Eugene Evans, Imagine, and the Bedroom Coder Dream

Eugene Evans, Imagine, and the Bedroom Coder Dream | Kim Justice (feat. Ashens)

Рет қаралды 12,422

Күн бұрын

How did the image of the bedroom coder actually get started? The story is a bit more PR-driven than you might think. This is the story of how Imagine Software briefly made a 16-year old named Eugene Evans famous, under the watchful eyes of marketing director Bruce Everiss. Enjoy!
Thanks to Ashens for providing vocal talent!: / ashens
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Пікірлер: 53

@Kim_Justice 5 жыл бұрын

If you liked this video then please consider supporting my work on Patreon!: www.patreon.com/kimblejustice

@NeonEUC 5 жыл бұрын

fuck off.. your shit

@jmp01a24 Жыл бұрын

The letter Bruce Everiss wrote in Your Computer January 1986 is something of the worst character assination I ever read, he (whom was part in stealing him from Microdigital) is the last person on earth worthy to publish such a letter, must have been a real creepy guy. You can read the spite in his wording, he really upset cause losing money from Imagine and public lash out on a 16 year old kid. Classy.

@davedogge2280 5 жыл бұрын

Sad though that it ended with them trying to shut the door on the bailiffs. Thanks for being the top UK video game historian on KZbin. I'm in Spain and Spain in the 1980's had a big 8-bit development games scene, would be great if someone did something like this for those software studios of that era and the people involve, there are interesting stories and drama and great sadness (yes suicides etc) in those Spanish game developer studios of yesteryear. There are several books on Spanish video games history though videojuegosretro-upm.blogspot.com/2016/04/30-libros-espanoles-sobre-videojuegos.html, GÉNESIS: GUÍA ESENCIAL DE LOS VIDEOJUEGOS DE 8 BITS is a good A-Z of 8-bit 1980s video games produced in Spain during that time.

@darkomentelevision 5 жыл бұрын

That BBC Video music.... love it

@MrBoBoTom 5 жыл бұрын

I should really start donating, at this point it feels like robbery.

@littleNorwegians 5 жыл бұрын

As an indie dev in 2019, it is amazing to look back at the bedroom coder boom, because it feels very much reborn and better than ever. But still, with many of the same pitfalls. Some stuff is different, of course, but just overall the prospect of young people, making games from home, some times making it big, a lot of the time don't and just the stories that come out of them. Heh, I hope never to be part of a controversy. Makes for a good story. Even a cautionary tale, but rather not me!

@handsomebrick 5 жыл бұрын

The boom of PC games in the 90s was a bedroom coder boom of sorts.

@kandigloss6438 5 жыл бұрын

Hmmm an image of Sir Clive sitting infront of a machine playing Rocky Horror. No wonder his opinion on computer games was extremely low. ;)

@TheOldgeezah 5 жыл бұрын

I was a game reviewer for magazines in the 1980's. I remember being sent a new Imagine game to review. It was a sort of attempt at a 3d game (if I recall) and damn was it bad.

@handsomebrick 5 жыл бұрын

Sounds like Schizoids, a Spacewar-like game with rotating wireframe polygons. Could also be Zzoom (a Battlezone-like air combat game) or Pedro (a single screen game with isometric graphics similar to Ant Attack), though those games reviewed fairly well. Another possibility is Movie, an isometric puzzle game from the post-bankruptcy era of Imagine Software that also reviewed well but was deeply cryptic and strange.

@TheOldgeezah 5 жыл бұрын

@@handsomebrick My recollection is dim but I think it was never formally released. (maybe it was a pre-release review sample) It was an odd game - the 3d effect used a sort of bitmapping effect rather than vector or character based technique. In all it was difficult to figure and because of the amount of processing going on, was surprisingly slow and lumpy. I wish I could remember more.

@ZILtoid1991 5 жыл бұрын

There was a similar thing in Hungary in the eighties, at Novotrade. Unfortunately the dream has collapsed since then, and all what remain are false promises of HUF1 000 000+ per month paychecks, promise of getting a job during your college years, ability of living and working in Budapest, etc, while in reality only the very best gets close to a seven figure paycheck, and currently I'm begging for free internships because of a stupid law that states that you cannot get a college degree without an internship time (6 weeks would be enough normally, but it's capitalism and you're lucky if you can find one that's only six months).

