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Ashley Routledge
One half of the stunning C64 partnership, if not one of the most famous ones of all time. Starting out on Compunet, creating some stunning demos such as Electric Café, Daring Dots and Snowball Sunday, Ash & Dave's reputation grew as they started doing games. Producing the fantastic Dragon Breed, the awesome Slicks and the sadly unreleased game, Daffy Duck. Jazzcat managed to grab Ashley Routledge away from his projects for a interview about life on the C64, and life today...
(by David Simmonds)
Barry
Leitch
Or The Jackal, as we also know him, has been around since
the early days of computing. He started small as everyone
else, struggeling to get jobs done. Then, in just a few
years, he had done titles for Gremlin, Ocean and Electronic
Arts. In this interview you'll learn about those years
and what Barry himself think about his past work. (by Andreas Wallström)
Chris
Shrigley
The people that worked for Gremlin in the early days has
always been my heroes. I even namned my company after
the game Rebounder. There's something magic about them...
One of them is Chris Shrigley who's softography includes
the classics Footballer of the Year and Future Knight.
In this interview, you'll read about the Gremlin and Core
Design days and comments about the old games he created.
Among many things. (by Andreas Wallström)
Colin Porch
To many people, Colin Porch is the man behind the remarkable C64 conversion of Head Over Heels, scoring 98 percent in Zzap!64. But there is much more that people never got to know. All this stunning work, but never an interview or recognition in the press. Colin was very much a quiet man who concentrated on producing top quality conversions, and did just that.
As well as Head Over Heels, Colin produced the stunning Operation Wolf conversion, the Gryzor conversion, worked on Dragons Lair and also more amazingly, the unreleased Parasol Stars. It was the experience of Colin which made him the great games programmer he was, and Colin kindly agreed to take part in this fascinating interview about his past. (by Frank Gasking)
Cyberdyne Systems: Dan Philips, Robin Levy, John Kemp
Creating one of the best ever sideways scrollers ever, Cyberdyne Systems have always been famous for their wonderful Armalyte game. Dan Phillips, Robin Levy and John Kemp made up a formidable team who produced some very impressive sights for our C64's over the years. Although Armalyte was one of the only big titles to come from the trio, they worked on the famous Deadlock title which although never got finished, caused a huge stir in the C64 scene when the demos were finally released for the world to see. The trio's work did help to create bits and pieces for The Last Ninja 3, Putty, Fuzzball, Citadel and a few other unreleased titles such as Armalyte 2, Scimiatar and a F1 racing game. Armalyte 2 and Deadlock were both exclusively launched through the Games That Weren't site in their final state.
Cyberdyne Systems will always be remembered for Armalye and Deadlock, and today their games and work still is talked about by many a C64 fan. Cyberdyne Systems kindly agreed to take part in an interview, which sheds light on their C64 pasts... (by Frank Gasking)
David
Whittaker
Is there anyone that has been involved in the C64 business
that hasn't heard his name? He has done *a lot* of titles
and not only on the C64, but on almost every computer
and console. Being responsible for titles like Bmx Simulator,
Enduro Racer, Jailbreak and Red Max, Dave burst into the
scene in form of original and unique compositions. This
interview was not finished, because Dave is really busy
these days and could not find the time to answer more
questions. But I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it anyways. (by Andreas Wallström)
John Buckley
Creating some wonderful C64 titles, John Buckley was behind the likes of Sly Spy, Solar Jetman, Psycho Hopper and the never completed Vale of Shadows. Not in the limelight of big programmers such as Andrew Braybrook and Jeff Minter, but he didn't need to be. John was typical of the staff of Software Creations, and all his worked oozed quality. (by Frank Gasking)
Jon Hare
Jops set up Sensible Software with his mate Chris Yates, and they became successful right away. He's responsible for games like Parallax, Wizball, Cannon Fodder, and the ever so popular Sensible Soccer. Jops is also my (Andreas) band mate. We gig, oh, like once a year. :) He's is one of the most talented people in the games business, and he's still doing what he does best. Sensible Soccer for mobile phones is just out and Cannon Fodder is on it's way. In this interview, we talk a lot about his graphics, drawing techniques, what was most fun to do etc., and Jops really enjoyed that. I hope you'll enjoy reading it! (by Andreas Wallström)
Jon Wells
When the C64 was down and out, and when the likes of Ocean and Code Masters drifted onto the 16-bit machines, we were severlely lacking any new C64 software. One man to answer the call was Jon Wells. Starting out with manager sims, Jon first hit the headlines through his great conversion of the spectrum game, Sceptre of Bagdad. However, luck was not on his side as Atlantis "sank" just before they could release the game. Jon was not to be deterred, and went on to release the game himself under his own label, Visualize. Jon talks about his C64 past, and answers some questions which have been on lips for a while... (by Frank Gasking)
