Short version.
1. 1974 coded my first game on a dec , I believe PDP 4. 4k machine attached to a teletype.
2. 1982 Degree in Comp Sci and Math.
3. Became an EE designing electrical control systems for automation/robots/ conveyors/ any automated machine.
4. Started playing Air War some where around 1990.
5. Wrote some utilities for AW in way of an art editor and terrain editor.
6. Started playing with flight sim programing wrote a simulator for windows 3.1 that could be networked with modems to multiple people.
7. In 1994 ,partnered with two other players of AW, they supplied money, I supplied the coding to create Warbirds I was ceo of ICI.
8. 4 years later we merged ICI with Wild Bill's company IEN. At this time I lost control of WB and I was in charge of all online games.
9. 1 year later Wild Bill was doing many things that I knew would be the ultimite be the death of WB and the company so I bailed.
Pyro bailed the same day. After about 3 days of not working, became board and started on the clip board interface, an idea I wanted to try as a user interface.
10. Pyro and I started talking and decided to start a new company and create Aces High.
11. I hide in my apartment and write Aces High over the next 5 months.
12. For many years I compete with my previous self (felt like I had lost a child) to create a better game.
13. Tyrannis asked this question of how AH came to be.
HiTech
The key thing that is implied but not stated is HiTech had a PASSION for this, beyond what most people have, that drove him to create AH. Most people would have taken the money from the sale, and retired, traveled, whatever....
Its not the schooling, or anything else, sure, it helped a lot, but its the passion that fueled his drive and ultimately the games success.
now how/where did a 13~15 year old get access to a PDP?
