An Interview with Lisa Tunnah of Vulcan Software

By Paul Morabito.

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Vulcan Software Ltd was formed in order to commercially publish a title we had been working on in our spare time, this was Valhalla and The Lord of Infinity. Vulcan was formed in January 1994 and Valhalla 1 was published in the June. We enjoyed it so much we decided to stick around:)

2. Vulcan has been signing up development groups, how many groups have you signed?, are there plans to sign more?

At the last count we had in the region of 14 dedicated teams and around 100 individuals all working for the cause. Teams are signed on the strength of their talent, commitment and the quality of their projects and we are always looking for more to join us, it helps bring the future closer.

3. The Amiga has always been a source of amazing talent especially in the games area, is this still so?

My favourite topic:) yes this is very true despite the difficulties of the market over these past few years. The quality of talent coming through never ceases to amaze me. This talent combined with the fierce loyalty that is charcteristic of the Amiga community as a whole will help shape the future of the machine. Most developers love creating for creations sake, they tend not to be terribly interested in market dynamics and their commitment is an inspiration.

4. In the past Vulcan software has been criticised for being created in AMOS and made for relatively low spec Amiga's, why did you change and begin developing for high end Amiga's?

When Vulcan first started the majority of people owned an A500 with a hard drive if you were lucky, many Amiga owners still have that set up. The games that were released at the time were mostly `works on anything you don't even need a computer' type games. The market dictated the software and unfortunately the company that owned the hardware at that time did not push their machines forward to any great extent. Still, that's history, but the point is we developed for the machines that made up the majority of the market. As for the programming language used, well this is largely irrelevant, and depends on what you want to achieve, it's true there are certain restrictions in a language like Amos but then if you're not trying to create a fast paced 3d texture mapped extravaganza then you'll probably be fine. Any criticsm we have ever received from producing games in Amos will have fallen on deaf ears, it doesn't take a great deal of brain power to realise that at the end of the day the language is just a tool, it's what you do with it that counts.

We began developing for high spec Amigas for a number of reasons. We realised that if the Amiga had a future it would be with the die hard portion of the market, the upgrade till you drop type people, because they care about the Amiga enough to invest in it. We are happy to provide them with the software that finally takes advantage of their expensive set ups and we are proud to be creating software that stands up to that which is released on other formats. We can be more extravangant and imaginitive and through our efforts we are encouarging other people to join in the fun and upgrade also. It is the only way forward.

5. Do you feel this decision will affect sales?

Probably:)

6. Vulcan software has grown enormously in a time when other publishers on the Amiga have struggled to break even. How has this been possible?

I can't comment on why other companies are having difficulties as I have no idea how they run their respective businesses, however Vulcan's success is largely due to lot's of imagination, belief, commitment and a great deal of damned hard work :).

We attract such large quantities of developers because of our strong philiosiphies, we see ourselves as a rather large family built on infinite respect for the talent and the machine, when we take on a new team we are not just interested in the next six months, we aim to form long term relationships because it is only through cooperation and combined effort that we will all achieve our goals. Vulcan is not interested in a quick return, we are somewhat more interested in investing in the future.

7. How are sales of games today, compared to when you first started Vulcan?

It would be dishonest and unrealistic to claim that all is as it was in the good old days, the market has been in steady decline but we are optimistic that this can and will change for the better over the coming months.

8. How many copies does a really good, well publicised Amiga game sell today?

Sorry, I can't go into specifics.

9. Do you think piracy has a noticeable effect on sales?

It is impossible to tell and a subject that is going nowhere, as long as there are talented people creating things, there will be pirates leeching off them. Luckily there are enough honest individuals out there to make our efforts worthwhile.

10. What interesting titles are in the works, when are we likely to see them?

Uropa2 is due for release in a couple of weeks and The Final Oddysey shortly after. Towards the end of the year is the long awaited Genetic Species. Early in 1998 will see the launch of Hell Pigs and Wasted Dreams, followed by Hard Target, Almagica, Scions of a Forgotten World, Desolate and Valhalla 4. As Vulcan has just signed the World Foundry we will be publishing all their creations starting with Explorer and Maim and Mangle although dates for these are not likely to be set for some time.

11. Will you be developing for the PowerUP PPC cards?

Yes, we will be issuing a press release about this very soon.

12. Have you been in contact with Amiga International?

Yes, we have been speaking to them for some time.

13. Are you confident of the Amiga's future?

I'm a Vulcan, how can I not be :).

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