I was one of the pioneers, starting on systems that couldn’t even display graphics, using console text input/output. Later, I wrote some games for the Bally Arcade in Palo-Alto 2K Tiny Basic, a machine running at 0.89Mhz with only 2K shared RAM and a 64byte buffer for hand-assembled machine-language code. Eventually, I got a ‘real computer’ – the Atari 800 with a whole 16K RAM and eventually a floppy drive that held an entire 86K per disk. I sold the game software on cassette tapes and floppy disks through mail-order with ads in magazines such as: Creative Computing, Byte, Compute, Antic, etc. Around 1986 I wrote one of the first games to hit the market for the Mac 128K – MacAttack (a tank game) in 3 months using Lisa Pascal on a system that took so long to compile that you could go out for coffee. After doing several games on the Mac and Atari ST systems, I bought an Amiga system, fell in love with it and was hired on at Cinemaware for the game Wings.

Q: How did you arrive at Cinemaware?

The owner, Bob Jacobs, had seen a few of the products that I’d done for Miles Computing and liked my work, so he hired me on.


Q: What lessons did you learn there?

Cinemaware was my first experience working with other people on the same project; prior to working there I had been the lone programmer, working without any support – all my artwork was my own ‘programmer art’.

It was a new experience for me – working with not just any artist, but the very talented Jeff Hilbers. Also, I had never before worked with a producer, writer, designer, other programmers and a testing team. I was in heaven!

Q: Can you give us a good story back from the Cinemaware days?

Several of us went on a couple of ski-trips. The first trip was to Beaver Pass in Yosemite. This was my very first attempt at snow-skiing and one of the artists took the beginners course with me and during the lunch break we decided to blow-off the second half of the course and try the bunny slope, followed by the beginner’s course. Then, he jokingly said ‘Hey! Why don’t we try the intermediate course?”. I said “Sure! You only live once!”. He though I was kidding, too! Still, we both ended up on the intermediate course, went up the lift again, got to the top and we couldn’t go down the intermediate course again because there was a bad accident at the top. So, considering we could control our turning very well, we veered off to the right to look at the pile of ski-ers like we were ‘rubber-necking’ at a bad car-wreck -- right as we watched the ‘Advanced course’ sign go past our heads! The odd thing is that I didn’t have too many bad wipe-outs on the advanced course (just a few). After that incident, I actually screwed up my knee on a bad wipe-out going down the intermediate course!

Q: What do you do today?

I’ve been programming (mostly entertainment products) for 27 years now, it’s the only thing I know how to do!


Q: How did your experience at Cinemaware influence your philosophies about game design and production?

I learned a lot about working with ‘modular’ environments, where each task is broken down and handled by a specific person or team best suited to that task. This also influenced my approach while creating various game engines, making each component a separate module to be handled in an ‘object’ fashion (before there was ‘object-oriented’ C++). Even way back then, this philosophy allowed me to create and continue to use and evolve modular engines for the game physical-model engine (low level action:reaction control), 3D Graphics vector-projection engine (with texture support), high-level AI (rule-set), low-level AI (character actions), evolutionary ‘learning’ code (for character decision-making), 2D graphics sprite animation, and tools I’ve written to get artist-created data into the game.


Q: What is your favorite game of all time?

There are too many good games to list.

For pure fun, the oldies are: Defender, BattleZone, Galaga (Space Invaders -- grown up!), Bally/Midway’s original Xs & Os Football game that used the trackball (I remember getting blisters on my palms!).
Bomberman
I’ve always loved Microsoft’s Flight Simulator throughout the years
Namco’s -Ridge Racer
Goldeneye - 007
Messiah
Black & White (check out the awesome intro!)

Q: What is your favorite Cinemaware game?

That’s easy! –Wings!

Q: What were some of your inspirations when creating the games?

My inspiration for creating MacAttack was the game BattleZone. Other than that one, it was mainly my warped sense of reality that allowed me to come up with the ideas that I’ve used while creating games all these years.

Q: What are your thoughts about the current state of the game industry?

That’s a tough one. Although I don’t follow the politics, I’ve seen so many companies come and go, and more companies have failed in recent years than have in the early ones. Currently, it seems to take a much larger investment of time and money to bring a good idea to fruition.

Q: In your opinion, has the fact that games have gotten larger and more complex made them better?

In my opinion, many of the early games (such as Galaga, PacMan, Defender) had just as much re-playability and created as much fun as more recent games do such as Duke Nukem. However, I’m much more compelled to watch the beautiful graphics, control and motion of the game characters in games such as Black & White, Evolva, Madden Football, and games featuring breakthrough graphics & other technologies.

Q: What developers or publishers do you respect the most?

Shiny, Namco, Electronic Arts, Sony, Sega of America, Midway, Interplay, Fox, Paramount, 3DO, Microsoft, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some other good ones.

Q: What advice would you give to young folks today who are considering a career in the videogame industry?

For programmers, learn C (for portability) and spend as much time as possible with Visual C++ with the focus on object-oriented ‘modular’ programming. For Artists, learn to be proficient in Photoshop, 3DSMax and Character Studio.

Create demos to show off your talents, and keep working on them (technology continues to advance).

Q: How influential do you think Cinemaware was?

Cinemaware was the first company to push the idea of games with a cinematic style, which would immerse the player into the game as if he were playing a character in a movie. This influenced products that followed to continue in the direction of more interactive movies and realistic cut sequences.

Q: What would you like to see from Cinemaware in the future?

Games with more filmed interactive movie sequences interleaved with arcade-style sequences.
Perhaps a 007/secret-agent style game, with filmed sequences and video overlays of player-controlled action.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say to the fans of Cinemaware?

Thanks for remembering us after all these years!

Check out Tim Hays' website at: www.THConsulting.homestead.com

HOME | PRODUCTS | VAULT | COMMUNITY		PRESS | CORPORATE | PRIVACY | TERMS