Welcome Marc! Could you please tell the readers a bit about yourself. My name is Marc Dawson (although I have recently changed my name to Marc Wilding, the name I was actually born with, but that's a long story I will not bore you with). I have been writing games since the late 70's on all sorts of machines. The first was a ticker-tape terminal linked to Crewe University on which I wrote a version of Monopoly for a laugh. My first game published, some five years later, was a listing in C&VG in 1982 called Ghost Trap for the VIC 20. I worked as a programmer on the PET, C64, ST, and Amiga, producing 15 games until I became Senior Projects Manager at a company called Europress Software working on their Fun School Range of educational Software games in 1989. After three years in educational software, I wanted to get back to games so I joined Software Creations as their Senior Project Manager. That was seven years ago and I am still here, now Vice President of Product Development. How did you first get started on the C64? I actually started on the Commodore 4008, a.k.a. the PET. This was very similar to the C64 but without colour or sprite support. That was back in 1978. When the VIC 20 was launched, I bought one and wrote many many simple games on that, none that were ever published as commercial games (I never thought of selling them). What was your last ever C64 production? Scary Monsters for Rainbird. This was a game that was never finished although it was on the market. I was initially told I had three months to make the game, but after I had been working on it for two months, it was decided it should ship. So the outside part of the game was never what it was intended to be. You are famous on the C64 for working on many games, including the infamous "Jet Set Willy 3"-game Mega Tree. Which project of yours was the most fun to work on? Probably BC Bill as it was the first game I was employed to write. Working at Imagine Software was really excellent! They really didn't deserve to go bust. Which game was most hardest to do? I don't really recall any of my C64 games being hard to write. Coding in those days was very straight forward. 6502 assembly is really simple, just a bit long winded. Who's work did you most admire on the C64? Electronic Arts and Psyclapse. Their games were really nice. When I was at Imagine, my ambition was to have a game published by EA, which I achieved about three years later with Projectyle (ST/Amiga). Did you work on any other machines at the time, other than the C64? If so, can you name a few games that you did? I didn't work on any other machines at the same time, but I later wrote games for the ST and Amiga: Army Moves, Astaroth, Projectyle, Flimbo's Quest (ST only), and part of The Last Ninja 3 (ST/Amiga). People have been talking about Mega Tree for years now. Can you tell us why the game never saw the light of day? Really, it was down to the fact that Matthew Smith couldn't decide exactly what he wanted it to be. We tried a number of ideas, but first of all, the artist Stoo Fotheringham left Software Projects and then later I left. It never came to pass. Were there any other games which you worked on which never saw the light of day? Yeah, one of the Imagine "mega games". There were four in production: Bandersnatch, Psyclapse, Hero (working title) and Star Traiders (working title), and I was working on Star Traiders (C64). The games were nearly there. The technology was done, just the money ran out. On reflection, although the quality of the games was exceptional, I doubt people would have paid £35 back then. Was there any C64 game which you saw released and thought you could or wanted to do better? Star Raiders, but that was initially an Atari 400/800 game. It was quite excellent and inspired Star Traiders. What was your favourite game on the C64? Oh, I don't know. One of these: Mule, Lode Runner, David's Midnight Magic, Grid Runner and Lazer Zone. Who was your favourite C64 musician? Sorry to be predictable – Rob Hubbard. Although I believe Tim Follin was quite good too. What impressed you most about the C64 and for what reasons? Sprites. The fact you could switch the ROM out so you had 60 K. I never had the opportunity to work on the Atari, so for me it was the first machine that had a really good custom graphic chip. Which other C64 celeb did you most enjoy working alongside? Stoo Fotheringham and Colin Grunes, two very good artists. And I have to say Steve Wetherill, but he was Spectrum mainly. He is one of the best programmers I have known. There are also many old C64 programmers here at Software Creations and I enjoy working with everybody here. We have a really good crew. Do you still own a C64 today? Yes I do. What are your current activities these days? What systems are you working on, computers, consoles? Developing games for whatever platforms come along. The title I last had direct involvement in was Euro 2000 for PC & PSX. I was the producer. Ever have any disagreements with anyone through computer related activities in the past? No doubt I have had quite a few, but all have ended amicably. I am quiet a mellow sort! And I am also 6ft 5' and 18 stone (although I carry it well). Any hints or tips for the C64 workers still out there? Pick up a PC and learn Direct X. Get yourself a job in the games industry – its great fun! Please feel free to send any greetings to anyone you know. Greetings to everybody I have worked with in the past 17 years. You have all made my time in this industry very enjoyable. Were there any questions I didn't ask and that you would like to answer? Will you accept this cheque for £1m, to which I would answer: "Oh, go on then!" Thanks for your time Marc, do you have any last comments to leave a final impression on the audience? I would like to thank people like yourself who dedicated their time to producing sites like this. It is nice to see that the early days of the games industry will not end up being lost like the early days of the film industry. Keep up the good work! Go back to the interviews »

» F.A.Q. - look here before you send off an email. » Credits - the list of people who made all this possible. » Links - to the top C64 sites out there. » Scene interviews - C64 sceners answer 20 questions about their time in the scene.