Interview with Balor Knight
January 1998

How did you get started in computers?

I started tinkering with BBC B's at school and found I was good at it.

When did you first see a Spectrum and what were your first impressions?

I can't remember. My first impression was 'this is rubbish!' Then I started coding it and started liking it!

What was your first game?

1999. I was horribly ripped off!

What have you done on the Speccy?

1999, Turbulence, Astroball. Not a lot really!

What do you think of your games? Which is your personal favourite?

Turbulence. It was, and still is, original / different!

How did you leave the Spectrum scene? Were you sad to leave?

I got a job that paid good money. I wasn't sad to leave. Money comes first every time!

What are you doing now?

Playstation and PC games.

What were the best/worse things about the Speccy?

It was simple to code. No hardware help. Everything was down to the coder. Also, Z80 was a top Language.

The only things I disliked were the screen layout and the colour map.

What were your favourite Speccy games and why?

Dark Star and The Sentinel were good. I admired the technical achievment. I probably played Bubble Bobble and Ghosts and Goblins more than anything. They were simply very playable.

My mate Stef thinks 'Horace goes skiing' is the best game ever!

Favourite Speccy coders/artists/musicians?

Design design were good. Dark star was tops!

Do you use an emulator to play your old games (or any others)?

Yep! But only about once a millennium!

What was the last Speccy game you wrote? Did you leave anything unfinished? (and if so is there any chance we'll ever get to see it!)

Astroball and no.

Don't you ever feel like writing another Speccy game nowadays just for old times sake? ;-)

Not at all! I write games for a living. I find other things to do as a hobby.

What do you think about modern games? Can they compete with the classics? Aren't they all presentation and no gameplay?

I can't generalise like that. There are lot of good new games out there but also a lot of tosh ones! I would agree that people concentrated more on gameplay back then!

Is there anything you miss about the old days?

No.

Any amusing anecdotes/stories etc about the old days?

No.

Have you anything to say to people who still use the Speccy today?

Catch up!

Thanks to Balor for doing the interview.

Interview composed, conducted and edited by Philip Bee.