Andrew Holdroyd (Desert Strike, Mercs) exclusive interview
Sept 24, 2014 20:23:36 GMT
TrekMD and asterix like this
Post by flatapex on Sept 24, 2014 20:23:36 GMT
Here is an exclusive, conducted today via email, exclusively for sega8bit, with Andrew Holdroyd Ex-Tiertex coder etc, who did Wolfenstien 3D on MD (Never finished or released), DesertStrike on Master system, Mercs on Master System etc etc
Huge thanks to Ross Sillifant, once more donating his wealth of knowledge and talents to give back to the retro community, I am sure you will all join me in thanking Ross for this
Ok Andrew, here we go...
It is my humble pleasure to be able to conduct a small interview with
Mr Andrew Holdroyd, concerning his time in the video game
industry.Andrew, 1st and foremost, huge thanks for taking time to do
this interview.Could you give the readers a bit of background
information on your goodself please:
Ok onto the questions:
Q)I have to start with the opening question regarding your time at
Tiertex, a name that seems to bring mixed feelings to reviewers and
gamers alike.Tiertex games always seem to split opinions, so were
Tiertex aware of the 'reputation' they had amongst press and public
alike, in your experience?
A) Tiertex was my first job in the games industry so at the time I had
nothing to compare it to. Their projects were quite simple compared to
most and almost all was conversion work, mostly for US Gold which for
someone starting out was a good place to begin.
They had some very talented people which I think were underused and
the projects were not managed very well and tended to be made on a
production line with the minimum resources and 'as long as it works
then move on to the next one' basis rather than trying to squeeze the
best out of the hardware which some staff found frustrating.
Q)Moving onto the important things, the games themselves (and for
purpose of this interview, i'm focusing on console games only):lets
start with Master system version of Mercs, which surprised many by
being far better than they expected. Boasting superb scrolling, decent
enough graphics and sound and being a tough little blaster to boot,
so..how did you approach the rather mammoth task of converting the
coin-op to the humble MS? (and were you 'glad' you got the MS version,
rather than the 8 Bit Home Micro conversions).Also anything you'd
liked to have added, but could'nt?
A)Mercs I enjoyed. By then I had a reasonable grasp of the master
system so I was quite happy with it. I'd have liked to have done a bit
more with the background graphics but there wasn't any room in the
Sega's graphics memory.
I kept the number of moving 'enemy' to two because the sega could only
show 8 sprites on a line but the stationary 'enemy' in bunkers were
background graphics. I should have made it three or four moving enemy
and a bit of code to keep them apart but that's hindsight.
The biggest challenge was moving the huge sprites used for the end
level 'bosses'. There is one level I remember, the boss is a big tank
viewed from above that moved up and down the screen. After a lot of
thought I took the obvious route and let the hardware do it. The boss
is a background graphic scrolling up and down and then move everything
else in the opposite direction so they appear stationary.
Q)One conversion that honestly knocked people for 6 was the conversion
from Mega Drive to Master System/Game Gear of 'desert strike' it was
simply stunning!!!.Just how difficult was it to achieve such a close
conversion, given differences in hardware between the 2
platforms?.Also how it does it feel to be behind such a flagship 8 bit
game?
A)I liked EA games so I was really happy to be given one of theirs to
work on. It wasn't too difficult to do at all. I had some very
talented artists that did a great job on it and much of the work and
experience from Mercs could be used, and I think it suited the master
system hardware well. The only flaw, apart from the 8 sprites a line
issue, is the colour depth. The Master system doesn't have the subtle
hues of the Mega drive and some colours look a bit garish.
Q)Sticking with the sega Hardware, you were behind a 90% (?) finished
conversion of Wolfenstien 3D, i'd love to hear anything/everything
behind this (i.e why it was 'pulled') and from a technical point of
view, how on earth you got the MD to cope with the conversion.Did you
try and port code from another platform? or simply write from scratch
to best fit MD hardware?
A)Wolfenstein was the first project I had in C instead of assembler. I
had the source code for the SNES version and after a month of tearing
my hair out I realised there was a bug in the C compiler/linker. I
don't think anyone believed me and they sent someone from the software
supplier with the intention he would show me where I was going wrong.
He sat beside me. I had on my screen the source and object code and I
showed him the error. He said 'Oh!' Anyway they fixed the problem. The
SNES code was really good. It compiled and ran on the Sega with little
trouble and then all I had to do was code the final rendering and
audio which took only a few weeks. It was a long time ago and I've no
idea why it was never released.
Plus any chance it'll ever see the light of day?
I doubt it very much! Sorry.
