RVG Interviews Stephen Thomson

Started by zapiy, April 22, 2013, 18:47:36 PM

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zapiy

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Here we have our interview with Stephen Tomson.

Stephen has been in the gaming industry since 1989, here is just some of what Stephen has worked on.

Senior artist
Acme/Malibu interactive (U.S.)
November 1990 – August 1993 (2 years 10 months)

Worked on many numerous titles on various formats

highlights include

Batman Returns - Sega genesis/Sega MegaCD
Joe Montana Football - Sega genesis
Evender Holyfield 'real deal' boxing - Sega genesis
Ocean software LTD
Artist
Ocean software LTD
October 1988 – October 1991 (3 years 1 month)

Was responible for all the artwork for the following Ocean titles

Robocop - c64
Untouchables - c64
NavySeals - c64
Total Recall (loading screen artwork) c64
Operation Thunderbolt - c64
Beach Volleyball - C64


 
zapiy

Tell us a little about you, where you started, how you got involved in Ocean and what your upto these days?

Stephen

I'm Stephen Thomson, currently working at BlitzGames Studios as a Research and Development Art Director. My very first main job in the industry was at Ocean Software, working as an artist, primarily on the Commodore 64. I have worked continuously in the games industry since 1989, previously doing a freelance project, Tetris for Mirrorsoft in 1988. I began dabbling with computer graphics since 1986. At Ocean I only worked at the old Central Street 'dungeons', and never got to see the swanky new Deansgate offices.
 
Rogue Trooper

Operation Thunderbolt C64 and THAT Zap 64 review. A Sizzler awarded for a game based on unfinished code, which was never finished leading to C64 owners getting a very different game. Can you shed any light on this?. For example did you know Zzap were going to do a review based on beta code and if so, how did you feel about it and also, why did'nt Zzap make any mention of this change of code in issues after the review, until it was re-reviewed (by different staff) on Budget re-release?

Stephen

TBH I was unaware of the double review Thunderbolt had. I was initially brought in to create loading screens etc, but ended up working on level graphics aswell. We did a lot of late nights and weekends getting, in particular the 3d scaling sections up to scratch. This was a painstaking process my end as I had to do a flickerbook effect of 3 frames to give the illusion of moving into the screen (the arcade version did a great job of this, so it was a lot to live up to). As far as you question about the double review and the unfinished code I can't really comment as I don't know.
 
The Laird

Can you tell us why all 3 8-bit computers had different versions of Robocop?

Stephen

Back then we rarely mimicked each other versions of games, preferring to take the different approach with each artist and programmer (for the C64 myself and John Meegan, with Dawn Drake and Mike Lamb making the Spectrum versions) making the title based on a loose level flow. This method would be deemed as crazy nowadays, but back then it worked out really well, as we could focus on what each of the computers were good at. I guess it would have been an easy shortcut to take the spectrum hi-res 1bit art and just port to the Commodore, but we wanted to put our individual stamp on our title. The only title where we were much closer game flow and Level design wise was The Untouchables, by far the biggest game I had ever been involved with up until then.
 
The Laird

How did Ariston deal come about to use the Robocop title music on their washing machine adverts?

Stephen

Not sure about that, I always thought that Ariston 'Borrowed' the music from John Dunn. I do remember doing a double take when I first heard it on T.V. and telling John about it, and him being surprised, so I guess he might have not known about it any of the details. You would have to ask him directly
 
The Laird

Do you think it was a mistake to support the Amstrad GX4000 and C64GS?

Stephen

At the time no, not at all. The time was right for new consoles to be released, I recall John o'Brien, and Robert Hemphill (developers of Burnin' Rubber) being quite impressed with the Amstrad GX4000 capabilities. It had a lot of colours for an artist to use, but probably not the processing power of the then new Genesis. I made Navy seals on the C64GS. The extra space on the Cart meant that we could cram in more art and levels, plus the (relatively) faster loading meant for a more dynamic game experience. I think what let the C64GS down was the lack of support at the start. It needed some deluxe versions of classic games, and/or some more ambitious titles at launch.

The Laird

Do you think Ocean should have moved into producing console games much sooner?

Stephen

I think they were doing well still with the home computer versions so no I don't think so
 
zapiy

What was it like working for a company like Ocean during those days of budget gaming?

Stephen

I wasn't involved with any Budget titles, I only worked on the main Ocean titles.
 
zapiy

What's the great achievement during your time at Ocean?

Stephen

I think by far my favourite title was The Untouchables. We really pushed ourselves when designing that title. We tried lots of – back then- fairly new ideas. I personally was really happy because I got to do lots of loading screens for each level, some of which actually broke the rules, as I wasn't allowed to use any of the actors likenesses, hence the horrible character avartars in the HUD (I had to change these at the very last minute), but I managed to sneak in a portrait of Kevin Costner.
 
zapiy

Did you ever start work on games development for Konix Multisystem games? If so have you got any info?

Stephen

No I'm afraid I wasn't involved
 
The Laird

Movie and arcades licenses became the staple of Ocean over the years, how important were they to the company?

Stephen

I think they gave Ocean its identity over everyone else, and TBH made then a lot of money. I do remember back then a lot of people bemoaning Ocean, saying their titles were unoriginal, but I really enjoyed everything I worked on everything there. I think Ocean were probably the first big U.K. publisher, and had a strong business ethic.

