The Killer Inside M.A.X.

The idea guy behind Interplay's real-time strategy title M.A.X. won't be spending any more lazy afternoons working on computer game development from his home in San Diego, California.

Last month, 29-year-old computer programmer/game designer Larry Froistad confessed in an online support group for alcoholics to killing his 5-year-old daughter. The daughter perished in a house fire, which at the time was thought to have been accidental. Froistad's online confession admitted to setting the fire in hopes his daughter would die.

Interestingly enough, Froistad is credited with coming up with the idea behind Interplay's M.A.X., and was known at Interplay as a pretty decent guy. In fact, the team behind M.A.X., after hearing about the daughter's death (which occurred in late 1995) dedicated the game to Froistad.

It was in an e-mail message posted on March 22, 1998, that Froistad stated he had been distraught over a bitter custody dispute with his ex-wife. The post stated that on one evening about three years ago he set fire to his home and trapped his daughter inside. On March 27, Froistad turned himself in to San Diego authorities, according to the New York Times.

"We heard he was pretty talented," said an Interplay employee who worked closely with Froistad on the M.A.X. project. At the time of the house fire, Froistad and his daughter were living in Bowman, ND. Froistad communicated with Interplay by phone and e-mail. Froistad's credit on the Interplay title reads: Based on an Original Idea by Larry Froistad.

Shortly after the fire, Froistad moved to San Diego to be closer to his parents and even interviewed for a full-time position at Interplay. "Within a month of the tragedy, he came to Interplay for an interview," the Interplay source said. He wasn't hired.

As the Interplay colleague said while mulling over the news, "This is so wild, this is so wild."