Outpost 2 Online Conference
From OPU Wiki
This is from a online conference from 31st October 1995.
Message-Id: <9510311210.AA10487@ig1.att.att.com>
From: jcc@mvuas.att.com (J Craig Cleaveland +1 508 960 6002)
Date: 31 Oct 95 07:09:00 -0500
Subject: Outpost II game online conference
Folks, Here is a transcript of a Compuserve online conference
on Sierra's upcoming game called Outpost 2. The original Outpost
is the closest simulation game yet to space colonization (oops, I meant
the creation of ecosystems and human communities in space). Outpost 2
looks like it will be even better. The conceptual designers of
Outpost 2 includes Gentry Lee, the co-author with Arthur C. Clarke
of the Rama series. It's interesting to see the interplay among
the participants between playing the game and doing it for real.
I've removed trivia and sysop messages from the script.
Craig
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Gentry Lee, Jim French Outpost 2 CON 10/4/95
Greg/Sierra Sysop: % Moderation of this conference has begun
Greg/Sierra Sysop: % Your moderator is [74777,214] Greg/Sierra Sysop
Greg/Sierra Sysop: % The floor is now CLOSED
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Ok... hello everyone and welcome to the CON!!....
Greg/Sierra Sysop: WE'll get started now... we have Gentry Lee, Jim
French and David Black here and I'm going to let them introduce
themselves...
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Ok lets start with Gentry Lee!
Gentry + Jim French: Hello, everyone. We're here to discuss...
Gentry + Jim French: Outpost 2-- and to have some fun....
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: I'm the Chief Engineer on outpost with a lot of years.
Gentry + Jim French: working on real,spacecraft. This is a chance to design...
Gentry + Jim French: the kind of equipment I always really wanted to work on...
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: My loves are science and science fiction...
plus everything else in the universe...
Gentry + Jim French: That means that OUTPOST is the perfect...
Gentry + Jim French: place for me to be working.
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Looks like David Black is having some line troubles...
Greg/Sierra Sysop: we will get back to him when he gets on...
Greg/Sierra Sysop: lets get on with some questions..!
------------------------------------------------------------
Mark F. Heil asks: Is Outpost 2 just additional levels to the original or is
it a whole new game, not requiring the original? And is it a Win95 app?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: It is a whole new game, with new planets,
new tiles, and a host of other features...
Gentry + Jim French: It also retains the hard science concept and the...
brilliant graphics of its predecessor.
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: It is a Win 95 app...
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: And what other features are there?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: We have tried to make the game both...
more realistic and more playable...
Gentry + Jim French: by including tutorials, access to information that
is... essential to game play, and planets that are dynamic...
------------------------------------------------------------
Mark F. Heil asks: When is it available and for how much?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: It is available in the coming summer at
suggested retail of $50-60, but this value has not been set yet.
------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cleaveland asks: The Millennial Project by Savage is a plan for
colonizing the Solar System. Did it play any role or influence Outpost 2.
If not, would you consider it for Outpost 3?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: I like Marshall's book, and the level...
Gentry + Jim French: of thinking shown there would influence anyone....
Gentry + Jim French: doing a space colonization game.
Gentry + Jim French: I would not, however, say that it played a key
role... any more than a number of other science and science fiction works...
------------------------------------------------------------
Sam asks: Are there going to be any changes to the interface?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: The interface will be changed...
Gentry + Jim French: both for the landing site selection phase and for
the...
Gentry + Jim French: actual landed simulation.
------------------------------------------------------------
Todd R Morrison asks: Venus Prime was my all time favorite book
series. I really enjoyed Rama, as well. Any more joint efforts planned
with A.C. Clarke?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Paul Preuss would be delighted...
Gentry + Jim French: Arthur is involved as our nominal leader...
Gentry + Jim French: on this game. Otherwise, our collaborations are...
Gentry + Jim French: concluded for the time being... It was a fantastic
experience for me. A little like studying aero....
Gentry + Jim French: under Theodore von Karman.
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: Does Outpost 2 bear any connection with the
original, or is it a totally different storyline?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: The backstory for OUTPOST 2 is
considerably different. However, the basic task... of managing a human
colony on an unknown planet
Gentry + Jim French: remains the same..
------------------------------------------------------------
Marlon F. Cruz asks: do you know what are the system requirements for
the game?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: 486/66 will be the minimum...
Gentry + Jim French: User also needs at least 8 megs of RAM, plus
Windows 95... Personally, the game will be snappier if the user has a
Pentium with 12 megs.,
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike T. MacGregor asks: For Gentry Lee: I am curious as to what it was
like to work with Arthur C Clarke (friends have described my own
writing as very Clarkish) on the Rama books.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: As I said earlier, it was like learning from an
Gentry + Jim French: expert. Arthur is a gentleman, and I cannot conceive
Gentry + Jim French: how collaboration could have been more fun...
