I can’t help but think of this video:

http://youtu.be/pbIR51_J_qY

version 0.50

 

1992

My friend Bill and I used to come up with comics and draw them out.  He would later help on the art on our first game.

 

1993:

Worst. Box. Ever.  Started a lifetime suspicion of “business” people.

So much retconning.

 

GalCiv for OS/2!

 

My future wife and I got engaged that year.

 

1994:

And married the next year.

 

  

Article for OS/2 Developer and Game Developer.

 

First and last ad I would do on my own.

Imagine this crazy idea: Treat ZIP files like folders. If only we’d have patented that!

 

 

1995:

Object Desktop for OS/2!

 

CeBit ‘95 demoing OS/2 for the PowerPC!

Our first logo.

 

 

 

1996:

A new logo.

 

Avarice.  Myst turn 20 this year.  Avarice was in the same genre but very object-oriented.

 

Our turn to make a box.

 

An an ad.

 

  

Early article on the company.

Trials of Battle. It was actually pretty amazing for its time. Players could set up independent servers over the Internet (not just on the LAN) and join and leave any time they want.  Stuff we consider basic today. Had a true 3D engine.

 

 

 

 

1997:

 

We released a golf game for OS/2 – Links Golf for OS/2.

 

 

 

1998:

Entrepreneur!

 

Stellar Frontier! Imaging an MMO Star Control like game where the galaxy is set up by players with their own modded servers. So far ahead of its time.

 

We made an official expansion pack for some obscure game called StarCraft. I wonder what ever happened to that game.

 

1999:

Alpha version of WindowBlinds with Control Center ported from OS/2 to Windows.

 

 

The end of OS/2 for us.

 

2000:

(remember this kid)

DesktopX was ridiculously ahead of its time. Allowed you to turn anything into objects that existed right on your desktop.

 

And let’s not forget ObjectBar!

 

2001

Ah Component Manager.  In the future, people will purchase and download their games and software over the INTERNET!

 

There’s that kid.

2002:

LightWeight Ninja! Our cool and under appreciated side scroller!

 

 

2002

 

We made skins for Nintendo that year to help them launch the GameCube.

 

 

2003:

Hooray! Galactic Civilizations for Windows!

 

2004:

 

The Political Machine and me on TV discussing using statistical modeling to gameify the election process.

Object Desktop 2004!

 

 

2005:

At the deviantART summit. 

 

Early beta of GalCiv II

 

2006:

Galactic Civilizations II won IGN’s “Underdog of the year” that year.

Tab LaunchPad gets a new life as ObjectDock!

 

 

2007:

Beekeeping at work.

 

Ah MyColors.

 

The Stardock building. 

At the time, this was my biggest purchase in my life up to that point.

 

Jeff Bargmann (Fences) and I at the Entrepreneur of the Year dinner.

 

 

2008

Sins of a Solar Empire!

Ironclad’s Sins of a Solar Empire in all its glory!

Early ideas for a fantasy game.

 

Steve (Neowin) and I.

 

  

Early screenshots from Elemental: War of Magic.

 

Design of how the tactical battles were supposed to be.

 

Halloween at work!

 

2009

 

GalCiv on store shelves.

 

Nailing the game design down on paper…which later mutated into something completely different.

 

 

Stardock building from the front.

 

Impulse dock.

 

IconPackager

 

Alpha of a program we’d later call “Fences”

 

This picture got me into some PR trouble.  We still think it’s funny though.

DEMIGOD!

 

 

 

2010

 

My first book got published.

 

Sins of a Solar Empire is a phenomenon!

 

 

2011

One of these puppies is our dog Bailey

Picture of seeing the book on the store shelves.

 

 

2012

Fallen Enchantress

 

Our dog Bailey.

 

 

 

2012

Elemental on the shelves.

 

Kay saves some baby turtles from walking into the parking lot (we put them in the pond).

 

Jon and his bird.

