Masters of BLOOD
Hail, traveler!
I'm compiling a history of the legendary company we know as maniasoft! It's called "Masters of BLOOD" (MOB), and I'll be releasing select chapters on this page as I finish perfecting them. It's important to remember that videogames are a young medium still, and we need to write the story down so that future generations can enjoy BOATH and BGOD as much as us!
Let me know if you find ANY inaccuracies in the text; I want it to be as historical as possible for when I take it to publishers sometime in the next 10 years or so (if it's ready by then).
"It’ll be done when it’s done"
Introduction
The "maniasoft" we know and love today was actually founded as "Bladderschelt & Bladderschelt" back in 1978. A pair of friends named Steve and Ray Bladderschelt (no relation) worked on scores of different arcade games and ports throughout the '70s and early '80s... but the Arcade Bust of 1983 decimated the industry and created hard times for the two founders. By 1990 they were relegated to making finance software just to keep the lights on, nearly turning their back on the dream!
It's 1992 when Kevin Kevinson arrives, and he has a famous story he tells about how "Bladderschelt & Bladderschelt" first became maniasoft:
So I get there, to the 'studio' y'know, and it's these two guys making spreadsheets in a basement! Just like 'tap tap tapping' at their keyboards on some kinda boring spreadsheet software they've got on the screen. And I'm like "Guys, I thought this was a game studio! Why are we making spreadsheets?"
Ray is like *Ray voice* "Well videogames are made out of spreadsheets KK" and I'm not hearing that at all, okay? I'm like "Listen: I don't know about you, but I came here to make videogames. Not spreadsheets."
So I literally go over and unplug Ray's goofy little computer, and I'm like "NO SPREADSHEETS, RAY!" and this guy... I swear, he gets sooo mad! He's like *Ray voice* "That's really unprofessional KK, I can't believe you did that" but I'm like "I can believe it Ray". Because in my head I know I'm about to do something incredible with this company. Something unprecedented. Something unmitigated... something manic! Y'know? And actually, that very same day is when we started "BLOOD OATH". (KK, Electric Playground)
The maniasoft team! 1997-04-28The idea for BOATH came to Kevinson all at once, in the moments he first laid eyes on an old prototype the Bladderschelts has stashed away on a company hard drive. It was a simulated fantasy world, with dragons that really laid eggs and villages that grew in real time. This was a good place to start, Kevinson could see, but it was missing something critical. Says KK:
Ray is showing me this prototype they made called "Dragon Lands", and he's going on and on about how you can talk to the different monsters in the game. And I'm just laughing cuz like, this guy can't see the opportunity he has in front of him! I'm like "Ray, c'mon! Gamers don't care about going around forming little alliances between wyverns and squirrels. Y'know what gamers really want, deep down? It's obvious. They wanna BE the monster."
So I point at a little vampire guy on the screen and I'm like "I wanna be him, Ray. Make me him!" and y'know it kinda takes Ray forever to do things sometimes, but like... a few HOURS later, he's finally showing me a build where I can play as the vampire guy and use all his abilities.
I knew right away that I'd fixed this game because the new build is actually SO fuckin' cool. I'm taking my little vampire guy from town to town, stealing characters' experience levels as they're sleeping, and then stealthing out of there so the townies all blame each other after they wake up! And there's actually this cool glitch where my dude is growing one new arm for every level I steal, so it's like every action has a cost! That's real dramatic storytelling, y'know what I mean? That's the future of videogames right there. Within seconds of seeing this build I knew for sure that "Dragon Lands" was destined to become "BLOOD OATH". (KK, Electric Playground)