Oldschool Gaming :: The Team

Andy Vaisey (reviewer, 8-bit developer)
Probably best known as half of the Funkscientist Productions team along with fellow reviewer Mark, Andy has been involved with 8-bit computers and specifically the C64 since the middle of the 1980s. His story is familiar, during the 1990s Andy upgraded to an Amiga and later a PC but still preferred working on the Breadbin. When Andy joined the vast perverted mass that is the internet, he realised that people were still using the old machines and a comeback was on the cards. Andy’s hobbies include buying old equipment from eBay and posing for photos with in-store CCTV cameras (picture courtesy of Crimewatch U.K.).

Andy

Christian “Widdy” Widmann (reviewer, multi-platform developer)
Christian has been addicted to video games since he got got his first console, the Atari 2600, in 1980. He was (at least so he claims) every mother’s dream child, playing football in the park and only getting the highest marks in school, until the day in 1984 when he was given a C64. After that, he spent all the time in his room, programming and drawing graphics for several scene groups. At the moment, he spends every sober minute (what few there are) programming for the Nintendo GBA, DS or Wii and the less sober moments at demo scene parties. He also spends quite a bit of time less than sober whilst on IRC.

Christian

Dan Gillgrass (reviewer, 8-bit developer)
Dan has been playing games for as long as he can remember (which, due to a liking of alcohol, isn’t particularly long but that doesn’t worry him unduly) and has written for Commodore Zone as well as coding a couple of demos that he believes nobody ever saw – he’s since been proven wrong and the blackmail payments are overdue! Dan describes himself as best known for nothing, apart from loving KFC, feeling that AEG of Smash Designs owes him a new C64 as his old one blew up whilst watching Triage 3 and turning the C64 border colour black.

Dan

Frank “Enigma” Gasking (reviewer, writer, 8-bit developer)
Despite having produced a few games of his own (which, sadly, he hasn’t time to do any more) and written articles and reviews for both Commodore Zone and Commodore Scene, Frank is most recognised for his excellent work on the Games That Weren’t website helping to locate several C64 titles that were previously thought lost. Frank describes himself as “overworked and underpaid, so basically a full-time student and dad” (whoever isn’t paying him enough is in for a slapping at some point) and Jason seems to know him best as “that guy who used to hang around the computer shop where I worked and asked loads of questions”.

Frank

Gordon “Spector” Hosie (reviewer)
Gordon first encountered Jason on a forum in 2002 when he fiercely argued with his opinions on, well, everything. Jason retorted by describing Gordon as “a berk”. They’ve been good friends ever since.When he’s not playing old video games (his favourite machine is the Spectrum), Gordon likes talking obsessively about the merits of the 1982 Brazilian Football Team, listening to old Motown records and occasionally playing in a band. One of his bedroom recordings was even released on a Liverpool record label compilation. Curiously, that label went bust a few months afterwards…

Gordon

Jason “The Magic Roundabout” Kelk (reviewer, 8-bit developer, website admin)
A legend in his own lunchtime, Jason is probably best known (if that’s the correct term) for his Commodore 64 game and demo work including the nearly completed GR9 Strike Force. Jason has been developing software for 8-bit computers for far too long now and building or contributing to various publications about them for not much less time.As a reviewer, he was one half of the editorial team on the sadly now defunct Commodore Zone, has contributed to Micro Mart and currently writes for Retro Gamer. Jason lives in Leeds with his fiancee, three “delightful” children, and assorted pets.

Jason

Jeff “The Dark Prince” Theobald (reviewer, hardcore compulsive gamer)
Jeff has had a C64 at his desk since as long as he can remember, growing up to the sounds of the SID and spending his hard earned dosh on incredibly bad games. His earliest memories are of playing Impossible Mission. He has owned several C64s, a few Amiga 500s (none of which worked) and the brilliant but underappreciated Acorn series and still pays too much for incredibly bad games. Jeff likes laughing at people who get stuck in elevator doors, hates any day of the week that ends in “y” and being beaten up by people who don’t like being laughed at when they get stuck in elevator doors.

Jeff

Mark Ross (reviewer, 8-bit developer)
Probably best known as the other half of the Funkscientist Productions team along with fellow reviewer Andy, Mark has also been involved with the C64 and other 8-bit computers since the mid 1980’s. Mark’s present projects include the FSP games he’s co-designing with Andy as well as some music-oriented software for Viruz, the C64 music team he’s also a member of.The rest of the team weren’t sure what to make of this picture but they were all far too polite or, more accuratly, terrified of him to say anything!

Mark

Mickael “DBug” Pointier (reviewer, 8-bit developer)
Mickael discovered computing in general on early 8-bit computers around 1982 at his local computer club. He then went on to buy an Oric Atmos which is where he began to learn programming and made his first attempts at writing games. This in turn lead to more commercial development on the Atari ST and, one diploma in computing later, a job in the games industry working on titles like V-Rally 2 for the Playstation and Dreamcast. But despite the heady heights of these super-machines, his love for the Oric (and indeed other 8-bit computers) still runs very deep and he enjoys a reputation as one of that platform’s best demo coders. Mickael lives in Lyon, France, and programs games for a living!

Mickael

Paul “Trooper” Green (reviewer, 8-bit developer)
Paul has been involved with the C64 since the tender age of fourteen (who says that computers corrupt children?) and, whilst he’s programmed on a number of platforms since, he still finds himself drawn back to the “smaller” machines of his youth because… well, they’re just the best ones aren’t they?Various people on the Oldschool Gaming team have been trying to talk Paul into coding games, although this is probably because said people are somewhat sadistic – why should we be the only ones suffering?!

Paul

Shaun “Fluff” Bebbington (reviewer, writer)
Shaun “Fluff” Bebbington is probably best known as a writer who occasionally makes the odd mistake or two; for example, the constant reference to “Cosine Designs” raised a few eyebrows. But this is due to some form of dyslexia, or is it just a bad memory?!? Fluff spends his spare time writing for the magazine Micro Mart (starting February 2002), and has written for many publications over the years, including a nine-month stint at Retro Gamer as a staff writer. Since the Retro Gamer days, Fluff has written for gamesTM’s “Retro” section and the resurrected Retro Gamer, but now concentrates only on the Retro_Mart column for the aforementioned Micro Mart.

Shaun