must do the same. To do anything else would just jeopardize all that we, the developers, and you, the fans, have been fighting for during the past 10 months.
Rest assured:
The right people are looking at our proposal.
The right people are impressed with it.
And that�s all I can say, in public, at this time.
We would not have gotten this far without the dedicated help of you, the fans, and the assistance of the fan sites at Firstones.com, b5itf-finland.org, and several other SCS and B5-related sites and organizations. We had a tremendous outpouring of support recently not only from fans, but other game developers in the business�that means more to us than they�ll ever know. Thanks, guys (and you know who you are).
Soon, things will be even quieter...but then again...
It�s always darkest before the dawn.
"Faith sustains us in the hour when reason tells us that we can not continue, that the whole of our whole lives is without meaning. Not useless, but it is also not enough. Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one. That's all that faith requires. That we surrender ourselves to the possibility of hope. For that I'm content."
-- Brother Alwyn in the Babylon 5 episode, The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
Best Regards,
Rick Brewer
Sector 14 Studios
Then, in October 2000, disaster struck once more. Rick posted a new status update on the forums:
Sleeping in Light...an update from Sector 14 Studios (posted 10-04-2000 02:54 PM)
To the Into the Fire fans, and those who�ve offered support over the past year�
These last two weeks have been very difficult on us at S14, and we wanted to be sure there were no options left before making this announcement.
It is with deepest regret that I must inform you that our efforts to finish �Babylon 5: Into the Fire� have failed.
It is not due to problems with Sector 14 Studios, nor is it due to lack of interest by publishers, or lack of funding, but rather the current holder of the materials recently informed us they were no longer interested in selling the game assets. Appeals to the highest levels of management at Havas in France were not able to change their stance.
This outcome is unfortunate, for several reasons. Those of you close to the project know just how revolutionary the game design and gameplay would have been, and given the rather stagnant performance of space combat games, many to us knew in our heart of hearts that ItF had real potential to turn the market around, and get some of the life that the first person shooter market has been enjoying for the past 3 years. Technology-wise, we had many features in the design that are now becoming common-use tools such as multithreading and hierarchical AI�it was exciting to push the boundaries of technology in that way. For the fan of Babylon 5, it is another blow�the last remaining unseen footage of the cast and crew will remain unseen. This is a tragedy in itself.
What does this mean for Babylon 5 gaming? What�s next for Sector 14 Studios? Time will tell. More than a few of us have put our blood, sweat, and tears into this project. Personally, I�ve been working on this as a second job, logging in 10 plus hours a day for the past year on top of the demands of a full-time engineering career. Sector 14 Studios is a labor of love for us, and we won�t let it die. It is as much a way of thinking as it is a development studio�we�ve shared a special bond with our fans, and we hope that bond continues in the future when we are ready to start anew. We have ideas where we might go, but for now we need a rest�it�s a time of closure, as many of us have been putting 110% into ItF for over 3 years. In the meantime, we�d be happy to hear from any of you. Please feel free to send us your thoughts at [email]sector14studios@yahoo.com[/email] or contact me directly.
For those of you getting started in the games industry, and are interested in what it takes to propose a game to a publisher, we�d be happy to offer what knowledge we�ve taken out of this entire process. Truth be known, the work there is almost as much as what you spend immersed in working on issues with multithreading your sim, renderer, and AI successfully, or how to squeeze a few more FPS out of your engine to let your artists� work shine. The more you know about your market and how your game fits into it, the better. I may post a �game neutral� version of our business and completion plans, if there is enough interest to do so.
We have built some good friendships, business and otherwise, over the past year. At this time we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to those who helped us make it as far as we did:
Deepest thanks to Dan Foy, Randy Littlejohn, Marc Hudgins, Christy Marx, David Gehringer, John Trauger, Jack Nichols, Keith Landes, Victor Crews, John Walker, Jeff Reitman, Benito Gonzalez, Robin Phanco, Dave Artis, and Byrt Martinez � you are the model of a great development team, and all it can accomplish. Even though we did not get the results we hoped fore, take pride in the work we did, and rest easy knowing now that we did indeed do all we could to save the game.
