Andy Noble is a remake god, in fact it was his remake of Manic Miner that first brought me into the remake scene.
As a founder member of Retrospec it has always been his policy to produce near 100% faithful versions of the games he is remaking. Releases may well be few and far between but they are always well worth waiting for.
We had the chance to probe Andy on the remake scene in general, his future plans and general mutterings, read what he has to say over on the right.
Andy's Retrospec Website
http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/anoble
Andy's Remake History
Manic Miner
Jet Set Willy
Lunar Jetman
Andy's Image Gallery
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Whats your earliest memory of "home computing" and what was the first game you played ?
My old friend Jason Greenwood, his dad brought a ZX80 home from his work and we would sit for hours typing listings in or messing with the basic. We could never save anything out, so it was a case of re typing in the listing if we wanted to play another day.
As to the first game, the one that sticks in my mind is playing Asteroids on the old Atari console. Same friends dad as above, same situation. We could not believe it, an arcade in our bedroom.
What was the first computer you owned yourself and how did you progress to the PC ?
My parents got me a ZX81 just as the Speccy came out. There where loads of deals on them at that time, so it didn't cost them too much. Then it went onto the Speccy, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC 6128, Atari ST, Amiga and then onto PC. I stuck with the Amiga far too long but as many will know, it's a machine to love.
Back then what was your favourite game genre ?
Always loved platformers and to a slightly lesser degree shoot em ups. People tend to see shoot em ups as a mindless blast but some of these games are deep and require you to look below the surface to really get to know them.
Your favourite all time game ?
It has to be Manic Miner. I can still boot up a Speccy emulator and lose a good few hours on that one.
Your favourite author or publisher ?
Difficult one this. I used to love all the Hewson stuff, also anything done by Jon Ritman or Costa Panayi.
At what stage do you think the phenomonen of the "Back Bedroom Coder" died ?
When games got bigger. Its probably that simple. When all that would sell were licences or conversions and these things would need to be done in a few months, I imagine the back bedroom coder thought "G-Zus, too much for me" and then promptly hung up their assembler.
Do you see a remaker as being the modern day version of the "Back Bedroom Coder" ?
Most definitely. I think as the industry slowly implodes on itself, it's going to be one of the only places a budding programmer or games artist is going to get anything done. I work in the industry and it seem that every month another company goes down. It's very disheartening.
You remake games now as a hobby, what first prompted you to start ?
The credit must go to a friend of mine Andy Clark. He was a mad NES fanatic and loved the Mario games. So we did a conversion of Mario for Amiga Format, changed the name to Doody, Marios to little Orange and Blue blobs and got it stuck on a cover disk. The rest is history.
To a lesser degree, we were involved in doing a remake of Uridium for the Amiga but it never happened. You can see a screenshot of it here. Even we don't have a version of that, so if anyone can send it PLEASE let me know!
You are most famous for your remakes of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, how did you come to choose these ?
I needed or rather wanted to learn C and was getting nowhere. I knew I needed some sort of project to get behind or I would probably still be trying today. I wanted it to be a nice and achievable game, so what simpler than a non-scrolling platformer. Silly me. How a simple game can become complicated for a novice programmer.
What other remakes have you completed ?
Lunar Jetman is done but a few bugs still need sorting. Must have done MM on a few platforms now. The above mentioned Doody for the Amiga. A little Tetris game for a friend at work.
Also did a version of Snowball Sunday for the Amiga with Andy Clark called "Christmas Fun". It's a remake of an old C64 demo by Ash & Dave. We nicked the graphics from Fire & Ice Xmas special and put in a new background. Again, if anyone has this, I would love to see it again.
The obligatory Space Invaders clone which I did to get used to the Allegro Library. Also done a few with Jon Dow but as he wrote them, you should talk to him.
Are you working on anything at the moment ? If so what can you tell us about it ?
I am always working on something. Whether it gets finished is another matter. On my hard drive at the moment I have unfinished versions of:
Chuckie Egg PC/GBA
Darkstar PC
Android 2 PC/GBA
Head Over Heals PC
Rex PC/GBA
Ant Attack
Impossaball
Virus
The last 3 are my first foray into 3D using the excellent Blitz Basic 3D. The most recent thing that was taking my time, was a version of Highway Encounter, using Blitz3D but its another one that someone else is doing so my enthusiasm has wandered.
