Welcome to the strange world of Chris Wild, he has one of the best looking home pages from the RetroSPEC team - sorry guys but it does look great - so great that ZX Planet looks a little pooey!. Ah mmm, anyway back to the man himself, Chris along with many others of the RetroSPEC team was mentioned on the July 1999 issue of PC Zone - even though the actual story was based around the coding talent that is Mr Richard Jordan (the coder of Skool Daze).

Chris is responsible for the PC remakes of:

Rather than concentrating on bringing the old Spectrum classics bang up to date using new hardware routines and up to the minute graphics Chris has concentrated more on providing us with the most original feel of the game, the same or similar graphics but without an emulator!.

Chris is currently working on a very nice Windows version of Lords Of Midnight and trust me the game looks amazing so far and is totally different to that of the Spectrum - well same game idea just with much better graphics, as you come to expect with todays technology.

---

Lords Of Midnight - PC

Another great classic Spectrum title is ported accross to the PC using up to date graphics and techniques but keeping the original gameplay fully intact. Chris has already ported the MS-DOS version of Lords Of Midnight to the PC which remains faithful to the original in every sense, he is currently working on a Windows version with better graphics.

Malc	When did you own or do you own a Spectrum Computer?
Chris	I got my first computer in 84 I believe. My brother got a spectrum for Christmas and I took to it straight away. My own followed not long after. I still have my 128 which I bought on day of release and a +3 which I picked up in 1990.
Malc	What made you decide to remake a Spectrum title?
Chris	I think my involvement with the Lords of Midnight has just grown and taken over. I remade LOM under DOS mainly as a challenge of working out what it was doing, the conversion was a bi product really. Doing a windows version just came the obvious way to go.
Malc	How long have you been remaking classic Spectrum games?
Chris	I converted LOM back in 91
Malc	Are there any other projects you are working on, either Spectrum based or otherwise?
Chris	Too many. I write games for a living so I have a few work projects not to mention a few home ones. I also do a dataformats section for my website where I work out how old spectrum games work and open up - the data. So I have a few projects going there.
Malc	Are you and the Retrospec team continuing to write new remakes or have you ceased production?
Chris	After I have finished the Midnight Engine I intend one more remake which I don't want to announce yet. After that I will have to wait and see. I think Retrospec is still converting, especially John Dow... production has just slowed, I think maybe momentum has been lost for a while. .
Malc	What games can we expect to see re-made in the future?
Chris	No comment.
Malc	When re-making classic games do you first look at >the original game and then code it or do you just start from a mental image of the game?
Chris	My work is from a complete disassembly of the original. I also try to provide this to others. I've done this for Starquake, Nodes of Yesod, Sabre Wulf, Atic Atac, Knight Lore, Alien 8 and Dynamite Dan to name a few.
Malc	For the tech-heads out there what programming >language do you use to code your games and roughly how long do you spend in development?
Chris	I mainly use c++ nowadays. Time is an odd issue. LOM and DDR dos version took just 2 weeks each with about a further week each over a long period of time. The midnight Engine has currently been under development for over a year but I have only actually spent about a month on it in real terms. I just bit at it in between life.
Malc	Do you take suggestions from the public on how the new re-vamped game should look and what it should include or is that side of the development left to yourself?
Chris	I keep in contact with people all the time. The Midnight Engine has a definite direction that I set, but I like to take input from as many people as possible.
Malc	How would you feel if the Spectrum computer made a come back with modern technology?
Chris	I think it would be pointless really. It would be very hard for a new computer to break through. Consoles are the only real new technology could make it.
Malc	What is your favourite original Spectrum game?
Chris	Lords of Midnight
Malc	What was the first game you ever played? - or at least you remember playing?
Chris	It was either Sabre Wulf or The Hobbit.
Malc	Have you ever developed software for other machines?
Chris	Too many. I have worked some very old CP/M machines. Amiga, a japanese NEC-PC. And I have got the Playstation 2, Xbox and Dreamcast to look forward to in the following year.
Malc	Do you still own a Spectrum computer or do you use one of the many great emulators?
Chris	Yes I still have two Spectrums and I use a number of emulators.
Malc	If you haven't downloaded Lords Of Midnight (remake) yet then please take a visit to: http://www.icemark.com