![]() ![]() "Who" (we asked ourselves) " knows more about games, game writing and computers than anybody else in the known universe". "Easy" (we told ourselves), "the guys who write the hits. In person. All at once." So we sent for TONY TAKOUSHI, he got on the case, and on a day in December, Four of the Best came south, to BIG K. Without further ado, therefore, we present... |
Firstly, how do you see the software scene developing over the coming year? This year we've had smooth scroll, shoot-em-up and Decathlon syndromes. Do you see these continuing or a new breed of game emerging? Matthew Smith: I think we're going to reach saturation point late next year, although there are still going to be new game styles. Do you think the industry is going to collapse? |
Have you taken ideas from other programmers? MS: Yes! So presumably there is a mother lode somewhere of someone producing original ideas? AW: I honesty don't think you can say that. It's like trying to say who invented the greatest song. Everybody might know the notes but they use them differently. Tony Crowther: I know a lot people who would call Manic Miner a copy of Miner 2049'er. But how do you know the guy who wrote that didn't get his ideas from someone else? |
Have you found that the kind of pressure you get from the public and computer press - to add more screens and complex graphics-play - is one you feel and respond to? TC: I motivate myself, and to a large degree it depends on the type of game released as to its form and complexity. What do you see as the most important part of your games? Do you think about how it will feel? MS: A mix of both. Three of you work but you, |
TC: There isn't one person here who hasn't pirated software - I do it and I don't believe software houses suffer because of it. AW: Is the fact that Jet Set Willy has been copied in a school playground a bad thing? Copying and word-of-mouth can do as much good as damage. Is there anything that will stop piracy? AW: The only thing that will ever stop it is when it's socially unacceptable, when kids don't want to pirate |
Andy Walker: The industry is
going towards people with a lot of financial backing. You can wish that
as an "artist" you can write games and reach your public, but it's not
like that anymore. Professionalism or plain commercialism? AW: Oh, I think it's a bit of both and it's evil. Will this stifle individual talent? |
![]() Bill Hogue creator of Miner 2049er in 1983 (as shown). |
because they don't want to hurt the company. JM: I hate commercialism. Do you think of yourself as a purist, Jeff? JM: I'm very purist. I design software and I don't like the commercial side. But you bank the money! JM: Yes, but I wouldn't be human if I didn't do that. I don't mid if people hear about my games from reviews but not from hype. |
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AW: No, but it won't half try. Do you think entertainment software will continue to be called "games"? Indeed, is "games" any longer an accurate word to define what you're all producing? MS: There are games which are simulations and games which are problems. Monopoly is a simulation and yet it can still be called a game. Everybody here has been setting styles - and you're leaders in your field - does this adulation cause you problems? MS: I'm not bothered by it because it doesn't bother me. I've found that I'm expected to have opinions on topics that I haven't really considered. I'm just a programmer who has ideas. I'm not bothered by people copying my ideas. I actually see it as a compliment. |
MS: I did get inspiration from Miner 2049'er! Tony, how did you visualise Loco as a game? Was it to be an original concept? TC: No, Loco was a copy of an arcade game I saw in Spain. One of my other games, Suicide Express, was meant to be a revamped version of Loco. MS: We don't really know enough about the machines and what can be done to plan the games out. Do you think the popular micros - Spectrum / C64 / BBC - have reached the limit of their development? MS: Yes! People are finding technical limits, especially on the Spectrum - although the C64 has more potential left unused. AW: It's getting to sound like technical ability is the be-all and end-all. At the end of the day a good game is... a good game. |
Andy, work completely differently. As part of a team. AW: All I ever really wanted to do was write code, but never got the time to write any complete item myself. Taskset games are team efforts; someone can do the graphics while someone else can do the sound, and so on. The team leader happens to be me; there's no one guy who has all the ideas, so whoever's talking good ideas at the time has the floor to further develop it with contributions from the others. Would you say that generally the young programmer is treated well by software companies? MS: Usually he's not treated well because everybody wants to get as much as possible out of him. What about piracy? Jeff Minter: Kids copying doesn't do me any harm at all. It's the commercial pirates who are doing the real damage. |
Hype is just masses and masses of colour page ads saying "This is a fantastic game", or big pictures of cassette boxes. I hate it all! MS: If cassette boxes help sell, then, OK. JM: I don't sell cassette boxes, I sell concepts. I deplore combative ads - those that say "this is the best game ever", or "It surpasses such-and-such". They are the absolute pits. Anybody doing that deserves to be shot with BIG bullets. Charts are to be ignored and despised. Whether you're top or bottom doesn't mean a thing. AW: The problem with charts is that it's very, very easy for people who don't know what they're buying to buy the top 20. JM: That's their loss - not mine! AW: That is your loss! JM: Well, it is my loss indirectly - but if people are that stupid about buying |