Q)Moving onto Atari hardware of all things, you completed a conversion
of Paperboy for the Atari 7800, which you delivered to Atari, who in
true Atari style, sat on and never released! :-( You must have been
gutted (but hopefully paid!).So, what can you tell us about the
conversion?.How did it (and the 7800 itself) shape up again'st the
Sega Master system? and was the game ported from any other 8 Bit
system or did you code from scratch?.
A)This was my first project for Tiertex (in at the deep end!) I'd only
previously worked on commodore vic20 and 64 and so the Atari display
list system was a steep learning curve but once I'd worked it out it
was a very powerful system. No help at all for a word processor or
spreadsheet but ideal for games. I had some good advice to get started
from Andy Onions who had just finished 7800 tower toppler
.
The guy writing the master system version at the same time, Gary Vine,
was opposite me and it was interesting to compare the two as we
progressed. The Sega could display more colours but the 7800 could
show more and bigger sprites. What we called the 'venetian blind
effect' the paperboy screen fade, was really simple on the 7800 but a
pig on the Sega, but he managed it. I really like the arcade Paperboy
and it's one game of all I've worked on I wish had been released.
Q)So, 7800, Master System and MD any other console work (released or
unreleased) you'd like to share with us? plus any platform you'd of
loved to have had a crack at (or indeed game to convert?) for example,
Konix Multi-System/Mega CD/32X/Saturn/DC/Atari:Panther/Lynx/Jaguar/Jag
CD/NUON etc?
I did some work on the Jaguar game supercross 3D at Tiertex and when I
worked at traveller's tales was involved in two Sonic games on the
Sega Saturn. My two favourites of the old games are defender and pole
position so I'd have liked to have done a conversion of one of those.
Q)What were the best/worst aspects of working at Tiertex and the
industry itself? did you ever get directly involved with PR side of
things? dealing with UK magazines etc?
Tiertex as I said had a more relaxed attitude to managing the game
development, a bit too relaxed but for me it was a good introduction
to the industry. The best part is to see a finished product in its box
and on the shelves and say 'I did that' and getting to work on well
known characters and licences like Sonic, Muppets and Toy Story. The
worst aspect has to be the brick wall deadlines. As most video game
deadlines are connected to an event, Christmas is an obvious one, or a
show like E3 and movie based games are tied to the movie release dates
etc so the last few weeks to the end can literally be
eat...sleep...work...eat...sleep... Then when you do get the call to
say it's finished it takes a few days to come back down to earth. You
constantly feel as though you should be doing something!
Huge thanks to Ross Sillifant, once more donating his wealth of knowledge and talents to give back to the retro community, I am sure you will all join me in thanking Ross for this
Ok Andrew, here we go...
It is my humble pleasure to be able to conduct a small interview with
Mr Andrew Holdroyd, concerning his time in the video game
industry.Andrew, 1st and foremost, huge thanks for taking time to do
this interview.Could you give the readers a bit of background
information on your goodself please:
Ok onto the questions:
Q)I have to start with the opening question regarding your time at
Tiertex, a name that seems to bring mixed feelings to reviewers and
gamers alike.Tiertex games always seem to split opinions, so were
Tiertex aware of the 'reputation' they had amongst press and public
alike, in your experience?
A) Tiertex was my first job in the games industry so at the time I had
nothing to compare it to. Their projects were quite simple compared to
most and almost all was conversion work, mostly for US Gold which for
someone starting out was a good place to begin.
They had some very talented people which I think were underused and
the projects were not managed very well and tended to be made on a
production line with the minimum resources and 'as long as it works
then move on to the next one' basis rather than trying to squeeze the
best out of the hardware which some staff found frustrating.
Q)Moving onto the important things, the games themselves (and for
purpose of this interview, i'm focusing on console games only):lets
start with Master system version of Mercs, which surprised many by
being far better than they expected. Boasting superb scrolling, decent
enough graphics and sound and being a tough little blaster to boot,
so..how did you approach the rather mammoth task of converting the
coin-op to the humble MS? (and were you 'glad' you got the MS version,
rather than the 8 Bit Home Micro conversions).Also anything you'd
liked to have added, but could'nt?
A)Mercs I enjoyed. By then I had a reasonable grasp of the master
system so I was quite happy with it. I'd have liked to have done a bit
more with the background graphics but there wasn't any room in the
Sega's graphics memory.
I kept the number of moving 'enemy' to two because the sega could only
show 8 sprites on a line but the stationary 'enemy' in bunkers were
background graphics. I should have made it three or four moving enemy
and a bit of code to keep them apart but that's hindsight.