Gentry + Jim French: We started out at the beginning with a specified...
division of responsibilities.
Gentry + Jim French: This shifted as the collaboration proceeded, so that
at the end he told me I was Icarus and should now use my own wings.
Gentry + Jim French: That result was RAMA REVEALED.
------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cleaveland asks: Did you get rid of those annoying and silly
newspaper items that played no role in the game?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: YES
------------------------------------------------------------
Sam asks: The original Outpost had a pretty steep learning curve. How
will Outpost 2 compare?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: To make the game more accessible to the
non rocket scientist user, we have added many
Gentry + Jim French: features. The tutorials at the front of the game will
Gentry + Jim French: allow my clever nine year old son to play comfortably
Gentry + Jim French: and throughout the game all the information you
need to play the game will now be at your fingertips.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: I've noticed that in Outpost it seemed more time was spent in
the game model rather than the details such as sound\music and
animation. Will there be better music in the sequel?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: We're still working on the music design...
Gentry + Jim French: What would you like to hear?
------------------------------------------------------------
Roy Kachur asks: Gentry, do you believe humans will land on Mars in
the near future?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: I believe we CAN, but I'm not convinced...
Gentry + Jim French: that we will. Let me turn the rest of this answer to
my distinguished colleague and friend, Jim French
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: We could have and should have done it 15 years...
Gentry + Jim French: ago. I feel that humans will. I hope they are
Americans but I'm lee sure about that...
Gentry + Jim French: A little less government al "help" would expedite
the process..
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: I enjoyed Rama very much and have heard that you
might be doing an interactive game based on Rama. Is this true?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Yes, I am working with Sierra on a Rama
game as we speak... But it's still in the preliminary design stage.. We'll
have more to say later...
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike T. MacGregor asks: For Gentry Lee: What lead you to working on Outpost?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: I thought the game had an exceptionally...
good premise. And there was room for improvement and more
imagination in some areas...
Gentry + Jim French: It was also a chance to do some work in what I
believe will be the primary entertainment medium... of the future.
------------------------------------------------------------
Sam asks: Would any of the planets used in Outpost 2 be able to support
life as we know it?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Yes. We will have a wide variety of
planets, some of which would easily support life, some of which would not.
------------------------------------------------------------
James H. Kerr, III asks: Gentry When will your first game be ready? Hi
from your cousin Bill.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Hello back to cousin Bill. Outpost 2 will
be shipped in the early summer of 1996.
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: Are you considering any type of interaction with
another intelligent species to be included in Outpost 2
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: We considered it but decided to save that for
future editions...
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: How about for music selections, Wagners "The Ring" or
some of Beethoven's symphonies such as his 5th 6th or 9th? Maybe a
little Dvorak?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: We are considering having our exec. producer sing...
------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cleaveland asks: Have you rethought the role of the rebel colony in
Outpost 2?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Absolutely. There is no longer a rebel
colony as currently conceived. Outpost 2 will have splinter colonies,
defined on a different basis
Gentry + Jim French: With respect to the music, at least Dvorak's NEW
WORLd would be appropriate.
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike T. MacGregor asks: Icarus: Are there any other projects other than
Outpost that you are currently working on?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Yes, the Rama game mentioned earlier, a
novel or two, a spacecraft or two... and my seven sons ranging in age
from nineteen to two.
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: Will Outpost 2 be set in a much later period in time
and technology, or will it be pretty much the same?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Twenty-fifth century, but the starship
really makes sense. Jim French is VERY PROUD of his starship. Come
on, somebody, ask him a question about HIS STARSHIP
------------------------------------------------------------
James H. Kerr, III asks: When will your Rama game be ready?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Fall 1996 if there are not too many
hurricanes in the Caribbean.
------------------------------------------------------------
DONALD J BALONIS asks: Will there be a little more involvement in
protecting a colony?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Okay, I don't know how to answer. Could
you please explain "protecting". There are no wars in OUTPOST, if
that's the question.
------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cleaveland asks: One of the nice things about SimCity is the
historical record. I would love some kind of graphs that show how well
you are doing along time (to sort of chart your progress)
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: I couldn't have asked a better question if I
tried. One of the first things I wanted to change about
Gentry + Jim French: OUTPOST was the information accessible to the
game player. I promise you this...
Gentry + Jim French: You will have more information in OUTPOST 2
than if you were drinking out of a fire hose.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Lamon asks: A question for Mr. French: I've been reading about the
X-33, the Delta Clipper, Dark Horse, etc. What do you think will be the
ticket to space in the 21st century?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: The Delta clipper is representative of the type
of low cost orbital vehicle which will be
Gentry + Jim French: our ticket to low cost space access in the next
century.
