Heroes Journey - World Building

In October 2005, and spanning the course of 3 years, I had the plesaure of working for a company called Simutronics, based out of St. Louis Missouri. Simutronics is the creator, operator and owner of such iconic text-based online games as Gemstone III and Dragon Realms, which have been running since the late 1980's. In 2005, the company ratcheted up its hiring of off-site developers to help with game scripting, world build and quest/story development.

I had originally put in my application to become a scriptor, as I had years of programming background, as well as several years experience in writing online games using the Neverwinter Nights game engine. In my first few weeks with Simutronics, I was introduced to the many systems that make up the Hero Engine. Needless to say, I was greatly impressed. Even in its unfinished state, the developer had a vast number of tools to create whatever they wanted to. And, as Hero Engine was still in development, if we came up with any ideas or improvements, they were quickly added in. I saw several features implemented in my first 2 weeks alone. At the end of my trial period, I told Melissa Meyers (who was the project manager at the time) and Steph Shaver (who later replaced Melissa when she moved on to Blizzard) that I wanted to stay on as a World Builder. My reasoning was, I programmed for work. Plus, World Building had a certain calming affect to it. There was a creative spark to take a completely empty place, and just build something that you picture in your mind.

I worked with an excellent team of onsite and offsite world builders. At times, we worked in teams to tackle a large area. And other times, we worked solo in order to build a smaller dungeon or instance for a quest. It was exciting to come up with a team concept because the ideas would flow and build on eachother until a rich environment was built. I remember several times, jumping to key points in an area and just smiling.

Unfortunately, due to a foundering economy, in September 2008, all the offsite developers had to be let go. And shortly after that, the entire Hero's Journey staff was laid off. I think Hero's Journey had many great ideas which, if the game had gone to market, would have revolutionized the industry. Actually, several of the key features that were the basis of Hero's Journey are now finding their way out into the industry today.

I will always remember my time with Simutronics and Hero's Journey as a high point in my life. The people I met and worked with are always an inspiration, and I can say that it has been an honor to walked with them on our own hero's journey.

To the right are some screen shots I captured of several of the areas I helped develop. The development engine (Hero Engine), models and textures are all created and owned by Simutronics. My part is the area/scene creation, using the assets to layout a scene, adjusting the enivornmental effects (lighting, fog, etc) to create the ambience/atmosphere.