A special thanks to Scott Johnson at Warner Interactive�you couldn�t ask for a better person to work with on a licensed property. We wish you success in your future endeavors, and hope that we might partake in some of them when the time is right.
Thanks also go out to American McGee, Barett Alexander, RJ Berg, Rick Johnson, Scott Draeker for helping us build our network of publishing contacts
Thanks to Mike Abrash for remembering me from the briefest of meetings, and helping us get in touch with the X-box team at Microsoft.
Additional thanks to Will Binder, John Carmack, John �Milo� Dimattio, Steve �Blue� Healsip, Sean �Redwood� Martin, Jack �Morbid� Matthews, and Alisa Schreibman.
Deepest gratitude to Janne S. Pionte, the creator of S14�s logo, and arguably one of Finland�s best artists.
Thanks also to the many developers in the game community who offered their words of support through this year of fire. Those words helped keep us going.
A special thanks to Mike Klumper at HD interactive � A true gentleman by the definition of the word. It�s one of my greatest hopes that someday we�ll be able to work on a project together.
And, of course, our thanks go out to J. Michael Straczynski. Thank you, Joe, for giving inspiration to us all and letting us play in the backyard of your imagination.
But most of all, we�d like to thank Lorien Newman, Kevin �Drazi Guy� Mac Neil, Michael �Grinner� Lu, �Sanfam,� Vesa �Freeze�,Juusola, and all the fans at [url]http://www.firstones.com[/url] and [url]http://www.b5itf-finland.org[/url] who have supported our efforts in the most passionate way. Without you, we wouldn�t have made it this far. You are the Army of Light. And you made the world stand up and take notice.
To the fans- I�d like to encourage you to support those who supported us: HD Interactive, EA, Gathering of Developers, Microsoft X-box, Raven Software, and id Software. All of these people are working hard to bring innovation to gaming, just as we have.
The game may die, but Babylon 5�Babylon 5 endures.
Best regards,
Richard G. Brewer
CEO, Sector 14 Studios
[email]richardgbrewer@hotmail.com[/email]
------------------
"...In the end it would hold because what is built endures. And what is loved endures.
And Babylon 5...Babylon 5 endures." -- Delenn in the Babylon 5 episode Rising Star
This post contained the worst news we could possibly hear. Sierra was refusing to sell the game assets. It seemed the end had arrived, and there was nothing anyone except Sierra could do about it. Needless to say, we were pissed, and we weren't going to give up so easily. Sierra had given no good reason not to sell the game assets. A new petition was started. Over 1400 names were collected and sent out with a cover letter. And oddly enough, it actually worked. Who says fan power is useless? 2 months after we were told the horrible news Randy replied to a fan's request for information on the current plans saying that suddenly Sierra was willing to sell the game IP again. The way he said it says something about the sort of things people can accomplish when they set their mind to it:
(posted in the thread "Some info please." at 12-19-2000 09:16 AM)
To answer the question - it's a long story.
Sector 14 Studios was formed with former ITF team members in order to complete the ITF simulation, and then to continue doing more interactive entertainment after that. This board started out in support of the Sierra effort and then continued to support the efforts of those of us who refused to give up on the sim.
At first Sierra said that they would sell us the game assets if we (Sector 14) could prove that we had the money and the rights from WB, but their asking price was high. We decided to go for it anyway after doing a business plan and seeing that it likely would still be a good bet. It turned out that WB was very happy to work with Sector 14, so getting the interactive rights was no problem. Then we got a commitment in principle from at least three different distribution companies to provide the funds for completing the game - but suddenly Sierra insisted that they had no intention of selling the game assets - there weren't at all interested - didn't need the money. (Right).
And then Sector 14's drop dead date arrived (date at which it was too late to get the game done by the date we promised the investors) and Rick publicly canceled our efforts to do the ITF game, since it looked like Sierra / Havas wasn�t going to budge. Then the fans at Firstones got outraged and went on this livid letter-writing campaign. Shortly thereafter Sierra suddenly was once again willing to sell the game assets - and they asked us to please call off the hounds.
