This is the first interview preserved from the Madgear website.
[Image PF Changs]
Team Hydro. Taken at P.F. Changs in San Diego, CA on the completion of Hydro Thunder. Top row from left: Gary Carbonel, Steve Ranck, Scott Goffman, Mike Starich, Andy Wilson. Bottom row from left: Orpheus Hanley, Dale Henderscheid, Brian Silva, Eric Browning. Not shown: Scott Patterson, Steve Kramer and John Stookey.
1. Let’s have your name.
(see #2).
2. What position did you have in creating Hydro Thunder?
Steve Ranck – Lead Programmer / Project Lead
Eric Browning – Lead Artist
Mike Starich – Programmer
Scott Goffman – Lead 3D Artist
Brian Silva – Artist
Dale Henderscheid – Artist
Gary Carbonel – Artist
Andy Wilson – Artist
Orpheus Hanley – Music and Sound
3. What experience did you have with games before Hydro Thunder?
Steve – I’ve been designing and building games since I was a boy.
Eric – Came from Visual Concepts Entertainment in San Rafael, CA., Worked on John Madden Football for SNES and Genesis ’94-’95 and the ill-fated ’96 Playstation version. Before that, Clayfighter and a variety of SNES flops. My final project there was the original “Floigan Brothers” design with Brian Silva, who is also on the Hydro team.
Mike – Previous game (a puzzle game), Lose Your Marbles for Win95.
Scott – Mechwarrior 2 (intro & exit movies, wrapper art, cover art), Zork: Nemesis (intro movie, in-game art).
Dale – Some SNES and PSX.
Gary – Hydro Thunder is actually the first game I’ve worked on.
Andy – Worked as one of three artists on DOOM64, and a large portion of designing Troy Aikman Football for Super NES, and Sega Genisis.
4. What type of education did you get before joining Midway?
Steve – BSEE from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Eric – BA in Illustration from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.
Mike – Degree in Mathematics from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Scott – A Film degree from UCSB.
Dale – Art school.
Gary – I received my degree in Product design at Art Center in Pasadena. Watching sci-fi films (Aliens, Star Wars, etc.) really educated me in what the current trends are in entertainment design.
Andy – Honor graduate from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.
[Image Sega Daytona Racing]
Sega’s Daytona racing series helped inspire the development of Hydro Thunder
5. Is this the first project the team is working on?
Steve – Yes. Looks like there’ll be more, though.
6. What games inspired the development of Hydro Thunder?
Steve – Sega’s Daytona.
7. What are your favorite games, for the PC, arcade or console?
Steve – PC: Team Fortress Classic, Half-Life; ARCADE: Hydro Thunder (really… no BS); CONSOLE: Zelda 64.
Eric – I love Zelda in all it’s incarnations, Earthworm Jim, Skullmonkeys, Grim Fandango are a few favs. Metal Gear Solid I like but am stuck with that nasty Sniper Wolf.
Mike – I enjoy mainly console titles, with the Crash Bandicoot series ranking as my favorite game of recent time.
Scott – Half-Life (PC), Virtua Cop 2, Time Crisis II (arcade).
Dale – Half-life, Cycles for SGI.
Gary – I really enjoy playing Team Fortress on the PC. For the arcade, I enjoy shooters (House of the Dead 1 and 2, and Time Crisis).
Andy – For PC I would have to say any flight simulator that holds my attention for more than an hour is a favorite. In terms of arcade… Hydro Thunder (of course), House Of The Dead, and a small handfull of cabinets from the seventies and eighties. Console… Abe’s Oddworld is well crafted, Star Fox 64, and Earth Worm Jim, are just a few favorites.
8. How many hours did you put into creating Hydro Thunder?
Steve – Some of us put in as many as 15 hours a day for two years straight. Weekends excluded (which is why we’re still alive).
9. The reviews for Hydro Thunder have been favorable in many print and online magazines. How are you taking the publicity?
Steve – It’s definitely a cool thing. But more rewarding than the press is all the emails we get from Hydro Thunder players around the world telling us how much they enjoy the game. Sounds cheesy, but it’s true. It makes it worth the hard work.
10. What other hobbies do you have aside from videogaming?
Steve – SCI-FI movies and novels, taking apart and studying anything technical, dreaming up a better world.
Eric – Designing characters, playing with my 10 month old daughter Raelyn, making fun of my dogs.
Scott – ‘Gator wrasslin.
Dale – Taxidermy.
Gary – I love to write short stories, play guitar and sing, sketch, work out, and practice martial arts.
Andy – My hobbies… Bass fishing, bass fishing and bass fishing.
11. What was your funniest moment when creating Hydro Thunder?
Steve – The 1998 Midway 4th of July party.
Eric – Either “SWEET JESUS!!” or “GO GO GO WE’RE FOLLOWING YOU!!” You had to be there.
Scott – When Dale went postal and tried to kill us all. Hilarity ensued.
Dale – There were some wacky moments adjusting ramp collision.
Gary – I work with a really goofy team so everyday had funny moments, but, I would have to say the funniest moment was the day we came up with Chum Dinger.
Andy – Funiest moment… almost all moments.
12. What one thing are you proud of in Hydro Thunder that you helped create?
Steve – If I had to pick just one thing it would have to be my SCLFX game engine.
Eric – The cabinet art, it’s something I always wanted to do. Also, the church in Venice I’m proud of. The Cabinet art.
Mike – The networking (multiplayer) code.
Scott – The hidden “Nude Lara Croft” in the New York track.
Dale – Those little pointy things in Nile.
Gary – I am really pleased with the Far East track.
Andy – Boat texture maps.
13. During the long hours of production did the team ever loose its cool?
Steve – Sure. One guy even quit. But the rest of us really work well together and form a strong team.
14. What type of research did you do while making the game?
Steve – The team took a trip to Mission Bay in San Diego, CA to watch the Hydro races. We got pit passes and took tons of pictures and Orpheus recorded engine sounds. We’ll have to do more “research” for future games, I’m sure.
15. What little or big details are you glad you created in the game?
Steve – The engine’s lighting and water effects really give Hydro a unique, high-quality look.
Eric – The logo.
Scott – The polar bear animations in Arctic, the sharks in Ship Graveyard.
Gary – I love the animating vultures on the Nile track.
Andy – The creature at the end of Nile, the spinning torture room textures, and looks of the boats.
16. What one thing do you wish you could have added to the game?
Steve – 3D wakes behind the boats. I had them working at one point, but we didn’t have the horsepower to keep them in and still do everything else we wanted to do.
Mike – A better Mighty Hull effect, we just ran out of time.
Scott – A better cabinet.
Dale – A small black ape in one of the tracks.
Gary – I wish I could’ve designed another secret boat.
Andy – More fantasy.
[Zelda image]
Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a favorite with team Hydro members
17. During development were there gameplay mechanics that didn’t make it into the final version?
Steve – Not really. There were definitely things that we wanted to add that didn’t make it, but none really revolved around gameplay. With the exception of MightyHull, gameplay ended up being as we always had intended it to be. I added MightyHull about 5 or 6 months before we shipped the game. It wasn’t part of the original design.
18. From original idea to the finished product, how long did it take to create Hydro Thunder?
Steve – 2 years for some of us, a little less for most.
19. Do you have any input for the console conversions of Hydro Thunder?
Steve – The team reviews the conversions from time to time to comment on quality compared to the arcade version. That’s about it.
20. Will there be a sequel to Hydro Thunder?
Steve – Maybe. Do you want one? What would you add?