RVG Interviews Stoo Cambridge.

[zapiy]

[align=center:2lf4ogdi]

Stuart "Stoo" Cambridge is an iconic  computer game designer and artist, and former member of British software developer Sensible Software and it was an absolute pleasure to have a chance to interview him.

Here are a few of the games that Stoo has worked on.

Actua Soccer 2006][/align:2lf4ogdi]

 
zapiy

Firstly Stoo could you tell us a little about yourself.

Stoo

My name is Stoo Cambridge I'm 40 something and I'm looking for love, oh hang on wrong email...Erm I'm what some would call an industry veteran which makes me sound like some kind of Gandalf like character but I can assure you there's not a grey robe to be seen anywhere near wardrobeil! In truth I  create stuff that sometimes people see and like, one project that seems to have stood the test of time well is a little Amiga game we did called Cannon Fodder which I created all the artwork for.
 

TrekMD

How did you first get involved in the video game industry?

Stoo

I had a small brush (no pun intended, oh ok maybe a small one)  with the industry in 1988 when I hacked together a C64 game using the Shoot Em Up Construction Kit. It was sold to Power House , a small budget game label and was due to be released sometime thereafter but alas it was never to be as they ceased trading just before it hit the duplicators. I don't think even the box art was done, if it was I never saw it. Thankfully I did get my advance against royalties cheque which paid for an Amiga A1000  and marked a major turning point in my career. Big time happy days!
(http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/battle-ball/ , thankfully restored by Frank Gasking of Gamesthatwerent.com from an old C64 disk which I had almost given up on finding again until I was clearing out some old boxes from the garage. Seeing it running after all these years I'm amazed I managed to get someone to give me a deal, crazy!  )
 

zapiy

What was the inspiration and concept for the Molotov Man?

Stoo

I can't quite recall how the project came into existence other than at the time it was quite heavily influenced by Bomber Man. All I can remember is being absolutely overjoyed to be working on the SNES and having what at the time felt like an endless colour palette compared to what I'd been used to with the Amiga. The SNES hadn't been out long, I'd got a Japanese one which came with Final Fight Guy and Chris had got a development system in the office. Seeing how a game was put together on this previously mysterious machine from the East was a real joy at the time and tickled my geekiness levels to the max! Only downer I can recall was the 256 pixel wide screen width compared to the standard 320 pixels the Amiga and Genesis used. I really wasn't too keen on the smaller yet fatter screen but the rest of the hardware made up for that!


zapiy

Why was it never released?

Stoo

I don't know what really happened with it. We never got it past an early prototype stage so there was never a finished game that would have stood up to a release. It played but was more an advance concept demo than a game. Chris had the Molotov cocktails exploding and the blasts radiating outwards, BomberMan style. I think there was even a few baddies moving about to blow up but that is as far as I know where it finished. I suspect it was a funding issue, maybe it was too close to BomberMan and nobody wanted to take a chance on signing it. I really don't know to be honest. Shame as I was genuinely very excited about working on the SNES.


Early Mock up with "NOT" the main character but a rather naff stand in.


zapiy

What was your time like working at Abstract Entertainment

Stoo

It was full of many, many highs and some pretty dire, dark lows. I started Abstract with a programmer mate who I had known from my pre-Sensible days. When he started at Sensible it wasn't too  long after that the place began to feel different and we both decided to work on a concept for a game which initially was an overhead 2D game called "DJ Fresh Adventures in Dreamworld". We  later redesigned it for 3D and retitled it to  "Joe Blow – Adventures in Dreamworld". Let's just say it didn't work out and things didn't go to plan. 3 years later it was no more and I pretty much lost everything as a result,  my career in the games industry took a seriously dark turn for the worst and though I came through it the experience cut deep and I lost everything as a result.
For this interview I've uploaded a never before seend video I took of the main 2D version of the character to my  Youtube Channel. This was  shot with a Hi8 camcorder so not the best quality compared to today but does illustrate him fairly well.
http://youtu.be/M1njtqKHiIY
(I shall be uploading lots of Joe Blow and Earlier DJ Fresh stuff in 2015 as I plan to do a proper archive of it)


Greyfox

Have you any antidotes you'd like to share about your time at Sensible Software?

Stoo

I needed an antidote for the strenuous long working hours making Cannon Fodder but I suspect you mean Anecdote...
Erm, where do I start. Ha ha. One that springs to mind is during the development time around Sensible Golf and Sega World Championship Soccer II, I was sitting at my desk (I shared this office with Chris Chapman) which had a window located behind and to the left side of me. I started hearing some laughter echoing from outside followed by loud bangs with the underlying accompaniment of things smashing. "What the..'#?!", well it turns out Chris Yates was getting rid of some old computer monitors and various other bits of techie deadwood. Chris being Chris thought it would be cool to throw them out of his office window which was located directly above my office. By the way we had a nickname for Jops and Chris' office, it was called Suitland. Anyway so you can imagine the sound this stuff was making. Thankfully I am so pleased that I didn't open my window and look out! I did peer down to the alleyway behind the office where there was indeed a growing pile of broken electronics, cathode ray tubes and tangled wires but that was behind the safety of a closed window. Ahh them were the days!


