Since I recently took the time to make fun of my early writing efforts, I thought I would extend that courtesy to my very first non-fiction writing sale.
Back in 2000, I sold a short blurb about a local tech company (which entirely by coincidence happened to be owned by a good friend of mine) to the weekly newspaper of Madison. I won’t make you read the whole thing, but here’s the introductory paragraphs:
| Quote: |
| In recent years, the computer-gaming industry has become a production-line affair. The marketplace has mandated that a computer-gaming company employ dozens of programmers and graphic artists. The consumer has come to expect production quality on par with a Hollywood movie. Gone are the days when a dedicated programmer with imagination and intellect can write a game in his basement, and fascinate millions.
Dan Bradley and Tom Hehre, two physics graduates, wanted to change things back, so they moved to Madison and formed Dantom.com International. Their first project simplifies network programming. Called BYOND, it allows a user to make a chat program in two lines of code, or less, or write multi-user games without having a degree in computer science. And in true anti-corporate, Madison style, they have made the entire system free. |
I can’t believe that sold. The intro is like an eighth grade social-studies paper. Toward the climax to the article, I added the developers’ pie-in-the-sky dreaming:
| Quote: |
| "BYOND contains the potential to support an online currency, which eventually could be used for transactions between users." |
This article went to print about a week before Paypal put the kibosh on all that online-currency talk.
I bring this all up now, because BYOND is still chugging away, eight years later, and seems to have a thriving online community of users. I’m told that most of the success can be credited to DragonBallZ fans who have a related game for the BYOND engine.
If I had time to play games, I would totally check it out.
