Questions for Martin Edmondson

[Stuart@retrogamer]

I’ll hopefully be chatting to Martin Edmondson this week – co-founder of Reflections Interactive and creator/designer of the Shadow Of The Beast, Destruction Derby and Driver series.

If you have any questions you'd like me to ask Martin, stick them below and I'll try my best to get them answered for you.

[snowkatt]

was driver influenced by gta 1 and 2 or was it more an evolution of the destruction derby series ?

how does he feel about the current state of the series in ubisofts hands ?

and finally still concerning driver why is that bloody tutorial so hard ?!

[AceGrace]

Why was Driver 3 released in an unfinished, buggy state?

[ncf1]

Would you make Shadow Of The Beast a little easier if you wrote it again? I absolutely love the series but the difficulty level .. it makes me cry, and gnash my teeth! And then cry some more.

[NorthWay]

You didn't _really_ think you could sell SotB? It was meant as a tech demo that somehow happened to get a pricetag?

[Hitman_HalStep]

and finally still concerning driver why is that bloody tutorial so hard ?!

i found the tutorial okay so i would take out tutorial and add the presidents run mission in there.if it's a face to face interview then slap him immediately after asking.

[Hiro]

Was Shadow of the Beast 2 actually playtested? It's not difficult, it's pure evil...

Can you say SotB 3 is the outcome of correcting the flaws from the first two games?

Is it true that David Whittaker did not make the music for SotB 2 and 3 because he cost too much? Are you satisfied with SotB 2 and 3 music anyway?

[merman]

What did you think of the 8-bit conversions of Shadow of the Beast?

There is a cluster of games companies/studios in the Northeast that has been there since the 1980s - have you worked closely with any of the other studios, and which games from that cluster have impressed you?

Was there ever a 3D version of Shadow of the Beast planned, and do you think it would work?

[Megamixer]

Were the numerous amusing glitches in the first Driver (such as being able to hit other cars high into the air etc.) left in intentionally or a problem with the game physics?

[themightymartin]

Are there any games you've played that have made you think "I wish I'd thought of that first"?

[joefish]

Was the ST version of Shadow of the Beast deliberately bad, to make a point?

[paranoid marvin]

Whose idea was it to sell a T-shirt with SOTB?Was it a commercial success to do so (I don't think any following games were sold with one)

Psygnosis games usually had impressive animated intros. Did they insist on this? SOTB 2 +3 both had animated intros, but the original didn't; any reason? (was this perhaps before Psygnosis insisted that games must have animated intros)

[nakamura]

After adoring Destruction Derby 2, a game that still remains wonderful to play today. Were you ever approached to replicate the brilliant feel of stock car/banger racing on the PS2? I can't help but feel it would have been superb. The series went into rapid decline after Reflections moved to other projects.

[nakamura]

How did you find coding for the PS2, especially implementing such things as anti alisaing?

[Gibberish Driftwood]

Was Driver based on the film?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077474/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1
The film has a very similar plot.