Interview
with Dylan Cuthbert
This interview once
appeared at http://www.emulatorium.com/ . The Emulatorium web site is
now defunct.
Would
you like to introduce yourself, explain your current job, and your connection
with SNES software and hardware development?
Hi, I'm Dylan
Cuthbert, programmer and games designer, I currently work at Sony Computer
Entertainment Inc. in Tokyo, Japan. I currently have no connection with
Nintendo. However, in the past, I developed X/Lunar Chase for the Gameboy
and Starfox for the SNES.
What
exactly was your role in the development of the FX chip(s)?
I had no
direct role in the development of the FX chips - apart from being at the
initial 'birth' meeting many years ago. The concept of the Super FX chip
was almost solely Jez San's (president of Argonaut Software) idea, my
boss at the time. I did, however, co-program the first game to utilize
it.
How
much input or help did Nintendo give you? Did they approach you with the
idea for the chip, or did you go to them?
I can't comment
on this, but it was probably a mutual collaboration out of a necessity
for better 3D technology in consoles.
What
was your role in the development of Star Fox?
I co-programmed
Starfox with Giles Goddard and Krister Wombell. Various 3D support routines
and a basic polygon core was supplied by the FX chip designers, Pete and
Carl.
How did Star Fox come to be? Was it an Argonaut game or was it
first developed at Nintendo? Was the game designed for the FX chip or
the other way round?
Ideas to
do with spaceships and the like came from Argonaut (have you ever seen
a Nintendo game with spaceships in it before?), however the main game
emphasis (railed and scripted arcade-style shooting) came from Nintendo.
Of course, Namco's Starblade and Solvalou were in the arcades at about
that time and I can't deny they had a serious impact in the direction
of gameplay.
What was it like working with Nintendo and the infamous Shigeru
Miyamoto?
Quite exciting, of
course, at that time, no-one but diehard game fans had even heard of Miyamoto-san.
When we began production of Starfox, Super Mario World had just been released
and they were in the middle of making Mario Kart. It was generally just
exciting to be living in Kyoto, which I'd have to say is one of the most
pleasant, relaxing and exciting cities in the world — how it manages to
mix all three of those things I just don't know.
The best
designer in Nintendo is a clever chap called Yoichi Yamada. You'll see
his name crop up in the credits with regards to level layout in most Nintendo
games. He laid out and edited the Starfox maps. Quite a remarkable and
brilliant designer with extreme attention to detail.
What happened to StarFox2? Why was it cancelled and how far into
development was it? How is it, if at all, related to StarFox64?
Starfox 2
was fully completed. I was lead programmer and whilst Giles made Stunt
Race FX, myself and the rest of the original Starfox team (ie. Nintendo's
artists and designers) expanded Starfox into a full 3D shooting game.
We used state-of-the-art technology such as arbitrary plane clipping (which
has only been seen recently in such games as Crash Bandicoot 2 & 3)
to create some rather spectacular effects. (for the time)
The reason for non-release
was the then impending Nintendo-64 which of course was intended to be
released a lot sooner than it actually was. Miyamoto-san decided he wanted
to have a clean break between 3D games on the SNES and 3D games on the
new superior 64 bit system. In retrospect, he could have released Star
Fox 2 and there would have been over a year and a half before the N64
came out. But hindsight is always 20/20.
Starfox 64
incorporated a lot of the newer ideas we created in Starfox 2 but it didn't,
in my view, take the genre a full step forward. Starfox 2 really was a
different direction of gameplay.
Where you ever involved in the proposed CDROM add-on, in either
a software or hardware capacity. Did you receive prototype units? Can
you shed any light on its demise?
No, never
had anything to do with CD — you'd have to ask someone in my present company
(Sony) about that probably.
How did you come across emulation? What emulation sites, if any,
do you use or visit?
Basically,
and rather selfishly, I just wanted to play Starfox again without having
to find my old SNES. Besides, in the past I've bought a japanese snes,
an english snes and an american snes — I'm sick of buying the damn things.
How involved are you in SNES emulation, or general emulation?
What emulators do you use, and for what systems? What's it like seeing
a game you have written for the SNES, for example, running on your home
PC? What do game designers as a whole feel about their games being downloaded
from the net and played on home computers, through emulators?
Right now,
I'm too busy on certain newer systems that I don't have time to use emulators.
