1988 ImageWorks
Platforms: ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC
A popular puzzle game on the Commodore 64, Bombuzal was also being arranged for conversion to the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC platforms, with work being arranged through Andromeda Software back in early 1988.
A contract was arranged with a developer called Matthew Kydd, who was friends with Nigel Critten – who is known today for creating some wonderful ZX Spectrum games such as BabyMan Vs Terminatots and many more. Nigel would help Matthew by doing all the graphics, and mentions that there was discussion of an Amstrad CPC edition as well.
Matthew was to supply Andromeda with updates every 2 weeks and work started in April 1988. It seems development may have been a little slow, and in August 1988 – Andromedia are encouraging Matthew to get features such as animated characters and interactions with the tiles working for the next submission.
In late August, there seems to be some progress, and details regarding 3D graphic requirements for both the ZX and CPC editions. No further details, and then suddenly a letter out of the blue in October 1988 just asks Matthew to halt all work on Bombuzal with no reasons given as to why. It seems the CPC edition had the same response too.
So what happened and how far did the games get? It doesn’t seem clear at this stage, though we can see from the April to October timeline that there was a lot of time to get a significant amount complete. We are not sure when the CPC edition was started or by whom.
Nigel had materials relating to the development, but sadly nothing on disk regarding the ZX or CPC edition. He had a C64 demonstration disk of when the game was called Bomb Race, but the editor was also missing as well which was supplied. Hopefully that will turn up in the future.
There are code print outs though – so it is hoped that Nigel will be able to scan these in sometime and then we can try and have a go at compiling up to see what still exists. That’s if the graphic data is stored within the print outs – if not, then we could be a bit stuck. We hope to have more for you soon, but thanks to Nigel – here are a series of rare development materials and letters relating to the production.
With thanks to Nigel Critten for information and the wonderful scans!
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