Introduction
Adam: Hi. This is CoRecursive, and I’m Adam Gordon Bell. Each episode is the story of a piece of software being built. Why don’t you tell me what you do and who you are?
Becky: Okay. Yeah. I’m Rebecca Ann Heineman. I’ve been in the video game industry since the beginning of time. I started by winning the Atari 2600 Space Invaders tournament in November of 1980. Since then, went to work at companies like Avalon Hill, and then Boone Corporation until Boone imploded, and then we formed Interplay out of the ashes of Boone.
Adam: Becky’s a bit famous, she’s worked on hundreds of games. And her specialty was porting games from one platform to another. Today is about a game port that went sideways, porting a little game called Doom, and the struggles involved.
Becky: And I said, “Okay, see this golden master I’ve got right here? I just encrypted, ready to go for duplication. Where’s my other $20,000?” “Where’s the new weapons?” It’s like, “Didn’t have enough space, didn’t have enough time.” And he’s like, “Oh, but I promised people knew weapons.” Like, “Can’t do it. Don’t have time.” “But I gave you JPEGs.” “I put them in the trash. Sorry.” He was mad. Oh gosh, he was mad.
Childhood
Adam: So that’s today’s story. The story of Burger Becky porting Doom to the 3DO. It’s kind of a retro software story, but it’s also a story about project management and software development going a little bit sideways. There’s engines to tweak, there’s deadlines to hit, hardware acceleration to get working. And dramatic rock anthems to record.
The path that led Burger Becky into video game development, which he’s still doing today, it started back when she was a young teen. This was the late 70s, the Atari 2600 had recently come out, and so had the Apple II. And Becky’s childhood set her on a path that eventually led her right towards that port. But even so, she wouldn’t wish her early years on anyone.
Becky: If I was in my 20s, I would basically not even bring it up. In my 30s, I would probably burst into tears halfway through any of this. By the time I was in my 40s, my parents have already passed away. I’m like, okay, the people who caused this are gone. And now I could finally set myself free and no longer have to have nightmares of my dad bursting in the door to beat the crap out of me because he was drunk again. Which is one of the reasons why I don’t smoke or drink, because it reminds me of my shitty parents.
Adam: Becky normally doesn’t talk about this stuff because, well, the specifics are hard to hear.
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