My pilgrimage to Mecca:
By Zatx Woopyoax

Recently I was giving the opportunity to travel to southern California and visit with the kind folks at Sigil Games. And I must say, a finer group of people you will not likely meet. Everyone treated me like I was just one of the team. It was very refreshing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I saw here blew me away.

The morning started off with meeting Cindy Bowens bright and early (well if 9:45am is early, but hey this is southern California after all). After ringing the doorbell I was greeted by Cindy with that "Which deranged lunatic game playing stalker are you?" look. After telling her who I was her expression changed (whew thank goodness).

Cindy gave me the grand tour of the offices before anyone arrived. They really have a great collection of Keith Parkinson's original artwork. That work should be in an Art Museum somewhere. There was also a lot of EverQuest box art around. The most prominent item in the office was the Ping-Pong table in the middle of the main office area.

It was a Monday morning, which I guess in Southern California, is Soccer day, so I had to wait for the team to start showing up. I did get to meet Martin Sweitzer (Msew) while I waited though. It seems that Msew has his own cave that he hides out in. His office was very dark, lit only by the screens of many monitors. I was afraid to go in and see more. /shiver

One by one the team started showing up. It was rather amusing to see their reactions to having a new face sitting in the office. They were only slightly sweaty and dirty though, so I wasn't able to ascertain how the game went. No Rock Star Games this time. I'm pretty sure it was just Sigil vs. Sigil. This is one office environment where a shower is a needed accessory. Lucky for me (and the rest) they just so happen to have one of these.

After meeting the guys (and gals!) Cindy took me around to their work areas, where I started to see the magic that they were producing. And when I say magic, I mean BIG FAT SIT ON YOUR LAP, SLAP YOU ON THE BACK HEAD, DRINK YOUR BEER, AND RUN OFF WITH YOUR WIFE MAGIC. I was just in awe. I caught Cindy looking at me out of the corner of my eye. She must have thought I looked pretty funny standing there with my mouth hanging open. I can only think of one word to describe what I saw.

Amazing.

And I was only seeing bits and pieces up till that point. I had yet to see the game environment, world map, and the fabled Design Document. On one screen I saw a "chair" being designed (hope that makes it passed the Sigil Censor). Now this was just your average chair, but do you think Sigil was just satisfied in plopping a "normal" chair into their game? Heck no. They had an Artist working on it. That's right, an Artist.

Let's talk about the artists for a moment. Before this visit I had always heard the term artist and never really gave it much thought. It was just a job that someone had. I am no longer of that opinion. These guys are simply incredible at what they do. I cannot think of enough words to describe their work. I had the chance to see a zone being created out of nothing, a chair being designed, zone objects and environments being built from the ground up. Thad Clevenger took the time to demonstrate how Keith Parkinson creates a sketch, hands it to him, and he sculpts it out of nothing into a finished NPC with emotions, textures, and character. It is an amazing process, and they are all amazing artists.

After visiting with everyone it was time to get down to business. Brad Mcquaid and Jeff Butler were firing up the PC with Project X loaded on it. Even after all this time and all these years playing online games these guys were like kids in a candy store. It was very apparent they are excited about the product they are creating. This enthusiasm is contagious. The entire team had it. I did not see the dreaded "Oh god when will work be over today" look on anyone's faces.

Ok now to describe Project X.
Oh that's right………….I can't.
I will say this though. There is a lot created in such a short amount of time.

During the demonstration I noticed that a crowd had started to form around us. The designers, artists, and programmers were all filtering over to our area. I'm not sure if they were there to see Project X or to see my reaction to their hard work. In case they missed my reaction I will give it here: BLOWN AWAY! That's right, blown away with the caps on. Simply amazing. If it sounds like I am repeating that too much, I'm not. I can't say it enough.

After the demonstration I got the chance to chat with Brad, Jeff and the others. It was a very inviting conversation where any and all of my questions were answered without hesitation. Nothing was being hidden. There was no conspiracy or dark marketing forces at play. It was just a conversation between gamers. Sure some of those in the conversation drove Ferraris, Vipers, and Porsches, but you couldn't tell. They were just regular people. Well not regular, but more normal than I ever imagined.

I must say that visiting this office was like going to a MENSA convention only without the snobbish attitudes. I have never met a more intelligent, generous, professional, and kind group of people. Jeff and Brad have done a great job of putting together the best in the industry.

On the long flight back my wife asked me to describe my visit to her, it took awhile for the words to form, but this is how I described it. My visit to Sigil was like visiting NASA when they were working to bring back a disabled Apollo mission. You had a team of people that were the best in their field working as hard as they could to accomplish a mission.

In this case the mission is different, but the dedication and attention to detail is the same.

It took about a week for me to be able to fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time after my visit. Every time I laid down it was like going to bed on Christmas Eve, knowing that Santa Claus was coming in the morning. Only this time it wasn't a fat guy in a red suit, this time there are no dreams of what toys await me in the morning.

This time visions of a Ranger in green armor, carrying a flaming sword haunt my dreams.

Thanks Sigil for the visit. I look forward to the next time I get to come out! (P.S.- Can I sleep on someone's couch next time? Gah So Cal. is expensive.)

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