At last, the moment you've all been waiting for - the Andy Roberts Interview! Many thanks go to Andy for giving up his time to answer the questions - we hope this has stirred up some very happy memories for you!
Hope you enjoy the "powerplay" quotes about Andy - they certainly made me chuckle!!!
| Andy decided to go for the 'humerous' gift idea. Here he is. "I couldn't resist it. I got Lam a pair of huge cycle clips for when he's cycling with his shorts on. Also a luminous sun-dial for telling the time at night, a solar-powered torch, a black lightbulb to make the room darker and a stupid hat!" Ha ha Andy. Issue 20 | 1. Tell us a bit more about yourself - what are you up to these days? I'm Andy Roberts (obviously), 29 years old, and I currently live up in the North East of England. After I left CF I had a number of jobs; initially I was working with Apex on a beat 'em up for the PC, but left a year later (on good terms) due to a certain publisher not paying us very much money. I did a stint at Sony for a year, working as a Lead Tester on about 50-odd PlayStation titles, before moving to Acclaim in 1996 to work as QA Manager and later Senior Designer. I quit Acclaim in May this year, did a stint at another local developer for four months, before establishing my own Game Boy Advance company (Thalamus Interactive Ltd. - www.thalamusinteractive.com) in September. |
|
| 2. How did you get involved with CF? It all came about by accident, really. I'd been contributing tonnes of stuff to Zzap!64 for a couple of years, and had built up a decent portfolio of published works. I bought a copy of New Computer Express - a sister magazine of CF published by Future Publishing - and they announced that they were launching a new C64 mag, captained by Steve Jarratt. I sent in my CV immediately, and went down to Bath for an interview about a week later. Although I never got the job (they opted for Andy Dyer instead - and rightly so, he's a brilliant writer), Steve Jarratt asked if I wouldn't mind contributing on a regular basis. I started off contributing between 2-5 pages per month, but when Andy and Steve left the magazine a year later to set up Total! magazine, I was the natural choice to take over the entire GameBusters section full time. The rest is history. |
Andy used to be an accountant with a successsful firm in Lowestoft. "I was doing well there, but one day they called me into the office and said I was being replaced. I asked who by and they were dead vague. The head accountant said something about it being a 'mobile glob of porridge'. Weird eh?" Issue 24 | |
| Andy has, through the skillful application of hypnosis, overcome all pain. "I can reduce even the most serious injury to a mere itch. It's easy enough to do. Trouble is, the itch is always in the middle of my back, so I have to carry a pool cue everywhere, just so I can scratch it." We don't believe a word of it, Andy. Issue 25 | 3. What are your fondest memories of working with CF? Ah, that's a difficult one, there are so many. I personally loved the freedom I had each month; staying up all night to get maps finished for a deadline, waiting for the finished magazine to plop through the letterbox, getting hundreds upon hundreds of fan letters every month. Additionally, I got to work with some of the best people in the industry, including Steve Jarratt, Andy Dyer, Ollie Alderton (Art Editor and all round top bloke), Colin Campbell, Clur Hodgson, Trenton Webb, Dave Golder, James Leach, and Simon Forrester, to name but a few. It also, indirectly, allowed me to work with some top contributors such as Richard Beckett, Warren Pilkington, and Martin Pugh. |
|
| 4. Here's a quote from Issue 31 (page 15 if you're interested!)... "I've always been fascinated by the history of the humble pasty. In the olden days it would be a two-course meal in itself, with savoury goodies at one end and something sweet, like jam, in the other. It was a bit like having ice cream on your stake and very practical." Care to explain yourself?!!! <GRIN> Well, those quotes I cannot explain, because I never wrote them. I used to work freelance for CF, and so I was never in the office when the monthly introductions were being written. They were usually concocted by the Sub or Deputy Editor (Dave Golder did quite a few good ones in his day, as did Trenton Webb). The one that sticks out in my mind was in the Street Fighter issue (I think), when the CF crew decided to have a rumble in the car park - my entry was particularly inspired, and still makes me chuckle to this day. |
Andy recons figure skating sounds right up his ravine but we think he's got the wrong end of the icicle. "Yes, I've always been into figures. Numbers hold a certain fascination for me. So to be able to combine the beauty of applied mathematics with the elegance of skating sounds very exciting." Erm, yes, Andy. Issue 29 |
|
| Andy was too busy repairing his high altitude balloon to talk to us. He had planned on flying around the world, in the opposite direction to the spin of the earth and cross the international date line 24 times to make it to 24 different New Year's parties in 24 different countries. But he got a puncture and watched Hogmany on TV instead. Issue 28 | 5. Out of all the computers you have used/worked with in your past, which is your favourite? (Hint: The answer contains the letter C and the numbers 6 and 4!!!) Undoubtedly it has to be the C64, simply because of the way it has shaped my entire career. Not only did I learn how to draw and program on the C64, it also pushed me in the direction of Zzap!64 and Commodore Format - without that, I never would have gone on to follow the career path that I did. Plus, I got involved in the industry at a very early age, watched it evlove and grow; that kind of experience is rare nowadays. Plus, it's nice to look back and know that you never wasted your formative years on something pointless. ;) |
|
| 6. Are you still into the C64 "Scene"? Not really. I still have my machine set up, and enjoy a quick bash on some of my old favourites, but I rarely keep up with the latest happenings (even though, so I hear, people are still producing games, magazines, demos, etc. |
"As you know, for a while now I have been investing all my spare pennies wisely in the Acme Drawing Pin Sharpening Co. I own 24 shares now and at 13p a share that's, err, um, 24 times 10 is, oh lots of dosh. But if the bottom falls out of the sharpening market I'd be devastated, not to mention broke." Issue 27 | |
| Andy's mum told us he was off on a fact-finding tour of Russian nuclear power-stations. "I told him to be careful," she said, "he's to wear a thick cardy at all times. We don't want him getting any germs. Oh, and he's to bring back a glowing lump of plutonium to put beside his bed to use as a nightlight." Issue 21 | 7. Here's a question from an avid CFL reader - "I would love to see creatures 2 on Game Boy Advance. Who owns the rights to the series now?" Let's just say, your wish might just come true over the coming months. The observant ones amongst you will have noticed the significance of my new company's name: Thalamus Interactive. Hopefully, we'll be bringing many of the old Thalamus classics back from the dead... |
|
| 8. This one's from an old acquaintance of yours (at least, I hope it is!) Good luck in deciphering it! "yo..andy r......what ya upto since ya left brat? shaddy 2 is just about there now." (Check out the CFL Discussion forum - this one's for real!!!) That'll be from my old mate, Trev, who I used to work with during my time at Acclaim. I think I've answered his question already. 'Ello Trev! |
"I've got three salamanders, all called Roman Polanski. They're very interesting. Apparently, they secrete weird chemicals from their skin which nobody has ever been able to detect. I scraped some on a spatula once, but dropped it down the back of the sofa before the scientists could arrive." Issue 22 | |
| The End | ||
Site Last Updated: 29th October 2004 |
(c) Peter James Holl 2004 |
| |||||||