JoeMusashi

How much did Sensible Software change during your time there?

Stoo

The early days when I joined were fantastic. I don't just mean that with rose tinted specs wearing a cap of nostalgia, I truly do mean it was awesome!
The work was great, the team were great and although we did work very long hours it wasn't really work for the most part, I say that now but it was really just like having a paid hobby. I was heavily into the megadrive and SNES and I recall playing Sonic at my desk during the times when my creativity was hitting a brick wall.
Unfortunately as we grew as a team and I suppose a brand of sorts, some of the projects required larger teams of people not just a handful like the earlier days. With it the feeling in the office changed and that magic that once whispered around place was lost. I'd say around 1995/1996 is when it became apparent that it wasn't the same place anymore and so I made the decision to leave. We were luckily enough to sign a deal with Teslstar for the project that what would later become known as Joe Blow.


zapiy

Who was or is your favourite artist, on the C64/Speccy and Amiga/ST?

Stoo

Bob Stevenson did some amazing C64 artwork as did Hugh Riley with the rather splendid Last Ninja. I never owned a Spectrum but that's not to say I think one is better than the other the Spectrum had some fantastic bitmap work and apart from the sound which clearly the C64 is king both had some quality games.  I am a C64 man at heart though.

Dan Malone was always inspiring because he had such a prominent style on the Amiga and ST. The use of colour was very clever with such a limited palette. The ST was ok, I just prefered the Amiga for creating art.


TrekMD

Of all the games you were involved in which was the hardest to create art and graphics for and why?

Stoo

Joe Blow. We started the project as a 2D overhead action puzzle game but part of the deal upon signing to Telstar was that we redesign the concept as a 3D platform game using a newly developed 3D engine for the PC and Playstation we were at the time working on.


zapiy

What software tools did you use to create your games and did you create any tools to help you?

Stoo

On the C64 I used Koala Paint to do some screens, one memorable moment was when I did an interpretation of the Iridis Alpha box art on the C64. I took it to a Commodore Show and presented the disk to Jeff Minter who kindly put it on a projector screen which was a fantastic feeling.

For early C64 game dev work I used an editor by Tony Crowther which was great as it did everything I wanted for games art. It was called 3in1 and I believe this is the very same version I used back in the day linked here (http://csdb.dk/release/?id=38285)

On the Amiga and PC I used Dpaint2, through to Dpaint 3 and then I later opted for Brilliance on the Amiga as it was very quick!
These days I use various software, Krita, Gimp, Photoshop,Inkscape, ProMotion.

Code wise when I coded, a very good mate of mine (Giulio Zicchi – Armourdillo C64, The Kristal Amiga, Obitus Amiga) wrote this pretty cool cross development system so you could code on one C64 and it would squirt the compiled code down a parallel cable to another C64 where the game would run. Back then I was in awe of how utterly cool this was. I later adapted the idea and got an Amiga to Amiga system working for when I dabbled with some 68000 Assembler. I recall using DevPac as my assembler.


zapiy

Looking back at your career, what would you change if you had a time machine and why?

Stoo

Abstract!! I'd have adopted a much more directional approach to the project and would have been less esoteric with the whole game concept. In hindsight the team  in year 2 and 3 were fantastic but it just wasn't meant to be.


zapiy

Did you ever do any work for the Konix Multisystem?

Stoo

No but like many who saw it was very impressed with what it appeared to offer.


zapiy

What's your Favourite, C64 or Spectrum and why?

Stoo

C64, I was never in to the Spectrum. I started with a Vic20 which was not my first choice but seeing as a C64 was so expensive it was  cool as a first computer. The first games I got for it were Abductor, Lazer Zone and Traxx which  turned me in to a life long Llamasoft fan and planted the thought in my head that one day I'd like to make games. The C64 just impressed me with it's multicolour graphics and the amazing synth sounds it could generate. Me and my old school mate Paul, used to buy budget games just for it having a Rob Hubbard soundtrack. Good days they were!


zapiy

What's your favourite, Amiga or ST and why?

Stoo

I'm going to say Amiga as it was a logical progression from the C64 but I have to say I did have a soft spot for the ST. I didn't really rate it as an alternative to the Amiga but it did provide a decent enough spec for the money.
What was it about the Amiga that I liked? Well it was a graphic artists dream at the time, it had such fantastic hardware that paved the way for the one and only Dpaint. That piece of software gave so many artists the tools to create digital art that before were just not there, certainly not on a home system. One thing I wish Commodore had done is somehow use a SID chip in the Amiga or a logical progression of the SID. I know the Amiga had samples but I always felt how amazing would it have been if the Amiga had a synth chip to sit alongside the 4 channel of sampling.


zapiy

Have you got any old unreleased designs/art  that you would be willing to share?

