DEVELOPER INTERVIEW

RETRO GAMER TALKS TO THE MAN BEHIND BOTH THE COMMODORE 64 AND ATARI 800 CONVERSIONS OF CHUCKIE EGG, SEAN TOWNSEND

How did you get to work on C64 and Atari 800 Chuckie Egg?

I worked directly for A ‘n’ F on not only Chuckie Egg but also Chuckie Egg II and Gumshoe. I hadn’t heard of [Chuckie Egg]. My first computer was a VIC-20 followed by the C64 and Atari, so I’d never seen any games for the Spectrum. Obviously I had to play it prior to converting it and I enjoyed it. Nigel did a great job.

Speaking of Nigel, did you ever meet him?

No, never met him and never had any assistance. However, I did get some help from Mike Webb who was working at A ‘n’ F at the time. Mike had done some of the other conversions so it was very familiar to him.

How did you go about writing the game?

It was done in stages. The first stage would have been getting the levels drawn on the screen. The C64 version was straightforward but I wanted to take advantage of the enhanced capabilities of the Atari. This can be seen with the 3D platforms and ladders and by the way Harry moves through the platforms while on the ladders.

What was the next stage?

Getting Harry to move around the level would be next. I used a dummy screen that used bits for each element and this is how I could easily tell if he was on a ladder or platform. The tricky part of getting Harry moving was how he interacted with the platforms during a jump but this was part of the Chuckie Egg DNA and had to be replicated almost exactly the same as the Spectrum version. The ducklings would be next, on the Atari version they were software sprites which I do remember taking a while to get working properly. Finally, the Mother Duck would be implemented and getting her moving around with momentum was very straightforward.

The main sprite is much larger – what happened there?

Hen House Harry is a multicolour sprite and to do this on the C64 you have to double the width and this is why he looks so wide compared to the single colour Spectrum and BBC versions.

Why did you use two colours then?

I don’t think I would’ve got away with doing a single-coloured sprite on the C64 and Atari – both versions had better graphics capabilities and as such, a certain standard was expected.

Technically, how were the games developed?

Both versions were developed on an Atari 600XL using the superb MAC65 cartridge. Once assembled, the C64 version was sent down the serial port and a small BASIC program was typed to receive it. Also, the very talented Mike Webb wrote the fast loader for the cassette version.

You included Doug Anderson’s improved inertia – how else do you think you did in retrospect?

Yes, it’s in both versions and I believe it’s something Nigel wished he’d implemented in the Spectrum version. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job, especially as it was my first published game. Some of the comments on Youtube rave about the Atari version and others slate it. It’s the same with the C64. But it was the start of my programming career – without Chuckie Egg I doubt I’d have spent the last 37 years developing software.

Our thanks to Sean for his time.