Then and now
Someone asked me recently what was the most fun I’ve had working on games (so far, presumably!). Good question. There’s a few scenarios that stand out - the first of which would be coding up Death Stalker back in late 80’s. This was when there was three of us hanging out together, each writing their own game, all of which we eventually sold to Codemasters. Despite us all being totally skint, it was a properly wild time with as much time spent in the bars and clubs of of Hull as there was staring at screens. But we got a lot done and there was joy in the camaraderie and shared purpose.
A few years later, still in Hull, and the somewhat under resourced Revolution team was battling to produce Beneath a Steel Sky in very challenging circumstances . There was huge pressure to push the game forward as we basically had zero money and nearly dozen people to support. The weekday office was full of clammer, with the usual meetings and everything that complex development entails. But the weekends were better because a select few of us would, more often than not, make our way to the Ferensway office to see what was happening. There’d be two, three, maybe four people in there on a Sunday afternoon. This was a time to really get stuff done! And we did.
I keenly remember one time when it was just myself and artist, Steve Oades, in there one weekend. We were working on Hobbins’ workshop, which has quite a lot of complex logic and animations. Steve was producing the pixel art at a fast pace and handing it to me to be implemented. Once it was in the game little problems would often show up that Steve would fix and we’d just iterate until it was good. Sometimes we’d get some new idea to make it even better and just agree to do it, there and then, even if it meant we had to backtrack. We’d do stuff because we wanted to. It was the weekend, so the work would be off-schedule and it didn’t matter.
I really loved the synergy between the people working after hours. This wasn’t crunch, where someone - usually a publisher - is turning the screws and forcing the extra hours. This was just people wanting to do the work and relishing the distraction free environment. Great fun.
Steve Oades was a big part of this. His work on Steel Sky, and later as the main artist on Broken Sword’s George Stobbart, showed that he was a great talent of the time.
I mention at the end of the book about how I tried to find Steve as part of my research. I had a good idea he was right here in Hull, but couldn’t track him down. Usually, in this day and age, it’s easy enough to find people via Facebook, or whatever. As I said, I simply couldn’t find him, which was a shame. Then, a few weeks ago, I had a brainwave. I remembered that last time I saw him he had a son, who was just a toddler at the time, but who would now be grown up. A few searches later and I found him on Facebook. A few minutes after that I had his father, Steve’s, phone number. Bingo.
I had a good idea that Steve was ill, because it was starting towards the end of his time at Revolution - he left after the In Cold Blood burnout. I arranged to go and visit him, and found that, sadly, he is really quite ill now with multiple sclerosis. MS is a debilitating disease, and it was sad to see how much it has already taken from him. Nonetheless, we had a great time talking about the old days at Revolution. He wouldn’t hear of it, but I will keep reminding him that he’s a legend and not to forget it.
Steve asked me what my new game - Wormhole Dungeon - actually is. The answer is that, well, it’s a strange mix of genres that is hard to describe. The best I’ve come up with is that it’s like a Metroidvania, cross-bred with an adventure game like Beneath A Steel Sky.
Soon I will need to talk a lot more about this game, because the rough plan is to release a demo level in… maybe… October or November, and see what happens. Going forward, I’ll write on here about Wormhole, and how it’s going.
So, that’s the plan, anyway :)