The first pooter I had the 'privilege' of using was a Commodore Pet. Better than a poke in the eye with a plastic duck... but not much.

What was your first program?

A feeble attempt at trying to get a rocket to blast off without the scenery moving all done in ascii. Worked better when I realised that you didn't type 'list' to run the program.

What was the first utility that you wrote?

I *think* it was a sprite designer... an interesting choice since I can't draw.

So what was your computer after the PET?
How did you get onto CPCs?

The PET hooked me - after that I had a look around and the Amstrad was the best going. I was only 12ish at the time so it only took a few months concerted effort to persuade my parents to fork out for a CPC :-)

What was your first CPC program/utility?

Ehmmm - a copy protection busting thingy I think. I started into assembler a few moths after I got the CPC and for some reason copy protection systems fascinated me, so hacking was the most interesting way to get started. Then I found the code for DJL's speedlock and that was me hooked.

Did you just write utilities or did you do any games etc?

I did games on the Speccy and C64 but never got a chance on the CPC 'cos the company I was working with (Lothlorien) hadn't anything for me on the CPC. That's my biggest progging regret actually - never writing a game on the Amstrad. By the time I stopped working on the 8-bits I had everything from a music module, music cassette loader to vertical pixel scrolling sitting waiting for a game. I'm very tempted to have a go soon actually :-)) Is there anyone still writing stuff for the CPC (howls of laughter expected for that one).

So what was the first commercial product you wrote for the CPC then?

Procopy.

How did you get the job with Lothlorien?

I knew a guy called David Bolton from Choice Software (coded Ocean stuff). He went to work for Lothlorien and I pestered him to get me some work from them. I was only 14 so it took a bit of pestering - but I got there in the end. Haven't seen him in years... I went over to work for them for the following summer and found out how unglamorous programming really was. I expected people with sunglasses driving BM's listening to pumping music. Turned out to be beards, Lada's and an introduction to Hawkwind instead.

Why did you decide to write utilities for the CPC rather than the C64 & Speccy if that was what you were working on for Lothlorien?

My first love was the CPC - I wanted to get a game contract for it but there wasn't much going at the time. I think people preferred to keep the CPC stuff in-house (or as near to as possible) since there wasn't much money in it. The move was definitely toward in-house stuff I think - it kept the development costs down and they could keep their beady eye on you. As for the Speccy: $#!+£; the C64: Nice ASIC's but 6502... still $#!+£!

Which came first, Mini/Maxidos or Procopy?

A tape copier actually - then Procopy. Tape copiers were done to death so I sacked that idea.

What made you decide to write them and how long did it take?

Money. Hadn't got any and wanted some. I'd written a low level module for the upd765A FDC and the handiest thing to write first was a copy program - roll on Procopy. Minidos came as a result of writing some high level stuff for the disk routines and meshing it with a standalone OS I'd cobbled together (although the early versions did more falling over than standing). I can't even remember what the hell Maxidos did actually - it was Colin's idea (Nemesis) and doubled up as my A-Level computing project. Have you got a copy?

So you wrote Maxidos etc while still working for Lothlorien?

I think I'd parted company with them by the time that stuff was published.

What has happened in the last 10 years then?
Where did you go after Lothlorien and what are you doing now? (Apart from emails at 4am ;))

Programming got knocked on the head somewhat. Went to Uni and continued partying for about 8 years. Wrote some BIOS stuff and some C code for an image analysis board a few years ago, but its only the last year or so that I'm really getting back into progging (C++,VB in case anyone's looking for programmers;-). Emails at 4am - old habits die hard mate. I don't sleep much and if I'm not out on the razzle dazzle it's my best time for coding :-)

So I take it that you're not in a full time job at the moment?

Yep - in marketing/advertising. Not for long hopefully ;-)

Have you thought of trying to get back into the games industry or are you not that bothered what you do?

I'd give anything to get back into games stuff - I'm waiting to hear about a grown up job in programming at the moment, but I'd jump at the chance to do stuff on the Nintendo 64 or Playstation - or even PC.

Do you miss the 8bit days?

Yeah! 8-bits forced you to really learn your trade. Stuff had to be real fancy to get the best out of the machines. I remember spending days working on a vertical loop sprite routine to save raster time. Nowadays people would just tell you to get a faster processor or a new graphics card for your PC rather than be bothered writing good code. I think anybody that had to work with the constraints we had back then is bound to be a better programmer for it.

Are you happier doing high level languages or do you miss assembler stuff?

I like the high level stuff but nothing beats the nitty gritty. Total control of the machine and lightning fast 'neat' code - can't beat it with a big stick. Give me assembler anytime! (excludes cobbled together x86 processors of course).