Gentry + Jim French: X-33 is an experimental step towards that vehicle.
Gentry + Jim French: Black horse is an alternative but more speculative
approach. DCX is the first step to low cost orbital transport.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: What about Beethoven's Ode to Joy'.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry and Jim: Only if there are good voices
available. But, Beethoven is hard to beat. ga
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: Jim, what's your starship like?!
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry and Jim: David is back so now you can
send in your planet and science questions! Welcome David! ga
Greg/Sierra Sysop: hopefully! we are still working on technical details!
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: The starship is based upon antimatter
annihilation as a power source.
David Black: send
Gentry + Jim French: The concept is based upon work done by Dr.
Robert Forward and others. It is capable of 0.2 times the speed of light.
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike T. MacGregor asks: Re: Rama game. Can you tell us more about
this (format, objective, release date)?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: I would love to talk about RAMA and we
are going to schedule a full forum later on Compuserve. The scheduled
release is Fall of '96. Let's talk Outpost tonight! ga
------------------------------------------------------------
Marlon F. Cruz asks: Will Outpost 2 be a lot of CD's something like
Phantasmagoria or just one?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry and Jim: We expect it will only be one
CD...but now with all the music!!! ga
------------------------------------------------------------
Billybob asks: JIM, TELL US ABOUT YOUR STARSHIP!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: The starship is designed to carry 200 people,
mostly in a semi-suspended animation state and will bring lander vehicles
capable of placing 2.7 million poundsof equipment on the surface of the
planer
Gentry + Jim French: (oops) planet,
Gentry + Jim French: at a time.
Gentry + Jim French: to initialize the colony.
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: David Black, the director of the Lunar and
Planetary Institute, and one of the foremost
Gentry + Jim French: experts on planets and planetary systems, is now
Gentry + Jim French: with us. He has been designing PLAUSIBLE
planets in orbit around REAL stars for OUTPOST. How
Gentry + Jim French: about some questions for him?
------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cleaveland asks: If you were really inventive you could generate
some kind of fractal music based on various game factors that could
provide some (perhaps subliminal) information about the state of the
game
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: That would definitely make us REALLY
inventive. Maybe we'll hire Mandelbrot as a consultant
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: What's the research model like? I remember in outpost
when I finished the research tree I ended up with 20 labs doing nothing
but using up my people.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Research has been completely overhauled
for OUT{POST 2. It now is directed toward more game applications.
------------------------------------------------------------
Todd R Morrison asks: Anti-matter annihilation? Could you expand on
that just a bit?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: Antimatter, when it encounters normal matter
causes complete annihilation of both with the release...
Gentry + Jim French: of enormous amounts of energy; far beyond atomic
energy as we know it...
Gentry + Jim French: We then transfer this energy into a stream of gas
which can be accelerated to a very large...
Gentry + Jim French: percentage of the speed of light...
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike T. MacGregor asks: How much of Outpost is based on actual stellar systems?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Jim: We've lost Dave Black again so I'll try this one...
Gentry + Jim French: It will be based upon actual stars and their known
characteristics...
Gentry + Jim French: We don't know of planets around these stars but
Dr. Black has created plausible and realistic planets for the stars...
------------------------------------------------------------
DONALD J BALONIS asks: Will there be more interaction in
responding to emergencies?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: In Outpost 2 we will indeed show
simulation response to planetary dynamics. Hurricanes, tidal waves,
volcanoes, dust storms, epidemics---
Gentry + Jim French: these are just a few of the things the player must
deal with. Thus the game will not ever be static
Gentry + Jim French: not even in the middle game.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Schmidt asks: No question, Gentry, just a hello from a former
Martin Denver Viking alum (worked for you about 200 years ago). Keep
up the great work.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Hello Gary. Now Viking was a REAL
program. Where did it all go? One of the reasons OUTPOST is so
exciting is that the team has the same esprit de corps of the Viking team.
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: David, Have you introduced any type of original
new terrain and/or conditions?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: David has vanished again, unfortunately.
Gentry + Jim French: New terrains include ice, water, and a dozen others.
The terrains now span the spectrum of what we
Gentry + Jim French: might encounter in a new planetary system.
------------------------------------------------------------
Marlon F. Cruz asks: Will there be any cinemas?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Yes, there will be some portions of the game
Gentry + Jim French: where the player will be able to see moving
animations of what is occurring.
Gentry + Jim French: However, during the main simulation task, the only
Gentry + Jim French: movies will be of disasters or other untoward events.
------------------------------------------------------------
James H. Kerr, III asks: Do you know what the expected cost for Outpost
2 will be?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Retail should be in the $50-60 region.
