| |
Andy Roberts speaks to GTW about Mission Shark...
"Due to the fact that I was a rabid Zzap! fanboy (and avid contributor to their tips sexction), I spent many an hour on the phone with Paul Rand, who later left and went to work for Zeppelin as their Development Manager. Having always been an aspiring artist, but with no real skills to speak of, I contacted Paulin 1990 to see if there was any work in the offing.
The project which came up was Mission Shark; the game was being coded by a Scottish guy calle Kevin Mackintosh, a really nice guy with an incredibly thick accent. I remember talking with him at length about the game and the graphics he required, and completely getting the wrong end of the stick...!
Essentially, Mission Shark was an Operation Thunderbolt clone, with enemies that ranged from single-sprite soldiers to multi-sprite tanks. After submitting the first batch of graphics, Paul Rand came back to me and said that the backgrounds had to scroll; thus, it was back to the drawing board to revamp the background graphics.
Subsequently, Paul contacted me again to ask where the loading screen was; there was no specification or written contract, so I had no option but to knock up a loading screen in a day or risk not getting paid for the work (a rather feeble 200 quid, if memory serves correctly).
I've no idea what happened to Mission Shark after that point; I certainly never received payment from Zeppelin for my work, and shortly after, Paul Rand left the company.
I dare say there are sprites, backgrounds, and possibly the loading screen on a disk somewhere - but my recollection is that the graphics were shockingly poor."
Andy Roberts.
|
|
