Throwback: Interview with Ken Beckett, creator of Crystal Mines

[Songbird]

A CM2 fan recently asked if an old interview I had done with Ken Beckett was ever published online after it was first released on the limited CM2: Buried Treasure CD for Windows PC about 20 years ago, and I realized it had not. In the spirit of better late than never, check it out in the Songbird blog. Ken and Scott talk about the NES version, working with Color Dreams, and how the Lynx port got released. Enjoy!

 

https://songbird-productions.com/2020/09/09/throwback-interview-with-ken-beckett-creator-of-crystal-mines/

[+sramirez2008]

Thank you?

[PFG 9000]

It's always cool to learn about the development of the games I've enjoyed.  I wonder if any other Lynx games have "back door" features built in for future expansion.

[Songbird]

Yes, that was a pretty unique feature, and the entire reason we were able to develop and test new levels for CM2: Buried Treasure! It was a lot of fun collaborating with multiple Lynx fans back then to design so many new levels for the game.

[drludos]

Thanks a lot for sharing this interview, it's a very interesting read!

 

I wasn't aware of the NES prequel and the whole backstory behind the game.

As the NES version was unlicensed, do you know how they developed the game? (what kind of toolkit did they set up?).

 

And it's somewhat "funny" to see how the same company (Color Dreams) can be an "unlicensed developer" on a platform (NES) and an "officially licensed" one for another (Lynx).

[agradeneu]

Great read. One of the best games for the Lynx, it easily ranks up with the likes of Chips Challenge.

[Songbird]

@drludos, I'm not sure what exactly they used for the NES dev kit, but I'm guessing it might have been just a 6502 assembler along with burning EPROMs to try on a real NES. In the articles I've read about Color Dreams, I've never seen anything about a download & debug system.

 

Even the early days of Lynx hacking was all pretty much one-way downloads to RAM or burning EPROMs... I can still remember that thrill in 1995 when I downloaded my very first Pong clone to Lynx RAM. It was so cool to think that something I had created was running on authentic Atari hardware! I was so excited, I didn't even mind the lack of debug capabilities.