The Way We Played

About the book

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From 1985 to 1993 home computing ruled the roost in the UK, with the likes of the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore Amiga offering the kind of experiences not available on other platforms.

The Way We Played is a beautifully produced, hardback, full colour art book that celebrates this golden era of gaming, exploring a unique time when multi-platform development could lead to vastly different versions of the same game being produced to match the limitations of the hardware.

No. 1 sample spread
No. 1 sample spread

Focusing exclusively on the five major platforms of the time – the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum – The Way We Played charts the development of the best, most significant and sometimes most under-appreciated games from 1985 to 1993.

With either a full page or a two-page spread dedicated to each game, the book showcases the art that brought the games to life alongside a mini review, a fact file and a comparison of the different versions.

Each game covered has been converted to at least two of the five computer formats and helps to tell the story of gaming as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. They each demonstrate the talents of the artists and coders in bringing to life classic games across all formats despite the limitations they faced.

The book also features profiles of each of the five computers with specially commissioned photography and interviews with some of the people involved in the dedicated art of converting games across five very different formats.

The Way We Played is unique in illustrating a very specific time and place in the history of video games in the UK, while its focus on the top five home computer formats sets it aside from similar books on the market.

Not just a story of the games themselves, The Way We Played is also the story of how games grew up, from the bedroom coders and hobbyists of the 1980s to the multi-million pound industry it became by the 1990s.

 


Kevin Hoy

Interview by Peter Ward

Pete: “Welcome to Retro Gamesmaster thank you for sparing time from your busy schedule.  Let’s get this interview underway”

Pete: “What got you into writing books about retro gaming?”

Kevin: I love retro gaming and have longed for a great book on retro games, but for a long time it never felt like one would come. Recently, of course, that has changed and crowdfunding has brought a whole range of amazing books to the market, books created by gamers and for gamers that were probably too niche to ever have seen release otherwise. The first of those I read was Hardcore Gaming 101’s Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures, which I adored even though I would have loved a few more screens from the games in there. Following that I discovered Read-Only Memory’s Sega MegaDrive/Genesis: Collected Works and backed a number of others on Kickstarter, including Chris Wilkins’ ‘…in pixels’ series.

There were two things that really made me want to write this book, however. Firstly I contributed a review of my beloved Rainbow Islands to Sam Dyer’s Amiga Commpendium. It was only a small contribution but I loved doing it and was overjoyed with how the book turned out. Secondly I was bought Push Start: The Art of Video Games as gift and while I thought the book was an object of beauty, as I read it I realised that it didn’t talk to me about my experience of gaming. There was a real focus on the NES and the American experience and it made me think that I wanted to do something myself about my own experience of gaming.

So I started to plan The Way We Played, my own personal journey through 8 and 16-bit computer gaming in the UK.LbP6oe9m


Pete: “How long has it taken to research for the new book?”

Kevin: These games have been in my head for over 20 years or more, but I began to pull the ideas for the book together in February 2015. I put together a pitch along with sample pages (reviews and page layouts to give an insight into what the book would be like) and submitted it to Unbound, the publishers, in April 2015. The pitch then went through a series of discussions, reviews and revisions with my editor at Unbound until it was finally accepted in January 2016.

The research hasn’t really ended, however, and as the writing continues so I am uncovering more about the games I never knew before.CjKT6-MXAAEkFhC


Pete: “What is in the new book that will tempt retro fans to hand over their cash?”

Kevin: The Way We Played is the only book that specifically looks at the Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Spectrum, C64 and Atari ST together, and examines the context in which we played games on them. This was a time when a game on one system could be entirely different on another, in a way that will never happen again. The system you owned would have a massive affect on your experience of gaming and which games you loved. Would I still rate Chase HQ so much if I’d had a C64 instead of a CPC?

No matter which system you are a fan of, each of them gets a chance to shine within the book, picking out the best conversions on each computer and highlighting the wonderful ways the games were visualised given the quirks of each platform.

The book a has profiles of each of the computers, plus interviews with the likes of Mev Dinc, Andrew Hewson and Jim Bagley.2016-06-06_1115_001


Pete: “Tell us more about the Project?”

Kevin: The Way We Played celebrates this golden era of gaming, exploring a unique time when multi-platform development could lead to vastly different versions of the same game being produced to match the limitations of the hardware.

