★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ SOFTOGRAPHIE ★ PETER LIEPA ★ |
| Peter Liepa | Games - Auteurs |
DESIGNER OF THE MONTH BORN: Toronto, Canada, 1953 Peter Liepa's first game – Boulderdash – looks set to become a hit in the UK repeating the success it has already received in the States. But Peter is not letting this success go to his head. “The American games business is going through a tough time. I enjoy writing computer games and would like to think I would be doing it in two years time but nothing is that certain at the moment.” Despite the pessimism, Peter has started work on his next game – Boulderdash II. Don't expect this to go on sale for several months though, as Boulderdash I took no less than a year to programme. “I spend all my energy on a project – actually only about two hours a day on the keyboard – but I am thinking about the program all the time. I even dream about it.” Peter has spent all of his working life in the computer business. “I've done just about everything. Worked on business software, research projects, the lot ... even when I was a student I managed to get vacation work on computer projects.” “My first contact with a computer was via a terminal to a mainframe at university ...I didn't major in computer science ... my programming knowledge is self-taught”. By 1982, the personal computer boom was taking America by storm and Peter decided to buy an Atari 800. “I'd always liked video games and some of my friends were spending a lot of money on them ... it just seemed like a natural progression that my next project should be a video game”. When Peter is not programming he likes watching films and practises the martial art – Tai Kwondo – although he says he doesn't have hobbies. "I don't draw a line between what I do for a living and my interests". Favourite drink: Coke. Favourite TV programmes: "I'm a forager. I watch almost anything. Last year I was a Hill Street Blues fan. I tend to get bored very easily with TV". Favourite computer programs: Suspended by Infocom, Crossfire, Miner 2049'er, Choplifter. Worst Game I've Ever Played: Castle Wolfenstein. The thing about computing that most makes me want to throw up: The multiplicity of systems and lack of standards. Expensive software.
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