Pedigree · Silicon Wizardry

PC · #1

Global Effect

PC port of the Amiga game, started but never completed.

Publisher: Millennium Interactive
Developer: Solo
Role: Sole
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Unfinished

I was fortunate enough to know the programmer of the Amiga version of Global Effect, Toby Simpson, who I learned a lot from. He offered me the conversion of the game to PC which I started, but which I did not get very far with as it was just too overwhelming a project at the age I was at, so I never finished it.

PC · #2

Fun School: Merlin's Maths

First in-house team job: sub-games built to a strict spec.

Publisher: Europress
Developer: Intellectual Software Consultants
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

This was my first time working in-house with a team, and I had to write a few sub-games to an exact specification.

PC · #3

Fun School: Spelling Fair

Spelling-based sub-games for the Fun School series.

Publisher: Europress
Developer: Intellectual Software Consultants
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

This was a very similar experience to Merlin’s Maths, but with spelling-based sub-games.

Konix Multi-System · #4

James Pond II: Robocod

Early graphics engine on the Konix Multi-System.

Publisher: Millennium Interactive
Developer: Intellectual Software Consultants
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Unreleased

I was fortunate enough to be one of the first people at ISC to get to look at the KMS, and I managed to get a simple graphics engine up and running and just started on porting the game code from the Amiga when I was let go from my position.

Commodore Amiga · #5

Puggsy

First published game; arm movement and more rebuilt from scratch.

Publisher: Psygnosis
Developer: The Dome
Role: Sole/Lead
Language: 68000 assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

I do, and always will, consider this to be my first published game. Broadly speaking it was supposed to be a conversion of the Sega Megadrive version, but we never had completed source to work from, just a submission candidate cartridge. So, although there was some code that could be used, some of the more complex game code, such as the arm movement was absent, and had to be coded from scratch. I was forced to develop this using the Amiga’s dual playfield system, which I did not agree with, but went with anyway.

Sega Mega Drive · #6

Euro Soccer Manager

95% complete and in QA; built on the Rachel dev board.

Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: The Dome
Role: Sole/Lead
Language: 68000 assembly
Type: Original

Unreleased

This was my first taste of developing for consoles and it was done using the non-official “Rachel” Megadrive development board from Codemasters. Although this was never actually published the game was 95% complete and had started QA testing. It was a football management game where you could watch the games play out like the original version of FIFA.

Sega Game Gear · #7

Euro Soccer Manager

Handheld version overseen against the Mega Drive lead.

Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: The Dome
Role: Support
Language: Z80 assembly
Type: Original

Unreleased

As the Sega Megadrive version was the lead version, I oversaw the development of the Game Gear version ensuring each aspect ran like its Megadrive counterpart. This only got to about 60% complete.

Commodore Amiga · #8

Last Action Hero

Diagnosed and fixed issues on the Mega CD conversion.

Publisher: Psygnosis
Developer: The Dome
Role: Support
Language: 68000 assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

This ill-fated game was a conversion from the Sega Mega CD, which was a poor game. The conversion was virtually spot on, and was technically good, but got panned as the gameplay was poor. I acted only as a support programmer diagnosing and fixing issues.

Commodore CD32 · #9

Bump 'n' Burn

OCS to AGA conversion that needed a few hardware tricks.

Publisher: Grandslam
Developer: The Dome
Role: Support
Language: 68000 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

I only played a small part in development of this games, which was a conversion from the OCS Amiga version to AGA for the CD32. This was tricky, as the OCS version pushed the hardware quite hard, so we had to introduce a few tricks to pull this off.

Commodore Amiga · #10

Turbo Trax

A month of consultancy to unblock development.

Publisher: Arcane
Developer: The Dome
Role: Consultant
Language: 68000 assembly
Type: Original

Published

This only came across my path for a very short while, possibly a month or so, as the publisher and developer were having issues at the time with certain aspects of the game. All I did was carry out some consultancy and give advice on what I would do, and then it was passed back to the developer.

Sega Mega Drive · #11

Worms

Deformable landscapes on a character-map machine.

Publisher: Team 17/Ocean
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Sole/Lead
Language: 68000 assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

This was my first game for EPS, and I was moved onto it the day I started. At this point in time, unknown to me, it was already 9 months behind schedule, and all that was in place was a (superb) graphics engine, and most of the logic behind having a fully deformable landscape, which was unheard of on a character map-based system. It was supposed to be a conversion, but all we had to work from was 2 year old Blitz Basic source code and a set of master-candidate Amiga disks, so the “conversion” was done from playing the game and a few rules written in a Word document. Some features/weapons had to be dropped because of hardware limitations.

Super Nintendo · #12

Worms

Converted from the Mega Drive code base.

