As always. . . . here comes the Hypothermia funny story that precedes  damn near every interview I do. Being a fan of the whole Blair Witch phenomenon, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the games to play.... even more eager to interview part of the development team that brought us these cool MoFo games built on the Nocturne engine ( another cool ass game . . .). 

I shoot of my standard begging **ahem** request letter, asking for an interview. Josh agreed to the interview, I start out my standard research, every time I turn around, I'm getting JON GALLOWAY working on BLAIR WITCH. . WTF. Man, I coulda swore the guys name was "JOSH" GALLOWAY and he's working on the Blair Witch games. Hmmm, it says PRODUCER for Blair Witch... hey, this says he works for GoD, but this one says Ritual. Now I am really confused...the answer??

. . . . Twin brothers, both Producers for separate Blair Witch Titles at different companies. Who'da thunk?? Damn, that's a Blair Witch episode all by itself ;^)

1.) How'd you get started in the Game Making Game?? Really. . . we're talking two Game Dudes from one family ( you and your brother ) working for two of the industries top companies…how the hell does that work?? Who was / is your inspiration.

I started out as a tester at GT Interactive in SLC, Utah. 

My twin brother Jon was working down here (Dallas) for Parsoft (Ron Dimant) and came back to SLC to work for Singletrac Studios, which had recently been acquired by GT. I was going to school getting my CIS degree and would visit the Singletrac / GT office quite a bit. After a short time they offered me a position testing games. 

In January of this year Jon came back to Dallas to work as the project lead on BW3, published by the Gathering and got to know the gang over here. In May, Infogrames decided to close the GT office in SLC. After working there for a couple of years I already knew what I wanted to do for years to come. My last day at GT was scheduled for May 31st. I couldn't afford a plane ticket knowing that pretty soon I might not have an income. So some of the GT gang and I pitched in and rented a Durango. We drove all the way from SLC to LA for E3 that month with the intention of finding new jobs. We blew most of our money in Vegas on the way down, so we ended up sleeping in the car and wherever someone was nice enough to lend us the floor in their hotel rooms. The first day of the show I met Jon at "the Promised lot" and he introduced me to Mike Wilson and Harry Miller. My first day at the Gathering was June 6th.

My biggest inspiration in the game industry has always been my twin brother Jon. He started doing this long before me. Once he started working in the industry I knew that's what I wanted to do also. 

2.) Most of the time, companies HYPE a game, leading to large expectations, which lead to an enormous amount of pressure to produce a great game… You, by the same token, started out with The Blair Witch name and having to live up to it, what was that like??

There was definitely a lot of hype behind the movie(s). A lot of people didn't see how we could make 3, let alone 1 game with the BW license. But I think we did great. The developers were great to work with and each produced a game that really adds to the BW name. 

3.) People you admire in the industry. ( feel free to include John Carmack. . . everyone else did!!! )

Levelord - If you don't read his .plan file you should, it's great. .
Epic - UT is definitely one of the best games I have played.
Independent Game developers
Tim Hess - The first guy I knew personally that made it out of testing hell and into a gaming career. All you testers out there, there is always hope.
Mike Wilson and Harry Miller. How many people in the industry have been able to successfully create a viable alternative to companies like EA? Not to mention without them I may have ended up stuck in Utah working for pointclick.com
Serious Sam - Croatians Rock!

And drum rolls please … John Carmack - don't know him personally. But the first real LAN party I ever went to was to play QUAKE the night it came out, not necessarily #1 on my list of nights that changed my life, but it was definitely one I won't forget.

Sorry, did you only want one? 

4.) What's the most annoying thing to deal with as a Game Making Guru.

Girlfriends that don't think I have a real job. 
Being told to "grow up". 
WWF wrestling games. 
Not having enough time to play all of the games that I really want to play.

Oh yeah and I am so sick of people emailing me and telling me they have this game design for a persistent world MMORPG where you can "do anything".

Seriously I hate dealing with "bad" developers, and I hate feeling like I am bugging the good ones. But that's life. 

5.)You just finished a big project, 3 games all interconnected, all made on the same Blair Witch license… was there much coordinating with the other teams??

You really should ask Jon about this. But yes there was quite a bit of coordination. All three games were developed with the Nocturne engine from Terminal Reality who did BW1. And they all worked with the makers of the films on the storylines and the myths and legends behind the Blair Witch. 

6.)If you could BE anyone's sidekick in the industry. . . . who's sidekick would you be an why?? ( Jeff "Smitty" Smith would be my choice…but he never returns my calls! ! ! )

I would be Jeff's sidekick also. Jeff is a cool guy, he knows everybody and he really knows how to have good time.

But actually Jon and I would make pretty good sidekicks. Together I think we could really make some kick ass games.

7.)One of the biggest strengths of the Nocturne Engine is the amazing graphics, at the same time, what went into the decision process in choosing the Engine??

I wasn't here when the whole BW deal was signed and set up. But I think the idea behind the games was to create some great adventures surrounding the myth of the Blair Witch. Nocturne was a great horror game, so the engine lent itself naturally to the type of games we wanted to create for the license.

8.) Drink of Choice

kamikaze shots

9.) Tunes of Choice

U2 has been a favorite of mine since Highschool. I love Jazz also, I played lead Tenor sax in a Jazz band during HS. 

10.) Babe of Choice 

The girls in our new 2001 calendar are HOT, you'll have to wait and see. I couldn't choose just one. I also have a girlfriend, Kathryn. She's very hot too. 

11.) Super Car yet?? I know many people in the industry drive Soopa Carz, what does the parking lot outside look like?? Who is driving what? Really. . . .

My super car is a red racing tuned dodge neon with silver racing stripes. Exciting huh! My dream car is an Acura NSX.

Nothing too Soopa, I see a couple of Mustangs, one's a convertible. I see a lot of those down here though. There's an eclipse, looks nice. Then there's Smitty, he drives a big badass black Ford Expidition. You don't see many of those down here. 

12.) What are you working on right now??? Anything super top secret??and can I have some screenshots??

We're working on tons of stuff right now. We have over ten titles coming out over the next year. The biggest thing going right now is our recent acquisition of Duke Nukem Forever. Sorry no new screen shots yet. Nothing too top secret. Let's just say that own lineup for E3 this year will blow everyone away.

13.) Your relatively young. . . does it work in your favor??

Of course. I don't have to worry about having too many things in my life that would keep me from working hard and getting the job done. 

( **note** we are going to pretend that is NOT a toilet in the background ;^)

14.) If you could put together the DREAM TEAM to make a game. . . who is on it?? 

Me -producer
Jon Galloway - Project Manager / Art Director
Chris Stockman - Game Design 
Levelord - Levelord!!!
Brian Hook - Technical Design

And many others. I have a lot of friends out there in the industry. They are all very talented, and love what they are doing.

and the bonus question

Since we have been friends for years and hang out at all them "Twins Conventions" trying to pick up chicks, please tell my readers a little something they may not know. . . .

I didn't know you had a twin ;) I think that they only allow twins (and other multiple births) into twin conventions. I hope I see the Dahm Triplets at the next one.

Here is something that many people might not know. A recent study stated that many left-handed people (single birth) are actually a "mirror twin" whose other half died or failed to develop before birth. How's that?

As always a big huge thanks goes out to Josh for the interview. It doesn't stop there though. . . Josh being cool as hell shipped me a couple complete Blair Witch packs containing ALL 3 Blair Witch games for a giveaway. Damn...

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