But unfortunately the same companies that were once interested in funding the completion of the game are now less interested because it is no longer possible to get the game done by the original dates, which would have coincided with the release of X-Box � and part of our marketing strategy was to have our game shown off on the new platform.
Currently Rick is doing some meetings, but holidays are slowing the effort. I haven�t heard anything concrete in about two weeks.
However, one problem had been replaced with another. Sector 14 Studios no longer had funding. The interested companies were no longer quite so interested. And so the process began again, truly seeming like a war without end.
The Temporary Days
For about 6 weeks in March and April we were relegated to some temporary forums during a period of intense server trouble. During this time we received some good news. At the end of March a meeting took place at an unknown location with an "entity" (to quote Randy). All we know is that this meeting went extremely well, was not with Sierra, and was the first part of the first step of a 3-step plan. The other part is a tech demo (no, we don't know how they are going to do a tech demo without actually having the game IP either). The post from Randy (via Freeze):
Information from Sector 14 Studios (posted 03-23-2001 02:18 PM)
I guess you guys killed the server last night? LOL. I didn't sleep much myself.
The "meeting" went VERY well. A tech demo is next - then we should have a definitive answer for "step one" in this 3-step final push.
In case you're wondering, a bunch of us spent the better part of 5 hours using the boards as a chatroom while waiting for the news about the meeting we were told would be arriving at 5pm. Hence the "dead server" thing. :) Anyway... According toRick, once step 1 is done step 2 should be a lot easier, and once that is done their momentum should carry them past step 3 with very little trouble. Since that date we have not had much in the way of updates other than that things are going very well and this may be our best chance yet. We can only hope and keep fighting.
Sleeping In Light
On the 11th of June we received the final blow. Sector 14 Studios had failed for the last time. I think Rick's post describes it better than I could.
Twilight (posted 06-11-2001 05:42 PM)
"It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past."
--G'Kar in Babylon 5:"In the Beginning"
Nearly two years ago, Sierra On-Line turned out the light on an extraordinary creation � an advanced interactive tale based on Mr. Straczynski's epic, Babylon 5. Now, it is with deep regret that we must finally say that this light will remain extinguished.
Our one last effort has failed.
There are no feelings of animosity with those we were working with; quite to the contrary, in fact. We understand the decision. It makes sense. We see this, even though it was not in our favor.
>"That's not fair."
"No, it's not, but that's what we're stuck with."
--Lyta Alexander and Dr. Kyle in Babylon 5:"The Gathering"
Do we regret it? No way. In fact, we�ve probably done more than most will ever know to secure the future of Babylon 5, and that, in itself, is reward enough.
"There is � so much I still don't understand."
"As it should be."
-- Sheriden and Lorien in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"
It has been a long road. We fought the good fight. We shared moments of utterly insane humor, we challenged ourselves in heated debates, we've cried--
We became friends.
More important than even that - we helped to create our own little international community, proving the basic goodness of ordinary people can transcend differences in faith and government; and by doing so we have succeeded in a way, because we believe that this is part of the message JMS was trying to communicate with Babylon 5.
"Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another. It changed the future...and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future...or others will do it for us. It showed us that we have care for one another, because if we don't, who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely places. Mostly, though, I think it gave us hope; that there can always be new beginnings-even for
people like us."
--General Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"
What's next?
Randy will be continuing with film and TV projects and his obsession with the development of effective interactive storytelling.
Christy will continue with her television career and various interactive projects, some of which you will be playing, no doubt.
Rick will be starting fresh on a completely original project, though the medium, at this point, remains open. Nothing beats being in control of your own destiny.
And the rest of the crew? Dan and Stuart are still working hard at Microsoft on future successes; Marc and family are enjoying east-coast living while he continues developing games at Firaxis; John Walker lurks here still, and when not experiencing �redneck life� firsthand, he�s experiencing the newfound joys of parenthood; Jack recently became a certified Web Designer, taking on a job at a local school; Keith continues his successful career at Foundation Imaging, bringing us some of the best effects work in the industry; and Jeff, at last call, was working on projects unnamed at Monolith.
