Catch up with an old freind

Ray Norrish · 09 June 2006, 02:15

I recently met up again with someone I worked with back in the old Psygnosis days, Mr Martyn Chudley - he of "Killing Gameshow" and "Wiz and Liz" fame.

I went to his studio (which is now Bizarre Creations) and had a look around at the amazing company he has built from the old days of "Raising Hell productions".

Their latest release, Project Gotham Racing 3, for the Xbox 360, has shifted over a million units, and I saw over 100 programmers, artists, animators working on the next awesome release for the PS3. He`s got his own movie-grade mocap studio, (which is available for hire

and the company is basically a model of great working environment, happy and contented programmers with everything they could ever want at their disposal. I think I could learn a thing or two here.

I remember going to a development house or two, back in the year where the obligatory arcade machine was in the brew room, but at Bizarre, the brew room is more like a luxury cafe, complete with several arcade machines and even a footy pitch outside!

It seems Bizarre Creations is one of the few independant development houses still left in the UK, with recent aquisitions of many of the top teams by faceless corporations (Sega is buying up dev teams like crazy).

I was also impressed and suprised to get a hold of a bafta award which they had received (those things weigh a ton!) and to talk about the ethos which has contributed to their success. For instance, the company ideal is still to concentrate resource and investment into the development of great games, and not to stiff the gamer. I asked him why they don`t operate a premium helpline, like many other developers do, and although this is a superbly lucrative operation (one of my guys used to work at Psygnosis, and instigated a premium helpline system back in the day, which netted a bucketload of profit) but he isn`t interested in this kind of business.

Anyway, if you read all this, then you might be interested to know another topic of conversation that came up - Martyn's old source code for "Killing Gameshow" and "Wiz & Liz" amongst others.

It's all currently backed up using some old backup job from Central Point called (obviously) PCBACKUP (PCTOOLS was the whole product). He has been unable to locate the correct version to restore the backup, but I did find a version (4.22) which may suffice. However, this may not be the exact right one, so if anyone has (or knows of) other versions of the said backup software (versions 4.xx) let me know.

Martyn is happy to release the source for these games (and lots of other goodies in the archive) if this old backup software can be found.

Incidentally, it's totally ironic that We used to live 5 miles apart in Devon back in the day, and now I find we live 5 miles apart in Cheshire after 15 years!?

BippyM · 09 June 2006, 12:28

This is fantastic and it looks as though he has taken what he learnt at psygnosis regarding treating your staff and improved it a million-fold

I'd love to see the source for his creations and I'm pleased he is doing well for himself

jrom · 09 June 2006, 17:56

That is great news Ray! Got anymore contacts laying around?

Galahad/FLT · 09 June 2006, 19:53

Glad to hear it Ray, I knew you had reservations of how Martyn would be with you after all this time away.

Good to know that he hasn't let it all go to his head

Frog · 09 June 2006, 22:36

Good to see these company is still alive and keep the independant spirit.

You give me some fresh air

BTW you should try to list the backup using VoodooX and XAD system, it handle many crunchers/packers/archivers... perhaps it's supported ?

Ray Norrish · 10 June 2006, 03:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frog

BTW you should try to list the backup using VoodooX and XAD system, it handle many crunchers/packers/archivers... perhaps it's supported ?

The backup was made on PC (even amiga programs were written on PCs in those days) What was the name of that dev system where you compiled on a PC and pumped it down to a dumb amiga hooked up to it.. gah.. I nearly got one on Ebay a while back? but back then, they cost a fortune...

Frog · 10 June 2006, 13:44

no idea

Galahad/FLT · 11 June 2006, 11:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Norrish

The backup was made on PC (even amiga programs were written on PCs in those days) What was the name of that dev system where you compiled on a PC and pumped it down to a dumb amiga hooked up to it.. gah.. I nearly got one on Ebay a while back? but back then, they cost a fortune...

PDS or SNASM

Ray Norrish · 11 June 2006, 13:19

Yea, snasm rings a bell...

AGN · 13 June 2006, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Norrish

Anyway, if you read all this, then you might be interested to know another topic of conversation that came up - Martyn's old source code for "Killing Gameshow" and "Wiz & Liz" amongst others.

KGS with overscan playfield?
I'll take two!

snyp · 13 June 2006, 02:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Norrish

I recently met up again with someone I worked with back in the old Psygnosis days, Mr Martyn Chudley - he of "Killing Gameshow" and "Wiz and Liz" fame.

did you have difficulty in hiding your smirk at his new Facial Hair (c) ?

manicx · 13 June 2006, 08:52

Great news!

FromWithin · 13 June 2006, 18:39

Wiz'n'Liz source will be for the Megadrive version as LunaticSoftware did the conversion.

