Dave Killingsworth
Author of addons and manuals
Well, where to start?
Many
years ago when I first became involved in VGA Planets (I was introduced to it at version
3.0) I found it to be a very fascinating thing. A game that you could play in your own
time and in your own way. This thing was fun and way cool and I became hooked immediately.
I was living in CA at the time and going to college as a communications major.
At some point when Tim was working on V3.5 I became inspired with some ideas that I thought would make great additions to v3.5 (it was some time away). I called Tim (easy to do in those days, approx. 1993). And I chatted with him for a while about these ideas that I had. Some of them made it into 3.5 (Battle Order Sequencer was one). During one of these conversations Tim asked if I could write. I said yes and we struck a deal to have me write the "Complete Users Manual." I worked on that thing for quite a while. In the end Tim edited it and all in all I think it turned out to be a very useful resource to new players and people just discovering the product (Its not near as effective these days with the permutation and variations of the game available through addons).
Tim liked that book and that project was followed by writing the v3.5 instruction book. That was a fun project. I wrote the bulk of the 3.5 instruction manual in 2 days without sleep. I was so excited about that project that I couldn't sleep and wrote it all at one sitting. As v3.5 changed the mini-manual (as I call it) was modified and revised until v3.5 was released.
While documenting v3.5 and working on testing it with time - he let me know about the ability to have addons. I became excited as this was a great way to extend the scope of the game and replayability.
At this time I started looking for someone that could program (as I am a designer and documenter) and Tim suggested that I contact the creator of the Campaign Editor and thus the Dan and Dave partnership was born.
At this time Dan lived in Colorado and I was still in CA. It took us about
3-4 months I believe of talking and him programming to create Jumpgate (Nods to Babylon
5). And after that one a slew of ideas came and we came up with the original 5 addons -
that I still think to this day are some of the best extensions to the game (ego?) :).
We started to market these items and sell them. They have done well and still to this day sell a few a month.
After the 5 addons came out I started a few projects with Tim. These collaborations
generated the following items:
The Mousepad
The Coffee Mugs
The Newsletter (sadly only 7 issues for lack of contributors).
The T-Shirt
There might be other things but I forget :)
After those things I had a few more ideas that I liked for VGAP addons but Dan was so busy with updating the Campaign Editor and bug fixes for the Original 5 that he could not work on them. So at that time I contracted another guy (ironically living in CO) and he coded StormFront and Lurkers and we released those. They have also sold nicely and still do.
After all of those projects and about 3 years of working together I graduated college and as a gift from my parents I go to go to the new town Dan was living in. He had moved from CO but I wont share where he is now out of respect for his privacy.
While there we came up with the idea of RAW! We were spending a lot of time in IRQ chat and became convinced that RAW! would appeal to many people as a great quick way to play VGAP (sort of) while chatting in the evening. In the end Dan put it best - we basically made a game for about 50 people. It still sells from time to time and I hear of games of RAW! but it wasn't what the addons were. Dan coded MOST of RAW! while I was visiting for that week at his house. It was very cool finally meeting someone you have talked to and worked with for almost 3 years but never met. (Ironically after knowing Tim and working with him on various things for around 8 years I still have never met him in person!)
After RAW! came a concept. GroundForces. This is a game design that Dan and I created with help from Ralph G Hart. We have a design for a great PBEM game that is approved by Tim. We have always felt that it would be a great compliment to v4 as it will be easy and quick to play. But over the course of the 3-4 year development - people have gone on to live their lives. We had several false starts with GF and then stops and some design changes.
At this point GF is sorta dead. I would be glad to bring it to life and so would Ralph. Dan has moved on out of programming and prefers fishing these days - and I respect that. He burned out and I know that with programmers that's a problem. RG and I hope that someday a programmer with some talent might contact us and be interested in bringing GroundForces to life. We shall see.
During the course of this VGAP life - the real world has been fascinating. In 1996 I got divorced. In 1997 I met a very nice girl from (ironically) Colorado and moved there in July of 1997 to be with her. In 1999 we got married. In Dec of 2000 she graduated and we moved to Northern Virginia and I got a job with the Department of Defense and work on computers in the Pentagon for the Navy.
Life flows by very fast and many things change but one thing I can say has not changed - my love for VGAP will always be there and my dream of making a VGAP based game will never die. My favorite race is the Rebels - I was the first person to ever execute a HYPER ground attack! I used to play 3-5 games at a time. I think at one time was one of the top 10 players in the world and I loved the interaction with people and all the things that went into playing vgap. Strategy, deceptions etc.
I miss VGAP to some degree as I dont have time to play anymore. Being married and working for the DOD makes life a little short on time and we just bought a house - I guess growing up to some degree is inevitable :).
I think V4 is amazing. The beta that I played for a while was very cool. The detail level is astounding and Tim is one hell of a programmer.
I still keep my website (http://www.solarflaregames.com/dnd/index2.htm) up and I still answer question from people whenever I get them.
I hope people continue to have fun with VGAP and the bits and pieces that I have added to it! It is my sincerest wish that I have added some fun to all VGAPers lives with the books, merchandise and most of all with the addons.
Thanks,