@craigix 5 жыл бұрын

I see young people devoting a year or more to coding their 'game' now, even borrowing money because they see these stories still to this day and believe they will hit the big time, but the truth is unless you have a publisher behind you pulling the strings you have such a tiny chance of success the only payback will be experience of coding. Sadly very few people are going to play your game, even if it's amazing. So if you're reading this and setting off on your journey - do it for the experience and your CV, anything else you may get will be a bonus.

@madcommodore 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for using my improved quality clip of Joffa showing Pud Pud to David Ward lol

@MexboroughBuildings 5 жыл бұрын

Liked it before I watched it!

@Horzuhammer 5 жыл бұрын

3:18 Sir Clive remembers doing the time warp!

@chaoslab 5 жыл бұрын

Always a good day when Kim has posted a new video! :-) (Coded Sirius 7 in my bedroom)

@dd776 Жыл бұрын

I was 8 or 9 when this was happening and I tried so hard to become a bedroom coder and write a game. My parents bought me a cpc 464 and I read the Basic book back to front.Just couldn't understand it. In the end I stuck to typing out the games in magazines. The end result...? I am now in my 40s and am the fastest typer in the office!

@exelmans8855 4 ай бұрын

Your parents must be proud!

@23Daves Жыл бұрын

Very interesting, thanks. Have to say that a lot of Vic-20 games were very simplistic and ropey, particularly games for the unexpanded Vic. Catcha Snatcha, on the other hand, felt like an imaginative and perfectly playable game at that time and I enjoyed it. Would I like it if I went back to it now? Probably not, but that applies to a hell of a lot of Vic games!

@pixelodd 2 жыл бұрын

Calling Zzoom and Stonkers not well known or not successful in their lifetime is, well, ..incorrect! They were very well known and successful at the time, one among the top sellers and the other kind of a breakthrough for its type, if there was another before that.. Judging them by todays' standards and whether they are know now..?.. to whom? That's unfair. They may not be as famous as, say, Manic Miner (nowdays) but they were indeed among the better games back then (Zzoom, admittedly, much more)

@boyflea 5 жыл бұрын

great video! bedroom coders are an inspiration to this day. wonder if jez san falls under this category: budding coder who gets one hit then boom.

@hazy33 5 жыл бұрын

Bruce Everiss is the creepiest and sleaziest guy i've ever come across in the games industry. Thank goodness you never hear him speak in this video. It would make you need to take a shower to wash the creepiness away. Horrendous man.

@kristianTV1974 5 жыл бұрын

Just when I think there's nothing else to be said about the period, you find another angle. Thanks Kim.

@exelmans8855 4 ай бұрын

2:55 that guy 36? Damn. He looks like 66.

@wisteela 3 жыл бұрын

Very fitting that the Sun ran with the made up article.

@Alphadec 5 жыл бұрын

Remeber imagine was heavely into coinup's like "arkanoid","green berets", etc. Or was that after they was bought up by ocean. ?

@Kim_Justice 5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, all those arcade conversions were after Ocean bought the name. The original Imagine had nowt to do with them.

@battmann7089 5 жыл бұрын

The original Imagine was borderline crap (give or take the odd game), the relaunched Ocean version of Imagine was a great software label.

@StevenOBrien 5 жыл бұрын

An excellent voiceover

@xRedx0 5 жыл бұрын

bouncing back

@andrewdunbar828 11 ай бұрын

Level 5: Eugene's Lair

@DukeJon1969 2 жыл бұрын

watch the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch if you haven't seen it

@orbitingdecay6797 2 жыл бұрын

Kim covered it in another video. 😉

@exothornoblerbaker1314 5 жыл бұрын

Good show.😆

@Jayce_Alexander 5 жыл бұрын

I read and title and I went into this fully expecting Ashens to try and eat an expired jaffa cake taken from the Imagine offices in 1982. I am so disappointed, Kim.