John Carpenter Creator Chat - Raw Chat Log

This is the first chat using the new Chat software. I think it was a resounding success. Below is the raw chat log from the just completed chat. Enjoy.

---

-NOTICE- John W. Carpente joins Chat
[John W. Carpente] I think I am in the right place
[Jeff Rothe] You are...
[John W. Carpente] Excellent. I love the chat sounds.
[Brian Hanifin] John, I thought this crowd my appreciate some classic sounds.
[John W. Carpente] Takes me back to my Chuck E. Cheese days.
[Jeff Rothe] John....before we formally get started in a little while, I may just ask you some general stuff...
[John W. Carpente] fire away
[Jeff Rothe] like, was it you that wrote into this guy's website about Tattoo Assassins.
[Brian Hanifin] Although, I guess I should have used sounds from one of John Carpenters games today. :-)
[Jeff Rothe] http://www.bunnyears.net/tattoo/index.html
[Jeff Rothe] Oh
[Jeff Rothe] and thanks for being here today John.
[John W. Carpente] Hahaha starting off with the TA stuff straight away
[Jeff Rothe] You'll probably have to help acquaint us a little bit to your popular body of work.
[John W. Carpente] I knew you would like that
[Jeff Rothe] welll..
[Jeff Rothe] reading this.
[Jeff Rothe] I guess, nm that question.
[Jeff Rothe] it may be a little revealing.
[John W. Carpente] Is it possible through the UI to change my nick to something smaller?
[Brian Hanifin] Click on your name to the left.
[Jeff Rothe] yes, like Brian said
[Jeff Rothe] to the left of the typing field.
-NOTICE- John W. Carpente changes nickname to JC
[JC] very good
[Jeff Rothe] Your first pinball was Michael Jordan?
[Brian Hanifin] If anyone would like to maximize the chat window. Click on the square button in the upper right of the chat window.
[JC] The square button did not work for me, a firefox issue maybe?
[zork40] Try it again...
[JC] Oh, wait, that time it did work
[David Hernly] yeah didn't work in Firefox
[MikeSpace_cowboy] nope , is what I am using
[zork40] didn't work for me the first time in FF either, but I just tried it a 2nd time and it worked.
[MikeSpace_cowboy] maxed out for me no prob
[David Hernly] This is okay. Better space than the previous chats
[MikeSpace_cowboy] easier to follow
[JC] When I first started with DE I was straight out of school and they put me on QA to get my feet wet. Michael Jordan was a rush project that needed a body, and I talked them into letting me have it.
[Jeff Rothe] but it never made it to mass production.
[JC] No, it did not.
[JC] We wrote all the software in three days. It was a rush job to make a charity auction.
[MikeSpace_cowboy] do you know how many were actually made?
[Jeff Rothe] Looks like 7 of them
[Jeff Rothe] from IPDB and Arcade History...
[Jeff Rothe] that is the claim.
[MikeSpace_cowboy] trying to verify
-NOTICE- Bill Jr. joins Chat
[JC] Two went to the auction, one went into Joe Kaminkow's home, one went into MJ's home, one went to Kurt Anderson who was the primary art resource.
[Jeff Rothe] http://ipdb.org/search.pl?searchtype=advanced&ppl=John%20Carpenter
[Bill Jr.] Hi everyone
[Jeff Rothe] it was full clad in artwork
[Jeff Rothe] ?
[JC] The one that went to Kurt sat in the laundry room at his apartment and actually made some good money
[JC] Yeah, it had a backglass, playfield art, and display animations.
[JC] Mostly done by Kurt
[Jeff Rothe] I just learned that
[Jeff Rothe] he was also a software / dot matrix guy...
[JC] It was a pretty good looking game, but for full production the dot matrix stuff would have had to been reworked
[Jeff Rothe] John, do photos exist online that you know of?
[JC] Not that I am aware of. Heh, I could ask Kurt if he still has his.
[JC] Jack Liddon and Kurt Anderson did most of the dot matrix art while I was there. They live in Las Vegas now, doing slots for IGT.
[Jeff Rothe] Are either of these guys on FB?
[Jeff Rothe] Do you know?
[JC] No, just MySpace
[JC] I keep trying to get them to come over to the dark side
[Jeff Rothe] ha ha.
[Jeff Rothe] So then you went to work on Rocky and Bullwinkle.
