Mark Robinson - X2 Saturn Conversion
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How did you get involved in the computer industry?
I have always been interested in computers since i was young but my first job in the computer industry was as a salesman in a computer shop. How many years have you been involved in working in the software industry ? I have been working in the software industry for 12 years. What other titles have you worked on in the past? I have worked on many titles (too many to mention them all) so here are just a few.
Has the industry changed for better or worse since you first got involved? I think the industry has changed for the better and worse. Its better in that it has become more professional and more respected as a proper industry. What has made it worse is the increasing change in technology. You hardly have chance to learn how to program a new machine before it becomes obsolete. Which other developers do you admire and why? I couldn't really say that there is a particular developer i admire. I admire products not the developer who produced it. What do you hope to achieve with your game ? Good sales and good magazine reviews (hint hint reviewers if your reading this). For it to be classed as the best saturn shootem'up would be great. What games do you draw influence from ? I try not to draw too much influence from other games as i think you then tend to only produce clones. When do you know that a game is finished and ready for release? When Martyn Brown (Development Director) tells me the submission/release date.... laughs...... What do you consider to be the most important qualities of a top game? I think the most important qualities have to be gameplay and the control method used. Its no good if your hands have to be all over the place to control it. Do you feel constrained by market forces, in that you can't put everything into a game that you'd like? I wouldn't say i was constrained by market forces. Constraints by the power of the hardware is the main one. What hardware do you use to do your graphics ? He's a guy called Rico Holmes. Have you used any special techniques ? All the sprites have been rendered using lightwave. How do you work with the artists to produce the graphics? At the moment by lots of e-mails as he is in Sweden. How does your game use the current technology to its best ? The game uses graphics hardware for special effects such as transparency, scaling and rotation of the sprites. Which system do you most like programming/designing etc. for and why? I would have to say the PC is my favourite as with increases in processor techn a64 ology it enables games to be more complex. Also large amounts of memory is a great help. In the future with the advent of all the 3d graphics cards things will only get better. What would you like to see implemented into the next generation of computers/consoles? I think hardware manufacturers should talk to developers more when they are developing new hardware. It might stop them producing hardware assault courses. They also need to debug the development systems properly before giving them to developers. It would have saved me lots of headaches if they had done this in the past. Do you think that technology is moving too fast for developers to get to grips with it and fully utilise it? As i have said earlier technology is moving way too fast to keep up with it properly. By the time you have properly learnt a machine it is obsolete. This is another advantage with the PC. Knowledge is not wasted, you just build on what you already know when new processors are available. What have been your favourite games ? I guess puzzle and adventure games will always be my favourites. Tetris is a game i can still play for hours. As the Audi ad say's "the places you go, the people you meet, the clothes you wear ?" what car do you own then ? Nissan Primera Circuit 16v. If you had to be stranded in a lift, who would it be with, and why ? I would have to say Merella Curtis. She is a lady who i met 5 months ago who lives in Sydney Australia. We have become very close friends in that time. We chat nearly every day using either irc, e-mail or the good old fashioned telephone. You should see my phone bill. She is a very good friend and is always just a phonecall away if i need to talk about something. She always knows how to cheer me up. Hey I had to ask, which are your favourite movies ? Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction. Do you think the Spice Girls represent an accurate portrayal of English women in the C20th ? To a great extent yes. What a shame. Where have all the nice girls gone. Or is it just me getting old. |
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