Joost
Honig a.k.a. Honey of 1001 Crew
Everyone knows Honey and the 1001 Crew. They were one
of the top teams between 1985 and 1987 and were the first
to break the side-border and put sprites in all borders
with ESCOS. C64hq is the first – and will always
be the first – to give you an interview with one
of the guys after 17 years of silence. It's a real scoop,
don't you agree? Also check out the rare photos. (by Andreas Wallström)
Haydn Dalton
A games' graphics is almost as important as the gameplay itself. Even if this isn't true, then Haydn's graphics certainly at least helped things out a little. Creating some awesome graphics for many machines, including the C64, Haydn has been unlucky with his actual C64 work. Sadly quite a few games never saw the light of day which contained his work, most notably Orcus, which he and Mike Ager set to stun the world with an awesome SEU that was sadly never to be. (by Frank Gasking)
Hugh Riley
Can you remember when you first played The Last Ninja 1 and 2 and being totally gobsmacked at the sheer quality of the graphics and the extremely well detailed items? Hugh Riley owned up to creating the graphics for these two masterpieces, and to a lot of other stuff too, including Robocop 3 and Dominator. A huge talent and still in the industry, creating artwork for many top games and continuing his reputation as an artistic great in the gaming world. (David Simmonds)
Marc Dawson
You may remember Marc from the days of Imagine Software, and his funny little game called B.C. Bill. You may have even heard of Marc from his days of working on the famous "Jet Set Willy 3"-game Mega Tree with Matthew Smith. As well as these games, Marc has produced some quality games such as Mission AD and Robin of the Wood for Odin software, and lately had been the head of Software Creations. (by Frank Gasking)
Martin Galway
What an incredible composer. Those sounds... Those clear
amazing sounds... What makes Martin happy? What was the
deal with Imagine? How was it to work with Dave Collier?
How long did it take to cover the two Miami Vice tracks?
The answers are all here. I think *I'm* in hog heaven! (by Andreas Wallström)
Martin Holland
Software Creations must have been laughing at the prospect of having some really big talent in the art deparment, and they certainly did with Martin. Producing some breathtaking graphics for Sly Spy, Gauntlet 3 and many other classic C64 games for Software Creations, Martin made games a working piece of art. Still content on creating graphics for the platforms of today, sadly not at Creations anymore, Martin was glad to take part in an interview, talking about his past and present goings ons. Sadly, Martin passed away in August 2003 due to long suffering of DVT. This interview is merely a small indication of what a personality he was. Rest in peace Martin. (by Frank Gasking)
Paul Docherty
Paul 'DOKK' Docherty is regarded as one of the best artists on the C64. It was not a day too soon for us to get in touch with him and ask him about his C64 past. Some excerpts from this monster interview that should interest you to do some reading are: "I have no sympathy for those Speccy victims." and "Nothing about it drove me insane. I was already insane." And how big fan of the C64 was/is Paul really? All revealed inside! (by Andreas Wallström)
Paul Hughes
Tape loading is certainly a thing of the past, what with the hellish long loaders and appalling game at the end of it all. Paul Hughes certainly tried his darn best to ensure that tape loading wasn't that bad, and he proved it by creating a fast loader for Ocean called Freeload. Not only did Paul pioneer one of the most popular C64 loaders of all time, he also was a dab hand at programming on the C64 and produced a number of games, including the infamous Operation Thunderbolt in only two weeks! Paul also produced the music driver which Jonathan Dunn et al used, later using some of his music to replace Martin Galway's old Ocean Loader. Paul took time away from his current new gen console game development to get grilled about his past work. (by Andreas Wallström and Frank Gasking)
Paul Norman
In the beginning of the Commodore 64's life, movie-like features in games were nowhere to be seen. Until Paul Norman released Forbidden Forest. With a pseudo-3D perspective, monsters and one scary tune, Paul raised the quality bar for games quite a bit. In this interview, we pick his brain about what kind of company Cosmi was, we read interesting facts about his games – and you get a pretty good insight of how he worked on them too! If the message doesn't get across when reading, here is some important information for you: Paul really like movies. (by Andreas Wallström)
Pete
Baron
