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Learn how discovering illegal activity by executives at Electronic Arts resulted in a funded Startup and handsome contracts. See how ‘Dark Paths’ often lead to reward and success.
In contrast – hear the story of an environmentally conscious young Richard in his childhood cleaning the environment literally one recyclable can at a time…
And – hear how his environmental actions were his inspiration for Atari Tengen’s mascot and corresponding video game.
And finally – hear about lawsuits and litigation against Atari Games and Gawd:Seaborne…
Hear tales of the early console wars for what video game platform would be ‘the best’ for consumers and profit.
Learn about the unethical leadership of early Sega of America as it was formed, and how they hired illegal Lithuanian ‘indentured servant slaves’ to develop video games for the Sega Genesis.
Hear the tale of the hubris and conceit of Mark Cearney and his role with early Sega of America.
Listen to the downfall of Sega…
And – listen to the rise of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) and the PlayStation.
Learn about the launch of Xbox – and of its Billion Dollar ‘Red Ring of Death’…
Hear about the downfall of computer game maker Accolade, following non-game executives taking over.
Learn how unqualified people steal jobs from qualified people.
Listen to the tale of Mindscape and Chessmaster.
Situation Ethics are front and center – showcasing how people are mere ‘tools’ to some people.
See how Mindscape’s ‘low integrity’ spineless layoff technique backfired with fear and danger.
Hear the story of forming contract company Karma Entertainment.
Learn about Alter Ego companies and how Incorporation cannot protect an them.
Listen to Karma’s first games and how they used 3DFX Voodoo & Banshee and Direct3D 3D Rendering technologies, and how software was able to reliably fry and destroy 3D video cards.
Learn why its critically important to ‘Master Your Boat Controls’ before setting course, much less start a project or task.
See how Panzer General 3D struggled and failed.
Burned out from the relentless demands of Karme Entertainment and its difficulties, Richard had to seek a multitude of paths to income.
Despite his personal cash problems, he faithfully sent money for his children despite believing much it was not spent on them.
He found himself on formal unemployment for the first time in his life.
Richard had to juggle life and find work…
…all the while – Richard felt he had become “Daddy ATM” with his primary purpose being to dispense cash on demand.
Tragedy befalls Richard as he crashes riding his motorcycle on the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge.
Orderly chaos follows as paramedics and emergency responders are on the scene promptly – shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge entirely.
Hear the tale of Richard’s tragic accident on Christmas Eve…
Richard suffered dental damage from his recent motorcycle accident, requiring extensive time with dentists.
Still recovering from the motorcycle accident and dental work, Richard’s brain swells inexplicably, and he is diagnosed to die.
Hear the story of how a tortilla chip reversed everything, and saved Richard’s life…
Rare times is it that a cliché ‘casting couch’ has been said to be used on men, but Richard was one of those ‘lucky’ men. Learn what happened with Richard and his Casting Couch interview.
Hear the tale of Richard joining Interplay in Southern California.
Richard shares stories of Brian Fargo, Fargo’s Personal Trainers, Club Rubber, and quirky experiences at Interplay.
Learn about Richard’s experience working with Music Producer Brian Christian.
See Richard stand up for his fellow employees against ‘The Man’ – Executive Management…
Richard shares stories when he was the U.S. Technical Director for all Titus Interactive games in North America.
He recounts tales of Robocop, Barbarian, Ricochet Rick, and Titus Interactive shafting them and the staff including Richard.
Hear how a maverick California Labor Board deputy roped in international aloof Titus Interactive founders and owners – The Caen Brothers.
Richard concludes with his insight on the risks & rewards of contracting versus being an employee.
Hear how Richard reverse engineered the DVD Video platform, and crafted a development tool suite for interactive DVD games supporting up to four players,
Richard shares how he and his wife developed prototype demos for trivia and educational games, and how Hasbro, Mattel, Leap Frog, and Disney all stole the concept and replicated the tech over time… stealing the idea, opportunity, and reward from Richard and his wife.
Hear how Richard came to terms with all that happened…
Hear Richard’s meandering tale of personal hubris as he narrates his journey from unemployment to hiring into Electronic Arts in Canada – traditionally called EA Sports.
Listen to Richard’s tangent flashforward to when he joined Xbox Microsoft Studios and his frustration with its culture of safety over innovation and politics over delivery.
Richard shares his extensive interview circuit tale with Distinctive Software (therefore EA Sports) co-founder Warren Wall, Dave McCarthy, Tony Lan, and Dan Kennett.
Hear how Richard was described as relentless, like a Terminator.
Learn how Richard met John Schappert – and how John called Richard boisterously as “Mr. Seaborne” whenever they met.
Richard shares his views on healthy iteration vs addiction to iteration.
Listen to his views on being an empowering manager.
Richard notes the value of formally defining What Good and Done Look Like, What Matters Most, and more.