software then I don't care if they don't buy mine. When I'm designing software I really design it for the people who know my style; if the others don't want to buy it then too bad. AW: There are plenty of new computer owners out there, and the new owners from the Christmas period who have never bought a game before. So What do they do? They go into Boots. And what do Boots buy? The charts. There's lots of good software that never charts. JM: The thing is, if they ever get deeply enough into computers then they'll get to know who's good and who's bad anyway. MS: They won't find out themselves, they'll find out basically by listening to other people and checking charts. JM: If somebody takes notice of charts then they're probably not suitable to play my games. AW: I think you're a little too sharp. They would enjoy your games given the chance, and that's a shame. That's people you ought to reach. |
Jeff Minter - "Charts are to be ignored and despised." Andy Walker - "It's very, very easy for people who don't know what they're buying to buy the top 20." ![]() Big K magazine Charts for the month of March 1984. |
intended to succeed and they're trying to soften us up for MSX2? MS: It's a poor attempt to muscle in on the market. I can't see it failing miserably because they must have already sold enough now to justify its development costs - which were practically nil. AW: I don't think they've sold enough to justify its existence. They came along in the summer with huge great muscle and were planning to take ten percent of the UK market by Christmas. (Murmurs of 'No Way'). AW: I don't believe it's a grand scheme for MSX2. People who subscribe to that honestly believe MSX will fail, and this age-old belief that the Japanese cannot fail is false. They have failed in the UK, and are doing it again. TC: I think it's like videos. The video came out and loads of companies went to develop it and they got themselves a name - and that's what they're trying to do with computers. |
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JM: What do I do? I'm not going to pay £5000 to get it in the charts or whatever. The distributors look, they say, "Oh well, you've got eight full page adverts in this magazine. Right so we'll buy that instead of buying somebody else's games." AW: For example, Boots now will say, "Are we going to take your new game or not? Well, what's your add spend for this game?" JM: That's it. That's all they care about. |
MS: Distributors are shifting people around to their own advantage. In what way? MS: They're only interested in their own profits and the product they're selling. So there's an awful lot of really bad programs on sale. So what's the answer? (Ironic laughter) MS: The way it worked for years |
was that the programmers duplicated and
sold direct to the public. That's when it was fun and nobody got
screwed. Let's diversify a little and discuss the new micros and see how you view them. What about the MSX? Matthew? MS: It would have been great five years ago. Is there any substance to the theory that MSX1 is not |
OVERPRICED MSX JM: Basically MSX is overpriced. It's quite a flexible system but it's not up to today's standard, really. If it was down to £150 it would be a good entry level system. The price is not realistic. How many people here are planning to target MSX? And, if so, are you doing it defensively or in the firm belief it will succeed? |
TC: They're doing that with us. JM: I hate distributors. They're evil, EVIL! AW: Their days are numbered, because for the first time ever everybody is coming to feel the same - they're evil - and we're not the only businesses to suffer. Distributors are now deciding what will sell. If it's not on their shelves it doesn't stand a chance. MS: Well, with retrospect, distributors should be taking over that part. AW: It's not right, though, is it? MS: It's right for the people using them. JM: Is it right to book nine full-page adverts? |
![]() THE VENUE: BIG K editorial Romp Room: after initial objections to Minter's Afghan coat, the meeting comes to order. |
MS: Yes we at Software Projects
are releasing for MSX, but they will be conversions. We don't have
plans to release new titles for the system. Do you think there's any future in MSX2, which is said to be a 68000 chip and 128K basic RAM? MS: There has to be an MSX2, but I don't really see which direction Microsoft will go when it comes down to the O/S. AW: Why shouldn't it be that they plain just got it WRONG? We have heard that MSX machines are not as compatible as they are said to be? |
TC: It's the extra facilities on each company's micro that are causing the problems. If you write software that uses these extras it won't run. MS: I don't like the machine at all and I can't stand the Spectrum! As you have written two best seller Spectrum games was it a major effort to do so? MS: Not really. Although the second one was written to be purely a "Best Selling Game"! JM: A horrible attitude! Did you consciously force yourself to learn Z80 code? |
stopped it being popular, and the lack of software. AW: I believe it's failed already. Why do you think it's failed!? AW: There just hasn't been the software for it. The Psion software just isn't enough and it doesn't go far enough - it's just not on. It's not a games machine either. Most of the shop owners I've spoken to have had four QL's delivered, three of which have been faulty and one broken down. I haven't spoken to a shop keeper yet who has actually sold one! |
