Postmortems from Game Developer

Turbine'sASHERON’S CALL

by toby ragaini

ASHERON’S CALL is a statistical anomaly. In an industry where cancelled games and dashed hopes are the norm, this project seemed one day away from certain failure for nearly its entire history. And yet, thanks to the visionary foresight of a handful of people, a healthy dose of luck, and incredible conviction from both the development team and publisher, it made it to store shelves and has received a great deal of critical acclaim.

In May 1995, I walked into a small suburban home in southern Massachusetts and met my new co-workers. Having left my previous job at a genetics lab, I expected nothing more than an interesting summer project as “A Game Writer.” Little did I realize what was in store for me and ...