Hear the legendary battle of Mind over Body (Tony Lam) versus Jock Body (Dave McCarthy) – a race with John Schappert presiding with a Megaphone.
Richard recalls ‘old school’ game design tenants and principles…
He talks of fundamental differing design strategies between Japanese and American-European design approaches.
Listen to Richard regret the power Publishers have over game design and quality…
Richard shares more stories working with Technical Directors, Art Directors, CG Supervisors (AKA CG Sups), and more.
Learn how deeply John Schappert loves ‘old school’ retro video games – and thusly – loves emulators.
Hear the tales of moving to and living in Canada.
Learn why Vancouver fires a cannon every day.
Richard shares experiences with a vehicle break-in, horse-drawn carriage, and Snowmageddon.
Listen to the stories of Alban Wood and Gaz Iqbal – and the dynamic duo’s Wireless Act.
Hear stories of Electronic Arts in Canada - , EA Worldwide, EAC EA Sports, EAX Blackbox, …
Learn about multi-story ‘Tree of EA’ in the center of the top floors of the Vancouver Downtown Price Water House skyscraper.
Listen to tales of Richard and Alban Wood, their ‘Terrace Talks’ high above Vancouver, and some of their misadventures.
Richard shares tales of moving teams to different buildings throughout his career, noting the importance of assigning space planning leaders – Space Captains and Space Cadets.
Richard shares tales of his commute through the down & out tenderloin of Vancouver – Hastings Street where legal Heroin Clinics operated…
Richard recounts the ever-present conflict and jealousy Electronic Arts studios worldwide had with EA Fusion.
He shares how it felt often like it was “EA Fusion vs. EA World”.
Richard details how Fusion was better at hiring, judicious at firing, very profitable, self-learning, and innovative.
See how EA Fusion growing and thriving…
Hear dark tales of international ‘slush funds’ and ‘regional liaisons’ that dealt with local even illicit – illegal matters.
Listen to an extreme example story of international marketing gone awry… in Russia.
Richard enumerates what he looks for during an international tour where visited many potential contract game development and art & animation companies
He notes how he’d traveled over a million miles in support of his job…
And - he shares how he encountered vastly diverse and different laws and cultures…
Richard tells the story of he and his colleague Mike Crump visiting an art studio called Virtuos, based in Shanghai China.
He shares his Shanghai adventure - from the smiley face buttons at the airport, after automated ‘health fever detectors’…
…and - on to his hotel with warnings of oppressive Big Brother watching whatever he does in person or on the Internet.… so behave!
Hear Richard’s delve into the dark underbelly of China’s knockoff shops and underworld black market.
Listen to tourist tales of Silk Factories and Capitalist Wealthy Shops.
There is so much to hear in this episode…
Richard summarizes the dominating cultures and corresponding attitudes that he has seen across the globe during his travels – Philanthropic & Generous, Struggling & Desperate, and Victim or Conqueror (sometimes a combination of them).
He shares his observations on how government and culture greatly influence work ethic, progress, and innovation.
Hear how a contract-giver should define the work to be done, but not define how it should be done; whereas the contract-taker should define how work should be done, but not define what must be done.
Learn about core culture, fringe culture, and counterculture.
Listen to Richard share his experience working with a company called Nikitova in Kiev, Ukraine, where he worked with an allegedly former KGB operative…
Learn how 3 out of 10 people can destroy a team and project, and ruin careers.
Hear how Richard was given the nickname of “Crispy Heart”.
And – hear the tale of The Mobster Dinner in Kiev, Ukraine…
Richard shares numerous tales and tidbits from his time working at Electronic Arts Canada EA Fusion Division, from experiences to its extravagant facilities.
EA Sports Active earns Guiness Book of World Records entry.
Hear about “Ridin’ Dirty’ with FIFA.
Learn about EA Sports Active and its peripheral development, including adventures in Hong Kong.
Richard is knocked unconscious ‘in the line of duty’…
Learn about EA’s Big Picture and Bigger Picture Theaters integrated as ‘meeting rooms’ in Electronic Arts Canada.
Hear the tale of how Richard was mocked in a Christmas party for being a genius that few understood because ‘he knew everything’ and ‘people could not absorb or understand because his words and ideas were too complex and he said them too fast”.
Richard is judged as elitist because of his Meritocracy-based Mentor Program called “Top for the Top” that paired top talent veterans with rising star staff.
Listen to Richard’s ‘Hiring Broken Toys’ philosophy.
Hear Richard literally question, “Do you know who I am!?”
Richard shares his experience interviewing with EA-Los Angeles.
Canadian Healthcare discovers Richard is Type II Diabetic through immigration screening.
