How long have you been at Team 17 and what age are you?
I have been here for 3 years and 3 months. I have now reached the grand old age of 27.

What have you worked on since joining Team 17?
I started as help in the Warehouse, moved on to retail then playtesting as part-time and then finally full time. In fact I was Team 17's first official playtest department.

What is your favourite genre of game? Why?
I don't really have one particular genre that I like the best. I like many different games and can appreciate most. However saying that I do have a soft spot for Beat-em-ups and obviously shoot-em-ups. They are both simple concepts but you can get a great deal of satisfaction by just beating them.

What systems have you owned in the past?
I started with the good old C64. Since then I have had a Jaguar and Gameboy, and still own a SNES, Lynx, PC, Saturn and Playstation and am looking forward to owning an Ultra 64.

How long have you been playing games?
For between 14 and 15 years on the more serious machines, but I played the small handheld grandstand games for many years before that.

What is/was your favourite game platform? Why?
I have enjoyed using all my machines in the past, but have probably spent most hours with the SNES. I think it is the way that Nintendo approaches their games that tend to make them special.

What is your favourite shoot-em-up? Why?
The one I have enjoyed playing the most would be Arcade R-Type Leo. This game had some very good and new ideas for a shoot-em-up. I played vey well and had stunning graphics for its time. Saying that, the Arcade versions of the Nemesis saga were very good if a little slow in places. But if we are talking home versions of games then I must say that Project X on the Amiga was amazing. It was done when the Amiga was still fairly new and X really pushed it to its limits, graphics, sonics and playability could not, and in my opinion have not, be beaten on any home machine.

What in your opinion makes a good shoot-em-up and what makes a bad?
Difficult one this. I think a shoot-em-up should be just enough of a challenge so that you want to come back and get past that level that keeps beating you, but should be easy enough that everytime you play it you get a little further than you did the last time you played it. I think there should be new enemies around every corner, not the same ones used over and over again. It should be fast and action packed and so immersing that when you finish a level you have to sit back and take a breath.
Bad is easier, one that is slow and repetitive and so hard, or easy, that it becomes annoying that you will never want to play it again.

Can Project X-2 legitimately make the claim of being the "Ultimate arcade shoot-em-up"?
I think so. We are doing things that have not been done before, we hope, and from what we have achieved so far I think people would be happy to put their money in an arcade machine to play it.

What would you say to anyone who said that the day of the 2D sprite basedshoot-em-up is over. That nowadays people want 3D texture mapped games with high frame rates and shitloads of polygons?
Grow up!! 2D sprite games in most cases are a lot more playable. The 2D beat-em-ups are just as popular as they have always been and are not losing ground to the often clumsy 3D partners. You cannot achieve the same fast pace from 3D as you can with 2D sprite based. People are also easily led, the industry says you want 3D so evrybody says they do, tell them otherwise and they will follow, it should be up to the public to decide, let them play it and see how their opinion changes about 3D games.

What do you think the strength's of the team working on Project X-2 are?
The team have been together for many years and so work very well. They know what a good game is and that is their only goal. A quick buck product is never on their mind and the game will be just right or just not out! Rico graphics are new and exiting and only he knows how he can come up with so many new ideas each day, it baffles the rest of us. Andreas is a great coder and he is pushing the Playstation to its limit everyday. I think we will have a few suprises for people when they get to the later levels. Ha ha ha.

What the press said about the original Project X.

• "...Entertaining and incredibly playable." Amiga Format (May 94) 84%
• "...Phenomenally bloody good." The One (May 94) 83%
• "...Une excellente jouabilite." Joystick 1992
• "...Project X is a pedigree blaster." Amiga Action 1993 80%
• "...Programming wizardry never obscures the solid gameplay..." CD32 Gamer 1993
• "...Top arcade blaster. What more can you say?" PC Format 1994
• "...Project X is every bit as good to play as it is to look at." Game X 1992
• "...You certainly get your money's worth in terms of gameplay." Amiga Format 1992
• "...Don't buy another piece of software until you've snapped up this." The One Aug 1993 92%
• "...Destined to test the trigger finger of the finest arcade players." Powerplay Sep/Oct 95
• "...Varied, well thought out attack patterns and a whole host of excellent adversaries make for rapid addiction."
• "...And there's no denying that Project X looks extremely impressive." PC Games Aug 94
• "...As far as solid, good old fashioned shoot-em ups for the machine go, Project X is definitely worth recommending." PC Games Oct 94
• "...Team 17 have excelled themselves yet again with this excellent shoot'em-up." PC Power Nov 94
• "...Project X is very playable..." PC Zone Dec 94
• "...Everything you could ask of a classic shooter." Amiga Game Zone May 94