THE EVOLUTION OF NODES OF YESOD
The videogames industry in Liverpool was a lot like musical chairs during the mid-Eighties. The collapse of Imagine Software left its former developers scrabbling for jobs, while the success of Jet Set Willy resulted in Software Projects hiring additional staff. Artist/designer Stuart Fotheringham was taken on by the firm to work with Matthew Smith on a Jet Set Willy sequel, and the company subsequently showed interest in a pitch made by Stuart’s friend Colin Grunes. But as Stuart points out, the pair soon found themselves reconsidering their options. “Colin had animated Noddy, because he wanted to get him into a game, and Software Projects very much liked his design,” Stuart remembers. “So it got in touch with the Enid Blyton estate to license the rights, but the estate said no. In the meantime, the Manic Miner game I was working on came to an end, so Colin and I talked to the owner of Thor Software, Paul McKenna. Colin had his Noddy demo, and I had my experience at Software Projects, so we got work there.”
With a licensed title off the table, Colin redesigned his animation to depict a well to do spaceman, whose atypical jump took inspiration from a popular platformer. “The idea was that ‘Astro’ Charlie Fotheringham Grunes was an upper class toff,” Stuart says of the unlikely hero. “We had Charlie somersaulting because we loved , and that had somersaulting in it. It also
