An interview with JET BOOT JACK ...

[Dracon]

Hiya folks!

Do you remember Steve alias Jet Boot Jack ? Are you missing him (hope so!) ??? I interviewed Steve during last year (2002-2003) and published the result on AtariArea site. But after some requests, I also decided to put English version here. So here you are. Note: it's quite a big piece of text.

 

 

D - Dracon/TaQuArT

S - Steve Goss alias Jet Boot Jack

 

D - Hi Steve! I'm glad you agreed to give an interview. As rather old Atarian and founder of HARLEQUIN you are really interesting and reliable person in the subject of Atari 8-bit.... Could you fully introduce yourself at first ?

S - Hi, my name is Steve Goss, I'm 37 and I live in Montara, on the Pacific Coast, just south of San Francisco in California. I work for a company called Electronic Arts, where I am the lead Control and Combat designer on a Lord of the Rings: Return of the King...

I've been in the US for just over 2 years, originally I was a Producer for Kodiak Interactive (who used to be sculptured software), then at Crystal Dynamics where I was Lead Designer on Soul Reaver 3 (LOK: Defiance) , before these US jobs I worked in the UK for several companies, including Atari and Microprose...

 

D - Sounds like you are very experienced person in the gaming industry. What special do you feel about that profession?

S - I've been doing games development for over 14 years -- and yes I still love it -- always a challenge, always a new idea, new technology and a new audience!!!

 

D- Was it easy for you to change your company from CRYSTAL DYNAMICS to ELECTRONICS ARTS ? I mean if there weren't any problem with "adjusting" to a new place ?

S - Yeah -- making games is not so different wherever you go -- just lots more resources at EA!!! So no transition woes, just lots of work to do!

 

D - Which firm do you remember best ?

S - I really enjoy being here at EA (its like being a kid in a sweet shop -- I was chatting to Bill Budge the other day -- one of my heroes when I wanted to get into games). I also really like working at Microprose, that was a very good time too! Great people, on the cusp of the new technology (CD was happening then) and great games (XCOM etc), also MPS was a respected company, it felt good to be part of a major player, just like being here at EA you feel like part of a big and important thing too!

 

D - And by the way: what would be the future of game industry ? Can you anticipate this ?

S - The future - well everyone has their own idea - I think we will become less and less reliant on programmers as library and off the shelf technology becomes SO powerful. Its all about the data and the design, great art, great assets, great game play - technology will be less important and content will rule - just like in films, its not the camera, but the script and the acting, the music and the cinematography that matter....

 

D - Is there everything getting to achieve the greatest possible reality (like in GTA 3) ??? So in this case one day we'll have to put virtual-reality helmets on and jump into 'antoher world', right ?

S - I think that we will not go VR, but become more accessible, more mass market, more acceptable, and be one of the big 3 entertainments (TV, music & games)...

 

D - Yes, it's possible, but have you heard that AOL is in troubles ? This company has been joined to WARNER and instead of earning big cash (internet+TV fusion) it is going to fall, as I recently read somewhere. Maybe this is one of the last victims of the so-called "Dot COMs illusion" (or something like that)... What do you think about it ?

S - Online is never going to be as big as direct CD/DVD unit sales, online has yet to evolve a good pay model and games that are MASS market enough to attract LOTS of dollars! BUT rumors of AOL's demise are overstated, it may be a leviathan, but it's a rich company. Just look at the failure of Vivendi - even old media can fail!

 

D - Well, you mentioned you have been working at the game called SoulReaver 3 ... Could you say more about it?

S - yup its hard to work on sequels because they have to exceed everyone's expectations -- and in this respect SR3 will - its VERY pretty, very polished and has a LOT of tricks up its sleeves - you'll love it!

 

D - But I'm also curious what do you think about 'sequels' in general. There are quite many games that are continued (TOMB RAIDER 3, THIEF 2, GTA 3, SERIOUS SAM 2, ...). Isn't it better to think out brand new game than still catching one known title ? Isn't it possible nowadays ? Or that's the market reality ?

S - Well if you (as a publisher or developer) have spent upwards of $10 million on just developing a game, then a sequel is a good way of making that investment work harder. If the game is a massive success (say like Two Towers was) then following it up with Return of the King as we are at EA, is very sensible. Except in this case NO CODE or ART assets from TT are in ROTK - its all new from the ground up!!!! And the reason for that is TT was very successful, but we knew we had to do much better, so we took ROTK in house and made it 400% better!!!!

Original games are still possible, but the risk that an unproven idea has when upwards of $20 million are riding on that success (marketing is VERY EXPENSIVE) is often not viable when a sequel would both extend the creative effort the team has made already and also the technology and tools investment that has been made -- its just economic sense...

By the way, ROTK of course stands for "Return of the King" game, it will be out on PC, PS2, Xbox, Game cube and GBA in November. I'm currently working on features for the Japanese version of the game, and then I'll be onto the "next big thing"!

