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Digital Integration

jdanddietjdanddiet
edited October 2012 in Games
Very excited as tomorrow I'm popping down to Hampshire to interview Dave Marshall of Digital Integration fame.

If you recall they did Night Gunner, Fighter Pilot, Tomahawk, Bobsleigh etc full list here

They did publish on other formats (yes there were some other computers around apparently) but for me they will always be most known for the Spectrum for which Dave and Rod (Swift) programmed most of their games.

If anyone has anything in particular they want to ask Dave let me know, or just let me know which of their games you liked the best.
Post edited by jdanddiet on

Comments

  • JuanF. RamirezJuanF. Ramirez
    edited June 2012
    jdanddiet wrote: »
    [...] or just let me know which of their games you liked the best.

    Fighter Pilot, definitely. Comparing with the other great early sim, Psion's Flight Simulation, is much better and funnier, the charm of fighting, etc.
  • MartynCMartynC
    edited June 2012
    Fighter Pilot was on the They Sold A Million 3 compilation. I'd be interested to know how many copies the game actually sold! (I'm guessing it wasn't *quite* a million!)
  • MorkinMorkin
    edited June 2012
    ATF was an awesome game..!

    Do we know what happened to the speccy sequel? If not, maybe we could ask him...
  • RobeeeJayRobeeeJay
    edited June 2012
    I'd love to know sales figures, how much Lenslok protection cost them per copy, whether it had a positive impact on sales, and if they had many support issues surrounding it.

    (Still have my original copy of Tomahawk with lenslok :) Which doesn't seem to run on the +2/+3 :( )
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited June 2012
    sure guys, I'll pass on your queries :)

    Martyn: maybe "they sold a million" meant over all formats over a period of ten years including forecasted sales and downloads :)
  • beanzbeanz
    edited June 2012
    Tomahawk was my favorite, very impressive on the humble speccy. F16 Combat Pilot looks even better but I'd already moved on from the speccy when that came out.
  • sirclive1sirclive1
    edited June 2012
    Tomahawk - just tell him thanks !
  • zeropolis79zeropolis79
    edited June 2012
    I'd love to know why they departed from their normal games for Extreme which was a good piece of coding from Dave Perry and Nick Bruty.
  • thx1138thx1138
    edited June 2012
    I loved Fighter Pilot, played it loads. So, so much better than Psion flight sim, which I used to play.

    Played Night Gunner a bit, good shoot em up.

    Played Tomohawk a little, liked it more than Combat Lynx Second only to Gunship on another platform.
  • spectrumlinuxspectrumlinux
    edited June 2012
    jdanddiet wrote: »
    Very excited as tomorrow I'm popping down to Hampshire to interview Dave Marshall of Digital Integration fame.

    If you recall they did Night Gunner, Fighter Pilot, Tomahawk, Bobsleigh etc full list here

    They did publish on other formats (yes there were some other computers around apparently) but for me they will always be most known for the Spectrum for which Dave and Rod (Swift) programmed most of their games.

    If anyone has anything in particular they want to ask Dave let me know, or just let me know which of their games you liked the best.

    I really liked playing Tomahawk back in the day. :)
    I came up with some ideas for some questions:

    Can you ask how the games were developed?
    Did they make their own hardware and author their own development tools? What was their background prior to the formation of Digital Integration? (I think I read they were involved in Flight Sims for Bae but I may be wrong.)
    What do they make of modern games and the development processes employed?
    Would Dave consider releasing the source code to the games he and Rod published? I was and am amazed at how much was crammed into 48K.
    Any programming tips and tricks that could be shared?
    Thanks :)
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited June 2012
    I shall ask him...
  • hackersanonhackersanon
    edited June 2012
    The source code was a good one. I suppose mine overlaps in terms of what does he still have up in his loft (as per his permit note) - anything good that we don't currently have? ATFII, perhaps? :)
    the-tipshop.co.uk
  • GrazGraz
    edited June 2012
    And can we have a Night Gunner sequel please ;)
  • ArjunArjun
    edited June 2012
    Fighter Pilot was ace! :)

    You could ask him the difficulties he faced in implementing the game in 48k? What sort of development platform he used for the same? Whether he looks back fondly at the 8-bit scene back then? What is he doing now?
    Zero - A modern Spectrum emulator for Windows.
    Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited June 2012
    Gerard, I've already asked Dave to have a dig around. Let's hope we get the stories on these games if nothing else.
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited June 2012
    I'm back, the interview went very well and Dave had a nice boxful of memories as well :smile:

    I did ask Dave about the source code to the games, he says he has them on disc somewhere, he's going to try and hunt them out.

    Watch this space.
  • spectrumlinuxspectrumlinux
    edited June 2012
    jdanddiet wrote: »
    I'm back, the interview went very well and Dave had a nice boxful of memories as well :smile:

    I did ask Dave about the source code to the games, he says he has them on disc somewhere, he's going to try and hunt them out.

    Watch this space.

    That's great news.
    Thanks for doing the interview. I look forward to reading it. :)
  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    edited June 2012
    Damn the interview's passed! Too late for me to do my joke about the time 5 Star were on Going Live...
    Every night is curry night!
  • fogfog
    edited June 2012
    RobeeeJay wrote: »
    (Still have my original copy of Tomahawk with lenslok :) Which doesn't seem to run on the +2/+3 :( )

    I have the +3 disk version of it, the byte back re-release seems to work on +2's and 3's

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005317
  • Dwayne DibleyDwayne Dibley
    edited June 2012
    Would love to have asked how he managed to so accurately (well, for a Spectrum at least) replicate the spinning up of the rotor effects in Tomahawk. Also thought ATF on the 'miggy was one of the best games I've ever played; the joint use of joystick and mouse was way ahead of it's time.
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited June 2012
    I will no doubt have some follow up questions for Dave, so I can still ask further questions.
  • spectrumlinuxspectrumlinux
    edited October 2012
    Hi,

    @JDanddiet

    Sorry to bump this thread but would there happen to be any news on when/where it would be possible to read the interview with Mr Marshall of Digital Integration fame?
    Perhaps I have missed it on your blog or perhaps it has been published elsewhere?

    Thanks. :)
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited October 2012
    No worries, it'll be in next month's issue of tractor news. Sorry I meant Retro Gamer!
  • jdanddietjdanddiet
    edited October 2012
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAa8HVLzR0&feature=results_video
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