We are truly privileged to be owners of the C64. With a fantastic range of games not matched by many systems and a superb set of titles which really pushed the heart and soul out of the C64 and into our minds. Myth is one reason to be proud of the Commodore 64. It's a technical marvel and a masterpiece in terms of C64 code, art and sound. The programmer behind this fantastic game and Salamander, Pete Baron, hasn't really had much of the spotlight compared to other developers, which is strange considering the programming feat he has achieved with Bob Stevenson. (by Frank Gasking with guest questions from Andrew Fisher, Jazzcat, and Andreas Wallström)
Pete
Harrap
Pete's really the dedicated to programming games kind
of guy, and I think it shows in his past work (Auf Weidersehen
Monty, Pacmania, Terramex). In this interview we talk
a lot about the old days, about his previous work and
one crazy car park attendant. (by Andreas Wallström)
Richard Leinfellner
Richard made his name at Palace Software in the early 80's, programming the infamous C64 conversion of the laughable horror classic The Evil Dead and the stunning Cauldron and Barbarian games. (by Frank Gasking)
Richard Underhill
Bart Simpson vs The Space Mutants, Forgotton Worlds and Pang. Three games which you will all probably agree were quite special conversions. Pushing the C64 and convincing us ever more that the C64 could hold its own when doing conversions. Behind those stunning titles, and many others, was none other than a talented programmer called Richard Underhill. Producing these stunners under the famous Arc Developments team for the likes of Ocean and U.S. Gold in the late 80's and early 90's. Now after giving up programming full time, Richard still works in the games industry, working for Kuju Entertainment as Project Manager. (by Frank Gasking)
Rob Hubbard
The Commodore 64 superstar Rob Hubbard. Man, what can
I tell you that you don't already know about him... But
you must read this interview, cause he tells all the good
stuff we want to know about the past and also shares three
original musicscripts. He says that perhaps it would be
fun to do a tune on the C64 again! Someone get that man
a computer now! (by Andreas Wallström)
Roy Bannon
We always try to put the spotlight on those who have had a hand in titles which never saw the light of day. One of the biggest titles that we have searched for, up amongst the most wanted of Daffy Duck and Murder, is Batman Returns. You all remember those screenshots from the diaries which promised a fantastic platformer. Another "If Only"! After years of research, we managed to track down the games' creator Roy Bannon. Roy is also well known for his involvement with Denton Designs and the awesome World Class Rugby game for Audiogenic. With many stories to tell, Batman Returns' developer has a chat about various topics of his past and present. (by Frank Gasking)
Ste
Pickford
Despite being a Speccy kid and despite hating the C64,
Ste did some stunning stuff on C64 games like Amaurote,
Ghosts'n Goblins, Knight Games 2 and Zub. Read about how
a typical day at Binary Design used to look like, about
his work on the C64 and about his current work at Zed
Two. (by Andreas Wallström)
Stephen
Thomson
Saying that Stephen Thomson did a good job on the C64 is an understatement of gigantic proportions. Rated as one of the very finest artists, Stephen is behind the graphics in games like The Untouchables and Navy Seals. What sales pitch did he use on his parents to get the C64? What game was most fun to work on? What pixel technique did he use? All revealed inside – and more! (by Andreas Wallström)
Steve Collins
Some of you may not know who Steve Collins is when you hear his name at first. Compared to most C64 developers, Steve only had two of his games released to the public, and another two sadly lost. His two games however made a great impact but Steve never really got the recognition he deserved. With a fantastic conversion of Tengen's Badlands on the C64 in a single load and the awesome budget title Herobotix, Steve made his mark on the C64 for years to come. (by Frank Gasking)
Steve Ruddy
If you don't know who Steve Ruddy is, then you must never have played some of the most stunning conversions ever seen on a C64. Creating such marvels such as Bubble Bobble, LED Storm, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts and Bionic Commando, Steve helped to build up a reputation for Software Creations to be one of the biggest names in the games industry. Not only did Steve create these stunning games, but he helped build the awesome music editor which was used by Tim Follin, thus helping us to also hear some of the best C64 sounds of all times. (by Frank Gasking)
Back in Time Live 3
audio files 
All in all, it was just a brilliant evening! Too short,
too sweaty, but brilliant! People from Morocco, Hungary,
UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Norway,
Germany and Belgium were present at the event, and it
shows how important these kind of events are.
Adam
Gilmore (8,7 Mb)
This interview was done in a pub called Marquis of Granby
in central London. I'd been e-mailing with Adam for a
while, but I didn't know how he started out and how he
came up with his best tunes. Now I do!
David
Whittaker (2,2 Mb)
Once again, I had the chance to do a small catch up interview
with Dave, where he among other things tell us that he's
back composing again and that his current projects are
Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and Uridium for the Gameboy
Advance. Niiice!
