Nick 'Captain of Coding' Jones

Cheers, i suppose i'd better start by making sure you are who i think you are, as in the C64 coder who did CPC GFX?
Assuming that i'm right....

What was your first computer?

The first computers I touched were a ZX81 and a schools RML-380Z. I dabbled with machine code on the ZX81, then bought an ORIC-1 which was my first 'serious' computer. It was on this that I wrote my first machine-code video game.

Can't remember knowing anyone who owned an Oric, let alone programmed one! Any reason why you moved to the Oric rather than a spectrum or Vic 20? Did you start off as GFX, Coding or both?

I did everything myself for the first 10+ games. Graphics, Programming, Sound Effects, Tape Mastering onto Zerox machines etc etc.

Sounds time-consuming. Were these published or did you just sell them yourself?

For Galaliens on the Oric, I typed the graphics data in after drawing it on graph paper. The other games were things like 'Herberts Dummy Run', 'Three Weeks in Paradise', 'Frostbyte', etc etc. In fact, the first game I had graphics drawn for me was probably Vixen or Cybernoid.

Which did you prefer?

I always preferred programming. I did my own graphics and sound because there was noone else to do them!

Does this mean your were good at Art in school or are computer graphics that much easier to do?

I was OK at art. Its harder to draw on a computer I think than on paper, although things like the wacom graphics tablet aid artists immensely. My talent definitely lay in programming though (take a look at the graphics in 'Herberts Dummy Run' and you'll see what I mean.

What was your first program

My first progam was on the ORIC-1 and was called 'Galaliens'. It was a rip-off of an arcade game called 'MoonAlien' which in itself was a rip-off of Galaxians. My next batch of programs were on the Amstrad and included 'Herberts Dummy Run' and 'Three weeks in Paradise'.

Had you moved to the CPC through choice or was it just contracted from Mikro-Gen?

My 'Galaliens' game was my first game ever. I saw an add shortly after completing it. It was in 'Your Computer' and it was job vacancies at Mikrogen. I'd seen their 'Pyjamara' game and thought it was incredible. I sent my game to them, but it crashed every time. By sheer chance, I had a really old version on the other side of the cassette. They loaded it and the game ran for about 30 seconds before crashing. They liked what they saw though and offered me a full-time job.

How did you get into the commercial side?

That first game of mine 'Galaliens'. It took 15 months to write, and was hand-coded machine-code. I didn't have an assembler!. I sent it to a company called Tansoft and they offered me 250 pounds outright or 400 pounds of equipment (a disk drive!!! and a printer). However, before I got anything, the company went bankrupt.

You didn't get to sell it to another company then?

Well, I didn't know the exact score with Tansoft. I only found out they'd gone bankrupt about 3 months later. They'd only offered me 400 quid, and I was working in-house at Mikrogen so I never persued it further. I don't know if the game ever got published. It may well have. My one consolation is that I got an Oric Atmos out of them.

Where is Raff Cecco?

While I was at Mikrogen, I met Raffaele Cecco. I worked with him on many games. I used to supply his sound effects/music, and do C64 versions of games whilst he did the Amstrad / Spectrum versions of them. Raf is a really good friend. He has set up his own company now with three other guys called 'King of the Jungle'.

Never heard of them. Is that in the UK or has he jumped the pond as well? Do you have an email address for him by any chance?

They only created the company last October/November. They are doing two games for Virgin. Chris and Tony West are doing a racing game on the P.C. and Raf is doing a PSX game called 'Agent Armstrong'. They have set up company somewhere north of London. I don't have his E-mail address off-hand but I'll try and get it for you.

How did you get involved with Mikro-Gen exacltly?
What happened to them, i assume they went bust but i never heard for definite.
Did you go straight from MG to Hewson or was there some time in between?
I seem to remember Hewson went bust and we never heard of Raff after that. Is this when you teamed up with Dave Perry or did you shift around a bit before going to Shiny?

Actually, Mikrogen's programming team consisted mainly of four programmers. They were :

1) Chris Hindsley: He programmed the original Pyjamarama, Everyones a Wally, Frost Byte, Battle of the Planets (was a cartoon series too), Xevious, Verminator, and Onslaught + others.

2) David Perry. He programmed Herberts Dummy Run (Spectrum), Stainless Steel, Supremacy, Terminator (Genesis), Cool Spot, Aladdin, and EWJ (Genesis) + others.

3) Raffaele Cecco. He programmed Equinox, Cop Out, Exolon, Cybernoid, Cybernoid 2, Stormlord, Deliverance, First Samurai, Second Samurai, + others.

4) Myself. You've already got my list.

Finally, here is a list of games I can recall. If anyone can think of others I've worked on, please let me know.

Oric-1 'Galaliens' Programming/Graphics/Sound
C64 'Herberts Dummy Run'. Sound.
Amstrad 'Herberts Dummy Run'. Programming/Graphics/Sound.
Amstrad 'Everyones a Wally'. Sound/Graphics.
Spectrum '3 Weeks in Paradise'.Sound
Amstrad '3 Weeks in Paradise'.Programming/Graphics/Sound
Amstrad/Spectrum 'Stainless Steel'.Sound
Amstrad/Spectrum 'Equinox'.Sound
C64 'Equinox'.Programming/Graphics/Sound.
Spectrum 'Frostbyte'.Sound
C64 'Frostbyte'.Programming/Graphics.Sound.

