Who is the man behind the game?

As far as I know, the SE series (and perhaps to a lesser extent, Dungeon Odessy) is Aaron's main source of income, so I would guess patching SE5 would be taking up most of his time at present. I would hazzard a guess that he has other sources of income, but I can't recall him ever mentioning them, so that's pure speculation on my part.

Aaron has stated on several occassions that the SE series is a labour of love. If he was in it purely for the money, 4X games probably weren't the best choice. And having created arguably one of the best 4X games ever in SE4, I'd think it'd be pretty hard NOT to be proud of that.

As for interviews, family & age, well I'm not sure exactly how old he is, I know he's married, but never heard any mention of kids. The interviews? Well, you can find some logs of IRC chats he's had in the past here:
http://seirc.spaceempires.net/archives.php
Bearing in mind he hasn't dropped by #spaceempires in quite some time, so most of the stuff there is out of date.
There's also an interview with him on a Strategy First vodcast, I'll post a linky once I track it down, where you can see what he looks like, and find out the 'proper' way to pronounce Malfador Machinations, amongst other things.

Edit: Aaron Hall Vodcast Interview

Suction feet are not to be trifled with!

STALKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know i couldnt spend my whole life programing some awesome game...

I think that would be to a much much lesser extent. Pretty sure that game more or less sank without trace when compared with SE or even Starfury, judging from the size of the respective comment threads over at Shrapnel.

One thing we do know about Aaron, if the Credits in the demo are anything to go by, is that that man sure loves his dog so he's okay by me.

Why did Dungeon Odyssey tank so badly?

In the main SEV folder, look at Pictures/Credits for some pics that Aaron included, but I don't think I'd try the Fruitizza (The original fresh fruit pizza) lol

If I wrote a game like SE-V, I'd be very proud, but I wouldn't post my picture anywhere. Players would be constantly hunting me down and screaming, "When's the next patch???".

"Do not be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DVader

Kato, I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but isn't that quote from Emperor Palpatine, not Darth Vader?

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The power of the ancients is now yours to command. You are truly the Master... of the obvious

No, it's Vader in Star Wars IV: A New Hope when Vader is speaking with the ranking officers aboard the death star. I believe it was followed by "The power of this space station is insignificant next to the power of the Force." One of the admirals retorted with something not nice about the Force and Vader did the reach-out-and-choke trick.

I haven't seen Star Wars in years. I just have a good memory that I like to exercise!

And as far as I'm concerned, the fact that Aaron is single-handedly taking on a project as MASSIVE as SEV, we should all pay homage, tribute, even worship maybe. Most companies wouldn't have dared this kind of scale without a team. Granted, it moves slower in patching and such, but true creative control is making up for it a hundredfold. How many companies would have opened up to so much modding freedom and ADD MORE upon request! o.O

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and will always long to return." ~Leonardo DaVinci

Yes, Aaron has done us all a great service with the SE series. I even enjoyed Star Fury, although it didn't last as long as I'd have liked. I'm still hoping for SF2, though...

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Space for rent - please contact owner

The admiral say that something like "The Force is nothing but a dead religion"... and DV choke him to let him know how dead the Force is...

I hope too in SF2, but I think that it need some 3d space flying or/and the possibility to control a whole fleet... maybe only two or 3 ships...

Can't forget the line before he chokes him "I find your lack of faith disturbing"

So does Aaron visit this forum?

He certainly doesn't post here. Kwok is the closest we have to the ears of the Emporer. There are probably other beta-testers but Kwok must have drawn the short straw and kindly keeps us up to speed.

he does reply to e-mails though and I am fairly sure the good captian keeps him informed as he does us with the change logs. I am happy to have Aeron working on making the game better than loitering around forums

I always pictured Aaron as a guy working as a programmer for a random company and doing this as a side job with some friends of his. Thats what a lot of people who used to make games like this were like though, only reason I think that.

He makes great games, i hope he eventually gets to the next level instead of always being an indie developer with limited resources. I can't imagine what an SE with a good budget would be like. Hopefully they would use a lot of money on the AI, lol.

"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant - next to the power of the Force!"

"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen plans nor given you clairvoyence to locate the rebel base . . . "

"I find your lack of faith . . . disturbing."