Publisher: Team 17/Ocean
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Sole/Lead
Language: 65816 assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

Once I had finished the Megadrive version I was moved across to the SNES version which again only had a basic graphics engine in place, but no code for deformable landscapes. I chose to convert from the Megadrive code, as I knew that inside out, obviously. Apparently this was Team 17/Ocean’s first published Nintendo game.

PC · #13

Speed Demons

Finished alongside Efecto Caos in Zaragoza.

Publisher: Dinamic Multimedia
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

A Spanish company, Efecto Caos, approached EPS with a partially complete game in a bid to help find a publisher. A colleague and I worked with the Spanish team remotely in the UK and for a 2 week stretch in Zaragoza to help complete the game.

PC · #14

Spirou

First of the Infogrames Heroes SNES-to-PC conversions.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Sole
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

This was the first conversion on the Infogrames “Heroes” range of games, from SNES to PC. This was the last game started, but the first completed.

PC · #15

Tintin: Temple Of The Sun

Completed inside three months.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Sole
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

After Spirou I moved straight onto this game, which was completed inside 3 months.

PC · #16

Tintin In Tibet

Helped bring the Heroes range home.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

As the previous conversions I was in sole charge of had been completed quickly and accurately I was tasked with helping ensure the remaining games in the series were finished as soon as was possible.

PC · #17

Asterix & Obelix

Helped bring the Heroes range home.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

As the previous conversions I was in sole charge of had been completed quickly and accurately I was tasked with helping ensure the remaining games in the series were finished as soon as was possible.

PC · #18

Lucky Luke

Helped bring the Heroes range home.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

As the previous conversions I was in sole charge of had been completed quickly and accurately I was tasked with helping ensure the remaining games in the series were finished as soon as was possible.

PC · #19

The Smurfs

Helped bring the Heroes range home.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: East Point Software
Role: Support
Language: 80×86 assembly
Type: Conversion

Published

As the previous conversions I was in sole charge of had been completed quickly and accurately I was tasked with helping ensure the remaining games in the series were finished as soon as was possible.

Sony PlayStation · #20

Crime Killer

Remote and on-site help in Sheffield to finish the game.

Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Pixelogic
Role: Consultant/Support
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

This game was substantially complete, but the company writing it for Interplay, Pixelogic, were having a few issues and as we had been working for Interplay I was asked if I could help them out, which I did remotely and then for a couple of weeks at Pixelogic’s offices in Sheffield.

Sony PlayStation · #21

VR Sports Powerboat Racing

Water dynamics and hull handling; first real 3D game.

Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

This was a difficult game to write, tyring to simulate water dynamics and the handling characteristics of monohull and catamaran boats. It was also my first real 3D game that I had worked on.

PC · #22

VR Sports Powerboat Racing

Shared code base with the PlayStation version.

Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Support
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

This was a conversion of the Playstation version and was the first time I had worked with a proper shared code base, and Playstation and PC versions were developed simultaneously.

Sony PlayStation · #23

Renegade Racers

Kart racing on water.

Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

To try and capitalise on the kart racing games around at the time we were asked by Interplay do write one on water due to our work on VR Sports Powerboat Racing.

PC · #24

Renegade Racers

Developed alongside the PlayStation version.

Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Support
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

This, like VR Sports Powerboat Racing, was developed alongside the Playstation version.

PC · #25

Cubes

Race and climb by laying cubes; dropped by the publisher.

Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C
Type: Original

Unreleased

This was a game with, I think, huge single player and multi-player potential. It was a simple premise. You controlled a cube character, all of which had slightly different attributes, and you had to race to the end of a level with various traps and so forth along the way. The levels all climbed as you went, and the cubes could climb by “laying” up to 7 cubes underneath them. These could form bridges etc., but as soon as an 8^th was laid, the first would disappear. You could also use them to trap opponents. It was Inforgrames’ idea, but they dropped it with no explanation.

Sega Dreamcast · #26

Aqua GT

Third water racer, built to a tight schedule.

Publisher: Take 2
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

Due to our work on previous water-based racing games Take 2 approached us to write a 3^rd, concentrating on the Sega Dreamcast. It was a rushed affair, but quite well executed considering the time constraints.

Sony PlayStation · #27

Aqua GT

Built from the Dreamcast lead code.

Publisher: Take 2
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C
Type: Original

Published

The PC version was developed alongside the Dreamcast version, but primarily by another team, using our source code as lead.

PC · #28

Fortress: Twerps

Build-and-battle castles; IP later went to GBA.

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Promethean Designs (EPS)
Role: Co-Lead
Language: C, C++
Type: Original

Unreleased

This was another game idea with real promise, where you built a fortress Tetris-style, and the better you built it, the better you were rewarded, with “Twerps” who were people who could mend your castle, and weaponry. Whilst building, and opponent, AI or human, was also building, and the idea was to take out the opponents’ castle. There was a full campaign/story mode designed, with different types of levels. It never got released, but the IP was used by Majesco (who we were working for) to create a version for the Gameboy Advance.

