The letter Bruce Everiss wrote in Your Computer January 1986 is something of the worst character assination I ever read, he (whom was part in stealing him from Microdigital) is the last person on earth worthy to publish such a letter, must have been a real creepy guy. You can read the spite in his wording, he really upset cause losing money from Imagine and public lash out on a 16 year old kid. Classy.
As an indie dev in 2019, it is amazing to look back at the bedroom coder boom, because it feels very much reborn and better than ever. But still, with many of the same pitfalls. Some stuff is different, of course, but just overall the prospect of young people, making games from home, some times making it big, a lot of the time don't and just the stories that come out of them. Heh, I hope never to be part of a controversy. Makes for a good story. Even a cautionary tale, but rather not me!
Sad though that it ended with them trying to shut the door on the bailiffs. Thanks for being the top UK video game historian on UA-cam. I'm in Spain and Spain in the 1980's had a big 8-bit development games scene, would be great if someone did something like this for those software studios of that era and the people involve, there are interesting stories and drama and great sadness (yes suicides etc) in those Spanish game developer studios of yesteryear. There are several books on Spanish video games history though videojuegosretro-upm.blogspot.com/2016/04/30-libros-espanoles-sobre-videojuegos.html, GÉNESIS: GUÍA ESENCIAL DE LOS VIDEOJUEGOS DE 8 BITS is a good A-Z of 8-bit 1980s video games produced in Spain during that time.
I was 8 or 9 when this was happening and I tried so hard to become a bedroom coder and write a game. My parents bought me a cpc 464 and I read the Basic book back to front.Just couldn't understand it. In the end I stuck to typing out the games in magazines. The end result...? I am now in my 40s and am the fastest typer in the office!
I was a game reviewer for magazines in the 1980's. I remember being sent a new Imagine game to review. It was a sort of attempt at a 3d game (if I recall) and damn was it bad.
Sounds like Schizoids, a Spacewar-like game with rotating wireframe polygons. Could also be Zzoom (a Battlezone-like air combat game) or Pedro (a single screen game with isometric graphics similar to Ant Attack), though those games reviewed fairly well. Another possibility is Movie, an isometric puzzle game from the post-bankruptcy era of Imagine Software that also reviewed well but was deeply cryptic and strange.
@@handsomebrick My recollection is dim but I think it was never formally released. (maybe it was a pre-release review sample) It was an odd game - the 3d effect used a sort of bitmapping effect rather than vector or character based technique. In all it was difficult to figure and because of the amount of processing going on, was surprisingly slow and lumpy. I wish I could remember more.
There was a similar thing in Hungary in the eighties, at Novotrade. Unfortunately the dream has collapsed since then, and all what remain are false promises of HUF1 000 000+ per month paychecks, promise of getting a job during your college years, ability of living and working in Budapest, etc, while in reality only the very best gets close to a seven figure paycheck, and currently I'm begging for free internships because of a stupid law that states that you cannot get a college degree without an internship time (6 weeks would be enough normally, but it's capitalism and you're lucky if you can find one that's only six months).
I see young people devoting a year or more to coding their 'game' now, even borrowing money because they see these stories still to this day and believe they will hit the big time, but the truth is unless you have a publisher behind you pulling the strings you have such a tiny chance of success the only payback will be experience of coding. Sadly very few people are going to play your game, even if it's amazing. So if you're reading this and setting off on your journey - do it for the experience and your CV, anything else you may get will be a bonus.
Very interesting, thanks. Have to say that a lot of Vic-20 games were very simplistic and ropey, particularly games for the unexpanded Vic. Catcha Snatcha, on the other hand, felt like an imaginative and perfectly playable game at that time and I enjoyed it. Would I like it if I went back to it now? Probably not, but that applies to a hell of a lot of Vic games!
Bruce Everiss is the creepiest and sleaziest guy i've ever come across in the games industry. Thank goodness you never hear him speak in this video. It would make you need to take a shower to wash the creepiness away. Horrendous man.
I read and title and I went into this fully expecting Ashens to try and eat an expired jaffa cake taken from the Imagine offices in 1982. I am so disappointed, Kim.
Calling Zzoom and Stonkers not well known or not successful in their lifetime is, well, ..incorrect! They were very well known and successful at the time, one among the top sellers and the other kind of a breakthrough for its type, if there was another before that.. Judging them by todays' standards and whether they are know now..?.. to whom? That's unfair. They may not be as famous as, say, Manic Miner (nowdays) but they were indeed among the better games back then (Zzoom, admittedly, much more)
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fuck off.. your shit
The letter Bruce Everiss wrote in Your Computer January 1986 is something of the worst character assination I ever read, he (whom was part in stealing him from Microdigital) is the last person on earth worthy to publish such a letter, must have been a real creepy guy. You can read the spite in his wording, he really upset cause losing money from Imagine and public lash out on a 16 year old kid. Classy.
As an indie dev in 2019, it is amazing to look back at the bedroom coder boom, because it feels very much reborn and better than ever.
But still, with many of the same pitfalls.
Some stuff is different, of course, but just overall the prospect of young people, making games from home, some times making it big, a lot of the time don't and just the stories that come out of them. Heh, I hope never to be part of a controversy. Makes for a good story. Even a cautionary tale, but rather not me!
The boom of PC games in the 90s was a bedroom coder boom of sorts.
