Spring Break
A risk with a 'World' of rewards
Marcos Blanco
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: News
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"My mom got me into programming when I was 12," he said. "I was originally going to do network administration. I wasn't originally into game design."
Fromwiller, 26, who attended Monterey Peninsula College from 2000 to 2005 and the University of Hawaii for a year-and-a-half, has been gaining recognition, some fame and a dash of controversy for making an add-on game based off the popular online puzzle game "Bejeweled."
His add-on, called "Besharded" to avoid trademark issues, was created for Blizzard Entertainment's extremely popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft," or "WoW" for short.
Fromwiller said the reasons for modifying "Bejeweled" were simple.
"There are times in 'WoW' when you're bored," he said. "The way a MMORPG is set up, there are going to be times when you're waiting and not doing anything."
Fromwiller said he decided to make "Bejeweled" an add-on for "World of Warcraft" because it was a "fun and addicting" game.
"I wanted to make something to interact with on the screen while waiting for people to respond," he said. "The tools were there so I could make it."
"Besharded" was released by Fromwiller into the virtual world of "WoW" on Nov. 8, 2006, and the word quickly spread across "WoW" servers about a "Bejeweled" clone in the game.
Two years later, PopCap Games, which owns the rights to "Bejeweled," heard about Fromwiller's popular add-on and took action.
Fromwiller said Jason Kapalka, creative director and one of the founders of PopCap, sent him an e-mail regarding "Besharded."
Fromwiller said getting the e-mail from Kapalka was scary for him.
"I thought (PopCap) was going to sue me when I got the e-mail from Jason," he said. "That was the height of the legal situation."
Fromwiller said Kapalka thought making a "Bejeweled" add-on was a great idea, talked over the phone about it and eventually offered Fromwiller a contract to work together and make the add-on official.
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