Authors and Interviews
Known Authors
Request for Information
Contained below are the names of some of the programming legends who have been responsible for bringing the
various ports of this classic platformer to our screens. These names range from the earliest days of Nigel
Alderton and Doug Anderson through to the brand's declining years with time-pressured ports from coders like
Pete Waterfield and Ste Cork.
This honoured list is, unfortunately, far from complete - many of the coders responsible have seen their
names lost in the annals of time, most choosing not to reveal their names within the games. If you can
help use give credit to one of the heroic 80s programmers whose name should be on this list or can point us
in the right direction to contact any of the coders below who might willing to let us interview them, please
contact us with any information you can provide.
Nigel Alderton
Release(s): 1983 - Chuckie Egg: SPECTRUM 48K
Interview(s): 80snostalgia.com - An interview with Nigel Alderton (2002): original site unavailable - archived by The Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Your Sinclair magazine: May 1986, Issue 5 - Show Us Your Wimpy! Interview with Nigel Alderton and Karen Trueman
World of Spectrum: Games forum - Chuckie Egg topic
The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Nigel Alderton: June 2005
Retro Gamer Issue Forty, August 2007 - The Making Of... Chuckie Egg
Last known job: Network Manager
Chuckie Egg is generally considered to be the result of a brainwave from the then 16 or 17 year old Nigel Alderton during a school summer holiday. After a month or two of development, Nigel took a one level pre-release version of his Spectrum code - under the working title of Eggy Kong - to the two year old software company A&F, which was more well-known for Acorn Atom and early BBC Micro offerings. The game was released in 1983 and remained a steady earner due to the numerous ports to other popular platforms.
Nigel was not a member of A'n'F's staff and continued to develop Spectrum & Amstrad games, joining Ocean Software (alongside fellow Chuckie Egg coder Mike Webb) for a year working on such titles as Kong Strikes Back before dropping back into freelance work. At the age of 19 he was contracted for a while by Elite Systems, in their Aidridge headquarters, to work on arcade conversions like Commando with Keith Birchill for the Spectrum and, with Karen Trueman providing graphics, the Amstrad port of Ghosts And Goblins.
More recently, copyright for Chuckie Egg appears to have reverted to Nigel and he recently granted Elite Systems the license for an official J2ME mobile port.
Interview(s): 80snostalgia.com - An interview with Nigel Alderton (2002): original site unavailable - archived by The Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Your Sinclair magazine: May 1986, Issue 5 - Show Us Your Wimpy! Interview with Nigel Alderton and Karen Trueman
World of Spectrum: Games forum - Chuckie Egg topic
The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Nigel Alderton: June 2005
Retro Gamer Issue Forty, August 2007 - The Making Of... Chuckie Egg
Last known job: Network Manager
Chuckie Egg is generally considered to be the result of a brainwave from the then 16 or 17 year old Nigel Alderton during a school summer holiday. After a month or two of development, Nigel took a one level pre-release version of his Spectrum code - under the working title of Eggy Kong - to the two year old software company A&F, which was more well-known for Acorn Atom and early BBC Micro offerings. The game was released in 1983 and remained a steady earner due to the numerous ports to other popular platforms.
Nigel was not a member of A'n'F's staff and continued to develop Spectrum & Amstrad games, joining Ocean Software (alongside fellow Chuckie Egg coder Mike Webb) for a year working on such titles as Kong Strikes Back before dropping back into freelance work. At the age of 19 he was contracted for a while by Elite Systems, in their Aidridge headquarters, to work on arcade conversions like Commando with Keith Birchill for the Spectrum and, with Karen Trueman providing graphics, the Amstrad port of Ghosts And Goblins.
More recently, copyright for Chuckie Egg appears to have reverted to Nigel and he recently granted Elite Systems the license for an official J2ME mobile port.
Doug Anderson
Release(s): 1983 - Chuckie Egg: BBC 32K
1985 - Chuckie Egg: ELECTRON
Interview(s):
now defunct (27th October 1998)
Edge presents: Retro "The making of ..." special - Chuckie Egg (February 2003)*
Fightbox Gamezlab & BBC MM Interviews (select backstage/Interviews/Gamezlab):
original site unavailable - archived by The Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Last known company worked for: BBC Worldwide (Gamezlab) - Fightbox Lead Programmer
* This is a revised update of an article first published in Edge magazine 109, April 2002 based on further clarification from Nigel Alderton, published in the following issue.