 

Stray cat I found wandering around. We brought him in and fixed him up. Lives with Yarlen now.

 

 

Another Halloween!

These people scare me. A lot.

 

 

2013

Lead developer on GalCiv I / GalCiv II / Fallen Enchantress

 

Soren and Derek brainstorming.

 

Internal mods of Legendary Heroes.

 

Unannounced game.

 

Driving out of the parking lot.

 

Me whining.

 

Barging in on meeting.

 

Unannounced game.

 

Another unannounced game.

 

 

More to come….

“People who say mean things should die in a fire!”

People ask me quite occasionally, “What did you guys do with the money from the Impulse sale?”  The answer is, a lot of things.  Over the next 60 days there’s going to be a bunch of announcements as things we’ve been working on start to come to fruition.

Today is the first of the announcements! Stardock has opened a mobile game studio in Plymouth Michigan.  Technically, we opened it awhile ago but we didn’t want to talk about it until we had something to show and that’s what today’s announcement is about.

We’re going to release the games one at a time over the next several months but the first one is going to go out next week! Dead Man’s Draw.

Initially, these games will be iOS exclusive but we plan to bring them to additional platforms over time.

Here are some screenshots:

Dead Man’s Draw comes out next week for iPhone and iPad.

 

Sneak preview of the next game coming out…

 

And then one that comes out after that…

 

 

 

Press Release here:

https://www.stardock.com/about/newsitem.asp?id=448519

Greetings!

I’d like to introduce you to Stardock’s new Brand Manager, Adam Biessener.  For the past decade, Adam has been one of, if not the top strategy game reviewer at Game Informer Magazine and frankly, the games industry itself.

You can read some of his excellent work at Game Informer here: http://www.gameinformer.com/members/giadam/default.aspx

So what is a Brand Manager? It’s a leadership position that was created to help make sure our games are just plain better.  Not just better in terms of gameplay (which obviously matters) but in how we communicate what we are doing with the wider world.

For the past 3 years, Derek and I have been tag-teaming this role.  I tend to focus somewhat excessively on the importance of good AI in strategy games and writing copy.  Derek has handled a lot of the copy, screenshots, critiquing, etc. in his spare time.

With Derek’s recent promotion to Vice President of Stardock Entertainment, all our games now go through him and so we realized we needed to bring in an industry veteran to take care of the relative vast amount of work that needs to be done. We needed someone familiar with strategy games (of course) but also the industry in a way that we aren’t.

Over the next 60 days, Stardock will be making a bunch of announcements.  People have asked us what we did with “the Impulse money”.  Well, you’re about to find out.

So please welcome Adam aboard! We are glad and lucky to have him!

They’re turning older F-16s into unmanned drones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24231077

Back in the early days of Stardock, style of dress and the way pictures were taken was very different.

Pictured from left to right:

Pat Ford (T-Man)

Angie Marshall (Karmagirl)

Me (Frogboy)

Kurt Westerfeld (lead developer of Object Desktop for OS/2)

Mike Duffy (lead developer of the Pear game library we used right into 2003)

Maurice Saylor (Sales manager)

Melanie Westerfeld

I can’t believe Fall is here.  I think I missed a month, at least!

So before everything has changed, I took some pictures.

Leaving work. 

 

We picked apples to make into Apple Sauce and Apple crisp. Delicious!

 

Backup Power Generator.

 

Solar Array.

Walls leading to house.

Polaris Ranger EVs. We use these to work with the apple trees and bee hives and garden area.

The woods.

 

Cute caterpillar climbing up a Walnut tree.

Bailey on the path.

Back yard.

 

Peeling apples.

Islamists in Kenya murder 39 at a shopping center after ordering Muslims out and screening them based on their knowledge of Islam.

Read the full thing here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2427892/Nairobi-mall-Gunmen-massacred-22-Kenyan-shopping-centre-targeted-non-Islamics.html

My raised garden! Right next to the house, broad day light!