Heh. Let me see if I can fix that. Will set a bookmark timer on this reply!
2 Likes
Hah, a new programming language and try to understand it
A feature added for no other reason than to draw management attention and be removed, thus avoiding unnecessary changes in other aspects of the product.
I donât know if I actually invented this term or not, but I am certainly not the originator of the story that spawned it.
This started as a piece of Interplay corporate lore. It was well known that producers (a game industry position, roughly equivalent to PMs) had to make a change to everything that was done. The assumption was that subconsciously they felt that if they didnât, they werenât adding value.
The artist working on the queen animations for Battle Chess was aware of this tendency, and came up with an innovative solution. He did the animations for the queen the way that he felt would be best, with one addition: he gave the queen a pet duck. He animated this duck through all of the queenâs animations, had it flapping around the corners. He also took great care to make sure that it never overlapped the âactualâ animation.
Eventually, it came time for the producer to review the animation set for the queen. The producer sat down and watched all of the animations. When they were done, he turned to the artist and said, âthat looks great. Just one thing - get rid of the duck.â
The above story is true except for a couple of details. I worked at Interplay at the time; this would have been 1989. Todd Camasta (who had indeed been the lead artist for Battle Chess) put in the duck, but it was in the NES game âTotal Recallâ. The duck was standing there on a Mars-scape screen â it may have been the gameâs final screen â and supposedly Brian Fargo did indeed look at it and say âLooks great â just get rid of the duck.â The duck served its purpose.
Scott Bieser, another longtime Interplay artist who also worked on the game, thinks the idea came from Troy Worrell (VP of development at the time) or Mike Quarles (a programmer on the project).
Bill Dugan
Interplay, 1989
1 Like
A lot of this stuff is great, but the sexist terms (âhooker code,â âmad girlfriend codeâ) are presented in a way that normalizes offensive language. I think the author should remove those entries from the list or at the very very least change the article so it doesnât normalize harmful stereotypes. These terms do not belong in modern places where software is made. I am offended by them. I donât want my niece to have to put up with this type of talk while she learns to code. The site is called âcoding horror,â but obviously people here love programming. Spread the love, donât perpetuate toxicity.
1 Like
Yes, thatâs a good point; this is an old article and I should put a disclaimer on those.
1 Like