:)
As uninvolved
as I am now with Starfox financially I, personally, quite like seeing
people still able to enjoy Starfox. However, I'm sure the money men aren't
happy.
What
are you thoughts on emulation as a whole? How does the computer game industry
view emulation? What are the views of other games programmers you know?
My personal
opinion is that it is very interesting and good as long as it remains
free. I don't think companies should be able to charge for an emulator
of someone else's research-costly system — it is much cheaper to copy
than to fund the initial research and idea process.
Have you ever come across any game related companies who where
opposed/in support of emulation, and did they do anything to prevent/aid
it. What is the general industries views of emulation, are they aware
of it?
I don't think
Sony America likes it, but that's about my entire knowledge of the company's
positions.
What are your views on ROM piracy and the ISDA's recent closure
of many ROM sites? Do you think games of a certain age should be released
into the public domain? Would you support a move to legalise thge use
of ROMs of a certain age? Do you have any knowledge of games companies
views on this topic?
I think,
with publisher permission, there should be no reason for not having old
ROMs floating around. Let's face it, in most cases that's the only way
the games will be preserved. What this means, of course, is that publishers
should be allowed to decide for themselves — piracy is a bad thing all
round. Many Spectrum (old 8 bit english computer) games publishers have
already released ROM type images of their games to the public domain.
What computer or console equipment do you currently own? What
is your favorite system and game, and why? Who do you think makes the
best games? Did working with Nintendo teach you anything about game design?
The Playstation
of course. Actually, I saw the Playstation launched when I was finishing
up Starfox 2 and just the fact that Ridge Racer was as close to a 3D arcade
game that a console had ever got sold me on it. The Saturn had Virtua
Fighter which was glitchy, and ran at 20 to 15 frames per second. From
working with 3D on the SNES I probably appreciated a 30 frames per second
solid, fully textured frame rate a lot more than the average person. I
immediately started sending my imaginary feelers towards Sony for a job.
I wanted to work on that hardware.
Best game of all time
in the platforming category is Super Mario Bros 3. Best game of all time
is probably Carrier Command by Realtime Games (now Cross Products) on
the Amiga/Atari ST. Duke Nuke'em 3D was a good attempt at generating a
sense of awe and atmosphere in a game too.
I had been
designing and programming my own games since I was about 11 when a friend
lent me his ZX81 — needless to say, I never gave it back. But even with
that said, working with Nintendo definitely gave me an insight into their
method. If something doesn't work, cut it completely — that is Miyamoto's
general motto. It should be every game designer's. That, and of course,
extreme attention to detail, especially around the main character or player's
sphere of influence. (ie. Control, collision detection)
What are you views on the emulation of newer systems, such as
the Playstation, Color Gameboy, and even the Dreamcast. Do you think such
emulators hurt sales or these machines, and maybe even their games? Do
such emulators worry the industry?
I'm probably
not allowed to comment on this so I'd better not :)
What have you done since leaving Argonaut, who are you working
for now? What projects do you have underway?
I worked
at Sony Interactive Studios America (989 studios as it is called now)
for over 2 years and was lead programmer on Blasto. However, once that
was over, I felt a need to return to what has become the mecca for gamers
— Japan. I'm now working on secret 'stuff' in a secret lab somewhere in
Tokyo — however, you may have seen my duck and bath demo in recent movies
posted on the web related to certain recent Sony press releases.
What are you most proud of in you game's career? What would you
go back and change if you could?
Regrets?
I would go back and make Blasto much easier and cut a lot of things out
probably. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we all had our hands
tied behind our backs.
Starfox was cool,
but I really liked making X (Lunar Chase) on the Game Boy. It was and
probably still is the only 3D shooting game for the Game Boy. Unfortunately,
it didn't fit the puzzle game mold that Nintendo of America wanted so
it was only released in Japan. It was no. 1 for quite a while though —
and even re-surged to no. 1 when Star Fox was released a year later (because
of an increased interest in 3D). Also, the designer of the Metroid series
of games (Sakamoto-san) was director and co-designer of X.
I'm also quite proud
of the credits sequence of Starfox which was my design/program and was
an enhanced version of the credit sequence in X. The music however was
also incredible — unfortunately the composer left Nintendo after Starfox
so there hasn't been music as good as that in any game from Nintendo since
(just in my opinion). |