Doug started, with partner Mike Fitzgerald, his own software company, A&F, in 1981 - where A&F stood for Anderson & Fitzgerald, respectively. The company began by publishing Acorn Atom titles such as Polecat and Early Warning along with early BBC Micro titles. Chuckie Egg, brought to A&F by Spectrum programmer Nigel Alderton, was the game which really launched the A&F name out into the public arena, and was duly converted to most of the popular computing platforms over the course of the following half decade - Doug's BBC 32K release being one of the most well-loved versions. Doug stuck with the company as manager and then programmer through its sale to M.C. Lothlorien and the numerous rebrands that followed, including Icon Design Ltd and the vanilla Lothlorien.
When Lothlorien eventually folded, Doug went on to work on console games like Olympic Gold and Robocod at Tiertex Design Studios for the Sega Master System and Game Gear before moving on again to Runecraft (a UK developer which fell into administrative receivership in late 2002), working with such titles as Caesars Palace and Scrabble.
Doug's last known sighting was at Gamezlab as Lead Programmer on BBC Worldwide's Fightbox project, where he worked with other such luminaries as Andy Noble, a legendary retro remaker who made his name with modern takes on Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy but who has expressed an interest in the past, in taking on the challenge of a Chuckie Egg remake.
1985 - Chuckie Egg: ELECTRON
Interview(s):
now defunct (27th October 1998)Edge presents: Retro "The making of ..." special - Chuckie Egg (February 2003)*
Fightbox Gamezlab & BBC MM Interviews (select backstage/Interviews/Gamezlab):
original site unavailable - archived by The Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Last known company worked for: BBC Worldwide (Gamezlab) - Fightbox Lead Programmer
* This is a revised update of an article first published in Edge magazine 109, April 2002 based on further clarification from Nigel Alderton, published in the following issue.
Doug started, with partner Mike Fitzgerald, his own software company, A&F, in 1981 - where A&F stood for Anderson & Fitzgerald, respectively. The company began by publishing Acorn Atom titles such as Polecat and Early Warning along with early BBC Micro titles. Chuckie Egg, brought to A&F by Spectrum programmer Nigel Alderton, was the game which really launched the A&F name out into the public arena, and was duly converted to most of the popular computing platforms over the course of the following half decade - Doug's BBC 32K release being one of the most well-loved versions. Doug stuck with the company as manager and then programmer through its sale to M.C. Lothlorien and the numerous rebrands that followed, including Icon Design Ltd and the vanilla Lothlorien.
When Lothlorien eventually folded, Doug went on to work on console games like Olympic Gold and Robocod at Tiertex Design Studios for the Sega Master System and Game Gear before moving on again to Runecraft (a UK developer which fell into administrative receivership in late 2002), working with such titles as Caesars Palace and Scrabble.
Doug's last known sighting was at Gamezlab as Lead Programmer on BBC Worldwide's Fightbox project, where he worked with other such luminaries as Andy Noble, a legendary retro remaker who made his name with modern takes on Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy but who has expressed an interest in the past, in taking on the challenge of a Chuckie Egg remake.
Mike Webb
Release(s): 1983 - Chuckie Egg: DRAGON
1984 - Chuckie Egg: COMMODORE CM64 (with Sean Townsend)
1984 - Chuckie Egg: Tatung Einstein
1984 - Chuckie Egg: MSX (32K) (credited as A&F's R&D Team)
Interview(s): None Known
Last known company worked for: Unknown
Mike was known to have worked for Ocean Software sometime around 1984. He went on to co-found and become chairman of Software Creations, Ltd. which created such classic titles as Solstice (1989) for the NES and Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (1993) & Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart's Super Off Road (1994) for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The NES development was a problem for Software Creations because Nintendo would only allow those already developing for the NES, to become NES developers - a vicious catch-22 situation. Mike solved this problem by reverse-engineering the NES, and creating a development system that has been described as a thing to behold. According to Ste Ruddy in a recent issue of Retro Gamer, #37, it was a board with a stack of RAM chips plugged into a C64 that could be programmed through the user port. Then you had to unplug the stack of chips and plug them direct into the NES - a terrifying prospect, with a big power adaptor right near where you picked them up, with 240 volts going through it. Developers learned to be very careful ... Software Creations sadly went into liquidation in March of 2002. Mike now lives in Australia, after emigrating with his wife and three kids in August 2003. Sadly, he doesn't appear to be receiving emails from Bagshot Row since his initial contact, so if anyone does get through to him, let him know we'd still love to hear more from him!