The biggest challenge was moving the huge sprites used for the end
level 'bosses'. There is one level I remember, the boss is a big tank
viewed from above that moved up and down the screen. After a lot of
thought I took the obvious route and let the hardware do it. The boss
is a background graphic scrolling up and down and then move everything
else in the opposite direction so they appear stationary.
Q)One conversion that honestly knocked people for 6 was the conversion
from Mega Drive to Master System/Game Gear of 'desert strike' it was
simply stunning!!!.Just how difficult was it to achieve such a close
conversion, given differences in hardware between the 2
platforms?.Also how it does it feel to be behind such a flagship 8 bit
game?
A)I liked EA games so I was really happy to be given one of theirs to
work on. It wasn't too difficult to do at all. I had some very
talented artists that did a great job on it and much of the work and
experience from Mercs could be used, and I think it suited the master
system hardware well. The only flaw, apart from the 8 sprites a line
issue, is the colour depth. The Master system doesn't have the subtle
hues of the Mega drive and some colours look a bit garish.
Q)Sticking with the sega Hardware, you were behind a 90% (?) finished
conversion of Wolfenstien 3D, i'd love to hear anything/everything
behind this (i.e why it was 'pulled') and from a technical point of
view, how on earth you got the MD to cope with the conversion.Did you
try and port code from another platform? or simply write from scratch
to best fit MD hardware?
A)Wolfenstein was the first project I had in C instead of assembler. I
had the source code for the SNES version and after a month of tearing
my hair out I realised there was a bug in the C compiler/linker. I
don't think anyone believed me and they sent someone from the software
supplier with the intention he would show me where I was going wrong.
He sat beside me. I had on my screen the source and object code and I
showed him the error. He said 'Oh!' Anyway they fixed the problem. The
SNES code was really good. It compiled and ran on the Sega with little
trouble and then all I had to do was code the final rendering and
audio which took only a few weeks. It was a long time ago and I've no
idea why it was never released.
Plus any chance it'll ever see the light of day?
I doubt it very much! Sorry.
Q)Moving onto Atari hardware of all things, you completed a conversion
of Paperboy for the Atari 7800, which you delivered to Atari, who in
true Atari style, sat on and never released! :-( You must have been
gutted (but hopefully paid!).So, what can you tell us about the
conversion?.How did it (and the 7800 itself) shape up again'st the
Sega Master system? and was the game ported from any other 8 Bit
system or did you code from scratch?.
A)This was my first project for Tiertex (in at the deep end!) I'd only
previously worked on commodore vic20 and 64 and so the Atari display
list system was a steep learning curve but once I'd worked it out it
was a very powerful system. No help at all for a word processor or
spreadsheet but ideal for games. I had some good advice to get started
from Andy Onions who had just finished 7800 tower toppler
.
The guy writing the master system version at the same time, Gary Vine,
was opposite me and it was interesting to compare the two as we
progressed. The Sega could display more colours but the 7800 could
show more and bigger sprites. What we called the 'venetian blind
effect' the paperboy screen fade, was really simple on the 7800 but a
pig on the Sega, but he managed it. I really like the arcade Paperboy
and it's one game of all I've worked on I wish had been released.
Q)So, 7800, Master System and MD any other console work (released or
unreleased) you'd like to share with us? plus any platform you'd of
loved to have had a crack at (or indeed game to convert?) for example,
Konix Multi-System/Mega CD/32X/Saturn/DC/Atari:Panther/Lynx/Jaguar/Jag
CD/NUON etc?
I did some work on the Jaguar game supercross 3D at Tiertex and when I
worked at traveller's tales was involved in two Sonic games on the
Sega Saturn. My two favourites of the old games are defender and pole
position so I'd have liked to have done a conversion of one of those.
Q)What were the best/worst aspects of working at Tiertex and the
industry itself? did you ever get directly involved with PR side of
things? dealing with UK magazines etc?
Tiertex as I said had a more relaxed attitude to managing the game
development, a bit too relaxed but for me it was a good introduction
to the industry. The best part is to see a finished product in its box
and on the shelves and say 'I did that' and getting to work on well
known characters and licences like Sonic, Muppets and Toy Story. The
worst aspect has to be the brick wall deadlines. As most video game
deadlines are connected to an event, Christmas is an obvious one, or a
show like E3 and movie based games are tied to the movie release dates
etc so the last few weeks to the end can literally be
eat...sleep...work...eat...sleep... Then when you do get the call to
say it's finished it takes a few days to come back down to earth. You
constantly feel as though you should be doing something!
