It's certainly good to hear that someone is leaving of their own accord, on good terms with their former company and all that. There's been too much negative news lately what with Sierra's closing, etc. etc.

Good luck, Kenn.

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[No pixels were harmed in the making of this post.]

Anyone that had a hand in Hexen 2 deserves good wishes for his future!

not to mention Heretic 2. God I'd love to see a remake of that on the Doom 3 engine.

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Currently Playing - Joint Ops, UT2004, Soldner

...good luck and best wishes to you. Although you are part of the team, you have certainly been the figurehead for myself and, I would presume, many others. You have definitely made an effort to talk with and listen to the community - even being fairly nice about it when the community has not always been. I have very fond memories of Raven going back to its earliest games.

As I said, good luck. I hope you can make your way back to the gaming market, but here is to hoping you wildly succeed at whatever route you do end up taking. Well, unless it is food services again. (Just kidding ;P)

Do whatever the heck you want these days...but I would certainly be interested on reading a write up from you covering the gaming industry. It would not necessarily have to be the trashy kind, but just your general experiences, how it has changed, where you see it going, etc. Like I said, though, do whatever you want.

Good luck, chummer.

Having recently ended my job of seven year to go back to school,
Ray

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Yay, look at me! I am a terrorist and I have proven that I can be a total ass. Er...wait...
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&sub=ANF&id=ray_marden
I love you, mom.

like the man said, you guys are too kind..

kenn was just som joe- workin on a few lackluster games, and som of them nanaged to break even- profit wise...

hes nothin special...

just another joe-

Anyone that had a hand in Hexen 2 deserves good wishes for his future!

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Insert funny quote here

what are you geeks squawblin' bout? who givesa crap about damn 'star wars' okay, lol..

on whatever it is you're going to do. I can say, without a doubt, that you've been the absolute number one guy in the gaming industry with regards to how you treat your fans and your customers.

You made some damn fine levels back in the days too, not to mention some great manuals.

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. It won't be the same buying a Raven game and knowing you didn't work on it.

Creston

Who's gonna live THERE if they don't have to!?

http://www.garbage.com

And the staff of The Onion used to live there...

There is the theory of the moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop time becomes a loop time becomes a loop http://www.loopz.co.uk/

That's what happens with an abbreviated cycle.
Remember the big new Star Wars FPS was supposed to be Obi-Wan. LA totally screwed it up and cancelled the PC version. So they needed a SW FPS. I think it was the summer of '00 when Raven had just finished Elite Force and was putting the finishing touches on SoF that LA offered them the sequel to DF2:JK, with the catch that they had some 18 months. Fortunately they had the Q3A engine and the work they'd done with ST:EF and SoF to build on, so tech wise they just had sabers and Force powers to do.
The story and levels had less time to be created than they normally do and that's unfortunate.
JK:JA was then supposed to be an expansion for JK2 that was instead turned into a full game, but again only 18 months were alotted.

Don't condemn Raven for LA's restrictions. They did what they could with the time they had. Sure, JA didn't win any awards, but it was a SOLID game. Much better than most of the drek.


The Jedi Master

"Soldier of Fortune...THE MOVIE !

why do you people care?

cuz like K.H., a lot of us here are/were also heavily involved in the BiZzArRo world of commercial game dev and can 'relate' to wanting to move on and do something different or more important or more rewarding emotionally/financially.

Plus, Raven is located in Wisconsin for gawdsake! eew!
Who's gonna live THERE if they don't have to!?
(me = ex-Wisconsinite so I Know!)
This comment was edited on Jun 29, 16:33.

Yeah, I meant that 100% when it comes to a Star Wars licensed game. Look at KOTOR, Tie Fighter and even JK1 for example, all great stories. JK2 deserved a great story and really could have brought more sales IMO. Also, the unrealistic level design & puzzle solving kinda ruined some of the gameplay.

why do you people care? you need to gain some measure of perspective on your lives.

a guy who's been an integral part of our hobby for years is leaving to try something different. Not sure how wishing him luck is skewing anyones perspective.

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Currently Playing - Joint Ops, UT2004, Soldner

Does this mean we'll start seeing games with a good story from Raven?

Do you really mean that? I always point to the Raven classics--Heretic and Hexen--as perfect examples of games that don't need stories. I'm a fan of games with stories as much as the next guy but sometimes a story just gets in the way.

My big Raven beef has always been how they've turned completely away from original content to nothing but licensed franchises or being level monkeys for other companies' games, e.g., Quake 4. But, as Kenn himself once chided me for (correctly), when you're offered the chance to do Jedi Knight you don't turn it down.

wow have fun tryin to get someone to do the horizontal dance with you, ken

ahem- i mean screenwriting..

'khoekstra' was always a cheat code word that has always for some reason stuck in my mind. same as 'braffel'.

Yeah, and for some reason 'spispopd' is stuck in my brain forever too.
This comment was edited on Jun 29, 15:52.

why do you care that they care? i think you need some perspective... some people enjoy being sociable, some enjoy being anti-social... and i guess some just enjoy being dicks

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Give me slack. Or kill me.

why do you people care? you need to gain some measure of perspective on your lives.

Does this mean we'll start seeing games with a good story from Raven? All else is fine, its just the plots havn't always been tops IMO. Maybe they should hire a professional writer. Kudos for the JK2 series though!

Thanks for your work, Ken...I enjoyed your games

(yeah, yeah, I know it was team effort, blahblahblah...but it's Kenn who's leaving :)).

This comment was edited on Jun 29, 14:20.