Game Boy Advance · #29

Zoocube

Stripped back and rebuilt to ship.

Publisher: Acclaim
Developer: Graphic State
Role: Sole
Language: C, ARM & THUMB assembly
Type: Original

Published

When I joined Graphic State this game was about 60% complete, but due to the way it had been written there was no way it could be completed, so I had to strip it back to about 20% and start again. It was a quirky little game, and quite a technical achievement.

Game Boy Advance · #30

Crazy Taxi: Catch A Ride

Dreamcast to GBA with no source or assets to start from.

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Graphic State
Role: Lead
Language: C, ARM & THUMB assembly
Type: Conversion + original

Published

One of the hardest projects I ever worked on. This was a conversion from the Dreamcast to the GBA. A vast difference in performance obviously. We had no source code to work from, or graphics, so it was in effect an original, as we used online maps to build the worlds, and playing the Dreamcast version to try and get the car handling right. Other members of my team took care of the 3D engine, and I wrote everything else and tied it all together.

Game Boy Advance · #31

Urban Reflex

Follow-up to Dark Arena; substantially complete.

Publisher: None
Developer: Graphic State
Role: Lead
Language: C, ARM & THUMB assembly
Type: Original

Unreleased

This was meant as a “follow up” to Dark Arena, and although substantially complete it never found a publisher as far as I am aware.

J2ME Mobiles · #32

Jezzball

Near-perfect mobile conversion, never released.

Publisher: None
Developer: Coyote/Self-Employed
Role: Sole
Language: Java
Type: Conversion

Unreleased

I was asked to convert the original version (written in Pascal if I remember correctly) to mobile phones. To the best of my knowledge it was never released as the original programmer was never happy, even though it was a near perfect conversion.

J2ME Mobiles · #33

Zoocube

Ported from GBA to around a dozen phones.

Publisher: Various
Developer: Coyote/Puzzlekings/Self-Employed
Role: Sole
Language: Java
Type: Conversion

Published

This was my first released project for J2ME mobile phones, which at the time was a mess of a platform. I successfully converted the GBA version to about a dozen different phones that were popular at the time.

J2ME Mobiles · #34

The Mummy

Mobile puzzle game for the film licence.

Publisher: Various
Developer: Coyote/Puzzlekings/Self-Employed
Role: Sole
Language: Java
Type: Original

Published

The was mobile phone puzzle game based on The Mummy movie.

J2ME Mobiles · #35

Poker Blocks

Designed by Nalin Sharma of PuzzleKings.

Publisher: Various
Developer: Coyote/Puzzlekings/Self-Employed
Role: Sole
Language: Java
Type: Original

Published

This was another mobile phone game which was designed by Nalin Sharma of PuzzleKings, who is also the designer of Zoocube.

J2ME Mobiles · #36

Combotron

Designed by Nalin Sharma of PuzzleKings.

Publisher: Various
Developer: Coyote/Puzzlekings/Self-Employed
Role: Sole
Language: Java
Type: Original

Published

This was another mobile phone game which was designed by Nalin Sharma of PuzzleKings, who is also the designer of Zoocube.

J2ME Mobiles · #37

Chicken Run

Frogger-like, with seasonal variants of every level.

Publisher: Various
Developer: Coyote/Puzzlekings/Self-Employed
Role: Sole
Language: Java
Type: Original

Published

This was another film tie-in game, which started life as “Wydid The Chicken”. It is primarily a Frogger-like game where the player must get to the end of each level. Every level had variations for each of the four seasons, which was only a change in graphics, but looked effective.

Sony PlayStation 2 · #38

International Pool Championship

Took it through QA and mastering.

Publisher: Play It
Developer: Graphic State/Self-Employed
Role: Support
Language: C, C++
Type: Original

Published

This game was 90% complete when I got moved onto it and I just had to make tweaks, changes and ensure it got through Q.A. and mastering, which I did.

PC · #39

Extreme Pool

Same engine as International Pool Championship.

Publisher: None
Developer: Graphic State/Self-Employed
Role: Support
Language: C, C++
Type: Original

Unreleased

This used the same engine and core code as International Pool Championship and was developed alongside it. My role was the same; to fix, tweak and tie it all together. I did this, but to the best of my knowledge a publisher was never found.

Nintendo Wii · #40

Mr. Bean's Wacky World Of Wii

Wrote the jigsaw puzzle sub-games.

Publisher: Blast
Developer: Beyond Reality/Self-Employed
Role: Support
Language: C, C++
Type: Original

Published

I was asked by a colleague I used to work with (we worked together at every company above, and on virtually every project to some degree) whether I wanted to write one of the sub-game systems for this game. I ended up writing the jigsaw puzzle sub-games.