And what's happened to Martyn's facial hair?

Shatterhand · 23 January 2011, 15:28

Bizarre Creations was shut down last week by Activision, unfortunately.

They did a few excellent games, and their last game, Blur, was freaking awesome.

Big fan of Wiz 'n' Liz too.

I am doing a research about the company... did they work on the Amiga version of Wiz'n'Liz or was it just a port? Lunatic did the Amiga port, so Bizarre Creations had nothing to do with Lunatic previous games, Necronom and Cytron, right?

09 June 2006, 02:15	#1
Ray Norrish Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cheshire, UK Age: 56 Posts: 322	Catch up with an old freind I recently met up again with someone I worked with back in the old Psygnosis days, Mr Martyn Chudley - he of "Killing Gameshow" and "Wiz and Liz" fame. I went to his studio (which is now Bizarre Creations) and had a look around at the amazing company he has built from the old days of "Raising Hell productions". Their latest release, Project Gotham Racing 3, for the Xbox 360, has shifted over a million units, and I saw over 100 programmers, artists, animators working on the next awesome release for the PS3. He`s got his own movie-grade mocap studio, (which is available for hire and the company is basically a model of great working environment, happy and contented programmers with everything they could ever want at their disposal. I think I could learn a thing or two here. I remember going to a development house or two, back in the year where the obligatory arcade machine was in the brew room, but at Bizarre, the brew room is more like a luxury cafe, complete with several arcade machines and even a footy pitch outside! It seems Bizarre Creations is one of the few independant development houses still left in the UK, with recent aquisitions of many of the top teams by faceless corporations (Sega is buying up dev teams like crazy). I was also impressed and suprised to get a hold of a bafta award which they had received (those things weigh a ton!) and to talk about the ethos which has contributed to their success. For instance, the company ideal is still to concentrate resource and investment into the development of great games, and not to stiff the gamer. I asked him why they don`t operate a premium helpline, like many other developers do, and although this is a superbly lucrative operation (one of my guys used to work at Psygnosis, and instigated a premium helpline system back in the day, which netted a bucketload of profit) but he isn`t interested in this kind of business. Anyway, if you read all this, then you might be interested to know another topic of conversation that came up - Martyn's old source code for "Killing Gameshow" and "Wiz & Liz" amongst others. It's all currently backed up using some old backup job from Central Point called (obviously) PCBACKUP (PCTOOLS was the whole product). He has been unable to locate the correct version to restore the backup, but I did find a version (4.22) which may suffice. However, this may not be the exact right one, so if anyone has (or knows of) other versions of the said backup software (versions 4.xx) let me know. Martyn is happy to release the source for these games (and lots of other goodies in the archive) if this old backup software can be found. Incidentally, it's totally ironic that We used to live 5 miles apart in Devon back in the day, and now I find we live 5 miles apart in Cheshire after 15 years!?

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09 June 2006, 12:28	#2
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	This is fantastic and it looks as though he has taken what he learnt at psygnosis regarding treating your staff and improved it a million-fold I'd love to see the source for his creations and I'm pleased he is doing well for himself

09 June 2006, 17:56	#3
jrom Wannabe asm coder ;) Join Date: May 2002 Location: The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 459	That is great news Ray! Got anymore contacts laying around?

09 June 2006, 19:53	#4
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,994	Glad to hear it Ray, I knew you had reservations of how Martyn would be with you after all this time away. Good to know that he hasn't let it all go to his head

09 June 2006, 22:36	#5
Frog Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: France Posts: 1,385	Good to see these company is still alive and keep the independant spirit. You give me some fresh air BTW you should try to list the backup using VoodooX and XAD system, it handle many crunchers/packers/archivers... perhaps it's supported ?

10 June 2006, 13:44	#7
Frog Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: France Posts: 1,385	no idea

11 June 2006, 13:19	#9
Ray Norrish Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Cheshire, UK Age: 56 Posts: 322	Yea, snasm rings a bell...

13 June 2006, 08:52	#12
manicx Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 991	Great news!

13 June 2006, 18:39	#13
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	Wiz'n'Liz source will be for the Megadrive version as LunaticSoftware did the conversion. And what's happened to Martyn's facial hair?

23 January 2011, 15:28	#14
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	Bizarre Creations was shut down last week by Activision, unfortunately. They did a few excellent games, and their last game, Blur, was freaking awesome. Big fan of Wiz 'n' Liz too. I am doing a research about the company... did they work on the Amiga version of Wiz'n'Liz or was it just a port? Lunatic did the Amiga port, so Bizarre Creations had nothing to do with Lunatic previous games, Necronom and Cytron, right?

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