Stoo

I do have a few bit, let me go and have a look in my cupboard of creative drafts and see what I can dig up.

Here's one of my first Amiga screens an interpretation of the classic C64 game Uridium with a few made up bits and bobs followed by a screen from the unreleased game The Last Starship.









zapiy

What happened to Ikkyou, that Monkey King game you created with John Bridges looks like it would work great on today's mobile tech?

Stoo

Yeah it was a great little game to work on. You have to consider that we designed it primarily for the Nokia Series 40 and 60 phones which had very limited capabilities compared to current gen. I think the game ran in a 128x128 screen and on the s60 was 176 x 208  or something silly like that.

John and I have talked about bringing it back for Android and iOS but whether we do really depends on time and the commercial viability of it. Never say never!


zapiy

Cannon Fodder got into some trouble if i remember correctly for having the Poppy in the game, how did you take that? And what was the thoughts of the Sensible Team at the time?

Stoo

I was mightily peeved at the time. I'd just spent ages drawing a poppy I'd taped to my monitor, got the look just right, shading was cool, yeah I was happy with it, then... Well you know the story I then find myself having to dash out, grab a real life poppy from somewhere in Saffron Walden, tape that one to my monitor and do it all again! It wasn't just one poppy either there was one for the title screen and another two for the end of level "Lost in Service" screen as well.
I can see why we changed it but the whole context of what Cannon Fodder was saying had been totally misunderstood to such a degree that it became this big thing in the press.


zapiy

Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder are two of my favourite games of all time and i am sure others feel the same, did it ever strike you how iconic these games may have become in the future? Also looking back at that time did you ever feel old games would still have such a huge following?

Stoo

I had no idea at all that they would become as big as they did. I'd been a big fan of the Sensible games on the C64 before I'd joined the team so it was always at the back of mind that anything I worked on would have had some coverage being it was Sensible. Seeing both games still getting a mention today is amazing and I'm just grateful that I had the opportunity to be part of making them.
I couldn't even look at Cannon Fodder after we had finished it as I'd spent so long day in day out drawing art, animating sprites, testing levels that by the end of it I was sick of the project. I really couldn't bare to load it up and play it. It's nice to now be able to look back and see it for the game people said it was, and that makes me feel very proud.


TrekMD

Having worked with games of various franchises, is there one that was your favorite?  Was there a franchise you would have liked to develop games for?

Stoo

Not really. The new machines are such work and though Android and iOS offer smaller devs a way in it's still so hard to make the games you want and retain an element of commercialism about the whole thing. Anyone can make a game but turning that into a living like we did in the old days is far more of a challenge today.


TrekMD

Of the games you've worked on, which was the most favourite for you to develop?  Which was the least enjoyable?

Stoo

Cannon Fodder was great but intense as times!
Least enjoyable , hmmm, I'd say there's been a few but I can't name them as that would be telling!


TrekMD

What are you doing nowadays?

Stoo

These days I'm still working as an artist and more often than not my work is games related though not exclusively.
I'm currently finishing off a project that my good mate Giulio Zicchi and I have been working on featuring our new character Kidd Hero in his debut adventure. You can follow the game on Twitter and soon to be released blog page,
https://twitter.com/toweroftreasure and hashtag #tottab
https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=%23tottab

I've also been working on are a series of childrens books which as soon as I move in to my new Stoodio I shall be illustrating and finishing.
2015 is going to be a busy year.  For any news on this and other stuff I'm working on feel free to follow me on Twitter as I tend to use it as my main posting platform with other networks following after.  https://twitter.com/StooCambridge Say hi, i don't bite though I do sometimes take a while to reply if I'm not paying attention.


JoeMusashi

A lot of your early work involved using tiny sprites in games, very effectively. What was the idea behind that?

Stoo

The main idea was to be able to see more of the play area. The evolution of that idea is the basis from which the Sensi look evolved.
Megalomania then Sensi Soccer then Cannon Fodder.


JoeMusashi

What's with the pink hair in that picture?

Stoo

It was a good idea at the time but in hindsight I think purple would have been a better choice.


zapiy

With all these bands reforming any chance the Stoo and Jops show could be rekindled? Sensible Software, The Return!!!

Stoo

Ha ha it's certainly food for thought. I'd say probably not at the moment.  We have worked on projects together since and we do get together now and again for a natter over breakfast but I can't see a Sensible 2 on the horizon, not at the moment. (never say never!)


zapiy

Thanks again Stoo for taking the time to talk to us, gobsmacked is the best word for me here.

[AmigaJay]

Really good interview Zapiy! Nice replies, amd good of him to show extra stuff. A+

[Greyfox]

Another great interview, fantastic answers to questions I didn't even know needed answering lol..cracking stuff

[TrekMD]

Really nice interview.  I'll need to add this to the Interviews Tab this weekend. 

[zapiy]

Yeah this is another great addition to what we have.

[onthinice]

A very enjoyable read. I really like the looks of the screenshot for The Last Starship.

[zapiy]

I would like to know more about that game also.