CaesarZX：
对于RTS游戏《横扫千军》的制作，Geoffrey Keighley的文章已经不足以全面讲述那段历史，而加入一个亲自参与此游戏制作的人物的视角，我们就可以看到一个更完整的横扫千军诞生史。 这篇连载作者是《横扫千军》美工总监Clayton Kauzlaric，他从去年9月开始在他自己的Blog上连载自己在Cavedog参与制作《横扫千军》 的经历。本连载由我的blog与游戏编年史的主人无声畅游合作翻译推出。
第四章：狗狗，牛牛 和 硼硼
CaesarZX 译
到1997年春天，《横扫千军》已经颇具规模而且公众也即将能看到它的首次亮相了。我们第一篇杂志上的预览，印刷广告，以及E3大展都蓄势待发了。我们从开始就知道这游戏绝对不能在Humongous那“完全健康对儿童无害”的商标下发售。对他们的玩家，或者我们希望会玩《横扫》的人来说，这简直荒谬。这并没有阻止我们把Putt Putt画成一个持枪歹徒。我们需要一个全新的名字和一个完全不同的商标图片。
从开始Chris和我就四处征集游戏名字，可什么都没找到。于是我们向全公司征求点子。
我把收集到的建议汇总起来。里面有一些死板的标准开发商式的名字诸如“Mega”和“Soft”。几个程序员干脆动用了元素周期表，提出了“钴”和“硼”这类名字。由于我们曾在靠近西雅图的西北部太平洋沿岸工作，我们听到了许多好听的名字，比如混合雨，雨，山和更多的鱼等等。在Chris和我从中精挑细选后，我们把结论锁定在两个选择里：Cavedog Entertainment和Frozen Yak Entertainment，这两个都是他的主意。
这两个名字我们都喜欢。我在会议期间在笔记本上信手涂鸦了几笔。
我当晚回家后给这些图润色。这是Cavedog的草图之一。
这两张图钉在我和Chris合用的办公室的墙上。我们搞了一次投票，结果Cavedog以微弱优势险胜。这杂种狗已经为走红准备好了。那头看上去可怜巴巴的牦牛并没有完全输。它在一年后被找出来被当作愚人节玩笑放在了Cavedog的网站上。
Cavedog的商标出现在了所有常见的东西上，比如名片，信笺，帽子以及所有T恤衫上。我那几年里做了许多商标，但我始终觉得这个是我比较欣赏的作品。我想唤起新一轮旧石器时代的壁画风潮，保证线条足够简洁以显突出，就算印得很小也一样醒目。
我做到了。2000年的时候我在家休息，看着我最喜欢的电视剧The Sopranos《黑道家族》。当时是第二季的第七集……那集叫“D-Girl”《危险女孩》。在那集接近尾声处，就在“大猫”Sal Bompensiero和AJ在房间里诉说衷肠的时候，背景里的什么东西引起了我的注意。
这可能吗？ 一张《横扫千军：Core续集》的海报竟然在AJ的卧室里？
是的没错！你可以看到指挥官就在右边，但Cavedog看上去就和大白天一样平常。
是的你也看到了。我的可爱小配角也被载入了电视节目史册。其实Cavedog和那个“大猫”角色同时上荧屏确实相当合适，因为他们俩在一年内都去见上帝了。
待续
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Part 4: Dogs, Yaks & Boron
By the Spring of 1997, Total Annihilation was shaping up nicely and the public was about to get its first glimpse of the game. Our first magazine previews, print ads and E3 were just around the corner. We’d known From the start that the game couldn’t be released under the wholesome family-friendly Humongous label. It wouldn’t make sense for their audience, or the one we were hoping to reach with TA. This didn’t stop some of us From drawing pictures of Putt Putt bristling with guns. A new name and a completely different image would be required.
Chris and I tossed around ideas for names From the start, but nothing jumped out at us. We opened it up to ideas From the whole company.
I compiled all the suggestions that rolled in. We heard some standard software developer-ish sounding names with “mega” and “soft” in the name. A couple programmers raided the element chart, submitting ideas like “cobalt” and “boron” Since we worked in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, we heard plenty of pleasant names incorporating rain, fish, mountains and more fish. After sifting through these, Chris and I narrowed it down to two choices: Cavedog Entertainment and Frozen Yak Entertainment, both of which were his contributions.
We liked both names. I did some crude doodles in my notepad during a meeting.
I fleshed them out a bit more at home that evening. Here is a rough Cavedog.
These two pictures were pinned up on the wall of the office Chris and I shared. It was put to a vote, and Cavedog won by a narrow margin. The pooch was ready for prime time. That sorry looking Frozen Yak wasn’t completely lost. It was unearthed as part of an April Fools joke on the Cavedog website about a year later.
The Cavedog logo ended up on all the usual things like business cards, letterhead, hats and the all-important t-shirts. I’ve done a lot of logos over the years. I still think this is one of my better efforts. I wanted to evoke paleolithic cave paintings, while keeping the lines simple enough to stand out, even when printed very small.
It did. I was relaxing at home in 2000, watching my favorite family entertainment, The Sopranos. It was season two, episode seven… the one called D-Girl. Toward the end of the episode, Sal “Big Pussy” Bompensiero was having a heart-to-heart with AJ in his room when something in the background caught my eye.
Could it be? A TA: Core Contingency poster in AJ’s bedroom?
It is! You can just make out the Commander to the right, but the Cavedog is plain as day.
And there you have it. My small supporting role in television history. It’s fitting that the Cavedog shared some screen time with the Big Pussy character, since both would be bumped off within the year.
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