★ GAMES ★ AUTEURS DE JEUX ★ KEVIN TOMS ★ |
| Kevin Toms | Kevin Toms | Games - Auteurs | Addictive Games |
Says KEVIN TOMS, whose Football Manager prog has gained cult status. NICKY XIKLUNA blows the whistle... KEVIN TOMS is TALL. It's like interviewing a tree. Except that no mere tree could write a computer game like Football Manager. Football Manager— for the few non-initiates — is a strategy game which involves you in the raw economics of the sport. You decide on the players, bid on the transfer market, shell out wages and balance your economies. As you make your way through the leagues towards t'Cup, you are rewarded with graphical action sequences — "highlights" — from the matches you've played. The outcome, Brian, is not predictable. Two years ago, in a Milton Keynes basement, the six and a half foot frame of the brain behind the (big) boots was bent in two as he stuck cassette labels onto his first ZX 80 versions of Football Manager. Big Kevin gave up his job as a Cobol programmer, and put all his bytes in one (mailorder) basket bid. Right on cue, Uncle Clive brought out the Spectrum. That night, the ZX 80 waned forever. Big Kev transferred his prodigy to the Spectrum with marathon speed. Football Manager has been transferred to the Beeb, and more recently to CBM 64. With improved graphics — the mode 7 pin-men have metamorphosed too, into solid flesh thanks to ex-YOPS programmer Peter Lunn. Overall the game has sold some 100,000 copies, the sole commodity that keeps Addictive Games' four personnel employed. Kevin Toms has thereby changed his title from "Chief Label Appender" to "Chief Games Designer". Big Kev was once Little Kev, and that's when he started creating board games. Later he made calculators play games! He had several attempts at designing a football board game, but found that the necessary simplification ruined any sense of realism. With the advent of the home micro, the scales dropped from his eyes. But even now, 27-year-old Kev continues to think of himself as a games man rather than a computer man. "All games are pure entertainment. They work through the effect they have on emotions, just like music or a novel. Now that's an entirely different approach to just branching over from programming. What's needed is to bring the experience of an "I don't like making things up. I enjoy working within constraints. The appeal of Football Manager lay in the fact that everyone was familiar with the game." Surprisingly, Brian, Kevin Toms is not an out-and-out football fanatic. Having been sprogged in Paignton, Devon, he supports Torquay, in a lapsed kind of way. "Football? A terrible shambles. I used to attend matches, but I got put off, along with many others. The managers just had no idea how to organise entertainment. They've never advertised and they can't stop the hooligans.” 'Twas in Issue One of this very organ that Arsenal midfield player Charlie Nicholas placed Football Manager first in his personal league of computer soccer games, saying: "I'm not even sure that it's a game at all... could be useful — to Football Managers!" Does the author have any ambitions to change art into life, and manage a team some day? "Nope. I'm happy with what I'm doing. I just want to be the best in my field — that's all! Tom's favourite games are Buck Rogers in the 21st Century and Pole Position. "My all time favourite is Twin Kingdom Valley. I don't play many games." Secondary ambitions? "I'm very keen on getting hold of a good music synthesiser, like Alpha Centuri or an Apple. It's very arrogant, but I want to compose, and believe I can." He confides that his favourite music is — heavy metal (yeccch!) Yes, this gentle giant gets his head down and knees up to the dulcet strains of Black Sabbath and Rainbow! He admits to having wild day-dreams about rock-stardom. "I like being recognised. It's nice to get feedback — when people say they like what you've done." What is it with these programmers? They're all performers! Could the patient detailing of those obedient on-screen sprites hint at a deeper desire for the captivation and control of massive audiences? Or are music and maths inextricably linked in their dark souls? I'll let you know when I've got some more evidence.
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