Steve Hales was a member of Synapse Software from company’s early
days to it’s last moments. He’s best known as an author of "Fort
Apocalypse" (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) and his other works are:
"Suicide Mission" (Atari 2600), "Slime" (Atari 8-bit), "Mindwheel"
– (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, PC), "Dimension X" (Atari 8-bit).
Also, he did audio technology or sound design for such great games,
like: "Out of This World", "Prince of Persia", "SimCity",
"California Games", "Maniac Mansion", "Zak McKracken" and the
"Alien Mindbenders" and many more.
Steve Hales
Lately he’s developing Mobile games. He was a key designer, and
programmer on:
Bob,
Bob's Journey,
Bob's
Journey: Lake of Doom. And did design and some programming:
Meme,
Pumpjack.
Karol Wisniewski: Hello Steve. From one of your prevoius
interviews, I
know how did you learn programming. But why did you get interested
in making games?
Steve Hales: Probably because as long as I can remember,
I've always loved telling stories. Video games of that era were
really a new form of a short story. Today they can be epic.
KW: In 1982 you have bought Atari 800. Did you try to
expand your Atari? Add more memory fox example?
SH: Yes. I had custom drives that stored in high density,
RAM drives, etc. All kinds of things for development. I wrote
serial drivers to play with connecting two Atari's together. Never
commercialized.
KW: Do you still have your old Atari?
SH: I still do have I packed away. I booted it up about 2
years ago to copy all the source code for "Fort Apocalypse".
KW: Ah yes, "Fort Apocalypse". I heard you had planned 50
levels for it, but the game was released on 16-KB cartridge and
only two levels did fit in. What happened to the rest of
them?
SH: I did a total of 4 level designs that I could load into
the game. I had another 10 or 15 on paper. I dropped 2 levels
because early testing provided feedback that they were too
hard.
KW: Are you considering a cell-phone or "flash" remake of
one of your 8-bit games?
SH: Yep. There is a new version of “Fort Apocalypse”
shipping now on the t-mobile sidekick now. J2me
later in the
year. This has many more levels, and is much harder than the
original.
KW: Will it include the original levels, as well?
SH: The sidekick version won’t, but I do believe the j2me
version will.
KW: Did you make the Commodore versions of "Fort
Apocalypse" and "Mindwheel", as well? You prefer Commodore or Atari
versions?
SH: 95% of the code on the C64 is mine. Joe Vierra did the
port in about a week. I like the Atari version because of the
colors. I found the C64 always had a washed out screen.
"Mindwhee"l was a completely different kind of game technology.
More like a Java VM. We created a machine and ported the VM to
different platforms. So the code that ran that was specific for the
game was not different between platforms.
KW: Does memories of making "Dimension X" still gives you
creeps?
SH: Heh. Not really. I had some fond memories working with
friends and collaborators during that time. Some great
arguments...
KW: You claimed in 1997 that "Slime" is "my best
programming for a console game". Do you still think so?
SH: It still pretty good, but some of my more recent mobile
games are better games, better stories.
KW: What is the current status of your early games? Are
they freeware?
SH: I actually own the rights to "Fort Apocalypse",
"Dimension X" and "Slime". I bought them in the late 80's.
KW: In that case - what do you think about "abandonware"
as a game creator?
SH: I'm incredibly supportive of the the emulator scene.
Without it, all of these games would disappear. Its the history of
our industry. I believe that abandonware should be treasured and
persevered. Imagine, if we lost all of the early science fiction
stories.
KW: That wouldn't be fun. So, you have nothing against
the websites from which people can download your old games for
free?
SH: As along as they obey my creative commons license. See
the page.
KW: 10 years earlier you stated that you have 12 games
done on paper – are you still trying to make their "alive"
versions?
SH: Yep. I've gotten back into small games. One of them,
Bob, is an old idea.
KW: How long do you think small games will last on the
market? Will there always be a need for small games, as well as the
big ones?
SH: I believe there will always be a need for small scope
games. Its the style of play that isn't going out of fashion.
KW: Does making games on the cell phones gives you a deja
vu of the eightieths?
SH: Absolutely, but the development environments are
better.
KW: In the end of the eighties and the beginning of
nineties you worked on games, such as "SimCity", "Prince of
Persia", "Maniac Mansion", "California Games". These games had many
ports on many different platforms, including 8-bit computers, like
Commodore, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Why nobody was interested
in doing Atari 8-bit versions?
SH: My personal take is it was because Atari was taken over
by someone who created bad business for all involved. So developers
moved on. Life is too short.
Besides, nobody was buying software for 8-bit computers. So they
died. 16-bit computers was the future. This is the way computers
have evolved over time. Today's computers are dual core 64-bit
demons. Orders of magnitude faster that those from the 80's. Games
were an engine of that evolution.
KW: Why did you stop making games?
SH: I did for a long time because publishers weren't
interested in making little games, or unusual games, my specialty.
However the mobile games market has allowed me to create new titles
and come back somewhat into the "short story" telling I loved.
KW: Which your game was the biggest commercial success
(in 8-bit, 16-bit and cell phone category)?
SH: For games that I designed, "Fort Apocalypse" for 8 bit,
and "Bob's Journey" for the Sidekick. I was involved as a sound
designer, or audio technologist for lots of games that were much
more successful than anything I designed.
KW: What are you working on lately?
SH: Now, though, I'm getting into designing newer games that
have been inspired by the games we've seen in the last 5 years.
"GTA", "Fable", and other such open world games. I have a new one
that has got me all exited, but we'll see.
KW: Your hobbies?
SH: Music, playing guitar, bicycling, and of course playing
games.
KW: And your favourite games?
SH: Right now, I'm playing a lot of Xbox 360 games. I really
love story based games that are built upon an open world
environment. "World of Warcraft", "GTA3", "Assassins Creed". So
it’s hard to say.
KW: Thank you for the interview.