[JC] I did some more QA on Star Wars I believe, then went full time into display work on R&B
[David Hernly] R&B was great, btw
[JC] Yes, I have one and it is my kids' favorite game
[JC] Grabbing a question from the question thread...
[JC] Several years back we found a Batman Forever Pinball for my father. Game play is very nice and replay value is even better. Amazed at everything that PinBall is doing at once and wonder "How does it do all that at once". What is involved when developing a Pinball that integrates traditional Pinball with an interactive Video Screen that is incorporated during game play?
[Jeff Rothe] Bill asked that I believe and he's here early.
[Jeff Rothe] Bill, you at the computer?
[Bill Jr.] Yup
-NOTICE- Alan173 joins Chat
[Bill Jr.] I'm here
[JC] This is a tough question because the hardware and software have changed so drastically in the last 20 years
[Bill Jr.] Just fib a little bit because I won't know. ;)
[JC] I have a BF, btw, but it doesn't work right now because I can't find the keys after my last move :)
[MikeSpace_cowboy] DRILL THEM LOCKS lol:)
[JC] Back then we had a separate sound programmer, display programmer, and game programmer. Each was a different CPU.
[JC] All the code was assembly
[JC] Nowadays everything runs off the same CPU, all C/C++ code
[Bill Jr.] So, One CPU and many instructions?
[JC] I learned that from Lyman Sheats, who worked with me at DE and still works for Stern
[JC] Yeah, that one processor has the horse power to handle all the tasks at once
[JC] Back when I worked there things were still pretty primitive hardware wise. Heck, the internet did not exist back then :)
-NOTICE- Alan173 quit (timeout)
[JC] Next Question:
[JC] When developing a new pinball what are the steps taken to develop such a beast? Is there lots of R&D? Or do you just have standard engineering formulas that you just start with to get it on paper and then just "build"?
[Jeff Rothe] ha ha.
[Jeff Rothe] ok...works for me.
[JC] Hardware wise the game designer would be building a prototype months ahead of any software getting written
[MikeSpace_cowboy] feeling left out Jeff?
[Jeff Rothe] nope
[Bill Jr.] Jeff, this is a moderated chat. :)
[Jeff Rothe] he knows when he's answered the question...
[MikeSpace_cowboy] true
[Bill Jr.] +1
[JC] Software wise we would always start from the last game that hit production and work from that code base, since it would always have the latest widgets.
[JC] Haha, sorry Jeff. Just forging ahead here.
[Jeff Rothe] No problem
[Jeff Rothe] I would just say for the questions not asked by guys here.
[Jeff Rothe] we might push those back until those guys make it at the scheduled time.
[Jeff Rothe] otherwise, you're making my job easy LOL
[JC] sure thing
[JC] We can't have that!
[Bill Jr.] Jeff, your wife just called... You have a diaper waiting for you
[Bill Jr.] ;)
[JC] Take 10 while I refill my beer :-)
[Jeff Rothe] Interesting note about the software code base John.
[Jeff Rothe] LOL
[David Hernly] Hey JC pre-chat question... you every play any of your creations in VisualPinball?
[Jeff Rothe] John was at a benefit golf outing earlier today.
[David Hernly] beer... a very important item :)
[Bill Jr.] That explains the beer question
[Bill Jr.] keep that buzz going
[JC] VisualPinball... never heard of it, to be honest.
[JC] Is that like MAME, people supporting real world games?
[David Hernly] basically a MAME for pinball
[Bill Jr.] http://www.randydavis.com/vp/intro.htm
[Bill Jr.] Yes
[Bill Jr.] Virtual Pinball
[JC] Heh, excellent. I love that stuff.
[JC] I loved it when TA hit MAME, although it was an imperfect port.
[Jeff Rothe] Did you pretty much completely answer that software / hardware question then?
[David Hernly] I still haven't built a MAME cab. I pretty much have the sickness of collecting real ones heh
[JC] No, was waiting for you to post the next one :-)
[Jeff Rothe] ah, ok.
[Jeff Rothe] just a sec.
[Jeff Rothe] actually, that was all from Bill.
[Jeff Rothe] Talk about the atomosphere for working at DE
[Jeff Rothe] what a typical day was like....
[Jeff Rothe] You get in at a regimented time?
[Jeff Rothe] or was it like that TA story? Where they were real sticklers about when you arrived?
[Jeff Rothe] and then did you work 10 hour days? And that was all work?