Richard shares details about the good and bad of Canadian Healthcare…
Canadian Healthcare is not what it’s advertised as being… it’s great at emergency care, okay at daily care, terrible at preventive care…
Richard recounts his crazy Canadian health ride… he was knocked unconscious at work, hospitalized for H1N1 Swine Flu, had surgery for Nose & Eye Socket Basal Cell Carcinomas, and underwent angioplasty heart surgery to treat a heart attack.
Richard prepares for the potential of a heart attack when traveling abroad, especially to countries with low quality medical care.
It is after his readiness and even the tour – that Richard has a full-on heart attack… right during the TV Show Dexter.
Hear the tale that even after Richard had a life-threatening heart attack, the hospital resisted the notion that he could have had a heart attack because of his age. And yet – he had a heart attack despite their doubting him.
“One of these things is not like the others…” – Richard was possibly the youngest heart-surgery patient in the queue …
Richard shares some of his thoughts on The Path to Success.
He suggests personal brand and image has more effect on success and promotion than it should…
He shares many concepts like dressing and appearing as the next level you want to be promoted to.
Richard shares numerous ideas to aid the path to success…
Richard shares that success, promotions, bonuses, stock grants… all come from perceived success that is supported by ‘higher up’ champions.
He notes that one anti-champion can undermine and torpedo any promotion or recognition no matter well it is deserved.
Hear how EA Fusion was structured with huge central resource and expert and support teams, to support many smaller core game development teams. Learn how central expert teams provided resources to scale and to audit & aid game teams.
Richard notes how EA Canada leadership outside of EA Fusion eroded and destroyed Fusion out of jealousy and to take its technology, products, and staff willing to remain.
Learn the Three Reasons People Fail.
Hear about the Road to 85 headcount and the Road to 85 Metacritic (minimum).
Richard shares how important it is to remain relevant and current – in skills and knowledge.
He shares how people tend to leave problems when they should focus pursuing opportunities. Running from problems often only delays or displaces them.
Sycophants and lesser-talent people hide in the ‘fat folds’ of big teams- and describe *WE* finished a task vs *I* finished the task.
There is always a Bag of C!&P between each person – avoid putting more ‘stuff’ in other people’s ‘bags’…
People overestimate what they can accomplish in one year, but they underestimate what they can accomplish in three years.
In scheduling and delivery – you cannot lose a week in a day.
Define yourself through one or two Superpowers or Mega Strengths.
Un-great people use Bravado to hide their inabilities.
It’s unfair to ask someone to do something they cannot do.
Endure, outlive, and outlast… become in charge. Assess how long – or if – an incompetent manager or executive will be in power. Waiting for their departure will open a chain of promotion opportunities… if you can wait.
Introduce ‘lame duck’ known flaws so executives can feel good about finding them and contributing.
Promotability depends on real talent and perceived talent.
Define your brand and live by it.
Don’t fret about making the right decisions, make your decisions right.
Use the ‘Bow Wow’ Test with your pet – to find a problem in an idea or in source code…
Richard recounts his struggles writing and publishing The Blackjack Wiz on iPhone, iPad, Android Phone, Tablet & TV, and PC Windows.
Richard concludes that he had to abandon Blackjack Wiz - and with it, abandon his career.
Hear about the Power of First Name executives and leaders.
Richard sets the narrative with ‘Rising Fusion’ for the next series of episodes being about techniques and methodologies in due diligence and software development.
Richard shares his views on ‘the four stages of development’.
He explains how Xbox Fitness used scheduled releases called ‘Trains’ – as the ‘trains’ had a fixed schedule for when they would leave the Xbox Fitness Cloud Station and deploy to consumers.
Identify and Research Opportunities.
Define Market Demographics and Psychographics.
Define Product Differentiating Strengths and Competitors.
List Risks, Threats, and Mitigations.
Define Key Staff and Decision Makers.
Focus Group and Prototype and Validate.
Leverage Tech, Tools, Assets, Partnerships - Avoid Not Invented Here Syndrome.
Prototype Early, Prototype Often.
Build Proof of Concept Product-Service Experience – And Focus Group Test It.
Integrate Automated Testing.
Focus Group Test, Iterate Final Product to Achieve High Functionality & Polish.
Taking Fun and Making Games Seriously – As Serious Business. Making Games Takes A Lot – to Create Your Dream Game.
Business is Not University: Business Is About Making Products, Researching, or Offering Services.
Everyone Else Pays For Your Education At Work.
It Is Incumbent On Everyone to Learn Within the Scope of Normal Duties.
Revisions In Force (RIFs), Layoffs Can Jettison ‘Dead Weight’ and Mismatched Staff.
Adventures of Rick Liberty & Hell Difficulty Saga
Texas, United States
Adventures of Rick Liberty, The Hell Difficulty Saga, AI Demystified, Tech Zone, The Liberty Zone, Lessons & Insights from The Video Game Industry Book Series are Copyright © 2024 RICHARD SEABORNE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Contact RickLiberty@Sea-Rocks.com
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