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Hello All,
I am Jim Landes. I just discovered this forum and decided to drop in and lend what help I can to shed light on the lifecycle of PBM and my own small contributions to the PBM and computer gaming hobby. Feel free to ask questions and I will answer as I have time.
Kindest regards,
Jim
Wow! Jim Landes, now there's a name that rings all of the bells and blows all of the whistles from the heyday of play by mail gaming. It's great having you to drop by, Jim. It really and truly is.
You had posted your introduction as a reply in an existing thread, so I split it off and turned it into your own thread in the Introduction section.
I remember trying Legends, I think that it was, back when Midnight Games ran it. I didn't play it much, only a turn or two (if memory serves me correctly). However, while my interaction with your company's PBM game offerings was inconsequential, I certainly consider your contributions to the PBM hobby to be anything but small. Man, Jim, you were one of the big dogs of play by mail, back then.
You even took time to post a recent photo of yourself for use as your forum avatar here. You're looking good. You aged well.
Make yourself comfortable, Jim, and just indulge us, if you will, with excerpts at random from your long involvement as both a player and as a game moderator in PBM gaming.
Again, glad to have you aboard the site, here!
Welcome indeed! I played Legends by most of the pbm-pbem companies since the late 1980s. One of the best games around.
Thank you for the warm welcome.
Kindest regards,
Jim
Oh man.
Your name brings back memories.
I used to play pbm with the Pbm Express in the netherlands. All the students I hanged out with (still do) played The Northern Island campaign at that time. It was the greatest game I was in, the game was great fun.
I think it was based on a handmoderated game you used to run before the Legend system. Is that even true?
Anyways. Wellcome!
[quote='walter' pid='1409' dateline='1322899514']
Oh man.
Your name brings back memories.
I used to play pbm with the Pbm Express in the netherlands. All the students I hanged out with (still do) played The Northern Island campaign at that time. It was the greatest game I was in, the game was great fun.
I think it was based on a handmoderated game you used to run before the Legend system. Is that even true?
Anyways. Wellcome!
[/quote]
Good Morning Walter, thanks for the question.
This is a bit of a long story, so bear with me.
Before Midnight Games, I had spent a great deal of time being a GM for role playing games. One of the accomplishments during this time was to create a very realistic game world called “Pelarn”, complete with hundreds of years a detailed history.
After my first computer game company (Horizon Simulations) folded in 1980, I started life anew in Anchorage Alaska and shortly thereafter started a little hand moderated PBM game called “Swords of Pelarn” under the company “Midnight Sun Games”. This game was based upon the history and players of the role-playing game “Pelarn” and the format was following roughly the model of “Realms of Sword and Thunder” by Empire Games run by Glenn Holiday.
It quickly became evident that hand moderation was not the way to go as it took too long to process turns. When I was evaluating the turns I noticed many similarities between what actions players performed in the game. I started keeping a log of these which eventually became the list of orders for the game “Legends”.
I taught myself how to program by creating the game “Epic”. It took me five months and I started with a program that read a data file and created address labels to understand disk I/O. Epic was just the combat system of Pelarn and later Legends with a light context overlay. It was successful enough to allow me to work full time on bringing the full concept of Swords of Pelarn to life in what would manifest as the mega game “Legends”.
The North Island Campaign was a game module for Legends created primarily by Edi Birsan who had purchased Midnight Games in 1993 and the North Island Campaign was released I believe in 1994.
Best regards,
Jim
Thanks Jim,
I got answers to a question I never thought I could get an answer on. Just phoned an old pbm buddy about it..
I never played Epic, it is just one of the games I would like to play but it never happened. I asked Edi to start one more game of Epic. Edi is a nice guy and tried to fill up a game, one last game of Epic with world wide players. Alas, I was the only one interested in the game...
The last company to run Epic was SSV Graz in Austria. Run by Klaus and his friend. He made a new game based on Epic called Mythicor ( Epic in German?). It never got of the ground...
Are you still playing Pbm games yourself?
Regards,
Walter.
(sorry about any english errors, I speak several languages but English grammar is harsh for me...)
[quote='GrimFinger' pid='1415' dateline='1322931927']
Good background details, Jim. I added entries for Horizon Simulations and Midnight Sun Games to the PBM Wiki.
What was the name of the game ran by Horizon Simulations? Was it Pelarn?
[/quote]
No, our only single game we published was "ShadowHawk One"
I searched and found this..
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-shadow-hawk-one_4610.html
Keep in mind this was 1980..:)
Best,
Jim
So, was Horizon Simulations a PBM company, or a computer game company?
It was a computer game company.
[quote='Jim_Landes' pid='1411' dateline='1322911062']
After my first computer game company (Horizon Simulations) folded in 1980, I started life anew in Anchorage Alaska and shortly thereafter started a little hand moderated PBM game called “Swords of Pelarn” under the company “Midnight Sun Games”. This game was based upon the history and players of the role-playing game “Pelarn” and the format was following roughly the model of “Realms of Sword and Thunder” by Empire Games run by Glenn Holiday.
[/quote]
Realms of Sword and Thunder was one of my favorite games, even though it didn't run for long and the turns took weeks to process. I'm still in touch with Glenn Holliday, the designer. It's a shame he wasn't able to automate enough of the game to make its operation feasible.