![]() MATTHEW SMITH: "I don't like the MSX at all, I can't stand the Spectrum!". Shock horror. |
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MS: No, I was very fond of the Spectrum to begin with because it was
similar to my eight-year-old machine with some form of colour, graphics
and sound. How about other new micros? The QL, for example? MS: It's a nice machine and there's no other way you could have a machine with two drives, so in that respect the QL is solid. Do you think it will sell, though? MS: No, it's too late. |
MS: It's the software that makes the machine and the QL could have found a place like the BBC. AW: The BBC is special. It carries the three magic logos. Is there any way of saving the QL? You all seem to agree that there are bits of the QL worth saving? AW: I don't think there's anything worth salvaging. MS: Yes, there is! If you were Sinclair you'd dump it? MS: Sinclair could save it. |
They
went to all the trouble of developing their own video chip and missed
off the one most important selling factor. The C64 sold mainly because
of its video and SID chips. The Enterprise is too late, its add-ons
look remarkably like dustbins. I can't think of anything more awful or
hideous - they're like a 1960's architect's nightmare. The Ronan Point of Computerdom? AW: Yes! I'm not too sure who's writing for it but I definitely won't be. TC: I'm the same as Andy. JM: I would put Psychedelia on it because it's got superb colour |
handling,
but for other games I wouldn't bother. It had a potential to be an
excellent games machine if it hadn't been for the missing sprites. MS: Two years ago sprites weren't a big problem. JM: Two years ago I would have said "Get it", despite the sprites; but it just didn't arrive on time. When I went to the launch at the Hippodrome it just didn't impress me enough to think, "Wow", whereas a year ago I did think "Wow". What are your views on the Amstrad? MS: I was quite impressed with what I saw. It's the quality of the |
TC: I've never seen one! JM: Don't worry about it. The QL was a good idea - to have a nice, cheap 16-bit micro; but they cut it down from 16 bit for a start and they gave it relatively poor microdrives. If it had been released at the right time with the right software it would have been OK but it was pushed too early and it didn't deliver enough to carry it to big sales. Is anyone here planning to write for the QL? MS: Maybe a conversion, but it's the microdrives that |
How? MS: They've got to have 3 and a half inch drives and it's got to have Macintosh-type software. How about the Enterprise? MS: I really, really like that machine when it was announced. JM: So did I! MS: And I really liked the Atari at that time - and now, two years later, I still really like the Atari! AW: I was singularly disappointed with the lack of hardware sprites. |
![]() Ronan Point Tower Block, London. - suffered a structural collapse due to a gas explosion in May 1968. BBC news report and video of aftermath available here. |
machine that's its selling power. TC: It's a new machine and I'm not too sure just how well it will sell, although I do feel it should do well. JM: I think it's got a lot of Mummy Appeal. Mothers will go into shops, see the package - which includes a monitor so it doesn't take up the TV - good basic and all that, so I think it'll get bought for a lot of first-time users by Mummikins or Daddypops. AW: The Amstrad is the only machine to arrive fully completed. The PCB inside is a masterpiece, no bits of wire around. The O/S is well written and its future looks good. Which of you have or will be writing for it? |
How about the Plus Four? JM: It's nicer because you can simulate sprites with the extra memory. It's like programming a C64 - you go to the register map and it's just the same, even though it's not as flexible with sound and sprites. I won't aim particularly for the Plus Four because it's not an interrupt-driven machine and it's getting a bit upmarket. MS: I don't know that much about it. AW: It looks reasonable but I'm not convinced it will succeed yet, even though it may be selling well. I cannot believe that somebody at Commodore said, "Let's ditch the SID and VIC chips and produce a new machine". The sprites and |
![]() ANDY WALKER: "The Amstrad is the only fully completed machine. The PCB inside is a masterpiece." |
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![]() JEFF MINTER, TONY TYLER, TONY CROWTHER and FRIEND: greet news of coffee machine going down with astonishment and dismay. |
menus on assorted other machines. It's bound to
happen because its so nice. The single-drive, small-module machine; any
real system needs more than one drive. If a competitor arrives with a similar machine with more backup then Apple could have the carpet taken from underneath them. TC: I haven't seen the machine but from what I've heard it's the machine of the future. I'm not planning to get one so it's pretty much up in the air. MS: I believe it's a compromise on what they wanted to do with the Lisa. |
Does anybody plan to write for the 8080 or 68000? Are you challenged by mega-chips like that? JM: I'm definitely not chip phobic. The thought of those chips with all those instructions and speed makes me drool! MS: The current 8-bit micros do have their limits, but people ignore them and keep stretching more out of the machines. AW: The next generation could well break barriers and start the first real interactive style of game. Thank you all very much. |