[JC] When it was just pinball it wasn't like the TA story
-NOTICE- Ed Goodsmith joins Chat
[Bill Jr.] TA?
[JC] I did work very long hours, but it was mostly volutary. At the time it was a dream job for me, and I was single and didn't know many people in Chicago.
[Jeff Rothe] Tattoo Assassins video game.
[Jeff Rothe] You were how old again when you did QA on Michael Jordan?
[JC] 21? 22? Somewhere in there. Data East was my first job after graduating from college.
[Jeff Rothe] and there was some playing around in there during a long work day?
[Jeff Rothe] or it was pretty focused work?
[Jeff Rothe] Ok...It's 2:00
[Jeff Rothe] The official time for the chat to start....
[Jeff Rothe] Welcome to you guys who made it out
[Jeff Rothe] This is a moderated chat
[JC] No, we used to play a lot of pinball, and keep track of "who beat who" on a daily basis. We used to have an informal "grand champion" moniker. And drink a lot of beer on late nights. It was a fun place to be.
[Jeff Rothe] private message me with any questions.
-NOTICE- Bill Jr. quit (timeout)
[Jeff Rothe] and I will ask John.
[Jeff Rothe] we'll have an open question period at the end.
[Jeff Rothe] I kind of figured you'd have to play a lot of your own game
[Jeff Rothe] to the point even of exhaustion maybe....
[Jeff Rothe] Ok
[JC] The factory was generally a pretty cool place to prowl around after hours. Jack Lidddon, one of our artists, is an amateur filmmaker, and if you were around late you could get recruited to play a part in one of his films.
[Jeff Rothe] John, you ready for the next question on the list?
[Jeff Rothe] oop..
[Jeff Rothe] that's fun.
[JC] yeah, fire away
[Jeff Rothe] didn't mean to interrupt you.
[JC] some of the films were pretty cool :-)
[Jeff Rothe] This was the next question.
[Jeff Rothe] What are your feelings of PinMame?
[Jeff Rothe] Maybe this is like Visual Pinball?
[JC] Not being familiar with them, I really don't have any feelings. It doesn't affect me personally from a business standpoint, so why not? It helps extend the life of work that I did a long time ago.
[Jeff Rothe] true.
[Jeff Rothe] I figured maybe there might be a similar answer to that question.
[Jeff Rothe] So let's move onto the next question, shall we?
[Jeff Rothe] What is your favorite pinball that you helped create? What is your favorite pinball someone else made? What is your favorite classic arcade game?
-NOTICE- Bill Jr. quit (timeout)
[JC] Star Wars was probably my favorite. I didn't write software for it, I was on QA, but there were a lot of engineers who were huge Star Wars fans and a lot of enthusiastic work was done on that game.
[Jeff Rothe] I am making an assumption that QA is quality assurance?
-NOTICE- Paul Olson joins Chat
[Jeff Rothe] or maybe this is an obvious pinball acronym that is slipping me right now.
[JC] Yes, Quality Assurance
[JC] Sorry, general software term
[JC] Jurassic Park was my favorite game that I was a primary coder for. We knew very early that the game would be well received, and we worked very hard on it.
[Jeff Rothe] So, your favorite pinball someone else made?
[Jeff Rothe] ...oop.
[JC] I still see a lot of JP games in the field today, at local bowling alleys and restarants
[Jeff Rothe] indeed.
[JC] favorite classic game - wow, there were so many
[JC] hard to choose, there. Gyruss perhaps.
[Bill Jr.] (Jeff is hoping Pengo)
[JC] hehe
[Jeff Rothe] :)
[JC] I played a ton of pinball as a kid, too. My aunt had a bar, and my father would take me up there while he drank and give me a roll of quarters.
-NOTICE- Felix joins Chat
[Jeff Rothe] LOL
-NOTICE- Ace Game Room Ga joins Chat
[JC] I have since heard that many others had that same introduction to games as a kid - the parents taking them into a bar
[Bill Jr.] hee hee
[Jeff Rothe] do you remember one in particular from your childhood that you liked?
[JC] There were some games before Space Invaders. I remember Space Wars or something like that. I dominated all the drunk adults in the bar, haha.
[Paul Olson] It was casinos for me; living in Nevada.
[Jeff Rothe] all right
[Jeff Rothe] well...
[Jeff Rothe] next question John?
[JC] I had an Atary 2600 with tons of games. Before that we had some other pong system where you taped plastics onto your TV. Named the "OMNI" perhaps?
