PETER SCOTT
Profile, A&B April 1987
Next in the hot seat for the bright light of A&B exposure is the second of the two ASL main programmers. After last issue's look at Gary Partis, we track down game wizard Peter Scott.
As usual we let Peter speak for himself, but to round off this profile we're pleased to be able to offer you not only a free competition with excellent prizes but also some energy pokes and maps for his games. Take it away, Peter!
I first became interested in computers just when the home market was emerging, around Christmas 1981. My first computer was a ZX81 with a 16K RAMpack - a snip at just £130! I have vivid memories of the hours I would take typing magazine listings on that abysmal 'keyboard', only to discover that they wouldn't work or that the infamous RAMpack wobble would destroy them.
I then progressed to a Vic 20, with the delights of colour, sound and 3.5K. I had five different machines within four months, all faulty. Then followed a string of other machines, every one of which failed in some way. In order (I think), I had an early 16K Spectrum, an Oric 1, a Dragon and then a 48K Spectrum again. Throughout this time, I typed in magazine programs, scoured the manuals and taught myself by the end of 1982 to program in BASIC.
I then got rid of the Spectrum and made what has turned out to be a wise decision - to buy the then new Electron.
In the summer of 1985 I had my first ever game published in the now-defunct Personal Computer News - an all BASIC, very fast, caterpillar-on-a-grid game. Then Roving Robot and Android were published by A&B's companion magazine Games Computing.
When I started my A level computer course, I bought a BBC and disc drive with the proceeds of my previous games, so I could do project work at home.
I wrote a few games - nothing of note - and then Hunkidory, which is about to be released by Bug Byte and is the second most difficult platform game ever. The most difficult was my next game, Yoyo, - a real turkey! I then did the programmer's equivalent of doodling and wrote a word processor for our school's Econet system called WordWorker - still in use all over the county, I believe.
My next game was the first to be commercially available: Last of the Free (originally called Free). I also wrote on demand for IJK Software an Electron only game called Quest for Freedom - there's been a bit of fuss over this and I'd like to get the record straight.
Quest was written after IJK saw an early version of Free and requested an Electron game. They sent a machine, I rushed one out almost from scratch, received £300 and then IJK seemed to disappear. They stopped advertising, didn't send me a contract, didn't ask for their computer back and I was out of contact with them apart from one phone call asking for their machine in November of last year!
About six weeks later ASL wanted Free as a BBC game and I wrote another Electron version as well. The games are different in coding, game play, graphics, sound, screen design and number of screens - Last of the Free is much better!
During Spring 1986 I wrote ThunderStruck, since I was fed up with the lack of arcade adventures and large graphics on the BBC. The original title was TimeStorm, which may help to explain the spaceman-in-a-castle scenario.
More recently I wrote ThunderStruck II: The MindMaster which improves on the original in every way. Shoe-horning over 130 screens, much larger graphics, many more puzzles and features into the BBC's limited memory was not easy. Since then I've started university and been rather squeezed for time, especially after trying out the C64 with all its memory!
However I have begun a couple of games for ASL that look promising. One is a Gauntlet style game, which is now on hold while I try out the other. Can't say too much now but it features a herp called Blip, a solar system of planets to explore, lots of blasting, puzzles, hacking into computer systems, a guest appearance and quite a few surprises!
Hobbies: Too busy for any at
the moment!
Favourite Food: Pizza
Favourite Drink: Fresh Orange Juice
Favourite Game: Revs
Favourite Programmer: Geoff Hammond (Aviator, Revs, Sentinel)
Likes: Science Fiction, Commodore game soundtracks
Dislikes: Hype!
This article appeared in the April 1987 edition of "A & B Computing", published by Argus Press.
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