New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

In case anybody is interested, Bob Pape who wrote R-Type for the ZX Speccy has released a PDF book of his story called "IT'S BEHIND YOU: the making of a computer game". 136 pages, and while I've just speed-flicked through it, looks an interesting read when I get time.

R-Type on the speccy was pretty authentic - I recall many an hour playing it and being wowed by how close it was to the Arcade version.

http://bizzley.com/

I finally got around to reading this. Apart from his annoying habit of using back-slash, it's well written.

The way he was treated in the games industry sounds pretty typical, and it hasn't really changed much from what I know. I was very briefly in the industry and, as usual, it was long hours, low pay, and managers that didn't care about you - yet strangely I still remember that time fondly.

I never used a Spectrum though (I moved to a C64 after owning a ZX81), so I never played the version of R-Type described in this story. I don't think I even played the C64 version.

Still, a good read. I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories, having read Masters of Doom, and The Soul of a New Machine previously.

I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories

I'm terrible when it comes to reading these days... I don't tend to read a lot (though I do flick through things and take a little in) - I'm much more a video watcher...

I'm waiting on the "From Bedrooms to Billions" doco to finish and be released (I think Jan 2014 - not too far off now). I've thrown a few extra $$ to get the 4 hour special edition - its definitely a reminder of those times in the 1980's when gaming was exciting and new, and its great to hear a little about how things were from the programmers behind the games (rather then recall those news stories from an issue of some computer magazine)