And I remember, Jim, that you gave public credit to Glenn's game as inspiration for Swords of Pelarn. That was a classy thing to do!
In Gaming Universal #3, I wrote: "So, if you want a game with an existing (and very impressive) library of data there for the asking, join ROSAT. If you want in on the ground floor, try SOP [Swords of Pelarn]."
Obviously, in hindsight, not one of my better recommendations, since I believe ROSAT folded shortly thereafter.
Speaking of my favorite games, does anyone remember Court of Kings, an absolutely fantastic mixed-moderated game from The Round Table? It ran on monthly turn cycles, but the moderator was never able to get her labor-intensive turns out the door on time. Of course, the game folded quickly. I wish I could remember the moderator's name. Pat something, maybe.
-- Bob McLain
[quote='walter' pid='1413' dateline='1322923209']
Thanks Jim,
Are you still playing Pbm games yourself?
Regards,
Walter.
(sorry about any english errors, I speak several languages but English grammar is harsh for me...)
[/quote]
Hello Walter,
I seem to have missed your question above, my appologies.
No, I have not played a PBM game since around 1993.
I returned to college and had to focus my time on studies, and then jumped into the corporate world with 90 hour weeks, a family and just no time to devote.
Since then I spend my free time making games.
Kindest regards,
Jim
Edited Dec 4, 2011 12:43 UTC
[quote='Jim_Landes' pid='1423' dateline='1322999382']
[quote='walter' pid='1413' dateline='1322923209']
Thanks Jim,
Are you still playing Pbm games yourself?
Regards,
Walter.
(sorry about any english errors, I speak several languages but English grammar is harsh for me...)
[/quote]
Hello Walter,
I seem to have missed your question above, my appologies.
No, I have not played a PBM game since around 1993.
I returned to college and had to focus my time on studies, and then jumped into the corporate world with 90 hour weeks, a family and just no time to devote.
Since then I spend my free time making games.
Kindest regards,
Jim
[/quote]
Jim,
It is good to see you still involved in games. I enjoyed playing Warband with your (and all of your team's) mods. It is cool that you have managed to stay in the game industry -- I got drawn into the corporate world and stayed there once I had a family. Finding time for even playing games has gotten tough.
I remember playing Epic and Legends back in the day. It is amazing how much fun some of those simple games such as Epic were just because you were in a game with so many other people.
Terry (from Rolling Thunder Games)
[quote='Victory' pid='1494' dateline='1325872373']
[quote='Jim_Landes' pid='1423' dateline='1322999382']
[quote='walter' pid='1413' dateline='1322923209']
Thanks Jim,
Are you still playing Pbm games yourself?
Regards,
Walter.
(sorry about any english errors, I speak several languages but English grammar is harsh for me...)
[/quote]
Hello Walter,
I seem to have missed your question above, my appologies.
No, I have not played a PBM game since around 1993.
I returned to college and had to focus my time on studies, and then jumped into the corporate world with 90 hour weeks, a family and just no time to devote.
Since then I spend my free time making games.
Kindest regards,
Jim
[/quote]
Jim,
It is good to see you still involved in games. I enjoyed playing Warband with your (and all of your team's) mods. It is cool that you have managed to stay in the game industry -- I got drawn into the corporate world and stayed there once I had a family. Finding time for even playing games has gotten tough.
I remember playing Epic and Legends back in the day. It is amazing how much fun some of those simple games such as Epic were just because you were in a game with so many other people.
Terry (from Rolling Thunder Games)
[/quote]
Hello Terry,
Great to hear from you and my apologies for my tardy reply. Yes, I went back to the game industry in 2009 by taking a position heading up an interactive media program at a community college in Michigan.
I spend my days teaching computer science and game design and theory to young minds to help them shape the future of this industry.
In my spare time I have established a new concern, Gwythdarian LLC, a multi-media consulting firm and we are heavily involved in creating a new web based MMO using procedural generation techniques I have developed over the years. The end result will be quite astounding and we hope to have an alpha by this summer.
I did the corporate grind for many years, and while the money was great, I wanted to live a life that provided more value. That is what I say to people who ask me "Why did you move to Michigan?". I decided to live a life of value rather than living a life just for a paycheck. I found that the corporate world was not personally satisfying and that I was dying a bit every day.
Kindest regards,
Jim
You only live once. It is great to see you doing what makes you happy.
I'm looking forward to seeing your Gwythdarian game. I think we are living in a great era for games right now with indie companies able to make an impact and earn a sustainable living with a lot of outlets for their product.
The days of having to get shelf space for a game are long gone and if you can get a great product out there word of mouth can go a long ways. Today's climate requires a lot more computer and art skills than the old days, but if you have them I think the job is a lot more creative and less data entering.
And anyway, you started off in Alaska so Michigan has to be a step up, right? :)
(I grew up in Illinois before moving out to Colorado for Rolling Thunder)
Edited Feb 9, 2012 18:23 UTC
[quote='Jim_Landes' pid='1665' dateline='1328211008']
In my spare time I have established a new concern, Gwythdarian LLC, a multi-media consulting firm and we are heavily involved in creating a new web based MMO using procedural generation techniques I have developed over the years. The end result will be quite astounding and we hope to have an alpha by this summer.[/quote]
A glimpse of things to come, with regard to Gwythdarian LLC, Jim?
http://scottelder.carbonmade.com/projects/4536571#1