 

D - You also mentioned you worked in Sculptured Software. Can you tell me more about this firm?

S - Sculptured Software programmed many Atari 8bit games -- from the old - LA SWAT and Ninja to teh very last Commando on the XE cart -- and lots in between (they did Raid over Moscow, Beach head 1 & 2 etc) and many 7800 titles too. They also developed for every other platform ever released - titles such as Super Star Wars on the SNES and a HUGE library of other games - they were a BIG developer - they have gone now :-(

 

D - OK, back to history. How did you become an Atarian ?

S - Well my father bought me an Atari 800 in 1980 - he'd seen the machine on business trips to the US - and I got a 16K machine with a 410 cassette unit and a copy of "Star Raiders". From that moment on I was an Atari freak!

 

D - Didn't you want to buy C64 as well?

S - I was never tempted by the Commodore 64 - it was so cheaply made and the games were really poor compared to my 800 in '82 when the C64 was launched... Several friends had Atari machines and we wrote a few BASIC games, but it wasn't until college ('85) that I discovered 6502 assembly programming and started doing several projects with friends in the town I moved to - Reading... We did some demos and took them to Atari UK - who signed 2 games on the spot (Contagion and Z-force)!

 

D - Was it hard for you to learn assembler language ?

S - 6502 is pretty simple, as is the architecture of the old 8bit - I had a copy of Atari Roots and De Re Atari - and I went from there - just experimenting and fiddling until it did kind of what I wanted :-)

 

D - You mentioned about a game I don't know. It is called Z-force. What is this game about ?

S - Z-Force was a pretty poor horizontal scroller I sold to Atari based upon a few screenshots and nothing else -- we got it about 50% complete before we stopped work on it...

D - Really? What was made you to stop working on it ???

S - When we had done several games for Atari they announced they were closing down 8-bit computer support and just canceled all the games in production - there were about 40 titles here and in the US that were canned... I was a bit annoyed, but its business -- and their system to with as they wanted - it just made me go get a real job!!!

D - And what happened to those 40 titles ? Are these one available somewhere ?

S - Some came out on cassette in the UK (like Plastron), some came out as prototypes/pirate versions (Tube Baddies,

Jinks etc), others like Winter Games on the A8 or Black Lamp 2600 -- I have no idea :-(

 

D - It's good that even losing your atari business didn't break you down as programmer. But what makes you still remembering about Atari 8-bit ?

S - It was my first computer system, and I enjoyed everything about it, it was fun and a whole new world of games and technology for me -- it started me on the road to my job!

 

D - Well, you could have written games for the competitive company in the past. Of course I mean COMMODORE. But you didn't. What do you think about C-64 possibilites by the way? Why this computer became much more attractive for the market than Atari 8-bit was ? Was it due to its special features (many colors that are available at once in games, special soundchip, etc) ?

S - I never felt C64 graphics were more colorful (the machine only had 16 colors after all), but the machine was easier to get results from and had GREAT hardware sprites -- so it could look really polished. I always look at titles like Henry's House or Last Guardian to show how pretty the 8bit could be if done well... As to why Atari Software standards dropped, that's simple - economics. Less machines were sold year after year -- piracy was rife and so even less software sold, so there was less incentive to spend time and effort - just chuck out ugly C64 ports and be done with it!

 

D - Could you explain what do you mean by writing about thar "ugly C64 ports" ?

S - Well most ports in the 80's were done cheap, so rather than recode games to take advantage of the 8bit, or be designed around the A8's hardware, they tried to replicate the game and fell into having to use mono sprites to get near the C64's sprite handling, to eschew good DLI and DL techniques, because the C64 didn't have any, and then make all the art 4 color 'cos the Atari did not have character color cell control at the same level as the C64 - so most stuff looks basically ugly.

 

D - Hmmm... It's a pity hearing that. What about HARLEQUIN ?

S - Harlequin was the company formed in the late 1980's to produce Atari software - we released Plastron, and had

another 4/6 titles in development - including Menace, Shadow of the Beast, Project Xanthien, Pacland and Last Ninja II... Harlequin was myself and two my friends: Tony King, John Knox (the owner of a games store on Canvey Island) and some bloke from Milton Keynes (who used to work for a distributor called Microdeal), he thought he could sell ice to Eskimos but in reality failed us all hugely!

As to our idea - it was all about making some games quickly to capitalize on the waning A8 in the UK - make some games get them into stores quickly so we can turnover some cash to start some 16bit projects...

We closed down the company when Atari discontinued the 8bit line in 1991 and our only ST project was unfinished (Since which it has been tidied up)...

I'm showing nearly all the Harlequin and Atari stuff we were working on here.

D - As you said, Plastron was the only one released game. Why has it been released only (mainly?) on tape format? I think disk format could be better protected...