So who wrote FrostByte for the CPC? I always thought it had a Raff feel to it but there were no credits anywhere....
Chris Hindsley wrote Frostbyte on the CPC. If truth be known, David Perry, Raf and Myself learnt our trade from Chris.

Spectrum/Amstrad 'Exolon'.Sound
C64 'Exolon'.Programming/Graphics/Sound.
Amstrad/Spectrum 'Ikari Warriors'.Sound
Amstrad/Spectrum 'Mr.Wino'.Programming/Graphics/Sound.
Spectrum/Amstrad 'Classic Muncher'.Programming/Graphics/Sound.
Amstrad 'Axiens'.Programming/Graphics/Sound.
C64 'Vixen'.Programming
C64 'Cybernoid'.Programming.
C64 'Cybernoid2'.Programming
C64 'Stormlord'.Programming
C64 'Deliverance'.Programming
C64 'Beyond the Ice Palace'.Programming
C64 'Dan Dare 3'.Programming
C64 'Supremacy'.Programming.
C64 'Smash T.V'.Programming.
C64 'Time Machine'.Programming
Atari.ST 'Xevious'.Sound

Well at least it wasn't the game because there was nothing worth programming there, the most boring shoot-em-up ever devised in my opinion ;)
Yeah, Probably chris's worst game actually. What some people will do for money :)

Amiga/Atari.ST 'First Samurai'.Sound
Genesis 'Family Feud'Programming/Graphics.
SNES 'Alien-3'.Programming.
SNES 'Earthworm Jim'.Programming
SNES 'Earthworm Jim2'.Programming
PSX 'Wild 9'.Programming.

Seeing as though you've worked on a large variety of machines like Richard Aplin, would you like to say which one(s) you preferred and why?

I liked the C64 and the SNES the best. Mainly because it took so much effort to get the best out of them, and it was worth it.

What do you consider to be your best piece of work?

My last few titles on the C64 were definite highlights. I used to delight in doing things that people said were impossible. I was told it was impossible to do a bit-map hires scroll on the C64, yet I performed it perfectly in Stormlord and Deliverance.
I was also really happy with the amount of Sprites I could get on-screen in both Cybernoids and Smash-T.V

Do you feel there have been any real advancements in games or is it more a case of the hardware is better so it's old games styles in better clothing?

I think both. We're definitely seeing old game styles in better clothing. Crash Bandicoot looks fantastic but you can definitely see its roots in Donkey Kong Country. I can't criticize though cos it's a great game.
On the other hand, new game styles are appearing with the 3D capabilities.
Doom and MDK both spring to mind.

Is there anything you miss about they way you used to do things and the way you do them now?

The industry is far more business-like. Theres no longer any real scope for school kids to get into the industry by writing games in their bedrooms. It's all about producing games as a team, so you now have to bite your tongue sometimes and listen to other peoples opinions. The games have also become far bigger. This means a single game takes between one and one and a half years to develop. Believe me, you soon get sick of a worm in a superman suit (especially when you have to do the sequel too!!!!!).

Are there any other programmers you admire for their work?

Lots of people I have admired, not just programmers. Usually, they have been my competition when I was on the C64, and I knew their names only, but in the last few years I keep meeting them. Its great to reminisce with them.
People like Charles Deenan/ Jeroen Tel from the Maniacs of Noise: They provided the most awesome sound track for Cybernoid.
Steve Crow and Mark Kelly: Artist and Programmer for many C64 games. Steve used to be a programmer on Speccy and Amstrad (anyone remember 'Starquake' from Bubblebus). He now works with me at Shiny.
Bob Stephenson and Doug Hare. Scottish Artist/Programmer team.
John Twiddy/ Mev Dinc/ Hugh Riley. They all set up 'Vivid Images' together. John was the programmer of Last Ninja on the C64'.
Chris and Tony West. I originally started 'Super Street Racer', but after a couple of months, I abandoned the project to work at Shiny in the US. They both took over. I knew the instant I met them that they were very capable, and they produced a fantastic Game.
And of Course Raf Cecco. I worked with him very closely for many years. The partnership worked a dream. He's a very good friend and I do hope to work with him again some time.

Who started calling you "captain of coding"?

A journalist in England called Paul Glancy. He worked for Nintendo Magazine Systems. The name just stuck.
David,

A little bit of humour for you. Nick J is the only person who calls himself 'Captain of Coding'. Everone here calls him 'Captain Cream' for his passion of vacating the local titty bar 'Captain Cream's'
;)
Gazza

I think it requires a lot more skill to produce a good game on the new machines. You have to be a lot more mathematically minded (especially with regard to 3D-stuff), but you also have to have a flare for making things look as good as possible. They're are more programmers working on video games now than there ever have been, the problem is that it takes far far longer to create a game.

Hope this helps.....


Nick 'Captain of Coding' Jones