Temple of Elemental Evil Press Event

tim-cain troika-games temple-of-elemental-evil atari press-events game-industry 2003

Abstract

Problem: What was the Temple of Elemental Evil press event like, and what behind-the-scenes details surrounded its promotion in 2003?

Approach: Tim Cain shares his personal recollections of attending Atari's multi-game press event held at Hever Castle in England in July 2003, supplemented by photos since his notes from this period are sparse.

Findings: The event was held at a historic English castle with charming but impractical infrastructure for a gaming press event. Tim demoed ToEE to European press, enjoyed medieval-themed hospitality, and explored London afterward. Shortly after returning home, he developed a kidney stone that left him on painkillers for four months during the game's critical final development and shipping phase.

Key insight: Tim considers Temple of Elemental Evil not his best effort partly because he spent four of the game's twenty-month development incapacitated by a kidney stone during the crucial final stretch of balancing, bug fixing, and patching.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo-tYpW9m98

1. How Tim Ended Up Going

The press event was organized by Atari in July 2003 to showcase multiple games to European press, held in London (specifically at Hever Castle, about an hour south). Tim wasn't originally planning to go — he describes himself as not a great traveler at the time, and the team was trying to finish Temple of Elemental Evil.

Either Tom Decker (producer and narrative designer) or Mike McCarthy (lead artist) were supposed to attend instead. However, the trip required a passport, and with only a few weeks' notice, neither could get one in time without an expedited process. Tim already had a passport, so he went.

He notes this period falls at the very end of what he calls his "lost decade" — a time when he was spending six or seven days a week at the office and not keeping good records of his life outside work.

2. Hever Castle

Tim flew from LAX to London and was driven to Hever Castle, a beautiful historic property with grounds featuring hedges, swans, and ponds. Coming from Southern California, he was struck by how green and wet England was.

The castle's charm came with practical challenges. Plumbing and electricity were retrofitted — Tim's bathroom was simply the adjacent bedroom converted, with a tub in one corner, sink in another, and toilet in a third, all spread across a full-size room.

More critically, the castle's electrical system wasn't built for dozens of PCs, monitors, and TV screens. They blew fuses multiple times and had to run extension cords to other parts of the castle to spread the load across different circuits. An Atari IT person was essential in making it all work.

3. The Press Event Itself

The first day was the main demo day. Tim demonstrated Temple of Elemental Evil using a special map they'd built to showcase a fight with Hill Giants, along with some random encounter maps. Other games being shown included:

  • Magic: The Gathering — Battlegrounds by Secret Level (Tim thought it looked really cool)
  • Horizons: Empire of Istaria by Artifact Entertainment (not to be confused with Horizon Zero Dawn)
  • Several other demos Tim can't recall due to not taking notes

That evening, Atari put on an elaborate medieval-themed reception with musicians playing period music on period instruments in period clothing, followed by a dinner of historically accurate food — soups, meats, and vegetable dishes prepared as they would have been in the castle's era.

The second day brought more demos and extensive press interviews. Tim spent much of the day sitting at tables around the castle grounds doing interview after interview. A key reason for the English location was accessibility for European press who wouldn't have traveled to the US.

Due to a booking mistake, nobody had rooms for the second night. They packed up at lunch, threw their bags in a truck, and were taken to a nearby golf resort to spend the night before returning for a final morning of interviews.

4. Exploring London

After the press event wrapped up, Tim had added a few extra days to his trip. An Atari London communications person showed him around the city — they took the Tube, saw Piccadilly Circus and other sites at a brisk pace, then had dinner at The Ivy, a famous upscale restaurant.

The next day Tim explored solo. He visited the British Museum, saw St. Paul's Cathedral (covered in renovation scaffolding), crossed the Millennium Bridge, and stumbled upon the Tate Modern, which became a highlight of his trip.

4.1. The Falling Piano

At the Tate Modern, Tim encountered a memorable art installation: a grand piano hanging upside down from the ceiling in an otherwise empty room. He asked the bored-looking guard if he could walk under it. The guard simply shrugged. As Tim stood underneath looking up, the piano's connection broke and it fell toward him, stopping just a few feet above his head — exploding apart as keys flew off, strings popped out, and the top fell open with a tremendous crash. Then, with all the pieces connected by wires, it slowly lifted back up and reassembled itself. The guard, laughing, told him: "It does that every hour. It was hilarious to see your reaction."

That night a major soccer match had the entire hotel in an uproar. Tim got up at 4 AM and flew home.

5. The Kidney Stone and Its Impact on Temple

Just days after returning from London in late July 2003, Tim woke in the middle of the night in agony. A trip to the ER and a CT scan revealed a kidney stone. Doctors gave him powerful IV drugs and said it would pass in a day or two.

It did not. The kidney stone persisted for four months, from August until nearly Christmas 2003, causing constant pain. Tim was on strong painkillers — Vicodin and others — the entire time.

This coincided exactly with Temple of Elemental Evil's critical final phase: balancing, bug fixing, shipping, and post-launch patches. Tim was, in his words, "knocked out of my gourd on painkillers" throughout all of it.

This is why Tim often tells people that Temple wasn't his best effort. On a game scheduled for 18 months that took 20, he spent four of those months effectively incapacitated. His lack of notes from this period is a direct consequence — he would normally have written up the press event upon returning, but all he had were photos.

6. Reflections

Despite everything, Tim looks back on the press event fondly. He describes it as a fun 2003 time capsule of the game industry, and credits the trip with rekindling his interest in traveling.

7. References