Project: "Developer Diaries" for older/ less know

[Wavelflack]

I posted this idea a few years back, and the concept got a good response, but nothing came of it. So here it is again, for the "new generation":

I would like to see "developer diaries" for older games. Actually, I suppose it would be "developer memoirs".
We see a lot of current and recent game projects documented, and we see interviews and anecdotes from "luminaries" from the past. But I never see accounts of the development process, creative and/or technical, for older titles.
I know that someone will likely point to a HSW interview that details some work on Yars Revenge, or similar accounts. That is not what I wish for. Think "exhaustive account".

Even the details of something as non earth-shattering as Deadly Towers would be interesting to read about. How they came up with this or that, what problems they had (!), how they solved them, how they felt about the project (gung-ho? 'fuck this!'?), so on and so forth.

I guess I'm just a person who enjoys "behind the scenes" information. It would be ideal to have as much "behind the scenes" info as possible on every game ever created. This poses practical problems, but could still be worked toward.

We already have enough Miyamoto interviews. Same goes for all the other "heavyweights" in the gaming industry. It would be interesting to see the perspectives and recollections of the lesser known developers spanning gamiong history. In addition, they probably have more time to devote to detail and fleshing out the story, since they don't have three more interviews to give that day. And they might be honored to be remembered and chronicled.

Anyone here with gaming contacts/ credentials feel up to the challenge?

I'd like to hear about Metroid (NES) development, but I'll gladly read about the background to Stack Up. Whatever and whoever you can find, it's all a plus.

[Ed Oscuro]

Unfortunately, getting first-hand accounts of what happens inside a Japanese company is usually impossible. Sony is an exception, but Nintendo seems to me a throughly Japanese company with a strong sense of tradition - and probably silence, as well. Probably why so many kids over their end up drawing pictures of their favorite games - they don't have time to argue about information leaked on inner management, like we do LOL (yeah, just a little joke there...) In any case, it seems to me that Japan is an information black hole when it comes to these issues. Oh, and who knows, perhaps there's a lot of information (and not just the PR friendly stuff you'll find in guidebooks) out there in the various Japanese game mags, but that language barrier stops me dead. So my ignorance is another stopping point.

Anyhow, I've found lots of information about British ports of arcade games (Capcom, Sega, etc.) to the cheap computers of the day - C64, Spectrum, and the well-balanced Amstrad CPC - but I haven't seen much about ports to, say, the Amiga. Maybe I haven't looked hard in that area, so I'll withhold any speculation. Certainly, as the years go by many developers like to talk about their game experiences, especially if they no longer work at a company. Not sure how far that goes in Japan, but I don't think that amae is going to stop any inquries 100%.

Another thing to think about is that some guys simply don't remember. Scarface, er, Tomonobu Itagaki (Dead or Alive, Team Ninja, Tecmo), mentioned somewhere or other that a senior programmer at Tecmo had worked on tons of games during the 1980s, but as the schedule was rushed much of it had become a blur.

It's definitely a great project, but I don't know who here has the resources to undertake such a project, cultural, language, or connection-wise.