Desert Island Tapes: James O'Grady

Desert Island Tapes: James O'Grady

Had it as a kid! You've got sports with Winter Games, and they were great fun games.... And will take your mind off the heat. Gauntlet is just a classic dungeon crawler with that lovely tune snippet. Ace of Aces I always wanted to be good at as a kid, but never ever managed to hit a single railway carriage, U-Boat or V2 rocket. Maybe I'll get some practice in. "Infiltrator" upset me as a kid. It sounded SO AWESOME. You're an ace spy/helicopter pilot/all round super-dude! I could never get the thing to land. It would always explode for no reason 90 feet above the ground and to this day I still don't know why. On the island I could try once in the morning and once in the evening until I crack the secret. And for a nice change of pace I could have an afternoon's golf with Leaderboard, a surprisingly excellent game with a lot more to it than I gave it credit for.

The Lords of Midnight I was given it as a Christmas present as a child, and it's fascinated me ever since. I've got the boxed set upstairs, the official novel on my Kindle, a poster on my wall, a stuffed Utarg of Utarg, a Midnight key-ring and I even cosplayed as the Utarg of Utarg at PlayExpo Margate! A game of technical wizardry, magical wonder, landscapes, strategy and adventure! I always had a soft spot for Lord Brith, because he was the first character I ever recruited. He's pretty rubbish, but he was always dear to me. But the Utarg of Utarg is the ultimate badass, and I aim to have him involved in the final victory. Endlessly replayable too! Just don't accidentally press S when playing otherwise you're forced to save the game, and I never had any cassettes.

From the icy lands of midnight to the heart of Africa with Tusker. Had it as a kid, got to level 2... probably because a magazine told me how to. On level 2 I got stuck as there was a padlock I couldn't open. I had a key but somehow the puzzle was beyond me. I can finally get to solve the mystery of the elephant's graveyard!

Starglider 2 which I bought big boxed for $4.95! Travel around a solar system trying to defeat the Evil Egrons, including their artificial space whales. Never finished it as a kid.... But had great fun trying, using bouncing bombs to destroy projector bases around Millway, activating the star drive and recharging by flying over powerlines. Marvellous!

My friend Paul gave me a cassette with a copy of it, and there are lots of games on there. Some aren't great to be fair, but they're entertaining. I always liked Invasion 1, a strategy game where your generals could be shot for cowardice or sent to the salt mines. 20 Tons is a fun little Boulderdash clone. I never understood Strontium Dog but always liked the comic and the look of the graphics. Loads of games on there that were always worth the time spent loading them.

Where Time Stood Still

The epic adventure game. Can I get the four hapless survivors off the plateau? Can I find out what the spinning ball thing does? A game that can kill you when you're accessing the menu is clearly a precursor to Dark Souls, as death truly is around every corner. Gloria doesn't look like she does on the poster, but is still an awesome character, and it was only in December last year that I worked out what she was carrying...

Carrier Command

As I'm opting for the 128K, why not make the most of it with a game that I bought FULL PRICE $14.95 as a kid. I have hours to spend so I can take my time over the full strategic campaign, planning my moves against the EVIL TERRORIST CARRIER, flying Manta fighters and sending in Walrus tanks in the solid graphical 3D world of that archipelago! Until I realise that I only have the cassette, and on loading I need to enter a word from the manual. Crap. As a kid, by the time I had this the keyboard membrane was starting to go, so certain keys didn't work 100% of the time, mainly "O" for Orange. I'd power on the Spectrum, hold down the O key until the noise started, load the tape, and then hope it was STILL working. If the word had an O in it you get a second chance, if not you were stuck waiting, or face a 10 minute reload.

Project Stealth Fighter

Brilliant Microprose flight simulator based on bizarre non-classified information that felt REALLY accurate and secret. Four maps to fly on, Libya, Iran, the North Cape and Central Europe. I remember when I was loading a mission to Iran, I turned the TV over to the news to find out that Iraq had just invaded Kuwait. I tried to "do my part" but the game doesn't let you do anything in Iraq. I never learned to land the plane either, but always ejected instead. If I tried to land on a runway I would 100% of the time die, so I preferred to take my chances ejecting over Libya or the Persian Gulf. Ejecting at 64,000 feet upside-down over the White Sea though.... Not a smart move.

I'm thinking Jonathan Cauldwell's "How to Write Spectrum Games". I printed out the PDF and got it spiral bound and everything but still haven't actually opened it. I did use one of his tips to stop my loading screen getting wrecked, so I can sit down with a coconut and relax in a hammock for a good read.

ZX Spectrum +2, the grey one! Had it as a kid, you get the Datacorder so no need to be messing about with volume levels, choice of 48K and 128K editing modes, although I rarely use 128K mode for some reason.... Apart from the PLAY command. I could use it to create lovely music to serenade me on the long hot nights!

The Future is 8-bit's divMMC Future gizmo! Once you load a game, BOOM it's saved... and it comes supplied with even more games on there! It really is an astonishing marvel. Like a Microdrive but bigger, better and reliable!

How well will you survive? Water and a varied diet of fish and fruit and staying out of the sun will be the key. I get sunburn ridiculously easily, so shelter will be important. I also don't want to have the sun shining on the screen when I'm trying to code in BASIC. I wouldn't be isolated, because I'd write an ELIZA program for the Spectrum whenever I got lonely and would chat to that! I work alone at home most of the time anyway, so it wouldn't be too much different. I'd probably run around a bit too before it got too hot, although with a desert island you're limited to clockwise or anti-clockwise.

Any coding ambitions you want to fulfill?

I'd take "Into Africa" and make it GOOD. There are some bugs in there that might be fixable with one byte, like most of the characters don't have a purpose. I'd disassemble the machine code and see what I could add and how it works. I played it a lot when I got it free with Crash magazine in the summer of 1991 - and never got very far. Last Christmas I mapped the whole game and then actually completed it... and was disappointed with it. It comes so close to being epic and then just falls short.

Finally: why on earth do you like type-ins so much!?

Commercial software IS loads better, like eating a lovely meal at Delia Smith's restaurant is going to be nicer than something you've made at home from instructions. But you don't learn anything by eating lovely food, while you do by following the instructions yourself. Then you can try changing things, adding things, taking things away, seeing how the code is developed. As a kid, games like Manic Miner and Lords of Midnight were like wizardry, but seeing a little BASIC game where you move a car through a maze, or the wonderful Usborne books, now THERE was an entry into another world.