Videopac 64: Shark Hunter

I got a really interesting e-mail just a little while ago that I thought I'd share:

Quote:

Dear Earl,

I was delighted to see your review the game 'Sharkhunter'.

I designed the game concept and wrote the assembler code sometime around 1983 while working for a company called GST in Longstanton, near Cambridge UK. It was the first game I wrote for the company and was written for Philips Games Division in Eindhoven Netherlands for one of their games consoles. Unfortunately, just as the game was finished, Philips decided not to release any more games for the console which was becoming outdated. That was the reason it was never released.

Shortly afterwards our contract with Philips ceased and we decided to create our own company called 'Electric Software'. We had to produce some games quickly and to use game concepts which were our own design. It was decided that Sharkhunter and Buzz-off would be written for the MSX, Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum machines. We marketed them under the Electric Software name.

In 1984 I left the company to pursue a career in software engineering. I always look back fondly to those great times in the games group.

I was so pleased with your description of the game and it was a real pleasure to see the video of the demonstration mode. It is now 25 years later on and I am so pleased to see it again.

Yours sincerely,
Graham Conduit

Has anyone here heard of or spoken to Graham before? (The review he's talking about it here.)

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Phosphor Dot Fossils | theLogBook.com

Great news!

Mr. Conduit, thanks for a great game!

I have the MSX version also, on tape. The Videopac cover-art used on the release was copied from it! Smile

The GST-guys were hard to find, I search the entire net, and came up almost empty-handed. I know other people got a little further, but not much. Maybe Mr. Conduit can tell us more about GST, its history was always a little hazy.

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Bye,
.\\aurice

All your Playstation 1 games are belong to me!

Mr. Conduit sent me an email too. He wants to order a copy of Shark Hunter, but I will give him one for free of course. I will try to get an interview with him Very Happy

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Visit the Classic Consoles Center
www.classic-consoles-center.at

Is this: "Buzz-off", the name of a prototype Videopac game?

That's a thing I'd like to ask him too Mr. Green

Edit: I think "Buzz-off" = "Super Bee"

_________________
Visit the Classic Consoles Center
www.classic-consoles-center.at

Thats GREAT!!! I Love reading interviews with the game programmers, hopefully he will do an interview.

Mr. Conduit just replied and agreed on the interview! Very Happy

So if you guys have any questions, just post them here.

_________________
Visit the Classic Consoles Center
www.classic-consoles-center.at

Wow this is great, I've wondered why none of the old programmers have wandered in here. I really need to get videopac.com up and running.

- I would certainly like to know a list of what things they started programming, and if he knows what protos may exist.

- Also be interested to know if he had any projects that were started and he might like to finish now!

- And if he still does assembler stuff and would produce anything new now.

- Oh and does he have any secrets for any neat videopac effects they used to use?

I'll see if I can thing of anything else Smile

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www.videopac.com

That is so awesome!

I have a question I am sure someone here can get. What hardware and software did game designers use to create the games back in the 1970's and 1980's? Did they just use the computers of that era?

Or did they have to build in-house hardware and/or software?

	Sweersa wrote:
	That is so awesome! I have a question I am sure someone here can get. What hardware and software did game designers use to create the games back in the 1970's and 1980's? Did they just use the computers of that era? Or did they have to build in-house hardware and/or software?

From my interview with Bob Harris, author of "Killer Bees" at http://www.dieterkoenig.at/ccc/po/s_po_killerbeese.htm

Did you have special development kits for the Odyssey2? How did they look like?

We had an Odyssey2 board set on a piece of plywood. We used HP 64000 developement/emulator systems for most of the project. I think we would have been better off with a PC and a simpler emulator. The HP wasn't intended to be a general purpose computer, and it was quite difficult to write the kind of little tools we needed. And of course we each had a Magnavox TV in the office.

_________________
Visit the Classic Consoles Center
www.classic-consoles-center.at

I think you should ask all the old questions again as well anyway in case there are differences.

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www.videopac.com

"grgh" has already listed the questions I wanted to ask too.

ccc--- wrote:

	Sweersa wrote:
	That is so awesome! I have a question I am sure someone here can get. What hardware and software did game designers use to create the games back in the 1970's and 1980's? Did they just use the computers of that era? Or did they have to build in-house hardware and/or software?

From my interview with Bob Harris, author of "Killer Bees" at http://www.dieterkoenig.at/ccc/po/s_po_killerbeese.htm

Did you have special development kits for the Odyssey2? How did they look like?

We had an Odyssey2 board set on a piece of plywood. We used HP 64000 developement/emulator systems for most of the project. I think we would have been better off with a PC and a simpler emulator. The HP wasn't intended to be a general purpose computer, and it was quite difficult to write the kind of little tools we needed. And of course we each had a Magnavox TV in the office.

Thats pretty cool. I have never programmed anything really, but I know its very complex and usually complicated and takes a very bright mind to do and/or master. Well I shouldn't really say master, becuase programming can be limitless.

Really nice to read interviews with this guys. Your interviews are ever great, CCC.