And pretty much everyone reading this knows what The Great Maker is up to�
�Faith manages.�
--JMS, �Sleeping in Light�
Have hope. We believe that JMS will do us proud when "Legend of the Rangers," hits the screen, and, with a bit of luck, a new legacy will be born. Who knows what may grow from it?
Finally, our heartfelt thanks to you, the best, most loyal, zany, wonderful friends from around the world who joined us on our journey.
"This journey has ended. Another begins. Time ... to rest now."
-- Lorien in Babylon 5:"Sleeping in Light"
With heartfelt thanks,
- The �Into the Fire� Development Team
------------------
"...In the end it would hold because what is built endures. And what is loved endures.
And Babylon 5...Babylon 5 endures." -- Delenn in the Babylon 5 episode Rising Star
And so it ends. We did fight the good fight, and it has been a long, hard road for those of us who have been around since the beginning, and those who haven't. I am glad to have been around such an amazing bunch of people for so long. Hopefully those new people reading this will be around for a while, and will grow to feel the same way about all of those people at Firstones.com. If you are wondering what will happen from now on, we don't know for sure. But we do know that Firstones.com will not die. With any luck, you are reading this years from when it was written to find out about the origins of Firstones.com. But no matter who you are or why you are here, you are welcome to the best community in existance (unless you are here to cause trouble of course :). Keep the faith.
Inside Jokes Explained for Newbies
Vorlon - An ex-developer or Sector 14 Studios Staff.
First One - Someone who was active on the Sierra boards before the
cancellation. Most have September 1999 as their registration date,
but there are those with the date a little later due to taking a break
after the cancellation. And then there are those who's accounts were
destroyed during one of the boards hissy fits.
Young One - Someone who joined Firstones.com after the cancellation without having
joined the Sierra boards. Also called the Younger Races.
Green, Purple - Colours.
Aardvark - A strange animal that lives in the depths of hyperspace,
occasionally attacking the first ones. Usually green or purple in colour.
Vorklift - What the Vorlons use to carry boxes around in space.
Water Cooler - A device for cooling water and dispensing it into small paper cups.
(Note: The First One and Young One names are slowly dying this far out. They are
only in here because we like our reputation. :)
OK, here's the full story for some of those:
All these jokes originated back on the Sierra boards. The use of the green, purple and aardvark terms was started by the developers. Whenever they came across a question they did not want to answer (or possibly could not :), they simply replied with one of these words (or occasionally other colours if they were really bored). Soon the fans began using them as well. This is the source of Warleader's madness, as he was targeted the most due to his constant requests for information on and pictures of Narn ships in the game. Eventually a nice little story grew up around the aardvark part, linking it with the water cooler story.
A vorklift is a cross between a forklift and a Vorlon ship. This story has quite a long history. The short version is: One day a developer and a fan were having an argument about who would beat who in a dog fight once the game came out. Eventually the developer stated that he would be able to beat the fan in a maintenance fury with one hand tied behind his back. One fan, PJH, began asking questions about this claim, most centring on whether this forklift (which is essentially what a maintenance fury is) would be called a vorklift if a Vorlon (developer) piloted it. It wasn't long before he had a nice picture made and posted. Of course, we fans being who we were (and still are) we soon produced a flood of these pictures. Even the developers joined in. Ask nicely on the boards and someone will post these for you.
The water cooler thing can best be explained by Jack Nichols, the one who started it all.
"The Water Cooler thing started internally before it reached FirstOnes. After Dave's famous news release containing the comments concerning development around the Water Cooler at Corporate (Sierra Studios), I was the one who initially posted a joke message about the Babylon 5 Station being replaced by a five mile long rendered Water Cooler on our alternate posting site provided by another former employee. I eventually posted the first rendition of that idea [on the Sierra board], and many subsequent versions hit immediately afterwards."
Once again, ask nicely and someone will post the pics for you.
[/b]
Original Link :
[url]http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/jlbiggs/firstoneshistory.html[/url]
Wow, it 's unbelievable, what good and bad times the Firstones - Community had. Sure, we failed cause we don 't get back Into the Fire. But, today, there is Sector 14, a few Mods and "I 've found her". It 's really cool, that Firstones is alive in the future, all over the world.
with :D vorlonical :D Regards
Chicky