Spectrum Computing

I recently made a video about the Speccy version of Karnov and managed to dig up some more developer credits. Found the video walk-through on RZX archives and there you can actually find the complete (hopefully) credits in the end sequence.

Check it out here:


I have typed out the credits below. The font wasn't the easiest to decipher , but I think I got it right. But have an extra look.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Mr Micro Ltd.

PROGRAMMED BY John White
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS John Boy, Gary Patchen
GRAPHICS BY James McDermott
ADDITIONAL GRAPHICS George
MUSIC BY Rob Nicholson
PRODUCTION BY Software Studios

TEA'N'TOAST Sharon
MOTIVATION Jim Gregory

The ZXDB also currently mentions a John May, which I found no trace of in the end credits. Can anyone here verify him?

Ace! Thanks for this. I'm going to take a look at John May, sometimes other systems authors are credited and sometimes there is a genuine error.

Thanks! I noticed that he and John White had been credited together on other Mr Micro games and on other sites as well. Maybe they were the owners of the company? Haven't found that much info on the company or the Johns, at least not yet. Trying to figure out if White is in the Mobygames database, but there's quite a few John White

What I can see is that the dupla May/White is credited on several games, all adaptations from arcades and US titles, so they really look legit. I still need to check those titles for confirmation.

druellan wrote: ↑Tue Nov 21, 2023 2:36 pm What I can see is that the dupla May/White is credited on several games, all adaptations from arcades and US titles, so they really look legit. I still need to check those titles for confirmation.

Have you managed to dig up anything on May?

I'm going to give this game another go. Just had a look through the RZX I thought the underwater section looked similar to the excellent Mega Drive shmup Gynoug.

stupidget wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2023 2:48 pm I'm going to give this game another go. Just had a look through the RZX I thought the underwater section looked similar to the excellent Mega Drive shmup Gynoug.

I completely missed that you could swim, when I tried it! But I hadn't played the arcade version either...

Gears of Games wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2023 2:39 pm Have you managed to dig up anything on May?

Hi, I did not. But he is also mentioned in the Amstrad version as:

Program: John WHITE assisted by John MAY and Gary PATCHEN, so, probably MAY was part of the development team and he was involved in the game.

druellan wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 12:00 am Hi, I did not. But he is also mentioned in the Amstrad version as:

Program: John WHITE assisted by John MAY and Gary PATCHEN, so, probably MAY was part of the development team and he was involved in the game.

In that case is John Boy and John May the same person? Hard to decipher font or nickname?

EdToo wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 12:19 am In that case is John Boy and John May the same person? Hard to decipher font or nickname?

I think might be, but can be difficult to determine which one is the correct name. In the ZXDB we have a lot of Mr Micro titles with John MAY credited:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=7312
But in CPCRulez, for example, there is no John May, but John BOY for the same titles: https://cpcrulez.fr/GamesSF_not/auteur-john_boy.htm
And in CPC-POWER we have again John MAY in the titles: https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?pag ... John%20MAY

Note: just noticed in CPCRulez they call it JOHN 'ISSI' BOY, might be interesting if "ISSI" is also a nic John May used to have.

EdToo wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 12:19 am In that case is John Boy and John May the same person? Hard to decipher font or nickname?

I was thinking the same, but haven't found anything conclusive so far...

There is an Issi on Mobygames : https://www.mobygames.com/person/1227222/issi/

Gears of Games wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 2:07 pm There is an Issi on Mobygames : https://www.mobygames.com/person/1227222/issi/

Yeah, and making things more confusing, Issi and John May are credited together for Spitfire 40:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... pitfire_40

Issi is for sure a creator working for Mr Micro, since I can see the signatures in the games and loading screens, but I still can't find a documentation clearly showing Issi and John May credited together, so, still, they might be the same person.

And to make things even MORE confusing, the loading screen for Treasure Island, looks like it says Jim ISSI Greg.



And inside the code, only ISSI is mentioned:
EDIT:
Greg might = Greg Duddle
Jim might be = James McDermott

Looking at the endgame credits for all systems, seems that the Amstrad CPC version is the original one, the Spectrum and C64 a direct conversion, that might explain why there are some unknown names in the credits, besides, credits on other Mr. Micro conversions of the era are incomplete, so, we don't know if the same team was involved in other Spectrum games.