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The Making of BEM
Grinning Lizard and BEM 1993-1996

In 1993 I was graduating from VA Tech and had already been accepted to graduate school (including Berkeley, where I later attended.) Bill and I had been toying around with the idea of writing a video game for some time, but I believed it was too large a project to do in spare time. So the idea of starting a programming company was hatched; we would write a game and deliver pizza (or something) in our spare time to make money.

It was just too cool. I delayed graduate school, Bill moved back to Blacksburg VA, and Chameleon Software was formed. (About a year later I took over ownership and the name became Grinning Lizard Software. The Grinning Lizard had been Chameleon Software's mascot, and we liked the name better anyway.)

I did various jobs, including graphic art/design work for the Engineering Science Department at VA Tech and on-sight support and installation, until a mutual friend (Steve) introduced us to Rhintek, Inc. in Maryland. They hired us as part-time programmers which was much better than pizza delivery. We switched to OS/2 and redesigned the video game.

Then I worked and worked....I knew writing the game would be a massive project, but I had no idea how huge it would become. It was wonderful work, though. There were problems of every kind: design, mathematics, programming challenges, art, sound, music, and (the sometimes daunting) debugging. And of course you're always learning new things and trying to figure out how other people do their tricks.

Some highlights of the days of work:

The problem, that would eventually do in Grinning Lizard, is that I have bilateral ulna nerve compressions. (Yes, that's kind of like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.) So I have to use typists to program. I was very lucky, actually. Everyone who did typing for me knew at least basic level programming, or more, and some really wonderful work came out of that collaboration. But it limited my time, soaked up money, and was emotionally difficult.

Despite surgery and conservative treatment (at John's Hopkins) the problem was never resolved and continues to plague me to this day. (Although voice recognition is beginning to change things.)

I don't give up, even sometimes when I should, and with the help of some CS students from VA Tech and Rhintek (who had bought the game) the project carried on. The BEM alpha became available March 1, 1996. "BEM: It Crawled from the Net", the prequal to "Bug Eyed Monsters from Outer Space," was released in June 1996.

As the largest and most time-consuming project I have ever personally tackled, it is difficult to express the joy and sense on accomplishment resulting from its release.

On the other hand, in something less than flying good luck, this was about the time most OS/2 companies dropped out of the market or went out of business. I still remember feeling sad when the company that threw the really cool vampire party in New Orleans went under. OS/2's days were ending as a consumer operating system.

Basically BEM wasn't making enough money to fund the completion of "Outer Space." Which is too bad. It was intended to be an action/strategy game with "space marine" units capable of independent action, adaptive AI, and strategic as well as squad-level play. I've always been a little frustrated with "It Crawled from the Net" since BEM was never meant to be a pure action game.

So out of cash and planning to return to graduate school, I spent the summer of 1996 doing something I had always wanted to do: teach swimming. Then off to California....

Who's who in Grinning Lizard:

To Rhintek I owe the greatest thanks. They are wonderful and talented people who made the project possible and contributed to its completion.

BEM: Bug Eyed Monsters from Outer Space is Copyright 1993-1997 Lee Thomason/Grinning Lizard Software. All Rights Reserved.

I'M MAD. YOU'RE MAD. WE'RE ALL MAD HERE.