AndyH/Hewco Retro Game Developer Interview

AndyH graciously allowed me to interrogate chat with him about all things retro game development. I love hearing the background behind how people arrive at coding for old computers and the love they have for them.

While he has been programming games for a long time, and even had one of his games featured on TV, most people I am guessing will know him for his Vic 20 games distributed by the Future was 8-bit.

In the interview you will discover how he came to get his games into your hands as physical releases, how he approaches game development, and what all that green jelly is about …

• You have been a game developer for a while, both modern/windows games and retro systems, how did you get started?

The idea of games on a TV captivated me early on. Perhaps as far back as 1980 seeing space invaders at the secondary schools community centre where I learnt to swim. As a 9 year old the deep booming noises were pretty frightening and I mostly watched others playing it. I was pretty rubbish when I had a go myself but it made a big impression on me and I wondered how this magic was happening?

A few years later when I got my own computer I discovered it was possible to make my own games thanks to BASIC and I’ve been doing that as a hobby ever since (and without a weak lemon drink).

• Did you have any formal training or did you pick up the manuals and just tinker?

I learnt from the Commodore Vic 20 user guide and the magazines with type-in listings that were prevalent in the early 80’s. Getting access to books and technical information was almost impossible and most of my friends were more interested in playing games than making them.

One memory is staring at the TV screen trying to redefine the Vic 20 character set, poking in memory and trying to work out if that was a pixel or just a dirty cell on the screen!

Growing up, school didn’t really know what to do with computers and didn’t have anything substantial on the curriculum, it was much later when I went to college and university where I did anything formal. One of the first languages (other than BASIC) I learnt was Pascal which I still use a variant of to this day.

• What was your video games and home computer experience growing up? Did you have computer classes at school?

I have some vague memories early on, at the infant school someone brought along an Atari VCS for a fete at 10p a go (expensive back then). A while later a couple of teachers at my junior school went on a course and returned with a computer everyone in the school got to use only once before it was locked away somewhere.

I don’t know what computer it was (it was before the BBC Micro) but I do remember the program we all got to use. It asked 10 random maths questions and if you got them all right you were rewarded with a simple maze game to get over to the right of the screen. Into secondary school they had some BBC’s and Apricots but rarely got to use them.

A relative brought along a ZX81 with a wobbly RAM pack for me to play with for an afternoon before I got my own computer which was a glorious Commodore Vic 20. Over time I progressed to an Amstrad 464, an Atari ST and Amiga then finally a 486 PC.

• Many people know you for your more recent vic 20 games, is there a single place that lists them all?

I do have a website (www.hewco.uk) but the best place to get everything I’ve done recently is https://hewco.itch.io/ or for physical releases it is https://www.tfw8b.com/product/emh-vic20-35k/

Half a lifetime ago I also made some games with a friend under the name Ovine. They are mostly remakes of old games and you can find them on https://www.ovine.net/

• How the physical publishing of your games come about and why the vic 20 specifically?

It was really a combination of several things coming together at the right time.

I had been making games for Windows and mobile devices and I was looking for something new to do. My first thought was to convert one of my Windows games called Cheesy Capers to the Commodore 64. I picked up a book on 6502 assembly and started to experiment. For a first project it was perhaps too much of an ambitious choice, especially as I didn’t know the C64 hardware particularly well.

I happened to see a screenshot of someone working on a ZX Spectrum version of Nibbler. My immediate reaction was that it would translate perfectly to the Vic 20. The Vic had been my very first computer and the machine where I had originally discovered the magic of programming. Although I hadn’t written anything for this computer in years and had forgotten almost everything about the platform, it felt like a more natural choice.

At around the same time, I discovered Turbo Rascal, which had just gained some early support for the Vic. Suddenly everything fell into place. I had a game that suited the hardware, a renewed enthusiasm for programming the computer that had started it all for me, and a modern development environment that made tackling the project far more approachable.

It didn’t take a long time to write and I had a first version completed within a couple of weeks. When I posted about it on the Vic 20 Denial forum, Rod Hull* from the Future Was 8Bit asked if he could put it on to a cartridge.

Rod has a similar love of the Vic as I do and we hit it off immediately. His enthusiasm spurred me on and I ended up making more games which went on cassettes and the Penultimate cartridge. I eventually returned to my first game idea and that became Cheesy Trials which I entered into a competition (and came joint first with a C64 game).

You may notice a certain emu-related theme occurring in some of my games along with lots of green jelly*! I get paid in jelly (seriously!) and a little supply of tech things Rod builds from time to time which is nice. My favourite has to be the Jelly Load which Rod used to distribute various Vic 20 goodies on some of his videos – you’d see a flashing square in the top corner which the Jelly Load would read. A very specialist piece of kit!

* For readers benefit: Rod Hull was a children’s entertainer in the 70’s and 80’s who was known to wield a wild Emu puppet. The green jelly is a reference to the real Rod Hull featured on a 90’s TV series called Fist of Fun. This is required watching to get all the in-jokes in the games and on social media. My Rod Hull is neither of them but he is the real-real Rod Hull.

• What is your process for developing a game, and what comes first (idea/graphics/technical demo …)

It Often starts with doodling and graphics, but I may already have an idea or style in mind. I use a lot of notebooks to scribble in and then start making things. I work best when I experiment, too much planning tends to sour the experience.

Other times I may have written a new library or discovered a new technique and want to find something to use it with.

In either case I will settle into repetitive cycle, adding in small changes at a time to see where it goes. I do have a bad habit of spending several hours tweaking just pixels or adjusting how a character jumps until I’m happy, rather than continuing on with the game.

• Is there any part of the process that is the most fun or most difficult for you?

Finishing a game is always a challenge. It’s that last 10% that is a real headache. I have several WIP’s that are almost there but not quite finished. For example, I’ve got two that have the core gameplay ready that I’m really happy with but need some levels, title screens and a bit of glue but when I open the project I feel a huge weight on me and can’t continue.

• How do you approach game testing and getting feedback?

My son and daughter have helped test and sometimes design levels for me. Rod will give some great feedback in video format which is really helpful too. Because I obsess with iterating a feature or the look of something, I’ll find I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get it to feel right and before I know it I’ve got most of a game done. As a result I often don’t get an opportunity to ask for feedback from the Vic 20 community until the end.

• What is your opinion on the new retro systems, such as mega65, x16, c64u, zxnext, agon light, neo6502, gametank, etc?

I think it’s great that they are helping to keep these old systems alive and are more accessible. I have an Atari 2600+ that preserve my real one (and also to play 7800 carts) and I have an issue 1 Next. Oh I also have a TheVic20 because that’s an awesome thing too.

• What proportion Emulation, FPGA, physical hardware in your setup?

When I’m making games I use the emulator for the most part as it is quick and convenient. I use Turbo Rascal that runs on a modern computer and this makes it a joy to build stuff. I can focus on creating something without the challenges of a vintage development experience. For some that can be important but I love just getting down to what I want to make. I do have some original computers with my old CRT telly to test on a real machine.