Arjun
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Post by Arjun on Feb 12, 2005 14:20:33 GMT -5
My first post here. Hope I haven't got off on the wrong foot.  Anyway, I read Simon's post regarding worst Ocean games and it's pretty interesting what he had to say about Ian. But first, let me digress: WoS has a "Tributes" section (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/tribute.html) dedicated to the memory of late Speccy "heroes" and I was thinking of doing a piece on Ian. Unfortunately, there is little info about him (or anyone for that matter. It's a slog tracing down background info abot old timers). Which is why I find Simon's post both timely and interesting. Maybe Ian wasn't the "hero" we thought he was, but nonetheless, would anyone care to contribute to writing a tribute to him? Perhaps he deserves that much? Even providing some info on him would do. Failing which, any suggestions on who else could be added to the Tribute section? We seem to have plenty of names (Mike Meek of Mikro-Gen for example) but are very thin on info about them. Any help would be appreciated. |
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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Feb 12, 2005 14:30:02 GMT -5
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Post by Simon Butler on Feb 12, 2005 15:35:32 GMT -5
I will quite happily write atribue to Ian Weatherburn.
He justly deserves one.
We worked together for quite some time and although it ended on a sour note...I still have very fond memories of Ian.
If he hadn't taken his own life I still believe to this day that he would have stamped his mark on this industry.
He was very opinionated but even more so...he was very talented.
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Arjun
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Post by Arjun on Feb 12, 2005 16:24:18 GMT -5
Excellent! So Simon, shall I leave the matter in your capable hands then? Will give us "non Ocean" specchums an eye opener I bet! |
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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Feb 13, 2005 0:42:07 GMT -5
Go for it Simon, I look forward to reading it. Knowing ,though, that it isn't going to have a happy ending will make it all the more poigniant.
No one's done one yet. I'm sure you'll do a just job and at least , in this forum, there'll be a permanent tribute to him.
What exactly did he produce? I know he wrote 'The Alchemist' by Imagine.
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Arjun
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Post by Arjun on Feb 13, 2005 14:13:34 GMT -5
He also wrote N.O.M.A.D - a game which I must say i quite liked when I played it all those many moons ago.
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Arjun
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Post by Arjun on Jul 20, 2005 3:48:41 GMT -5
Sorry to dredge this up from the pits of threads-that-time-forgot, but er.. any updates on this from Simon regarding the tribute he was planning to write on Ian? Or was he being sarcastic? |
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Post by Simon Butler on Jul 20, 2005 7:39:36 GMT -5
I met Ian way back in the mists of time at the Imagine offices and he treated me then with pretty much the same disdain he did until the end of our working relationship together.
But that was just Ian.
He was a self-absorbed little boy with little or no people skills whatsoever, which worked to his detriment in the social arena but was one of his strengths in the games field.
This distance that was always present between Ian and the rest of the human race only brought him closer to the thing he was best at, writing games. His games were never classics but more than usually well-crafted with a lot of man-hours put into each.
He was sarcastic to a point where it was almost painful to hear some of the things he said. His idea of humour was almost always at somebody else's expense...but again this was just part of Ian Weatherburn and you either got over it, ignored it or if you couldn't, then stay away.
We worked quite extensively, just the two of us in our freelance days and because of his intractable manner he always said exactly what he wanted and left no room for error. Would that other coders in years to come had been as blunt or as focused.
There was no room for niceties, he was a man of few words so whenever work started, work was all there was and you did it until you finished; then it was time to clock off until tomorrow. No shooting the breeze or winding down, just down tools, goodbye, see you tomorrow.
While other, younger people came into the industry and matured and grew, Ian stayed a kind of Peter Pan figure in the background.
His hands later came to hold the reins of his own company but he was always a figure on the edge of things even though the whole ball of wax was his, he never entered centre stage.
Uncomfortable around people he seemed to prefer it this way.
Nothing wrong there I suppose at least he never pretended to be anyone was wasn't.
His only true failing that led to his downfall was his trust in people he considered friends.
One in particular who does not deserve a mention here.
Ian was led astray and his financial dealings only got worse. It was sad to see, but Ian being the person he was would not take kindly to being offered advice and told he had made a mistake. His judgement was absolute and no-one could tell him otherwise.
We parted on far from good terms but by that time the Ian I knew had turned into someone I had no time nor sympathy for.
Ian could have, I can only conjecture been a pretty damn good coder, but I believe his communications skills or lack of would have held him back.
Most likely he would have gone Stateside and followed his first love, the almighty dollar.
I can see him now, alone but unconcerned in a house with a beach view, a fast car in the garage and the world's dodgiest collection of 80s female rockers in his cd collection.
He could have been happy.
But he never was.
And that was Ian Weatherburn.
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Post by johnnyboy on Jul 21, 2005 19:16:39 GMT -5
Very poignant.
I never met him, but he sounds like a classic Asperger Syndrome case. I worked with a guy like that for 2 years and his lack of social skills would dement me. Then I found out about this kind of autism and it all made sense. I felt bad for all the times he unintentionally riled me.
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Arjun
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Post by Arjun on Aug 5, 2005 2:19:02 GMT -5
Simon, thanks for the words on Ian. I'll go about putting this up then. And yes I agree with johhny, Ian does have the classic symptoms of Asperger Syndrome. Anyway, all water under the bridge now. RIP Ian.
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Arjun
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Post by Arjun on Aug 8, 2005 1:33:57 GMT -5
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