Hi Paul, which childhood experiences influenced your creativity as a grown-up?
The major factor was reading. As a science-fiction enthusiast I read a few classics and anything related to technology has always interested me. I also enjoyed Eighties films, coming with new incredible special effects: Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator are masterpieces. Also Star Wars. These films were offering incredible backgrounds. Computers were fascinating: when the ZX81 was released I realised from watching advertisements how extraordinary it was to be able to possess a small computer at home. At the time, computers were sort of a myth: a huge machine in a refrigerated building with many people around wearing white coats. Knowing that it was possible to have the same thing at home triggered something in my mind.
What was your initial contact with videogames back then?
It was in college. I was studying computer sciences on mainframes, very big IT systems [like the] IBM 360. Imagine old-time computers again, with huge boards and white coats running around! In the student club there were a few Apple computers you could play videogames with – small text-based adventure games, or action games, like Lady Tut.
A big early game for you was your port of Space Harrier to the Atari ST, but you hadn’t been provided with assets or source code. How did you develop this game adaptation?
We coped on our own! The father of Michaël Sportouch, our graphic designer, owned a small camcorder. We used to go to the Champs Elysées’ arcade in Paris to shoot the game, hiding. Once, the arcade’s boss caught us and expelled us. He did not understand what we were trying to do and thought we were competition. We were much more discreet the following times. We had to spend a lot
