ontributed
positively to their work.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. If you were given the option back at CRL, what game would you have
created, and why?

To be honest, I just wasn't creative. I could see a formula others were working to, so I tried to base ideas on those, but if I ever had a burning ambition to create something, Clem would have encouraged it, and it would
have just happened.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Who decided who worked on what game, or did everyone just chip in as
and when was needed across games, or was it everyone on one game at a time?
I know you mentioned it did start like this at CRL.

Originally, everyone had their own little project that they completely
owned from start to finish, yes. Then Ian Elleray joined and he shook it
up a bit, dividing design, coding, graphics and sound to best resources.
Paul Stoddart, for example, was a very gifted coder of scrolling scenes, so
we all lifted his code. I was considered useful at music and sound, so I
did that mostly. Jon Law and others did graphics, etc. Ian was a great
guy -a really positive, happy and dedicated man - but he was a threat to
our precious teenage status quo, so we were unduly cynical of him, and that
is the one regret I do have from CRL.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. So you still have fond memories of CRL? Do you all still keep in
touch?

I have many fond memories of CRL, and yes, it's mostly of the fun we all
had, and certainly of Clem's paternal care to his staff; he was always a
very generous and forgiving boss, much to his own detriment. Mad as a box
of frogs, but thoroughly charming. I see him every now and again when he's
in the UK, mainly via a very good friend I retained from CRL - Ashley Hildebrandt who was an old school mate of Clem's but also the chief
accountant of CRL. I see Ash several times a year, we holiday together and Clem and I are godparents to Ash's son. Obviously I'm still in touch with
my brother Jared who worked at CRL on graphics, and others there on social media. CRL was a seamless extension from school, so those guys are like
old school mates.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. What (in your opinion) should CRL be remembered for, and what would you
say were CRL's top 5 games?

CRL should be remembered primarily for its part in an amazing short phase
in the history of both entertainment and technology. We will never see
such unstructured and wild creativity and inventiveness again. The nearest we've had since is crowd-sourced development for the Raspberry Pi or
Arduino, but even then, the consumer take-up seems to have been mostly
academic or scientific rather than over-excited kids trying to push them to
do whacky stuff for the sheer fun of it.

Top 5 games, that's a tough one.

1. Tau Ceti. A proper, polished game with good game play and attention to detail.

2. Test Match Cricket. A very early CRL title for the Spectrum, that did
what it said on the tin. Boring, but so addictive. So just like cricket.

3. Juggernaut. Another typical Pete Cooke game - simple, polished,
addictive. It would be a very successful 59p app now.

4. Terrahawks. A 3d wireframe shooty thing by Richard Taylor. I nearly crashed his Fiat 126 once while attempting doughnuts in the CRL car park
with him and three others squeezed into it. The only time I've ever seen
him angry. But I digress.

5. The Colour of Magic. The only text adventure I've ever enjoyed.
Fergus McNeill was basically Terry Pratchett (were Terry Pratchett to be a gangly Scottish hobo).

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. CRL produced a few games for the Atari and Amiga computers. Do you
feel the transition to 16-bit was just too much for CRL team, or was it
more the amount of outlay and the bigger projects need to create 16-bit
games was just beyond CRL's Budgets?

Neither really - it was just a function of timing. We'd all played around
with 16-bit kit in the Zen Room as you say, but about that time of the late 80's CRL was falling apart at the seams. It cost nothing more to produce 16-bit code than 8-bit code. Sure, the graphics needed more work, but we
had three (maybe four) graphics designers in-house by then. I know Jon Law (graphics) and Jules Bert (coding) had their own pet projects for 16-bit
and, as CRL fractured, they took them up to Wigan with my brother and set
up their own games house. That's really where the 16-bit product went, but even if it hadn't, CRL may have put out a few titles before the inevitable.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Do you have any comments you would like to add?

Perhaps I owe Tony Crowther an apology for trying to get him drunk at a
trade show just to wangle out of him how he did the multi-coloured sprite
trick on the C64, but apart from that, I think it's all written above.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. What takes up your time (since you left CRL) and at the current time?

Boring corporate IT, I'm afraid. It's all I know, and it keeps my wife in
the manner to which she has become accustomed. As such, computing is now
just a pay check that has served me very well. I get my kicks form other things - flying gliders, playing music on more mainstream instruments, and
the church.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Thank you for your time.

You're very welcome.


*************************************
REVIEW: INTERNATIONAL SOCCER
*************************************

Well... bending the rules slightly, but this is an actual software release
by CRL. Commodore actually issued this game on cartridge, and later the
rights were acquired by CRL to release the game on disk and tape. CRL then re-badged the game with CRL advertising, a new piece of cover art, and
released it on the public, and as far as I am aware, apart from the
branding the game itself - is the same.

Clem commented to me that when they approached Commodore, they said they
wanted to concentrate on the hardware rather than software and so gave CRL
a green light to release the game on cassette and disk. The story then
goes a little off-track, but let's just say CRL placed a new front-end and in-game graphics and released the game under the CRL brand.

The game has won many fans for its game play, and although I can't say I am
a football fan, I would happily sit and play International Soccer for ages
with the computer (or even against friends).

International Soccer is a football game with no league or tournaments -
just friendly matches. The game is played over 2 halves and features
corners and throw-ins, but you are unable to foul another player. You have
a team of 7 players and control the action with a joystick moving in 8 directions in a pseudo-3D type environment and pressing fire to play. You
only see a small area of the play field and the screen scrolls around. As
you move you get automatic control of the goal keeper as required.

www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/International_Soccer

I reviewed International Soccer in Issue 57. I still stand by the scores
as basically it's the same game (but not on cartridge). My friend
commented that, "it's a football game for people who don't like football,"
and I think that's a fair comment of the game really!

www.commodorefree.com/magazine/vol5/issue57.html

SCORES

Graphics: 6/10
Sounds: 3/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Longevity: 8/10
Overall: 8/10


*************************************
REVIEW: SUN STAR [PLUS/4]
*************************************

plus4world.powweb.com/software/Sun_Star

Because the Plus 4 version was the first version I played this game on, I
will concentrate my review on that version, but other versions or
conversions are the same really.

If you download the game from here there is also a full manual and inlay cassette scan, and as it's a great resource for Plus 4 owners, I found the
game better on the Plus 4 than the c64 - not sure why - it just seemed more responsive.

Release date 1987

AIM OF THE GAME

Collect as many energy crystals as you can. You can fire at one o

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