Sad though that it ended with them trying to shut the door on the bailiffs. Thanks for being the top UK video game historian on UA-cam. I'm in Spain and Spain in the 1980's had a big 8-bit development games scene, would be great if someone did something like this for those software studios of that era and the people involve, there are interesting stories and drama and great sadness (yes suicides etc) in those Spanish game developer studios of yesteryear. There are several books on Spanish video games history though videojuegosretro-upm.blogspot.com/2016/04/30-libros-espanoles-sobre-videojuegos.html, GÉNESIS: GUÍA ESENCIAL DE LOS VIDEOJUEGOS DE 8 BITS is a good A-Z of 8-bit 1980s video games produced in Spain during that time.
I was 8 or 9 when this was happening and I tried so hard to become a bedroom coder and write a game. My parents bought me a cpc 464 and I read the Basic book back to front.Just couldn't understand it. In the end I stuck to typing out the games in magazines. The end result...? I am now in my 40s and am the fastest typer in the office!
Your parents must be proud!
Thanks for using my improved quality clip of Joffa showing Pud Pud to David Ward lol
Just when I think there's nothing else to be said about the period, you find another angle. Thanks Kim.
I was a game reviewer for magazines in the 1980's. I remember being sent a new Imagine game to review. It was a sort of attempt at a 3d game (if I recall) and damn was it bad.
Sounds like Schizoids, a Spacewar-like game with rotating wireframe polygons. Could also be Zzoom (a Battlezone-like air combat game) or Pedro (a single screen game with isometric graphics similar to Ant Attack), though those games reviewed fairly well. Another possibility is Movie, an isometric puzzle game from the post-bankruptcy era of Imagine Software that also reviewed well but was deeply cryptic and strange.
@@handsomebrick My recollection is dim but I think it was never formally released. (maybe it was a pre-release review sample) It was an odd game - the 3d effect used a sort of bitmapping effect rather than vector or character based technique. In all it was difficult to figure and because of the amount of processing going on, was surprisingly slow and lumpy. I wish I could remember more.
Always a good day when Kim has posted a new video! :-) (Coded Sirius 7 in my bedroom)
There was a similar thing in Hungary in the eighties, at Novotrade. Unfortunately the dream has collapsed since then, and all what remain are false promises of HUF1 000 000+ per month paychecks, promise of getting a job during your college years, ability of living and working in Budapest, etc, while in reality only the very best gets close to a seven figure paycheck, and currently I'm begging for free internships because of a stupid law that states that you cannot get a college degree without an internship time (6 weeks would be enough normally, but it's capitalism and you're lucky if you can find one that's only six months).
I see young people devoting a year or more to coding their 'game' now, even borrowing money because they see these stories still to this day and believe they will hit the big time, but the truth is unless you have a publisher behind you pulling the strings you have such a tiny chance of success the only payback will be experience of coding. Sadly very few people are going to play your game, even if it's amazing. So if you're reading this and setting off on your journey - do it for the experience and your CV, anything else you may get will be a bonus.
3:18 Sir Clive remembers doing the time warp!
Hmmm an image of Sir Clive sitting infront of a machine playing Rocky Horror. No wonder his opinion on computer games was extremely low. ;)
great video! bedroom coders are an inspiration to this day. wonder if jez san falls under this category: budding coder who gets one hit then boom.
Very interesting, thanks. Have to say that a lot of Vic-20 games were very simplistic and ropey, particularly games for the unexpanded Vic. Catcha Snatcha, on the other hand, felt like an imaginative and perfectly playable game at that time and I enjoyed it. Would I like it if I went back to it now? Probably not, but that applies to a hell of a lot of Vic games!
That BBC Video music.... love it
Liked it before I watched it!
Another fascinating video Kim!
Your vids are so entertaing. Keep up the good work Kim!
Top notch work as always.
An excellent voiceover
That Matt Smith hair is glorious.
Outstanding content as always 👍
Remeber imagine was heavely into coinup's like "arkanoid","green berets", etc. Or was that after they was bought up by ocean. ?
Yeah, all those arcade conversions were after Ocean bought the name. The original Imagine had nowt to do with them.
The original Imagine was borderline crap (give or take the odd game), the relaunched Ocean version of Imagine was a great software label.
46k followers? Should be more buddy. Best gaming docs on UA-cam. Keep up the good work
I should really start donating, at this point it feels like robbery.
Level 5: Eugene's Lair
Top as always.
Very fitting that the Sun ran with the made up article.
Bruce Everiss is the creepiest and sleaziest guy i've ever come across in the games industry. Thank goodness you never hear him speak in this video. It would make you need to take a shower to wash the creepiness away. Horrendous man.
watch the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch if you haven't seen it
Kim covered it in another video. 😉
2:55 that guy 36? Damn. He looks like 66.
Good show.😆
I read and title and I went into this fully expecting Ashens to try and eat an expired jaffa cake taken from the Imagine offices in 1982. I am so disappointed, Kim.
Another great video :) I remember playing most of thee better games listed in this video.
great video! i have a question... @11:46 what is the name of game
It's Jetpac for the ZX Spectrum: www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0009362
bouncing back
Calling Zzoom and Stonkers not well known or not successful in their lifetime is, well, ..incorrect! They were very well known and successful at the time, one among the top sellers and the other kind of a breakthrough for its type, if there was another before that.. Judging them by todays' standards and whether they are know now..?.. to whom? That's unfair. They may not be as famous as, say, Manic Miner (nowdays) but they were indeed among the better games back then (Zzoom, admittedly, much more)