Cover artists

[druellan]

3D Defender (New Generation): Rob Pengilley
Per inlay

This one is interesting. The first release says "produced by J. K. Greye"


http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/3DDefender

But the New Generation Release says (Copyright M. E. Evans)


http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/3DDefender(NGS)

I wonder if Evans is the original author.

[MarkRJones1970]

Super Chopper: Kurt Goodwin did the music; the loading screen has a hidden signature "Ocean." But not sure what that means.

We think it's there because Super Chopper was written by the same person who was working on the unreleased Airwolf licence on the Spectrum for Ocean. There's a good chance that Ocean's Airwolf was finished off and released as Super Chopper and the hidden 'OCEAN' text on the screen was a hint!

✓ Reviewed

[druellan]

We think it's there because Super Chopper was written by the same person who was working on the unreleased Airwolf licence on the Spectrum for Ocean. There's a good chance that Ocean's Airwolf was finished off and released as Super Chopper and the hidden 'OCEAN' text on the screen was a hint!

Thanks Mark! Interesting! With your permission I'm going to add this to the comments on the game

[MarkRJones1970]

Of course. If you have FB there's a whole Photo album I posted in respect to this on my Ocean Software page when we found it out.

[sho]

Star Trader (Bug-Byte).

In the instructions:

'Graphic design: Gary McNamara'

✓ Reviewed

There are two different covers (albeit, very similar)

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... tar_Trader

[druellan]

Crazy Cars II

Looking at the game code we can also get some credits:
GIL ESPECHE & PHILIPPE PAMART

Androide: Rho

Rho seems to be Michel RHO
[/quote]

[druellan]

Nodes of Yesod, Arc of Yesod and Robin of the Wood: Gerry Fisher
Per https://stevewetherill.com/2014/09/17/h ... -spectrum/

Great to have this covered, I always liked Odin's covers and the art department in general.
I'm trying to also figure out the roles:

Nodes of Yesod
Steve Wetherill - code
Colin Grunes - ingame graphics
Stuart James Fotheringham - ingame graphics
Paul Salmon - ingame graphics
Fred Gray - music

Arc of Yesod
Steve Wetherill - code
Colin Grunes - ingame graphics
Stuart James Fotheringham - ingame graphics
Paul Salmon - ingame graphics
Fred Gray - music

Robin of the Wood
Steve Wetherill - code
Paul Salmon - ingame graphics
Andy Walker - music

Heartland
Steve Wetherill - code
Colin Grunes - ingame graphics - loading screen - level design
Stuart James Fotheringham - ingame graphics (uncredited)
Keith Tinman - music

Pretty sure Colin Grunes did also the loading screen for Nodes and Arc of Yesod, but I don't have a confirmation roaming Steve's blog.

[druellan]

I strongly suspect I.C.U.P.S. is also by Gerry Fisher. Hypaball might also be one of his.
This interview seems to suggest Fisher did all Odin's artwork in 1985-1986:
https://planetsinclair.meulie.net/indus ... rviews.htm

Found this: http://www.defernia.org/gerryfisher.html - sadly, the main site seems not to be working anymore, but the info seems legit.

[Rorthron]

Found this: http://www.defernia.org/gerryfisher.html - sadly, the main site seems not to be working anymore, but the info seems legit.

I looked at that site in the past, but I think I came to the conclusion it was actually getting its data from SC.

[druellan]

I looked at that site in the past, but I think I came to the conclusion it was actually getting its data from SC.

Well, I must say I'm starting to find more and more sites that link directly to SC, and the page is first on many searches on Google and DuckDuckGo
In this case, I bet the info is probably extracted from MobyGames.

[sho]

In this case, I bet the info is probably extracted from MobyGames.

Well, for years now, Mobygames has required reliable / verifiable sources. This data is not from there and this page would not qualify as a reliable source.

This is his data at Mobygames:
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/she ... Id,865177/

[druellan]

THE HOUSE JACK BUILT by Chris Kerry
Computer Graphics by Steve and Chris Kerry
Front cover Design by Brian Wall.

Interesting. We have a Brial Wall in base, author of Pedro's cover art: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... trum/Pedro
The transcript says: ILLUSTRATIONS by Brial Wall I wonder if there is a typo there?

[druellan]

Well, for years now, Mobygames has required reliable / verifiable sources.

Yeah, I don't trust MobyGames as a sole source of information, or any "Internet" source that is not the author for the matter. I just asked Steve Whetheril to see if he remembers.

[druellan]

Interesting. We have a Brial Wall in base, author of Pedro's cover art: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... trum/Pedro
The transcript says: ILLUSTRATIONS by Brial Wall I wonder if there is a typo there?

Confirmed. It is a typo!



So, Brial Wall = Brian Wall

✓ Reviewed

[druellan]

Yeah, I don't trust MobyGames as a sole source of information, or any "Internet" source that is not the author for the matter. I just asked Steve Whetheril to see if he remembers.

