An Interview with Paul Burkey, creator of Foundation

By Paul Morabito.
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1. When did you first come into contact with the Amiga?

I used to be a C64 owner and I was registered with Commodore on thier mailing list so I recieved many newsletters and other information. One day I got a special offer for a new machine that they were producing. This was the A1000 if I remember rightly. It as by far out of my price range since I was only 15 at the time. I attached the advert to my wall along with all the screenshots I ever came accross in the ZZap64 magazine. As soon as the A500 was released I knew I would soon be able to afford one for myself.

2. When did you first begin programming the Amiga?, how did you get involved?

I used to use a BASIC language on he C64 called Laser Basic. It was a great language and it even had a compiler. I spent a lot of years writing complicated games and utilities. When Amos was relesed for the Amiga it looked like a very similar language so I got into Amiga programming from there. The problem with Amos was it was too close to the C64 and other early basics. I've only recently discovered the real power of the Amiga with it's great OS libraries. My creativity is no longer restricted and my current project is showing that.

3. In the past you have written various high quality shareware games including "Pile 'O' Tiles". What was the general response from the Amiga community?, would you call it a success?

Response was great, and it still is. Piles'o'Tiles ws my last shareware game and it was relesed over 14 months ago. I still get around 15 letters and registrations each week. The problem with Shareware is it doesn't bring enough of an income to warant a long term project. All my shareware games were limited to around 3 months work so I was very restricted with the amount of depth I could put into my games. One exception was a game called Sneech which I ended up putting almost a whole year into. It got very complex although I must admit a years work on a shareware game is rarely payed off.

4. Currently you are developing a game called Foundation, tell us a bit about it, your influences etc?

It's basicly a project I would never be able to complete in a short development time. It's based on some of my farorite games such as Settlers, Mega-lo-mania, Populous and popular PC/Mac games like WarCraft II. It started off as an experiment into AGA programming and some texture mapping techniques. The game got a great responce even in its early forms so I decided to take it as far as possible by creating a CD based game. The game is already looking far more advanced to the games it's based on and I'm happy with the direction it's going in.

5. What type of Amiga(s) is Foundation being developed on?

I started off development with a Standard A1200 with a very small hard drive and 4Meg of fast ram. I was even using a 10 year old TV for a display. I don't know how I coped now. After many months of descision making over a publisher for the game I signed up with Sadeness who offered me all the equipment I ever wanted. I took the sensible route and upgraded the A1200 to a Tower and added an 040/40 with 16Meg and a CyberVision64/3D Graphics card. I also have my first ever Monitor! As soon as I upgraded my Amiga I got a great sense of reassurance about how wonderful this Machine is. I now added plans to support the higher end of the Amiga range by supporting CyberGraphX and SVGA style graphics.

6. Sadeness are publishing Foundation, incidentally their first title. How did this deal come about?

I have been going through a long slow struggle to decide upon many publishing offers. As you know the hardware support side of the deal was important but quite a lot of publishers were happy to provide that sort of thing so the decision was not easy. This has been going on since the end of last year and I was keen to settle down with a publisher to set out some strict aims for the project. While I was at the WOA show in London Sadeness got a chance to see the game which was playing on the Amiga Format stand. They didn't contact me there and then but as soon as I got back home they phoned me up and put is straight that they wanted to publish the game and would provide me with anything I needed. The decision was made rather quickly but almost 2 months later I can safely say that I'm very happy with the move I made and I think we have formed a very strong development team.

7. It has been stated Foundation will first appear on CD-ROM. Is there any chance a floppy version will be released (maybe designed to run from hard drive)?

The CD version will use at least 400Meg of storage space. Most of it is taken up with Animations and sound but there is still a very large portion of essential data for the game. This won't be easy to cut down for a floppy version and so the floppy release will remain only a possibility for now. If it does happen then it will be hard drive install only.

7. You have given Amiga users the chance to "star" in the game. What are your motivations behind this?

It was an idea I had back when I was struggling to cope with the large amount of graphics that were needed for the game. I thought it would be a good idea for people to send mug-shots to represent the people in the game. It would save a lot of drawing time but I decided it wouldn't work. Then one day someone suggested the very same idea and Sadeness seemed to be keen on it too. Since then I've collected around 150 pictures an we're all happy with the way it's working. There is still room for 100's more pictures so if anyone else wants to send a picture they can do!.

8. It appears you are willing to adapt a very open nature with Foundation by supporting CyberGFX and AHI, will a version or perhaps sequel appear on the PPC?

Definately! As soon as this game is relesed I have two aims. The first is to start development on a new game which will probably be a fast paced real-time war game as opposed to a complex strategy game like Foundation. My second aim is to upgrade Foundation into a higher specification including even more support for Graphics Card users and the PPC processor. The current game will always be restricted by the power of the average Amiga. The standard is not yet reached the 060 powered CyberGraphX system but the coming of the PPC cards will bring that power to a lot more people. This is the future for games like Foundation.

9. What are your opinions on piracy?, will piracy affect Foundation?

I'm sure Foundation will be pirated as soon as it's released. This happens with everything, even shareware! The pirated distribution of Foundtion will be very limited due to the size of the game. The game could be distributed on a pirated CD but I don't think that is such a big problem for the Amiga at the moment. I can't imagine the game being distributed over the Internet or BBS's much. dealing with a 200Meg+ archive is dificult for a lot of people. At the end of the day it is much more convenient for most people to buy the CD.

10. How many copies of Foundation are you aiming to sell?, have you any targets?

This is my first commrcial project so I don't know what to expect. I've been told that this type of game could sell very well but I still don't have any estimates. The game is developed on a low bugdet and luckily I am able to create the graphics, sound and code all by myself. Sadeness are providing a lot of specially rendered animations and graphics so I estimate we will make a good profit even if sales are no higher than 4,000 copies.

11. Have you got any future plans?, do you plan on supporting the Amiga in future?

Yes the new game project I mentioned should be very exciting. I chose a very restricting game engine to work with in Foundation because the 3D style Isometric angle is difficult to program with. It makes it hard to use all the ideas I want. The next project will use a simple top down angle similar to WarCraftII an Command & Conquer. This will alow for much more freedom in cretivity and also much more speed of gamplay.

12. Finally, what is your opinion on Gateway?, has the Amiga got a future?

I'm quite happy with Gateway at the moment. I know it would be nice to hear some solid facts about the Amiga's near future but it's not easy for them to rush into any specific direction. I do think the Amiga has got a future but it's not easy for superior technology to stand out in a world dominated by mass market cheap alternatives.

Links:
Paul Burkey: paul@sneech.demon.co.uk
Foundation Homepage: http://www.sadeness.demon.co.uk/foundation.html

This interview is ©Copyright 1997 Paul Morabito, it may be freely distributed but not reprinted in any publication or on any web page without my written permission. Thanks to Paul Burkey for the interview.

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