[Jeff Rothe] oop...
[JC] hehe, sorry, I keep rambling on Jeff
[Jeff Rothe] no, that's the good stuff...
[Jeff Rothe] you were kind of going in the direction of the next question anyhow.
[Jeff Rothe] Do you have a collection of games? If so what is in your collection?
[Jeff Rothe] It sounded like from earlier that you still have a Rocky / Bullwinkle pinball machine in your house...
-NOTICE- jimmy shaffer joins Chat
[JC] Yes - three pins, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Tales From The Crypt, Batman Forever, Tattoo Assassins, and Gauntlet 2.
[JC] R&B is the only game that sees serious usage.
[David Hernly] woo Gauntlet. Personal fav
[JC] Yes!
[Jeff Rothe] and the TA is fully clad with artwork and all?
[Jeff Rothe] one of your test machines...?
[JC] Yes
[JC] Not a prototype, but one of the cabinets that went to the ACME show
[Jeff Rothe] that was referenced in that link...
[JC] Unfortunately the VSYNC is fragged and the game is unplayable right now
[Jeff Rothe] for all you here that missed it.
[Jeff Rothe] http://www.bunnyears.net/tattoo/index.html
[Jeff Rothe] allright
[Jeff Rothe] I think you answered the collection question.
[JC] I have SVHS tapes of all the original blue screen tapes of the hollywood shoot. I bet those are the last copies of those in existance.
[Jeff Rothe] cool to hear when guys who worked on the machines still have some...
[Jeff Rothe] have guys pushed you to try to see those pretty regularly?
[Jeff Rothe] the tapes that is...of the shoot.
[JC] No, never. Interest in TA has only grown over the last few years.
[Jeff Rothe] ah.
[Jeff Rothe] anyway.
[Jeff Rothe] there was one more question on the list...
[Jeff Rothe] John.
[Jeff Rothe] If you could do a pin today, licensed or not , what would your theme be?
[JC] Yes, the big hyped hollywood shoot from the bunnyears page
[JC] k
[JC] Would my goal be to do something cool or to make money?
[MikeSpace_cowboy] cool
[Jeff Rothe] Mike?
[Jeff Rothe] oop.
[JC] Hehe, that is a harder question to answer then :-)
[Jeff Rothe] answered that.
[MikeSpace_cowboy] dont think much money made either way these days
[Jeff Rothe] was there ever an idea you had while working on another pin that you thought would be killer?
[JC] Maybe something based on the Terminator series
[Bill Jr.] Sure there is... Robbing banks make money
[David Hernly] I want to see someone make a TRON pin ;)
[Jeff Rothe] that's a good idea David.
[Bill Jr.] I'd agree. Terminator Series would probably make some $$$$ in the Pin Market.
[JC] That is coming back into popular culture now, and I am a big fan of Saray Connor Chroincles
[JC] TRON, awesome, I still watch that movie
[Jeff Rothe] and then movie this summer...
[MikeSpace_cowboy] yup
[JC] Not sure how well that recent PC game did though
[MikeSpace_cowboy] I still want an AC/DC pin lol
[Jeff Rothe] well guys
[Jeff Rothe] that is all of the pre-entered questions...
[Jeff Rothe] so we have some open time.
[Jeff Rothe] who has the first question they've thought of or want to ask.
[Jeff Rothe] one at a time...
[JC] AC/DC... I didn't realize how huge that band is
[JC] The GNR pin did pretty good
[MikeSpace_cowboy] been listening to them since 74 jailbreak here
[Bill Jr.] Better than the GNR career
[JC] I googled them up... AC/DC is HUGE
[Jeff Rothe] mmm....well, John, I have another question.
[JC] k
[Jeff Rothe] Arnon Milchan
[Jeff Rothe] tell me about this a little bit?
[JC] hehe
[Jeff Rothe] not a particularly original question I'm sure...
[Jeff Rothe] this was a vanity pin of some sort?
[JC] You know about the Aaron Spelling pin?
[Jeff Rothe] a one off for a wealthy man?
[Jeff Rothe] I don't...
[JC] Yes
[Jeff Rothe] there was an Aaron Spelling one off pin as well?
[Bill Jr.] Weird
[JC] Aaron Spelling's wife purchased a pin for him, and we personally delivered one to his office and one to his home
[Bill Jr.] I have just changed my life goals to include "Personal Pinball designed in my honor"
[JC] Arnon Milchan's wife heard about it and did the same
[Jeff Rothe] ah.
