I'm No Longer With Backbone Entertainment
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 2:24PM I'm no longer with Backbone Entertainment.
If you're wondering whether I'm available to work on a patch or update that Street Fighter HD Remix might need, the answer is YES I'm available. No matter what project or company I am working with next, I will be available for anything Street Fighter needs, if Capcom asks (and pays). We all want Street Fighter to be as good as it can be and last as long as possible.
This would usually be a time for biting criticism, but I'll try taking the high road for a change. Let's see what new flowers bloom, and what new articles will show up here.
If you'd like my help with design or balance and you have a lot of money and you don't make me use an alarm clock, I might be available, but I'm honestly pretty busy. Contact me and see though!
I'll leave you with this wikipedia description of Backbone. No I didn't write it, but it's interesting that I'm the only person prominent enough in the entire company to be mentioned:
Backbone Entertainment is an independent video game development company with offices in Emeryville, California, Vancouver, British Columbia, and formerly Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Backbone Entertainment is the result of a merger between Digital Eclipse Software (which specializes in arcade game emulation), and ImaginEngine (which specializes in children's software). One of Backbone's prominent key members is David Sirlin, an arcade game enthusiast known for his involvement in fighting game tournaments, mostly the Super Street Fighter II titles.
--Sirlin
Reader Comments (48)
the initial-leaked sprites looked much better than the current ones
Yes, they did. The problem was that you'd be waiting until Thanksgiving 2009 if they used the initially-posted sprites, with 6 shades per transition or whatever it was.
Regardless, the sprites needed to be done with less artistic ambition in order to have the game come out in anything close to a timely manner.
Any word on where you're going next, Sirlin? Or are you going into the full-time Sirlin business?
In response to haters in previous comments: I thought that self-aggrandizing life updates were the whole point of personal blogs like this one.
I'm probably weird, but i actually like the new sprites better than the original ones.
When I saw they let another employee release the entire change list after a long dearth of articles they allowed to be released that were wrote already, I knew there was trouble for you over there Sirlin. I think they got annoyed over your going public with annoyances over Yomi, that, or they needed a fall-guy for the delays on HD-Remix. It's too bad, hopefully they tap you (and pay!) for future SF projects. Also, best wishes for your current development endeavors.
To everyone who wants him to take down the post:
What you think is wrong with the post? How is it unprofessional and bitter? Did he post a statement critizing his former employer directly? Did he write those reviews or recommend them?
If you make a serious claim that the post is unprofessional, back your opinion with some facts.
Well done on leaving a shit company like backbone.
Hey guys,
I think a sick burn would be "Sirlin has no Backbone now!"
lololololololololol
amirite?
Dude get over yourself ! Modifying a Wikipedia article like that is pretty damn childish. How can someone who balanced a remix of some old 90s fighting game be that important in the grand scheme of things ? Fighting games are all basically the same anyway. Get over yourself, goodbye.
I just wanted to say congrats on the amazing work you've done rebalancing (and redesigning) SSF2T for the HD Remix. I hope the people in charge of the title continue to work with you on future patches. I would hate to see the game go to shit in the wrong hands. And we do know it's in the wrong hands by the way, Backbone.
Cheers, and good luck.
"Modifying a Wikipedia article like that is pretty damn childish."
You have a great imagination.
don't mind the trolls
it's clear that backbone is a bunch of douchebags
LOOOOOL.
Sirlin, you sir truly are the living embodiment of the term "douchebag."
Edit: this commenter is an anonymous coward.
And I was kind of hoping that Backbone would become this dominant developer because of your talents. But I'm sure that where ever you go now, things will kick ass.
"Modifying a Wikipedia article like that is pretty damn childish."
If Sirlin really did modify the article (highly doubt it), I'm sure he'd at least get the name of the game right. ;)
(Super Street Fighter II ****TURBO***)
"Fighting games are all basically the same anyway."
Yeah, right. Coz my experience with the Soul Calibur series toooootally made Guilty Gear XX a breeze
(Hint: It didn't)
~Z
Look, Capcom knows what value Sirlin added to the project. If you want to believe he controlled the art redesign and the network play, you can go on believing that. The facts are Capcom contracted out the art and managed the delivery process and Capcom pushed Backbone for network play improvements. Sirlin may have also asked for these things, but he didn't have quite as much pull with Backbone's management as the people signing the checks.
I wouldn't get too excited about a part of a wikipedia entry. The history logs shows that particular line was added by someone on the 6th of September, who obviously is a Sirlin fanboy.
Wikipedia can be edited by ANYONE. And one person adding one line doesn't mean Backbone considers Sirlin important in any way. It doesn't mean the opposite either.
On a somewhat tangential note, you really need to move past the Street Fighter obsession if you really want to be a serious game designer. Every article I read from Sirlin seems to have "when I was a street fighter champion" in some for or other.
Just seems your approach is incredibly narcissistic and two dimensional. My 2c.
Also, the fact that someone on Wikipedia OTHER than Sirlin submitted information, and that his fans seem unwilling to get past his Street Fighter experience even though he's done much more than that, says way more than Anon can.
Sirlin invented the internet. Why doesn't anyone talk about THAT?
Sirlin walks on 16-bit water.