Julian Fitch

Could you tell us something about yourself?

I am originally from Virginia, where I went to high school and college, then began working for the national telephone company. I moved to San Francisco in 1976 and continued that sort of work. Now approaching the age of fifty, I have recently retired from AT&T after 24 years. Nine Dragons Software is now my sole occupation.

How did you get in contact with mahjong? Was it played at home or did not you learn it until much later?

Happily, San Francisco has a large Asian population, nearly 30%. I first learned to play mahjong from Filipino friends around 1981. Later, I was exposed to Hong Kong style, and came to prefer its richer, more authentic rules and scoring.

Is HKMJ a living for you, or just a hobby?

In the late 80's I began playing with the (just invented) personal computers. I was fascinated by their graphic abilities, so I taught myself how to program using the Pascal language. Inspired by Peter King's EGA mahjong program (and bothered by its shortcomings), my first big project was a VGA mahjong game. Although I am embarrassed by it today, it was fun and I posted it on various bulletin boards in late 1989. I then created a SuperVga version which I attempted to sell via direct order.

In 1991 I was approached by Electronic Arts to do a full commercial version. This resulted in Hong Kong Mahjong Pro for DOS, which was the first commercial SVGA game (640x480x256 colors). This work was done in many late nights as I continued my career as a manager and technical consultant at AT&T.

For the next four years Electronic Arts had the rights to HKMJ, even though they weren't doing much with it, so I passed the time by improving and polishing the code. This was my Private Edition.

In 1996 I succeeded in recovering the rights and released the Windows version in August. I established the Nine Dragons website and self-published the program. There have been several small updates as each batch of CD's was manufactured, including the recent 1024x768 version.

Does the Internet mean a stimulation for mahjong?

Definitely. It has been good for the popularity of mahjong in general, and for HKMJ. Those with an interest in mahjong can search the Web and easily find information, discussion, tile sets, and computer programs.

How many copies did you sell of the game? Do you have any idea who your customers are: Chinese? Americans? Where is it sold: the US, the Far East; Europe? Do you have any customers in Holland?

The original EA program sold nearly 20,000 copies, including those that were bundled with SoundBlaster cards. Sales figures for HKMJ for Windows are unavailable, but they are holding steady even after these 2 and 1/2 years. Despite the (intentional) lack of a major publisher or distributor, and thus an almost total absence from stores, the game is very much a success. Thanks perhaps to the kind reviews from Computer Gaming World, orders arrive daily from all over the world.

The majority of sales are to U. S. customers, of whom about one-third appear to be Chinese-American. Second is Canada. Third is Europe, particularly the Netherlands and United Kingdom. We have also sold hundreds in Hong Kong, despite the availability of pirated copies at US$3. A special promotion in Singapore sold 5,000 CD's in a single month.

What are future enhancements of the game?

Everyone asks, of course, if there will be a network-capable version. So far the answer is no, simply because I don't enjoy playing that way, but I never say never.

I am now working on a 1280x1024 version, just in my usual way of staying ahead of the advancing technology. If feasible, I will someday create a whole new suite of characters enacted on a huge amount of video.

Who is Uncle Chen? And could you tell us something about the other characters who play a role in HKMJ?

I had a vision in mind of some of the characters. EA helped me to do the videotaping at their offices. I brought along Joe Cheung, who is my expert and taught me how to play Hong Kong style. Also Dennis Yung, a local fan who helped with much of the testing. All the others are fictitious, played by employees at EA. However, Uncle Chen and Auntie Loo (the real life parents of 'Wong Ho Ming'), were modeled after in-laws who were in HK at the time. They are the two best players that I know.

Who do you consider your most important competitors in the software-world? Are you jealous on the mahjong-software they have?

It has always been my intention to create the closest experience to the real thing, so HKMJ has much more sound and graphic resources than other mj programs. Others have generally put their energies to having more scoring options, or network play.

I am very respectful of 'Four Winds Mahjong' and 'Shanghai Dynasty'. They are both well produced, and I recommend them to those who want something other than Hong Kong Old Style rules. I've always felt that having more programs in the marketplace simply makes for a bigger market, so I openly encourage other developers. In fact, Tom Sloper, Shanghai's producer at Activision, has become a treasured email friend.

 Website Hong Kong Mahjong for Windows >>

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