[Jeff Rothe] that is a cool little story
[Jeff Rothe] IPDB shows some photos of it.
[Bill Jr.] what does something like that cost?
[JC] We did the Spelling pin in the interest of gaining some licenses, i.e. 90120
[Jeff Rothe] ah.
[Jeff Rothe] but nothing came of it....
[Bill Jr.] I mean, is a one off pinball based on another successful pinball or from scratch?
[MikeSpace_cowboy] I would imagine dev cost woukd be huge
[Jeff Rothe] or did it?
[JC] The Milchan pin did not garnish as much attention. I did the dot matrix art myself, because the artists were busy. And they suffered as a result.
[Jeff Rothe] sounds like from earlier they'd use the most recent software at the least...
[JC] We used the same playfield layout as the last production pin
[Jeff Rothe] are there photos of the Milchan pin online?
[JC] Just created new playfield art, back glass art, and dots
[Jeff Rothe] I have never heard of him before...
[JC] Not that I know of
[Jeff Rothe] mmm.
[Bill Jr.] Basically modified the code and new graphics and same playfield?
[JC] yes
[Jeff Rothe] is he an older gentleman, do you know that?
[Jeff Rothe] and is he still alive....
[JC] All the game rules were the same, with new sounds and dots
[JC] He produced some TV shows
[Bill Jr.] What was the budget for a pinball from start to finish?
[JC] It was worth it to do, from a potential license stadpoint
[Bill Jr.] $1million?
[Bill Jr.] 2 mill?
[Bill Jr.] more?
[Jeff Rothe] at the time is what you're asking Bill? right?
[Bill Jr.] yes
[Jeff Rothe] Didn't Gary Stern throw out some estimate of 1 million in today's market?
[Bill Jr.] for lets say 'batman forever"
[JC] Not sure about the cost. It was four months of code for two devs, 8 months of mechanical engineer effort from two mech engineers.
[JC] Then, if it was geared as worthy for production, the costs ramp up from there
[Jeff Rothe] the licenses were surely the most costly part.
[JC] Yes, pretty expensive
[Jeff Rothe] John, did you truly just 'leave' for Florida?
[Jeff Rothe] or was it something other than that?
[Jeff Rothe] can you even reveal that information?
[Jeff Rothe] like...was it a writing on the wall and you were ready to do something other than pinball?
[Jeff Rothe] or did you move for family, etc...
[JC] But if you consider 10,000 machines types 2,000 per machine profit, that is some good money
[Bill Jr.] do the movie studios usually approach you to do a particular pin to promote a new movie?
[JC] After TA I was burned out. 7 days a week, 10 hours a day, and it was cancelled. I was bitter. I could have stayed, though, the job didn't change much. It was me.
[JC] Joe Kaminkow spent a lot of time going to hollywood to get licenses. He was great at promising $$ and personal pins to individuals in order for us to get the license.
[Jeff Rothe] hey
[Jeff Rothe] that is how some guys do business.
[Jeff Rothe] big thinkers
[Jeff Rothe] details can get left behind.
[JC] DE survived as a result of the hollywood deals
[Jeff Rothe] Did you have a job lined up in Florida from your great experience at DE / Sega?
[Bill Jr.] So, is there any particular pins that you have a high score you'd like to brag about?
[MikeSpace_cowboy] ohn if you dont mind , what do you work at now?
[JC] No. We moved back into my parent's house :)
[Bill Jr.] sorry*
[MikeSpace_cowboy] John even
[JC] Bill, I turned over a few pins back in my day. High Speed, Space Station, Space Shuttle
[Bill Jr.] cool
[Bill Jr.] so the movie "King of Space Shuttle" will be on DVD soon?
[Bill Jr.] haa haa.
[Jeff Rothe] ha ha.
[JC] The normal hires were more experience programmers. I was one of the first younger hires because I was an enthusiast.
[Jeff Rothe] ooh...
[Jeff Rothe] I can jump in with what you're up to today...
[JC] brb, must reload the beer. I have a kegulator, which I can highly recommend :)
[Jeff Rothe] DiabloSport - a company in Delray Beach that makes hand-held tuning computers. I contract for them part time, and my most recent project was the Trinity handheld tuner, which you can read about at http://www.diablosport.com/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=151.