S - This game was developed for Harlequin, after the developers had had difficulties with their previous publisher and were looking for another partner. Tape sales were massively higher than disc at that time, so tape it was! A hand made disc version was available at the 1990 Atari Computer Show we attended with a Harlequin booth. The entire production run (some thousands) were hand packed by the staff and families at Harlequin, in John Knox’s front room.

 

D - What tools have you been using to produce games for Atari 8-bit?

S - We used character set editors like Instedit (1981) and some homemade stuff too -- plus OCP Advanced Art Studio on the ST - a great game art package. Later I've been using Envision, Clamari's Antic 4 Editor and LA Machine (an analog type in) plus Photoshop of course!

 

D - Plastron is one of the nicest atari games as regards graphics... Talking about it yet, what do you think about some newer Atari graphix modes, like APAC, HIP or TIP ?

(check these linx to get it right:

http://www.s-direktnet.de/homepages/k_nadj/tip.html

http://www.s-direktnet.de/homepages/k_nadj...dj/mode9++.html ) Did you expect they ever would be possible to get ?

S - Technology is of little importance I think, its what Nintendo proved -- the NES is little more powerful than the A8 (less in many areas), but the TYPES OF GAMES are what changed, they were simply better play experiences. So they won, they gave consumers what they wanted to play...

 

D - Could you mention your favourite Atari games and demos (and why they're the best in your opinion) ??

S - Demos -- I've enjoyed many of them, but know not which are best -- there were so many with great still pictures and some neat graphic fx, but no names I 'm afraid :-( As to games -- well the best A8 games are:

 

Rescue on Fractalus

Ballblazer

Koronis Rift

The Eidolon

Donkey Kong

Caverns of Mars

Eastern Front 1941

 

D - As I see, you like different type of games- so it's OK! What about JET BOOT JACK game? This is just the nick you use(d) at AtariAge forum...

S - I love JETBOOTJACK to death; my friend (Phil Morris) was the owner of English Software and its both homage to the game and respect to him that I use that name!

 

D- Well, as I understand correctly you were creating atari games in Europe and US. So, were them quite different markets as for selling and creating games for A8? I also recently read a post at AtariAge in which somebody wrote that "european" games were more often mediocre than "american" ones. Is it true in your opinion and why ?

S - I believe that cultural tastes are at the root of all market differences be it Europe, America or the Pacific Rim. As to quality, in the 8bit days the European market became dominated with budget games, made cheaply sold cheaply - it skewed the market's tastes. Wheras the US stayed full price, and so bigger productions were more normal.

 

D - What about NTSC & PAL problems while developing programs? I mean whether is it a big problem or not (as different framerate may be sometimes annoying)?

S - I and every one I know ignored the PAL/NTSC issue until it became a problem with the game, 99% of games don't care, and Europe is used to 20% slower games these days in general!

 

D - Well, what about finishing some of your old atari projects nowadays ? I mean SHADOWS OF THE BEAST particurarly. Any chances to make it full playable? Do you need any help on this ?

S - I have all the unused grafix and musix and the source code as far as it went. But I have decided to do nothing with those old projects, and in fact no more A8 work at all -- I find the scene has got very unfriendly in the last year or so...

 

D - It's really pity... but watching the situation I can understand you... Moving on to the next question: what is the situation about 8-bit Atari fans in the US nowadays? Are there any clubs, meetings/classics' fair(s) (and so on) there ??

S - There are many classic gaming meetings, and several users groups still meet up -- I'm not into that stuff too much,

but I work with many 8bit experts from back in the day -- Bill Budge is here at EA, and I chat to him every now and then :-)

 

D - What do you think about SUNMARK (it's probably american company) and its idea to release some atari games on 1MB-cartridges ?? SUNMARK is going to release atari version of COMMANDO game.

S - I got a copy of Commando, looking forward to Midi Maze too -- I will get as many of those old unreleased games as I can - I do still have an A8 set up at home... I think it's very cool that these games make it out, even now...

 

D - What do you know about Poland ? Did you see any Polish games for A8, e.g. MISSION SHARK, FRED or OPERATION BLOOD and how do you like them ?

S - I have seen several Eastern European games over the years, some of which were pretty cool, Operation Blood was quite fun. Most are kinda like C64 style budget games, or Ocean style platformers, and not really my type of game...

 

D - What would you like to say at the end of this interview ?

S - Thanks for reading!

D - And thanks for taking your time to answer all questions.

[+Sauron]

That was a great interview! I wish he'd come back here...

[Bryan]

That was a great interview! I wish he'd come back here...

 

I do too.

 

I understand why he left. For a while there no one could discuss programming topics without being told how misguided they were. Steve has certainly earned more respect than he got.

 

-Bry

[+Sauron]

I think most of us can understand why he left. However, discussions have generally been quite civil in the dev mailing list (when it's been active). Hopefully he'll change his mind someday soon and come back. He's quite missed around these parts.