That will be determined later.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: How come ,on the site map, urbanization is never shown? It
gets kind of hard trying to find where I was building that monorail.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: That OUTPOST 1 [problem will be
circumvented by the information system design in OUTPOST 2.
------------------------------------------------------------
DONALD J BALONIS asks: The increased span of terrain does that
include the possibility of settling on a frozen gas planet?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: The game will show you the existence of
inhospitable planets. But you will only be allowed
Gentry + Jim French: to land on a planet where you MIGHT survive and
flourish. Some will be pretty tough, and other planets will be easy. Your
task as the player will be to decide a priori which are which.
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: Has anyone considered orbiting space stations or
subterranean colonies?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: The original OUTPOST had subterranean
Gentry + Jim French: colonies as part of the overall development.
Orbiting colonies consume enormous resources and cannot easily be self-
sufficient. For OUTPOST 2 our colonies are on the surface of this
wonderful variation of planets
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Dr. David Black is unable to connect up with us
tonight, he wanted to say a few words... he is in Pasadena right now at a
JPL convention with leading astrophysicists reviewing NASA's
"roadmap" to build telescopes to search for other planetary systems. He
did answer this question...
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Lamon asks: For Mr. Black: A recent article in Scientific American
says that binary star systems may be very common, How would their
planetary systems be different from our own?
------------------------------------------------------------
Greg/Sierra Sysop: He said....
Greg/Sierra Sysop: yes they are common about 2/3 are Binary....
Greg/Sierra Sysop: they don't know and that is what part of this
"roadmap" is about to research this topic (among others)
Greg/Sierra Sysop: but it would make a very interesting landscape....
Gentry Lee.. do you have any thing to add...
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: One thing we do know for certain
Gentry + Jim French: Any planets around binary systems would have
Greg/Sierra Sysop: (this was paraphased of course)
Greg/Sierra Sysop: phased phrased... oh well... <g>
Gentry + Jim French: fascinating orbits, including lemniscates (figure
eights for some) and others. In a later OUTPOST
Gentry + Jim French: we may have some of these wonderful orbits.
------------------------------------------------------------
GARY DANNER asks: Is Arthur C. Clarke consulting on Outpost?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Arthur is not consulting on OUTPOST,
except spiritually. Being serious, I guarantee he is interested in the
subject. I have talked to him about it by E-mail several times.
------------------------------------------------------------
DONALD J BALONIS asks: Gentry: What would you say is the most
OUTSTANDING feature or planned feature for OUTPOST2?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Ice and water planets PLUS additional
design attention to realism and playability.
------------------------------------------------------------
Justin Kao asks: Another question about Clarke: Are you going to be
writing any more books with him?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Arthur and I presently have no plans for
any more collaborative novels. As he said in the intro
Gentry + Jim French: to RAMA II, however, the Rama world we
discussed could have yielded a dozen books without any problem.
Greg/Sierra Sysop: We are going to start wrapping it up... so get those
last questions in!
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Ok.... well looking light on the questions... so if you
have any last ones...
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Anyone who has a question to ask, or comment to
make, click the ? button,
Greg/Sierra Sysop: type in your question and then submit it... the
questions will be
Greg/Sierra Sysop: displayed in the order received.
------------------------------------------------------------
Vytis M. Udrys asks: Gentry: Do you consider Outpost 2 to be your
largest or favorite project out of all?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Outpost is as challenging in its way as
Viking, COSMOS, or writing the RAMA novels. I consider myself very
fortunate to be working in this medium, which, as I said before, I predict
will be the dominant entertainment medium of tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tyson asks: What will the effect of nano-tech be?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: We have removed nanotech from
OUTPOST 2 because we feel that it is not quite realistic enough for a
hard science game.
------------------------------------------------------------
DONALD J BALONIS asks: Another question on the Rama series, were
you involved in the first 2 Rama books?? I ask this because I had noticed
a slight change in style from book to book.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: I wrote every word of RAMA II,
GARDEN OF RAMA, and RAMA REVEALED. If there is a slight
change of style, it is because I was aging during the process.
Greg/Sierra Sysop: ok..... on that note..thanks everyone for stopping by!
Any last words guys?
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Goodbye everyone. And thanks. I hope
you enjoy playing OUTPOST as much as we have enjoyed designing it.
Greg/Sierra Sysop: one last question....
------------------------------------------------------------
Justin Kao asks: Do you think a game like the one in Cradle will ever be
made?
------------------------------------------------------------
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: That game would even be banned in Bangkok
Vytis M. Udrys: Can't wait for Outpost 2!!!
Greg/Sierra Sysop: Thanks everyone! have a great night!
Gentry + Jim French: Gentry: Thanks for all the good questions.