Bloody hard to find a popular game that no one is doing.
Are there any games that you would like to remake that you haven't already done ?
Any of the above to be honest. Chuckie Egg is my fave and I happen to work with Doug Anderson, the "A" in A&F Software. So no worries in getting permission. I also happen to work with Mike Richardson of Durell fame, so there is mileage in persuing some of his games to.
There was a long gap between Jet Set Willy PC and your "return" to the scene, what happened there ?
Work, pure and simple. I went through a company takeover that was a nightmare, which I left before it all went really bad. There was so much politics and backstabbing that I totally lost interest in anything computer related outside of work.
I did try to start (as you can see from above) a few aborted remakes but nothing got my full attention and so fell by the way side. Saying that, Lunar Jetman was one of them and that got done, so one or two of the ones on that list are bound to see the light of day in the end.
What are both your current and all time favourite remakes ?
Another difficult one. Attack of the Mutant Camels is one I still play now. Jon and Jon did an awesome job. Cybernoid 2 is another I still play.
Who are your favourite remakers and why ?
Jon Dow has to be one of my faves. He was a coding machine until real life took over. Rich Jordan has to be up there too. Fairlight was looking awesome until the big boys put their oar in. Just shows that even us remakers are not immune from the men with big wallets. Tomaz Kac is doing what has to be THE BEST looking remake ever. End!
You are a founder member of the famous Retrospec team, responsible for some of the best remakes around, what more can you tell us about the secluded Club House ?
To be honest nothing. As I have been moving around jobs over the past few years I have lost contact with just about everyone. I am now fairly stable so I would like to get back into the Club House as soon as my workload allows.
Retrospec was certainly an inspiration of mine, what contribution do you think it has made to the scene ?
I think its given a focus to the remakes scene. It's a place to go to get inspiration and to see what like minded people can produce when they are passionate about something. I think Retro Remakes has taken this on of late though.
I think if there is one criticism of Retrospec its that they don't always deliver what they promise, do you think this has quelled interest in them and is it maybe time to move on ?
This is the only bad thing about doing these games in your own time.
Like myself; if I have just worked two days straight or have been knocking out sprite after sprite at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and load up Pro-Motion or Visual Studio. Life is too short. I have a wonderful woman and a great home life; I can't give that up every night of the week.
Believe me, there are times I just wish I could go and spend the weekend coding but it happens less and less. This is all happening with everyone else at RatroSpec, hence things slip or simply, just don't get done.
Also, these things are done for nothing and it bugs the hell out of the coders when they get a stream of emails complaining that a game did not come out when they said. This used to stop me doing any work and I imagine it has done the same for others. There are no schedules for these games, no milestones, no alpha or beta stage. They are just done when it's done.
So, people will move on, some may come back. It's healthy to keep new blood coming in. Hopefully some of these guys will turn into awesome coders and get a great job writing great games and in a time of consoles, this is just what we need.
The remake scene is growing exponentially, what do you think the future holds ?
Many great things. There is what's now been called "Micro Studios" growing up out of what where remakes coders. I think these guys are going to be the future for the software industry as a whole, and also give future remakes coders something to go for.
As to the remakes scene, I always think it's going to be around in one form or another. Hardware has become more powerful and more portable, they just beg for some of the classics to be remade on them.
More and more companies are releasing free SDK's for their hardware and this will do nothing but build support and interest in both the hardware and the mad stuff we make for them.
Finally, as time moves on, do you think remakes will continue to be made, will those old games still be kept in such high regard in 10 years or will the scene evenutally fizzle out ?
I think some of the games will remain forever. They are like a good film, forever being reborn on a new medium. Hell, how many Chaplin or Bogart films are on DVD. An ever new generation, itching for entertainment.
Some of these new games are just too big; some are just to crap for anyone to get starry eyed over. But even these big boys are remaking their own games, Doom3, Quake 4 etc. They are all just their original idea wrapped in some awesome graphics. Hey, that sounds just like what us lot are doing!
We would like to thank Andy for taking the time to answer the questions and wish him all the best with his current projects.
Interview by Enigma and The Toker - Sept 2003.
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