Steve Wetherill confirmed the information

https://twitter.com/stevewetherill/stat ... 4043040768

[Rorthron]

More bugfixes and updates from @druellan. This time he finished validating and updating every single post from the Cover Artists thread, that contains almost 500 posts!

Cough.

It might say Martin Buchan, but I am really not sure.

I really think it is Martin Buchan. See the image:

Super Scramble (Software Farm): Wright H... (second word illegible in scan)
Per inlay

https://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/ ... .Cover.jpg

Looks like "Wright Place" to me.

[mention]druellan[/mention]

[druellan]

HAHAHA! Fear not! I have that covered!

I'm looking for a direct confirmation about those authors, meaning, a matching (hopefully more readable) signature or at least an indication they are indeed illustrators. I moved along because I don't want to perpetuate, but I have everything noted on a backlog.

I still can´t find anything about "Wright Place" or "Wright H" (I'm also looking for "Nora Wright"). but I managed to catch a DVD inlay by Martin Buchan that has an identical signature, so, we have confirmation:


Source (don't ask) http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/martin/quick_ ... ekyll.html

[Rorthron]

OK, that's great.

I managed to catch a DVD inlay by Martin Buchan that has an identical signature, so, we have confirmation:


Source (don't ask) http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/martin/quick_ ... ekyll.html

I'm impressed by your sleuthing skills (though not your taste in DVDs ).

[StooB]

Found this: http://www.defernia.org/gerryfisher.html - sadly, the main site seems not to be working anymore, but the info seems legit.

In this case, I bet the info is probably extracted from MobyGames.

Well, for years now, Mobygames has required reliable / verifiable sources. This data is not from there and this page would not qualify as a reliable source.

No, that's mine and it's definitely not reliable! There is no main site, it's not really for public consumption, but whoever owns defernia.org has the domain pointed at my server and Google has indexed it.

[StooB]

Terry Greer

is currently only credited for 'Inlay/Poster Art' on Diamond Trail.

These titles credit him for 'Inlay/Poster Art' on the inlay itself:
Adventures of Barsak the Dwarf
Africa Gardens
The Curse
Devil's Island
Games Tape 1 (Cover #2)
The Hollow
Madcap Manor
Magic Castle
Mindbender
Spyplane


This page on his website shows he also did the artwork for:
The Illustrator
Savage Pond
Forest at World's End
Tales of the Arabian Nights

and this page shows he did the 'In-game Graphics' for:
After Shock
Heroes of Karn
Jewels Of Babylon
Warlord

✓ Reviewed

Terry's still missing from Forest at World's End and Tales of the Arabian Nights.

✓ Reviewed

[StooB]

Tales of the Arabian Nights - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5120
We can add Ian Gray as designer, he is credited as such.

Looking at the loading screen:

Seems that "Tel." is the author of the loading screen (and also, is missing the last dot on the DB).

✓ Reviewed

"Tel" is surely Terry Greer again, especially considering the loading screen is a copy of his cover art - there's an cartoon signed "Tel" on his website.

As well as the in-game graphics credits he already has for After Shock, Jewels Of Babylon, Warlord and Heroes of Karn, he's needs credit for the loading screens too as they're all on this page.

✓ Reviewed

[StooB]

Still going with David Rowe....

Xeno (Bug-Byte)

https://www.davidrowe.net/xeno.html

There needs to be a note on this entry that this is the re-release cover art. The original Xeno has a different cover.

✓ Reviewed

[Rorthron]

Still going with David Rowe....

Xeno (Bug-Byte)

https://www.davidrowe.net/xeno.html

There needs to be a note on this entry that this is the re-release cover art. The original Xeno has a different cover.

If we are going to draw these distinctions (which would be good), I think we need (a) a better way to distinguish the credits than notes ([mention]Einar Saukas[/mention]), and (b) to go back and amend a load of existing entries where this distinction was not observed.

[druellan]

Yeah, I didn't comment on this one because I was thinking if there is a better way to solve this problem. The "proper" way should be to link an author to a release, but this is a big change on the database, and I'm not sure if there are other uses for this regarding cover artists, so, I feel the effort is not justificable right now.

Notes are good enough for now, and we can think on opening a new category, right now we have:

Awards
Known Errors
Music References
Preservation
Remarks
Summary
ZXSR Comments/Opinions

For some time I'm thinking we need another one regarding "Releases" or "publications" to add notes regarding the publisher or some particular aspect of a release.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

In my opinion, too many categories are bad for a database.

Why not include both and a explaining note in 'remarks'?

For example:

Authors/Contributors

Mr. X - role: Inlay/Poster art
Mr. Y - role: Inlay/Poster art

Remarks: Mr. X is the author of AA release
Mr. Y is the author of BB release

I don't think there are many games with two artists, so it might be a good solution.