Where in the World is Gene?

Gene Portwood died 8 years ago and it seems like yesterday.  Funny how you can get to the age to say something like that. He died in 2000 from a heart attack after suffering at least two strokes.

Gene and I were partners for about 14 years - together designing and publishing some 30 computer games.  He was a major force in bringing animation and story lines into what had been, in the early 1980s, a rather dull industry.

Gene and I worked at Broderbund Software, which was just a couple of years old in 1983 when Gene joined them to manage this fledgling company's group of programmers.  His management talents soon became notoriously terrible, much preferring to tell jokes and clown around with anyone and everyone.  He and I always sat at the back of corporate meetings making fun of anything and everything - company managers and directors always left us alone.  Our rather small office became known as 'the rubber room' and was considered a safe zone - anyone could come in and vent about the company, or snooze on the couch, or share an idea or joke.

Management talents aside, Gene's artistic talents were wonderful.  

In his early days he was a Disney animator - he worked on Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and a whole host of the classics.  He had drawn Mickey Mouse so often that he could whip off a sketch for the frequent tours of visiting Japanese business men in a matter of minutes - often showing Mickey in a somewhat compromising pose that brought laughter to the crowd.  The group prized these drawings and I'm certain there are private offices in Japan somewhere that proudly sport these sketches.

Gene and I designed several well-known series for Broderbund, including at least six versions of the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego series over a 10-year period.  We designed the game, drew the graphics, did the animation, wrote the clues, figured out the game play, came up with the reference materials, came up with the dialogue and names of the villains, kept a style sheet for the characters, worked with the sales and marketing groups, traveled to schools, were shown off at trade shows, traveled the country doing interviews, appeared in Time Magazine and others ,and were touted as one of the major assets of the company.  Our names were put on the box covers, and we were paid royalties on the sales of the games, as were all authors of the time.

That's Gene on the left at the back holding the sword. I'm on the right attempting to catch an actress that fainted very realistically.  This shoot for the box cover of 'Where in Time' was staged by special effects people from Lucas on the steps of the San Francisco Opera House.  Gene said he had always wanted to perform Carmen at the Opera.

But these were strange times, and in the early 90s it all changed- Broderbund, like a number of other software publishers, began to think of its authors as competitors.  They wanted to build their brand and didn't like the fact that it was the authors that were getting the attention - so, in a move that was the beginning of the end for Broderbund, they simply cut all royalties to all internal authors and programmers.  Boxes were redesigned, author's and programmers names moved to the documentation, and ultimately taken off completely.  In corporate material mention of individual authors or programmers ceased completely.

This was a bitter time for many talented people - some stayed for a while, some tried to sue, some just left.  I think a great injustice was done to a whole number of authors, but we were all too young and lacking in resources to do much about it.

Gene and I left shortly after to start our own company. We ultimately had fun, designed lots more, and enjoyed our freedom - but Gene remained bitter about Broderbund - he had worked hard, helped jump start a fledgling industry and ultimately had disappeared from history.  You won't find his name anywhere on the Broderbund website, history or anywhere else.   If you go to Wikipedia you will find his name, and I have tried over the years to correct the entry - but it's now been rewritten so many times that his entire stable of work for those 10 or so years has been diminished down to a sentence or two - and I can't think of anyone more important to the overall orientation of computer gaming at the time than Gene.

Gene has been vindicated in the end however - Broderbund ultimately failed.  It lost it's creative edge, turned into a publishing house, was sold a couple of times, is now owned by an Irish holding company and only remembered by a few.  Carmen, however, is still known and loved.  If there's justice anywhere in this world, Gene should be feeling it.

In 2000 Gene had a stroke and was confined to one of those awful convalescent homes.  He needed assistance to get dressed and move about, and his speech was somewhat impaired but his mind was as acerbic and quick as ever.

I don't mean awful as in dirty or un cared for, I mean desolate, confined, lonely and depressing for a man that was as bright and dependent on people as Gene was.  To this day I feel guilty about Gene - visiting him in 'the home' was depressing, and I didn't go very often.  He and I also did have a lot of history together.  He was a friend, a father figure, and drinking partner but he could also be self centered, annoying and critical - so we had our good and bad times, and I suppose I used that to rationalize not visiting.

His funeral was one of those where friends and family were asked to get up and speak.  Of everyone present, outside of family, I had been with him the longest and knew him and his work the best.  I was expected to speak but I couldn't do it.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to get through what ever it was that I thought might be meaningful to contribute, without breaking down.  So, I sat there while others, many of whom barely knew him, stood up and talked.  I regret that time - I regret that I was thinking too much of myself, and not enough of Gene and his family and his contributions.

My most enduring image of Gene is of visiting him in the hospital after his last stroke.  I walked into the room to see him being propped up in bed by a couple of nurses.  He was attached to numerous tubes and wires, and his hospital gown was hanging off crookedly - he generally looked like crap, and my expression must have shown it.  He looked up and seeing my expression, he smirked, slowly lifted his one good arm and gave me a lewd gesture.  It was just like Gene.