Robotech: Crystal Dreams N64

NOTE: this page was originally written when I first set up my webpage, while we were still working on R:CD... I decided to leave it as-is, rather than try to update it after Gametek died.

My connection to Robotech goes back to the original cartoon series that came out in 1985. The cartoon was based on three separate Japanese series, which had been strung together and re-written to match the American requirement for at least 65 episodes. What started out as a vehicle to get the popular Japanese cartoon series "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross" onto American television became a cult hit that has endured for over a decade and helped create the current interest in Japanese anime worldwide.

I first saw Robotech while visiting my father in Dallas, Texas one summer. I have always been a cartoon nut, so I watched afternoon cartoons with my much younger sisters. One day I was flipping through channels, and I stumbled across Robotech. For the rest of my stay in Dallas, my sisters had to find a different TV to watch "Care Bears." The show was in the last generation, a modified version of the Japanese series "Genesis Climber Mospeada". The show maintained many of the more mature themes that are common in anime - the show was originally on Japanese prime time, rather than relegated to kiddy fair as animation often is here in the USA. I was hooked, despite only seeing the last eight or nine of the 85 episodes.

However, I then heard nothing more for a year or so. That changed the summer after my first year of college, when I found the first three or four Robotech novels by Jack Mckinney. Finally, I was able to read the details of the parts of the show I missed seeing. I eagerly waited for each new book to fill in the next part of the story.

After graduating from college and moving to San Francisco, I finally found some of the cartoons on video tape. After a year of further searching and waiting, I finally saw the entire series. I bought all the art, rpg, and comic books, and even began collecting related toys (starting with a "Jetfire" transformer I found in a store in Los Angeles - see the toy page).

Then I was hired by Gametek to work on Robotech: Crystal Dreams. The people who hired me already knew me from when we worked together at Sega, so they knew I was a Robotech fan (I think the cubical at Sega filled with Robotech toys gave me away). I was handed the opportunity to not only help program the game, but to help write the game story.

I won't know how the Robotech fans will receive the story until we finish the game. I'm sure some will love it, and a few will send me scathing e-mails. I hope most of the Robotech fans can enjoy it, though. There are a lot of different interpretations of the Robotech story, and there is no way the story can match every version. Hopefully, most will feel that the game fits Robotech in general, even if they have problems with some of the details. I pulled in minor details from all of the various Robotech sources, as well as deviating from strict canon in a few places for better gameplay, though I think the basic story fits with all the various sources.

However, the vast majority of the people who will be buying and playing the game will have little or no knowledge of Robotech. My hope for the game is that it has good enough gameplay and storyline to make a lot of those people interested in learning more about Robotech.

Anyway, that is all I have on Robotech: Crystal Dreams at the moment. For now, all the details about the game are on Gametek's web page. If and when I can put anything more here, I will.

You can send me mail at opus@opusgames.com