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Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 11:37 am
by PeteProdge
I believe Stephen J Crow has done these ZX Spectrum games...

Eliminator by Hewson
Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft
Firelord by Hewson
Hewvy Metal by US Gold
Laser Snaker by Poppy Soft
Netherworld by Hewson
Starquake by Bubble Bus
Uridium by Hewson
Uridium Plus by Hewson
Wizard's Lair by Bubble Bus
Zynaps by Hewson

...and this is the bit where you correct me before I run the poll next week!

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 12:47 pm
by R-Tape
Defo Steve Crowe's:
Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft
Firelord by Hewson
Laser Snaker by Poppy Soft
Starquake by Bubble Bus
Wizard's Lair by Bubble Bus

Don't know, there's a lot of primary authors listed here:
Heavy Metal by US Gold
Netherworld by Hewson

Listed as in-game graphics in the DB
Eliminator
Uridium by Hewson
Uridium Plus by Hewson
Zynaps by Hewson

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 1:50 pm
by toot_toot
According to the interview with him in Retrogamer issue 72 (here: https://issuu.com/roylazarovich/docs/retro_gamer_072 ) , the last game he programmed/developed was Firelord. After that he concentrated on graphics, working at Hewson and then Probe. He also did a lot of graphics on the C64.

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 2:25 pm
by Audionautas
toot_toot wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2024 1:50 pm According to the interview with him in Retrogamer issue 72 (here: https://issuu.com/roylazarovich/docs/retro_gamer_072 ) , the last game he programmed/developed was Firelord. After that he concentrated on graphics, working at Hewson and then Probe. He also did a lot of graphics on the C64.
Exactly. Firelord was the last game Steve worked on. From then on he focused on graphics for Hewson, Probe and others to this day.

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:41 pm
by PeteProdge
Audionautas wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2024 2:25 pm Exactly. Firelord was the last game Steve worked on. From then on he focused on graphics for Hewson, Probe and others to this day.
Okay, Firelord came out on 29th Oct 1986 according to ZXDB.

Eliminating all games from 1987 onwards gives us:

Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft
Firelord by Hewson
Laser Snaker by Poppy Soft
Starquake by Bubble Bus
Uridium by Hewson
Uridium Plus by Hewson
Wizard's Lair by Bubble Bus

The questionable ones still in there are just two: Uridium (28th Oct 1986) and its upgraded version, Uridium Plus. Stephen's name is in there, along with Andrew Braybook, Dominic Robinson, John Cumming and Steve Turner, and I think it's very likely this was just graphics, but I'd like to be sure.

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:56 pm
by Stefan
PeteProdge wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:41 pm The questionable ones still in there are just two: Uridium (28th Oct 1986) and its upgraded version, Uridium Plus. Stephen's name is in there, along with Andrew Braybook, Dominic Robinson, John Cumming and Steve Turner, and I think it's very likely this was just graphics, but I'd like to be sure.
If you look further down on the page you see his role, loading screen, on both.

Image

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 5:01 pm
by PeteProdge
Stefan wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:56 pm If you look further down on the page you see his role, loading screen, on both.

Image
D'oh!

Right, so this has become like the Clive Townsend debacle today!

The refreshed list:

Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft
Firelord by Hewson
Laser Snaker by Poppy Soft
Starquake by Bubble Bus
Wizard's Lair by Bubble Bus

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:15 pm
by hitm4n
Starquake, Wizards Lair and Firelord. His list may be short, but these are 3 of the finest games to ever grace the Speccy.
Starquake is insanely good.

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:20 pm
by Andre Leao
hitm4n wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:15 pm Starquake, Wizards Lair and Firelord. His list may be short, but these are 3 of the finest games to ever grace the Speccy.
Starquake is insanely good.
Starquake is a masterpiece :)

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 11:01 pm
by Lee P
I have a feeling he wrote the actual loader for Uridium as well as designing the screen. Same loader as Firelord (but not used on any other games) and it custom loads all 48K in one block, as do both of his Bubble Bus games. We have Hewson Slowload, so perhaps that's Hewson Crowload.

Never got into Wizard's Lair but spent many an hour exploring both Starquake and Firelord.