CONVERTING RYGAR

We talk to Antony Hartley, the man behind the CPC and Spectrum ports

The ZX Spectrum and Amstrad conversions were done by Probe for Us Gold?

Yep, I was a subcontractor. Actually, I wrote and ported 25 games, including the arcade games Quartet and Video Poker, all on Amstrad and Spectrum, sometimes on other platforms.

Who else was involved with Rygar?

The initial artwork wasn’t looking too good, so Nick Bruty stepped in to help out.

Were you familiar with the Rygar arcade game and how did you get on converting it?

Yes, very, and we had our own machine, sent to us by Tecmo. I also had the source code and graphics, which was very helpful. It was an okay game, it played quite well, but it wasn’t the most complex of arcade games. But it wasn’t easy to convert and there were severe memory limitations, particularly on the Spectrum. I used a lot of memory to make the game quicker, such as prerotated sprites and mask tables. There were quite a few enemies missing, and some levels, too. And of course, the beautiful backdrops sadly had to go.

How long did it take to code both versions?

In total about five months for the two versions, 100 per cent assembly language, written on the PDS development system. I also wrote all the game editors, and Dave Whittaker did the music for both versions.

Were there any big issues during development?

Memory was always a big problem, and I had a peculiar bug at the end that took two weeks to fix. It was always tough work, but I loved it – and I learned how to use prerotated sprites!