[Bill Jr.] I noticed some of the pinball's were in production for what? 5-10 years... How was this decision made? Supply and Demand? I mean, if it was still selling then you kept manufacturing it?
[Jeff Rothe] John also worked at http://www.earthmover-software.com writing mining simulation software for giant mining trucks
[Bill Jr.] Marketing 101 I know
[Bill Jr.] but figured I'd ask
[Brian Hanifin] John, I got to play Tommy, and Batman Forever in person (albeit briefly). Both my wife and I enjoyed playing those very much.
[Brian Hanifin] I would love to own a Tommy someday. The blinders over the flippers are brilliant. How was that idea hatched?
-NOTICE- Ed Goodsmith quit (timeout)
[Bill Jr.] [JC Drinking Beer]
[JC] Ok, several questions here :)
[JC] 5-10 years... We never built anything for more than 4 months. It may be that distributors have stock for longer than that?
[JC] Or, the market has changed.
[JC] Tommy was a cool project. All of engineering was flown to NYC to see the play and meet the actors.
[Bill Jr.] Maybe this list is incorrect then. Rocky and Bull. said it was sold for 9 years
[Bill Jr.] http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?searchtype=advanced&ppl=John%20Carpenter
-NOTICE- jimmy shaffer quit (timeout)
[JC] Yeah, that is incorrect. DE was on a four month schedule back then.
[JC] The whole factor would refit inbetween games
[JC] factory I mean
[Bill Jr.] k
[Bill Jr.] found that weird that's why I asked
[JC] The blinders on the flippers....
-NOTICE- mametester joins Chat
[JC] That was the genious of the game designer Paul.... forget his last name. He was a great guy, though.
[JC] He was in some of Jack Liddon's movies, a very good actor actually.
[Ace Game Room Ga] John, what is your view of the future of pinball?
[Jeff Rothe] John, who else is on Facebook from your pinball days?
[Jeff Rothe] oop
[Jeff Rothe] answer Ace's question first please...
[JC] Future of pinball.... not good. I think Stern is doing what it can. Once they run out of parents who buy pins for their kids out of nostalgia....
[Jeff Rothe] lol
[Bill Jr.] :(
-NOTICE- RadArcade joins Chat
[Bill Jr.] I know what I'm buying each of my boys when they turn 5
[JC] But what do I know? I've been out of the industry for a while :)
[Bill Jr.] that should help? ;)
[Bill Jr.] (That statement was suppose to be under my other two statements)
[JC] I do notice that my kids play a lot of other stuff, the pins don't hold their attention long.
[JC] Who else is on facebook.... lots of my former coworkers.
[Bill Jr.] have you ever been asked to get back into the industry? Or due to the lack of sales... No.
[Jeff Rothe] Lyman...
[JC] I would like to see Jack and Kurt come over from MySpace. Those two artists were my best friends for years there.
[Brian Hanifin] The list of Tommy designers on IPDB shows Joe Kaminkow, Ed Cebula, Lonnie D. Ropp, Lyman F. Sheats Jr.
-NOTICE- RadArcade quit (timeout)
[Jeff Rothe] Kevin Martin...
[Brian Hanifin] Perhaps Paul didn't get credit.
[Jeff Rothe] Lonnie...is on FB too.
[JC] Yeah, I did not do much for Tommy. Lyman was the primary display guy on that one.
[JC] Paul was a mech eng on that, it was his idea to use that particular motor for the linder.
[JC] blinder
[Jeff Rothe] Bill's question...
[Jeff Rothe] you've never beed asked to come back, have you?
[Jeff Rothe] after you moved to Florida?
-NOTICE- Felix quit (timeout)
[JC] I offered to contract remotely, but they did not need me
[JC] After Williams folded, there were a lot of guys looking for jobs
[Jeff Rothe] mmm.
[Jeff Rothe] and orin rubing is on FB too...
[Jeff Rothe] uh
[Jeff Rothe] so, talk a little bit about Japan.
[JC] Heh, my kids just brought home a new puppy
[Bill Jr.] that's to bad about the industry
[Jeff Rothe] going there for the Tattoo Assassins game...
[Jeff Rothe] like, just this second
[Jeff Rothe] ?
[Jeff Rothe] they brought it home?
[JC] About 20 minutes ago :-)
[Jeff Rothe] Rubin...
[Jeff Rothe] not Rubing...jeeze.
[JC] TA in Japan....
