Carl Forhan (Songbird Productions) – Interview - Releasing Lost Jag Games

[Adriano Arcade]

Carl Forhan (Songbird Productions) – Interview - Releasing Lost Jag Games

In our latest Atari Jaguar based interview for Arcade Attack, please allow me to introduce our lovely chat with Songbird Productions owner Carl Forhan!

Songbird Productions are well known for helping to complete and release lost or incomplete Jag and Lynx games to the public!

Some of his best-known titles include Robinson's Requiem, Skyhammer, HyperForce, Protector SE and their latest game LOOPZ!

Carl talks about his passion for Atari, how he helps release a game and his dream Jag release title!

https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/songbird-productions-interview/

 

[VladR]

Thank you for the IW, it was a great read !

[sirlynxalot]

I used to be on an atari forum around 2002 and Songbird/carl was on there talking about upcoming games and offering programming advice. I'm pleased to see that he's still active all these years later!

[Adriano Arcade]

Thank you for the IW, it was a great read !

Thanks for your kind words!

[Adriano Arcade]

I used to be on an atari forum around 2002 and Songbird/carl was on there talking about upcoming games and offering programming advice. I'm pleased to see that he's still active all these years later!

That's a great story! Carl is a top guy! Thank you

[PlaysWithWolves]

I always enjoy these articles, but from a different perspective--I'm Carl's elder brother, Eric. I also did some uncredited (I believe) artwork on Protector and Protector SE, and more recently credited on Protector Resurgence.

 

It's interesting juxtaposing how we grew up with what seems to be pretty average now. Our Pong/Hockey/Lightgun console was stored in a closet and only rarely brought out with parents' permission. Later, we only got to play (and thus binge) Atari every-other weekend after our parents split (lots of Twinkies, pizza, mac-n-cheese, and video games. Thanks Dad!). Our father was a Xerox copier salesman who transitioned to selling Xerox computers, which did give us access to something the average kid didn't have at the time. I forget the model, but it was monochrome, ran CP/M, and had whopping eight-inch floppy drives. It had two games: Adventure and Pirate Cove. One other disk he had was from a fledgling company: Microsoft's MSBasic. We typed-in BASIC programs from a game book we bought and attempted our own as well. I like to think that my passion for learning BASIC trickled down to a certain sibling some three years my younger.

 

Eventually, Dad saw our passion and wanted to encourage programming/game-making. Thus came the TI-99/4a, which we got to keep at home. Oh, the joys of saving and loading programs on cassette tape ...

Our after-school lives often consisted of that and Dungeons and Dragons, Star Frontiers, Gangbusters!, or other RPGs. All of which, I imagine, merged for a joy for finishing and releasing Jag/Lynx games as a hobby.

 

It always amazes me when Carl talks about new or re-released games for these old systems. He's a genuinely good guy who somehow managed to avoid most of the pits his elder, more-cynical, brother fell into.

 

I just wish i had an embarrassing childhood photo of him to post here.

[Songbird]

Never trust a brother.

 

 

(Although, to be fair, he did say he was credited in Resurgence. So maybe you can trust him.)

[Adriano Arcade]

I always enjoy these articles, but from a different perspective--I'm Carl's elder brother, Eric. I also did some uncredited (I believe) artwork on Protector and Protector SE, and more recently credited on Protector Resurgence.

 

It's interesting juxtaposing how we grew up with what seems to be pretty average now. Our Pong/Hockey/Lightgun console was stored in a closet and only rarely brought out with parents' permission. Later, we only got to play (and thus binge) Atari every-other weekend after our parents split (lots of Twinkies, pizza, mac-n-cheese, and video games. Thanks Dad!). Our father was a Xerox copier salesman who transitioned to selling Xerox computers, which did give us access to something the average kid didn't have at the time. I forget the model, but it was monochrome, ran CP/M, and had whopping eight-inch floppy drives. It had two games: Adventure and Pirate Cove. One other disk he had was from a fledgling company: Microsoft's MSBasic. We typed-in BASIC programs from a game book we bought and attempted our own as well. I like to think that my passion for learning BASIC trickled down to a certain sibling some three years my younger.

 

Eventually, Dad saw our passion and wanted to encourage programming/game-making. Thus came the TI-99/4a, which we got to keep at home. Oh, the joys of saving and loading programs on cassette tape ...

Our after-school lives often consisted of that and Dungeons and Dragons, Star Frontiers, Gangbusters!, or other RPGs. All of which, I imagine, merged for a joy for finishing and releasing Jag/Lynx games as a hobby.

 

It always amazes me when Carl talks about new or re-released games for these old systems. He's a genuinely good guy who somehow managed to avoid most of the pits his elder, more-cynical, brother fell into.

 

I just wish i had an embarrassing childhood photo of him to post here.

Thanks for these top stories and memories! Very interesting!

[Adriano Arcade]

Never trust a brother.

 

protse_credits2.png

Protector_Resurgence_credits.png

 

(Although, to be fair, he did say he was credited in Resurgence. So maybe you can trust him.)

Nice pics!!! Thanks again Carl!!!