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MS: We have. JM: I will be doing some conversions for it but nothing original. What's the view of the Commodore 16? JM: Again, I'll convert a couple of games for it. I do like the colours and I may do some colour-based games. It really is a good entry level package. MS: I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Why? MS: Because Commodore want me to, and I don't want them to do it again, they've done it two times already with VICs and C64's. |
sound are the
two biggest selling points of micros today. Now for one of the hottest micros around - the Macintosh! JM: I love the Macintosh because it's so nice to use. My only criticisms are that it doesn't have enough memory and only one disc drive. If enough are sold then I'd love to do something on it. MS: I don't think it can be classed as a home computer of the way it's presented. AW: Taskset doesn't have any plans to release software for the Mac, although it's a thoroughly reliable machine. But it may be desirable because of the screen display. I've not actually used - |
![]() THE TEAM: one consensus was that Distributors are "evil" and strangle the market. |
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AW: I haven't really given it much thought. I'll wait and see how it develops. TC: I like the machine even though there's no sprites. It's got the smooth-scroll and colours. |
one so I can't really say anything about its facility for games. The screen display we'll be seeing on other machines this year - you will see that breed of hi-res pull-down |
Do you see a time when 16-bit games will be selling for £100? JM: £100 for a game? You've got to be crazy? |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
AMSTRAD CPC 464 1984 Z80 64KB 160 x 200 and 16 colours, 320 x 200 with 4 colours and 640 x 200 with 2 colours. 3 channel Reasonably successful selling computer in Europe, considering the dominance of the Commodore 64. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
ATARI 800 XL 1983 6502B 64KB 320 x 192 and 256 colours 4 channel Designed by Jay Miner the gentlemen responsible for the Amiga 1000 computer. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
COMMODORE 16 1984 7501 16KB 320 x 200 and 121 colours 2 channel Poor sales ensured this machine was destined to be a commercial failure. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
COMMODORE 64 1982 6510 64KB 320 x 200 and 16 colours 3 channel The best selling home computer of all time as listed officially in the Guinness Book of Records. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
COMMODORE PLUS/4 1984 7501 64KB 320 x 200 and 121 colours 2 channel Poor sales ensured this machine was destined to be a commercial failure. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
COMMODORE VIC 20 1981 6502A 5KB 184 x 176 and 16 colours 3 channel Forerunner to the mighty Commodore 64. Very successful at the time, partly due to its low cost. It was also famously promoted by William Shatner of Star Trek! You can view the ad at the end of this article courtesy of YouTube. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
Sharp MSX 1 (Hotbit HB-8000) 1985 Z80 64KB 256 x 192 and 16 colours 3 channel Although the MSX series of machines were a commercial failure. This model and others sold very well in Brazil. MSX stands for - Machines with Software eXchangeability. |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
SINCLAIR QL 1984 Motorola MC-68008 128KB 256 x 256 with 8 colours, 512 x 256 with 4 colours. (256 colour palette). 1 channel beeper A huge commercial failure. Launched just before the arrival of the Apple Macintosh... |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
ENTERPRISE 64 and 128 1985 Z80A 64 or 128KB 256 x 160 with 16 colours, upto 672 x 512 with 2 colours. (256 colour palette). 3 channel A huge commercial failure. Announced in 1983 but did not appear until 1985! |
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Computer: Release Date: Processor: Memory: Graphics: Sound: Comments: |
APPLE MACINTOSH 1984 Motorola 68000 128KB 512 x 342 black and white display. No sound. The forerunner to the successful Apple Macintosh series of personal computers. Featuring an icon driven interface that was the inspiration for Microsoft Windows and other mouse operated systems. Clever marketing and promotion helped give Apple a small but important market share. One of the most famous computer commercials of all time was created by Apple and appeared during the 1984 Super Bowl. The advert was directed by the movie director Ridley Scott. You can view the ad below courtesy of YouTube. |
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1984 Super Bowl commercial from YouTube (dwyerlupin) Note: the neat addition of an Ipod on the runner... |
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Commodore Vic-20 commercial from YouTube (PsiKnife) Note: Some people have wondered how Commodore got William Shatner to front these adverts. Simple - they paid a fortune... |
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Commodore 64 (Elephant in Boxing Ring) commercial from YouTube (kryptothedog78) Note: The Elephant was supposed to stand up in the ring but unfortunately during filming the shorts got ripped! That's the reason the elephant is sitting down throughout... |
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Article reproduced from Big K magazine March 1985 edition. Although all text appears unchanged, some photographs or images have been added or modified for aesthetic purposes. 'The Machines' page is an addition and did not feature in the original article. If you would like to comment on this article then please use the comment/rating feature available. Thank you to the following websites which were used for sourcing some images that appear in this article: BBC, Old-Computers.com, Scuzz Retro, Stage Select, Wikipedia. |