The Laird
 
Any idea what became of the Spectrum and Amstrad versions of Toki?

Stephen

Not sure, I think Toki was outsourced, and the team only developed on the C64.

zapiy

What were the best/worse things about working with the game systems back then?

Stephen

Best – for me creating loading screens
Worst – not having enough colours or memory to give justice to some of the Arcade conversions I worked on/
 
zapiy

Out of all the work you've done, what was the hardest to work on and why?

Stephen

The hardest game was operation Thunderbolt, was a real challenge and we had so much work to get done in very little time.
 
zapiy

What other games have you worked on?

Stephen

For Ocean – Total Recall (title screen and loading screens) – Navy seals C64GS
 
zapiy

Can you share any graphics with us of games that may have never seen the light of day?

Stephen

Yes i sure can..






 
 
Acme
 
zapiy

Tell us a little about you, where you started, how you got involved in Acme and what your upto these days?

Stephen

I joined Acme interactive in Late 1991. A few of my collegues were already working over there, so I decided to apply myself and got the job. It was a real culture shock at first, but I soon settled in and proceeded to work on many title for Acme. The highlight titles for me were Evander Holyfield boxing and Batman returns on the Mega C.D.
 
zapiy

Can you share any of your early images for Batman Returns?

Stephen

I sure can.







More at the bottom of the page.
 
zapiy

What was it like working for a company like Acme during those days of budget gaming?

Stephen

I loved working at Acme, My boss Bob Jacob, really understood the making of games and saw the potential for them as storytelling devices way before a lot of the rest of the industry. The Cinemaware titles he was involved with are testament to that
 
zapiy

Whats the great achievement during your time at Acme?

Stephen

I was very proud of the Batman Driving section work on the Mega C.D. we really pushed the machine hard. I was working closely with Jon O'Brien and Chris Shrigley making the driving assets and Front end respectively. I really went all out on the cutscenes as I remember, utilising the scaling sprite tech to full effect. I think the most ridiculous was making a full screen batman arm as the cursor in the options menus. I remember Chris frowning at the idea. I seem to remember that the arm scaled as it pressed the menu buttons aswell. I saw a vid on youtube and it doesn't run very well at all, pretty but sluggish to navigate.
 
zapiy

Did Acme start work on games development for Konix Multisystem games? If so have you got any info?

Stephen

I wasn't aware of any work of this nature going on

zapiy

What other games have you worked on?

Stephen

After leaving Acme (Malibu) interactive Myself Jon O'Brien, Andrew (joey) Headon, and James Maxwell setup our own company called ClockWork Tortoise Inc. Our one and only title was the Adventures of Batman and Robin for the MegaDrive. I'm Pleased that its recognised as one of the better Batman Games as we all really put our Live and soul into that title.Again we really pushed the hardware to its absolute limit, doing pseudo 3.D. textured 'Polys' and big brash Bosses.

zapiy
 
Can you share any graphics with us of games that may have never seen the light of day?

Stephen

See below.

Batman Retrurns





X-Women an unreleased game.



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Own: Jaguar, Lynx, Dreamcast, Saturn, MegaDrive, MegaCD, 32X, GameGear, PS3, PS, PSP, Wii, GameCube, N64, DS, GBA, GBC, GBP, GB,  Xbox, 3DO, CDi,  WonderSwan, WonderSwan Colour NGPC

TL

Great interview, especially as we got to see all those gorgeous unreleased graphics!

zapiy

I have a load more fella.. Going to do a special post relating them once i get a chance to chat live with Stephen. :113:

Own: Jaguar, Lynx, Dreamcast, Saturn, MegaDrive, MegaCD, 32X, GameGear, PS3, PS, PSP, Wii, GameCube, N64, DS, GBA, GBC, GBP, GB,  Xbox, 3DO, CDi,  WonderSwan, WonderSwan Colour NGPC

108 Stars

Wow, his is awesome, especially for me as a wannabe graphics artist. Some of the stuff he shared puts me to shame really... he's in a totally different league!

I missed asking questions myself, but you asked good stuff.

I was unaware of his name, but Batman Returns for Mega-CD and Adventures of Batman & Robin for Mega Drive really are among the most technically superb games on the machines. Hard as hell, but plenty of wow-moments. Hats off to Mr.Thomson!
Systems owned: Atari 2600, Lynx, Jaguar, NES, SNES, N64, GameBoy, Master System, Mega Drive, Dreamcast, Game Gear, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Wonderswan

DreamcastRIP

Another fine interview on RVG.  :1:

I particularly enjoyed the parts about Operation Thunderbolt and Batman Returns.

Props to RT for the valiant attempt at getting a scoop on the Zzap!64 review of Operation Thunderbolt!
Owned: Spectrum Jaguar JaguarCD Lynx ST 7800 Dreamcast Saturn MegaDrive Mega-CD 32X Nomad GameGear PS3 PS PSP WiiU Wii GameCube N64 DS, GBm GBA GBC GBP GB VirtualBoy Xbox Vectrex PCE Duo-R 3DO CDi CD32 GX4000 WonderSwan NGPC Gizmondo ColecoVision iPhone PC Mac