[Bill Jr.] what has killed this industry? modern game consoles and different interests from the kids
[Jeff Rothe] You talked about how Japan was involved earlier...
[JC] Yes, game consoles killed video games. Pins take up a lot of space in bars, which are now better served by smaller vids that sit up on the bar top.
[Jeff Rothe] I can't remember now...they would be the manufacturing?
[JC] Yes
[Jeff Rothe] and you went over because of QA to inspect materials and parts?
[JC] I went to Japan, along with another programmer, for a week. To take a look at the hardware.
[Jeff Rothe] you were there for how long?
[Jeff Rothe] ok.
[Jeff Rothe] so, you were thinking ahead...
[JC] We were there to evaluate whether the hardware could be used for TA.
[JC] Which it could... but only if TA would be on the same scale as Mortal Combat.
[Jeff Rothe] and you and Kevin still talk today? Or keep in touch?
[Jeff Rothe] economies of scale...
[JC] I talk to Kevin almost daily :-) He is a very successful businessman.
[Jeff Rothe] he runs a web hosting company now?
[JC] Yes. Pair.com. Hugely successful.
[Jeff Rothe] How do you currently find contract work for software development?
[Jeff Rothe] word of mouth?
[JC] I am usually an employee, but recently a company that I founded a few years back has received a contract from a business partner.
[Jeff Rothe] I see.
[JC] For anyone interested in software, the network is the most important thing.
[Jeff Rothe] I am sure.
[JC] Resumes cease to count if you know the right folks.
[Jeff Rothe] well, any profession not networking isn't thinking ahead...
[Jeff Rothe] pretty much.
[Jeff Rothe] likeability and all.
-NOTICE- mametester quit (timeout)
[Jeff Rothe] well
[Jeff Rothe] it's three oclock.
[Jeff Rothe] John, if the other guys still have questions I welcome you to stick around as your time allows
[JC] Time for final Jeapardy...
-NOTICE- Brian Hanifin quit (timeout)
[Jeff Rothe] you've already been really generous with your time
[Jeff Rothe] over an hour and a half.
[Jeff Rothe] thanks for answering the questions
[Jeff Rothe] even if they were really simplistic (me)
[Jeff Rothe] and you've probably already answered them before.
[Jeff Rothe] We all appreciate you being here.
[JC] I am very honored and happy that there are still enthusiasts out there who care enough for this to exist
[Jeff Rothe] and the work you did.
[Bill Jr.] thanks for visiting!!!
[David Hernly] Thanks John
[Jeff Rothe] I've got to head, I have guests.
[Jeff Rothe] thanks to all the members that showed up today.
[MikeSpace_cowboy] yes John , thanks for being most accomodating
[Jeff Rothe] best ~Jeff
[Brian Hanifin] Thank you for your time John.
[JC] You are all most welcome. Have me back any time!
[Bill Jr.] enjoy your new puppy
[JC] We will :-) The kids are ecstatic.
[Jeff Rothe] wait
[Jeff Rothe] what kind?
[Bill Jr.] Puppy's are crazy... But so are kids at time!!!
[Jeff Rothe] golden retriever?
[Jeff Rothe] heinz 57?
[JC] 3 months old terrier mix
[Jeff Rothe] ah
[JC] the wife's lap dog
[Bill Jr.] +1
[JC] I get my guard dog later :)
[JC] Our old black lab passed away, due to bloat
[JC] google up "bloat".... it's harsh
[David Hernly] doh!
[David Hernly] sorry to hear that
[Bill Jr.] :(
[JC] yeah, it was sad. The lab was the BEST dog ever.
[JC] Circle of life and all that, he had a good life
[JC] Joy, the kids are going to name him "Sharky"
-NOTICE- zork40 quit (timeout)
[Bill Jr.] Well, my son has a stuffed purple snake named "Coiley"
[JC]
[JC] \\
[Bill Jr.] pretty funny
[JC] haha, yes
[Bill Jr.] Sharky must be chewing everything huh?
[JC] Mostly exploring. Hasn't peed on anything, fingers crossed here.
[David Hernly] heh
[Bill Jr.] well, got to run. My 4 year old wants to go down and turn on the arcades.
[Bill Jr.] :)
[Bill Jr.] thanks again for being here.
[JC] Later all. Thank you for listening to my ramblings. Peace.
-NOTICE- JC quit (timeout)

---

Download: 20090502.Chat.JohnCarpenter.log