Machinae
Supremacy live bootleg (9,1 Mb)
Apart from playing their version of Giana Sisters, they
also played a bunch of C64 tunes they'd put together in
to something they called Sidology one and three. The songs
they played were Cybernoid 2, Rocky Star, Deflektor, Outrun
(episode one) and Flimbo's Quest, Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid,
Monty on the Run, Commando, Outrun (episode three). I
just love the keyboard sound on Deflektor (check 06:56)
and episode three is just one happy punksong! I don't
know who the "Hello/Hello again" dork is, but
I think you'll enjoy it anyways.
Pascal
Roggen (3 Mb)
The interview with violin player and super lad Pascal
was done in the ladies room. Why? Because it was quiet
in there (the mix of music and people talking makes it
quite hard to hear what people are answering).
Pascal
Roggen plays Monty on the Run (613 K)
It's a bit hard to hear all the notes on the PPOT bootleg
recording, so luckily I asked Pascal to play something
for us before the event kicked off. It's those last fast
and furious 40 seconds of the song... You have been warned!
Press
Play On Tape live bootleg (28,3 Mb)
They kicked off their set with the intro from Giana Sisters,
which actually was nicked from Machinae Supremacy's version
of Giana Sisters. Hilarious! Giana blended into Warhawk
and was followed by Aztec Challenge and Thrust with Pascal
playing on both those tracks. Rambo - First Blood Part
2, Flimbo's Quest, Crazy Comets, Delta and Ghosts'n Goblins
followed before the highlights: Monty on the Run, Krakout,
Auf Wiedersehen Monty and Outrun.
Richard
Joseph (6,6 Mb)
Meeting Richard Joseph again was a blast! The funny thing
is that I always seem to catch Richard after "very
many of these", as Richard once said. In this interview,
we talk about games development in 2002, about why he
keeps coming back to the Back in Time live events and
the possibilities of performing Barbarian with a symphony
orchestra at the next event!
Back
in Time Live audio interviews 
Oh, what a disaster! Something was wrong with the DV camera
and it didn't want to record the sound properly. At this
moment there's just audio versions of all interviews,
but if I manage to put picture and sound together properly,
you'll see these wonderful video interviews I got!
Ben
Daglish and Antony Crowther (12,6 Mb)
The craziest interview I've ever done, and also the most
fun one to do. They were both in a really good mood and
you know, Ben is like the guy who talks all the time and
entertains everyone. As a huge fan of this duo, I'd like
to call this interview The Reunion of We M.U.S.I.C. Take
the chance of hearing the previously unheard, unreleased
and new C64 tune from Ben. It's so new it hasn't been
poked into the machine code monitor yet! And it's Antony
by the way, not Anthony like I say it.
David
Whittaker (5,2 Mb) "Things are great.
You tell me what you want to know, cause I'm here." is what Dave says in the beginning of the interview. Initally
Dave wasn't too keen on doing an interview. But, I'm not
the guy the gives up that easily, and after a while of
persuasion, he finally agreed.
Fred
Gray (6,6 Mb)
Gray is a nice bloke and there's a lot of great answers
in this interview. Like when he talks about the early
years at Imagine and the tunes he did that probably no
one ever have heard. I know one title that's previously
unknown to most people, and that's Pedro from Imagine.
Go get it in the games section!
Jeff
Minter (3,9 Mb)
Done in the VIP room where all the fun action went on.
It was a pretty confusing interview to do, because one
of his followers were interupting all the time, showing
no respect what so ever. It's all gone now because I didn't
think you were willing to wait 20 seconds between the
questions. What this interview will give you though, is
a pretty good idea of how great and action filled the
evening was (loads and loads of beer).
Richard
Joseph (3,6 Mb)
Done in the room where you could buy T-shirts and CDs
and also finish your meal. It was a really fast chat really,
and hopefully I can do a bit more in-depth interview with
Richard soon.
Rob
Hubbard (7,9 Mb)
I actually did two interviews with Hubbard, but only one
with audio. You know, after the first interview, I found
out that there was something wrong with the DV camera
and that it didn't want to record the sound properly.
I thought twice about asking him to do the interview all
over again, but I had no choice. This was a once in a
lifetime oportunity!
20 questions with... 
This is where you find interviews with the great people
that were a part of the demo and cracking scene. The aim
is to preserve a part of the history that meant so much
for so many. Read about how people got their handle, how
a typical day in front of the C64 could look like, cool
stories from the past etc.
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» Rob
Hubbard - "I don't really have the time
right now - perhaps it would be fun" on answering
the question of doing a C64 tune again.
» Martin
Galway - "(Impossible Question) Taking
everything into consideration, Rambo - First Blood
Part 2" on answering to the question of what
he think was his best piece on the C64. |
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