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Derek Smart is a software designer and Internet personality living in Florida. He is the creator of the Battlecruiser 3000AD video game series, now Universal Combat.

Smart has participated in a number of public discussions on Usenet and the web. Characterized by controversy, rhetoric, and profanity-laced personal attacks , these flame wars have been recorded in numerous annals of internet and gaming culture.

Smart is devoted to and protective of his work, and has been known to find and participate in discussions of his games on the Internet. In the past, heated discussions have led supporters and detractors of Smart and his work to visit online communities in which they were not previously involved and join arguments there. These sudden increases in population and posting can elicit anything from amusement to hostility, depending on the community involved.

3000AD Games

During production of Smart's first game, Battlecruiser 3000AD, he made bold claims as to its features, including references to a neural network used by the AI. A Gamespot review concluded from gameplay that this neural net was most likely non-existent, but noted that this was impossible to prove without access to the unreleased source code.

There have been many articles written about Smart's AI, although he has never realeased any source code or examples of gameplay showing evidence of a neural network in his games. His game has been used reference for university projects.

In 1996 the game was released by publisher Take Two Interactive unfinished, and contained many bugs that made it very difficult to play. It was also criticised for what many believed to be an exceedingly complex interface and gameplay. The manual that shipped with the game was also criticized as inadequate, outdated and poorly written. For these and other reasons, the game was publicly lambasted and Smart voiced his opinions on the premature release frequently and strongly. A constant stream of patches and upgrades were released for the product over the next two years and, eventually, a patch (v2.0) was released to fix most of the major bugs. Interplay published this version in 1998 as Battlecruiser 3000 AD 2.0.

Smart's 2004 game, Universal Combat, received average to mediocre reviews in online game magazine reviews. The game's premise was changed near the (again) premature release of the game. Initially, the game was to be titled "Battlecruiser Generations", however, the publisher, DreamCatcher Games, had discussions with Smart that resulted in a decision to change the premise to be more action-based and less intricate than the Battlecruiser series, and the name was changed to Universal Combat. The game was not ready in time for the 2003 holidays and was shipped in early 2004 at half of the originally announced price. Derek Smart went to court with the publisher to stop shipment, but failed to obtain a temporary restraining order.

Smart's 2005 game, Universal Combat A World Apart is a full sequel to the original Universal Combat with a variety of revisions and enhancements especially to the graphics engine. Unsurprisingly it too has received average to mediocre reviews by reputed game reveiwers .

Smart also released Universal Combat Gold in 2005. This is an updated version of the original Universal Combat with new scenarios, graphics enhancements etc.

Also new to 2005 is the fact that both of the 2005 games can currently only be purchased via online resellers such as TryMedia, IGN's Direct2Drive, Digital River, BMT Micro, etc.

Other Issues

Another flashpoint among followers of Smart's work and online activities has been controversy over Smart's claimed doctoral degree.

At one time, Smart typically signed his posts on Usenet and elsewhere as "Derek Smart, PhD." A number of people have claimed that the degree either does not exist or is the product of a diploma mill, and have challenged Smart to provide authoritative documentation or further information on the degree. Smart has thus far not done so to the satisfaction of these critics.

A search of the UMI dissertation archives with keywords Smart D(AU) and Smart(AU) on the 15th of November, 2005 failed to yield a dissertation title, an almost absolute requirement to be granted a Ph.D. Smart has at times maintained that his dissertation is based on his AI work used in his games and thus his dissertation was not published in order to protect his trade secrets. Several Ph.D. holders in numerous Usenet debates confirmed that this is in fact possible and that several have in fact done it, lending credence to the fact that a failed UMI search for a dissertation does not mean that one does not exist.

It is also rumoured that Smart obtained part of his education in the UK. He posted on Usenet that he did in fact accomplish part of his Ph.D. studies via distance learning. Nevertheless, a search of the UK's CRISP and the ERASMUS databases failed to yield any results. Another counterargument to the above is that although trade secrets and national security are valid reasons for censoring a dissertation, acknowledgement of a completed work is made in the archives. Furthermore, a trade secrets dissertation may only be censored for a period of three years or until the United States Patent and Trademark Office or another patent granting body issues the patent or trademark.

Derek Smart, a frequent poster to The Adrenaline Vault forums, has stated there that he unwittingly received his Ph.D. from a non-accredited institution in the UK.

Claims have been made to the effect that Smart attacked a Coca-Cola vending machine in the offices of publisher Take Two during talks with them. The original report of this event has since been amended by the same publication (Computer Gaming World issue #201) that ran the original story in 1996.

Smart also releases his games for free on the Internet when their shelf life expires. He has said that he does this in order to give something back to his industry. So far he has released Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.09 and Battlecruiser Millennium.

Smart is also on the board of his local IGDA chapter in South Florida.

Published Products

External links

• Derek Smart's website
• A compilation of Derek Smart interviews selected by 3000AD
• A list of games with AI in which one of Smart's games can be found
• A collection of materials on various controversies surrounding Derek Smart, with commentary critical of Smart

• Computer and video game designers
• Living people