skeezix
Internal Development
(Sorry I've been quiet the last few weeks; ISP got flaky and knocked me off the air for a week or two, and now I'm deluged with email as I try to catch up.. ugh 
)
One of the projects I've been working on and off on for ages (some of you may recall the Zot project) is an engine for remaking old school top-down smooth scrolling games, primarily Time Bandit. (..and Gauntlet and others of course, but Time Bandit has always been my frame of reference.)
Well, I managed to get ahold of the two original authors and had a fine chat with one on the phone just now -- I know I'm a nerd, but that has me totally stoaked. Talking to someone you idolized 15 or 20 years earlier
Anyway, I got to thinking .. it could be a cool opportunity for a mini-email-interview of sorts; but what sorts of questions would be cool to ask a developer who was in the 'creating games before there was an industry' era, and still active in software development today? The one fella was the main coder (Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, and others) while the other was the artist, level designer and pollish-man. Any questions about the good old days, what was it like, developing games back then, etc etc all welcome.
So let me know your interview question ideas, and I'll boil them down into a few questions to ask these two fine fellas, and maybe we can get some cool information.
As to the project itself .. still alive; I've got the engine running on the GP2X now, and I'm reworking it all to be more to where I want it to go.. I've ditched the scripting language for now, and a lot of built-in logic and whatnot, and recrafting into a more targeted engine rather than a generic mini-game system. I shoudl be able to get the maps and artwork going much faster now than before, so hopefully we'll get some good progress in a little bit.. once I recover from email up to my nostrils
jeff
Given I don't have license to the actual game (does anyone?) I've been debating what to call it; ie: "Time Bandits" would likely be owned by someone (in reference to the game), but theres always "Tim Bandits" and "Grime Bandits" or any number of things
)One of the projects I've been working on and off on for ages (some of you may recall the Zot project) is an engine for remaking old school top-down smooth scrolling games, primarily Time Bandit. (..and Gauntlet and others of course, but Time Bandit has always been my frame of reference.)
Well, I managed to get ahold of the two original authors and had a fine chat with one on the phone just now -- I know I'm a nerd, but that has me totally stoaked. Talking to someone you idolized 15 or 20 years earlier
Anyway, I got to thinking .. it could be a cool opportunity for a mini-email-interview of sorts; but what sorts of questions would be cool to ask a developer who was in the 'creating games before there was an industry' era, and still active in software development today? The one fella was the main coder (Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, and others) while the other was the artist, level designer and pollish-man. Any questions about the good old days, what was it like, developing games back then, etc etc all welcome.
So let me know your interview question ideas, and I'll boil them down into a few questions to ask these two fine fellas, and maybe we can get some cool information.
As to the project itself .. still alive; I've got the engine running on the GP2X now, and I'm reworking it all to be more to where I want it to go.. I've ditched the scripting language for now, and a lot of built-in logic and whatnot, and recrafting into a more targeted engine rather than a generic mini-game system. I shoudl be able to get the maps and artwork going much faster now than before, so hopefully we'll get some good progress in a little bit.. once I recover from email up to my nostrils
jeff
Given I don't have license to the actual game (does anyone?) I've been debating what to call it; ie: "Time Bandits" would likely be owned by someone (in reference to the game), but theres always "Tim Bandits" and "Grime Bandits" or any number of things