Focusing exclusively on the five major platforms of the time – the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum – The Way We Played charts the development of the best, most significant and sometimes most under-appreciated games from 1985 to 1993.
With either a full page or a two-page spread dedicated to each game, the book showcases the art that brought the games to life alongside a mini review, a fact file and a comparison of the different versions.
Each game covered has been converted to at least two of the five computer formats and helps to tell the story of gaming as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. They each demonstrate the talents of the artists and coders in bringing to life classic games across all formats despite the limitations they faced.
The book also features profiles of each of the five computers with specially commissioned photography and interviews with some of the people involved in the dedicated art of converting games across five very different formats.
The Way We Played is unique in illustrating a very specific time and place in the history of video games in the UK, while its focus on the top five home computer formats sets it aside from similar books on the market.
Edited, designed and published by Unbound, The Way We We Played will be a glossy 320-page hardback book available in all major book stores when released.2016-06-06_1122


Pete: “When is your book due for release?”

Kevin: It is due out in Spring 2017.2016-06-06_1121


Pete: “How long have you been writing books?”

Kevin: Although I’ve contributed to a number of other projects in both my full-time job and my hobby, The Way We Played is my first book. It’s been a huge learning experience!2016-06-06_1121_001


Pete: “What was your first gaming experience?”

Kevin: I received my first computer for Christmas in the early ’80s, a Commodore Vic-20. My family new nothing about computers and I was very young but I had to work my way through it myself and I loved it. The very first game I ever played was Grand Prix, which came with it, although the name of the game I loved the most still eludes me. It was a Missile Command clone that saw you protecting cities from bombers and I played it every time I was allowed to tune the Vic-20 in to the living room TV!2016-06-06_1121_002


I also used to buy a magazine called Input and loved typing in games and programs. Ah, it’s been a very long time since I’ve done a type-in!

Pete: “My favourite computer was my Amiga, Spectrum and my favourite console the Megadrive.  Do you have a favourite?”

Kevin: My favourite has to be the Amiga. I still have my Cartoon Classics pack and have spent the last six years replacing most of my lost games, although the recent arrival of my children has seen my Amiga moved up into the loft. Temporarily at least! I originally thought I was going to get the Batman pack for Christmas 1989, but my parents had led me to believe I was getting it only as a decoy so that my Amstrad CPC would be more of a surprise! While I have a huge soft spot for my CPC, it was the Amiga I always wanted and when I finally unwrapped one on Christmas Day 1991 I was overjoyed. I have so many happy gaming memories with my Amiga, from Speedball 2 to Hunter, Moonstone, The Secret of Monkey Island and everything in between.  I’ve owned lots of amazing consoles since but I can’t see anything ever taking the Amiga’s place in my heart.2016-06-06_1115


Pete: “What is your favourite retro game?”

Kevin: That’s an easy one – Rainbow Islands. Utterly stunning in the arcades and the home conversions are phenomenal. Simple but deep and hugely rewarding I still love to play it to this day. Just don’t mention the MegaDrive, DS and PSP versions!2016-06-06_1120


Pete: “Do you still game on the current consoles and if so what is your favourite game?”

Kevin: I do still play games, I have a PS4 and an XBox One (which, I’ll admit, doesn’t get much use). I’m a massive fan of the Souls series, from Demon’s Souls to Dark Souls 3 (and including Bloodborne). I’m not sure why it is I love them as much as I do but there’s rarely a time when I’m not playing through one of them. Having slightly less free time these days means I’m still working my way through my first game of Dark Souls 3 though!88e5275127082d2dc1f040ab7850f59a_original


Pete: “Whats the worst game you have ever played?”

Kevin: That’s a much tougher question that my favourite game! I think many of the very worst haven’t really stayed in my memory, while there are other ‘terrible’ games that I secretly love and still play. Games like Captain Planet on the Amiga or Back to the Future 2 on any platform are awful by any measure but I love them. Then there are games that I know I should love but I can’t get into, like Last Ninja (I know, I’m sorry!) and Halo, although I know they are not actually bad games!

If I must pick a game though, I would probably go with Grandslam’s The Running Man. Tedious beyond measure and borderline unplayable, I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get off the first 65821441bd78d00666c7c7a3f0e30263_originallevel.


Pete:  “Finally what game or feature would you like to see on Retrogamesmaster in the future?”

Kevin: I’d love to see a feature on the hidden islands in the arcade Rainbow Islands! I’ve also recently started developing an interest in the PC Engine so anything about that would be great, especially something about the best way to play it in the UK.67852e46f4688186fa47e102a513c697_originalClick here or the image to support the Kickstarter