Denton Designs : 1988
“Colin, let’s take a day off from Denton Designs, get the train from Liverpool to London and clear up this Crosswize situation with Telecomsoft, face to face.” Crosswize was late. It …
Firebird : 1987
Cockneys Die!!! After Odin’s demise, I was left with decisions to make. After months of running on financial fumes to complete Sidewize, I had no significant monetary reserves; not to put too …
Chasing the raster on the ZX Spectrum in Sidewize
How did Sidewize accomplish the “raster-chasing” required to update the display 50 times per second? Read on! [note: jump down to The Results to see the videos, otherwise let’s dive …
Nodes of Yesod : ZX Spectrum Next : Update #2
This week I posted a poll on Twitter to find out which of the three presented graphics styles people would prefer for Astro Charlie, the protagonist in Nodes of Yesod, on the ZX Spectrum Next. The …
Nodes of Yesod : ZX Spectrum Next : Update #1
A ZX Spectrum Next, in its natural habitat A quick progress report on Nodes of Yesod for the Spectrum Next. The good news - I worked on it! I managed to spend a couple of evenings last week working …
Sidewize Scrolling Graphics Breakdown
Following on from the Odin Computer Graphics Part Two post where I mentioned Sidewize, I thought I’d delve into a little more detail on the construction of the Sidewize scrolling backdrops. …
Odin Computer Graphics Part Two : 1986 - 1987
Continued from part one. That Telecomsoft Deal On the strength of the commercial success of Nodes of Yesod and Robin of the Wood, Odin Managing Director Paul McKenna had convinced British Telecom (in …
Nodes of Yesod for the ZX Spectrum Next
The ZX Spectrum Next in the flesh! How it started In May of 2017, I committed to deliver a remade version of Nodes of Yesod as part of a £620K stretch goal for the successful (the campaign raised …
Q&A with Retrogamer Magazine on Manic Miner Amstrad CPC
Manic Miner Amstrad CPC - Title Screen A quick follow-up to my Software Projects post - in January 2021 Retrogamer Magazine published a brief Q&A I did with Graeme Mason about Manic Miner on the …
Interview with El Mundo Del Spectrum circa 2012
Nodes of Yesod on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum ca. 1985 This is an interview I did with El Mundo Del Spectrum (original link in the Spanish language) in 2012. The interview mostly discusses my early …
Heart of Yesod: A Game That Wasn't
Eldritch The Cat team circa 1990. Left to right, Dave Collins, Mark McCubbin, Stefan Walker, Marc Wilding, and Steve Wetherill. Photo courtesy of Marc Wilding. Back in 2015, Frank Gasking approached …
EA Air Hockey: Creating the In-Game Graphics
As noted in the earlier post on EA Air Hockey, all in-game graphics were created in 3DS Max as 3D models and then rendered into 2D images and sprites. This eased the creation of game graphics and …
EA Air Hockey: Designing a One-Button Mobile Game
Note: This article was originally published in two parts on Gamasutra (now Game Developer) in 2007 and may be found here. Though I have made various edits for clarity and grammar, I’ve …
The Making of Heartland for the Sinclair Spectrum
Note: this article expands upon material I provided for the RetroGamer #129 article on Heartland. In 1986, Odin Computer Graphics Ltd published the game “Heartland” for 8-bit platforms such as the …