1984 - Chuckie Egg: COMMODORE CM64 (with Sean Townsend)
1984 - Chuckie Egg: Tatung Einstein
1984 - Chuckie Egg: MSX (32K) (credited as A&F's R&D Team)
Interview(s): None Known
Last known company worked for: Unknown
Mike was known to have worked for Ocean Software sometime around 1984. He went on to co-found and become chairman of Software Creations, Ltd. which created such classic titles as Solstice (1989) for the NES and Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (1993) & Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart's Super Off Road (1994) for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The NES development was a problem for Software Creations because Nintendo would only allow those already developing for the NES, to become NES developers - a vicious catch-22 situation. Mike solved this problem by reverse-engineering the NES, and creating a development system that has been described as a thing to behold. According to Ste Ruddy in a recent issue of Retro Gamer, #37, it was a board with a stack of RAM chips plugged into a C64 that could be programmed through the user port. Then you had to unplug the stack of chips and plug them direct into the NES - a terrifying prospect, with a big power adaptor right near where you picked them up, with 240 volts going through it. Developers learned to be very careful ... Software Creations sadly went into liquidation in March of 2002. Mike now lives in Australia, after emigrating with his wife and three kids in August 2003. Sadly, he doesn't appear to be receiving emails from Bagshot Row since his initial contact, so if anyone does get through to him, let him know we'd still love to hear more from him!
Sean Townsend
Release(s): 1984 - Chuckie Egg: COMMODORE CM64 (with Mike Webb)
1985 - Chuckie Egg: ATARI
1985 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): COMMODORE 64 (credited as A&F R&D TEAM)
Interview(s): The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Sean Townsend: May 2007
Last known company worked for: Bally Technologies
In his early 8-bit programming years, Sean worked for A&F on Chuckie Egg projects and the C64 version of Gumshoe. Sean also worked at Binary Designs on C64 Max Headroom and at Canvas Software on C64 Road Runner, C64 MagMax & C64 Charlie Chaplin. After leaving Canvas Software, Sean moved out of the video games industry, citing the insecurity and the risk of not being paid at the end of the month. He wound up at Barcrest Games UK, programming fruit machines (AWP) and pub video games (SWP) - most notably The Crystal Maze series of games. Sean currently works for Bally Technologies as a software engineer, programming casino games.
1985 - Chuckie Egg: ATARI
1985 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): COMMODORE 64 (credited as A&F R&D TEAM)
Interview(s): The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Sean Townsend: May 2007
Last known company worked for: Bally Technologies
In his early 8-bit programming years, Sean worked for A&F on Chuckie Egg projects and the C64 version of Gumshoe. Sean also worked at Binary Designs on C64 Max Headroom and at Canvas Software on C64 Road Runner, C64 MagMax & C64 Charlie Chaplin. After leaving Canvas Software, Sean moved out of the video games industry, citing the insecurity and the risk of not being paid at the end of the month. He wound up at Barcrest Games UK, programming fruit machines (AWP) and pub video games (SWP) - most notably The Crystal Maze series of games. Sean currently works for Bally Technologies as a software engineer, programming casino games.
Pete Waterfield
Release(s): 1988 - Chuckie Egg: AMIGA (with artwork contributions from Neil Thompson)
1988 - Chuckie Egg: ATARI ST (with artwork contributions from Neil Thompson)
1989 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): AMIGA
1989 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): ATARI ST
Interview(s): None Known
Last known company worked for: Unknown
1988 - Chuckie Egg: ATARI ST (with artwork contributions from Neil Thompson)
1989 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): AMIGA
1989 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): ATARI ST
Interview(s): None Known
Last known company worked for: Unknown
Neil Thompson
Release(s): 1988 - Chuckie Egg: AMIGA (provided artwork for Pete Waterfield)
1988 - Chuckie Egg: ATARI ST (provided artwork for Pete Waterfield)
Interview(s): The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Neil Thompson: July 2010
Last known company worked for: Bizarre Creations
Neil Thompson started as a graphic artist with Icon Design in 1987 on 8-bit titles, before graduating to the 16-bit Amiga. Moving to Psygnosis, Neil worked on many projects including the Amiga puzzler Never Mind and overhead racer Nitro. Microcosm played well but was targeted at the ill-fated FM Towns console. Unhappy with the management role he found himself in at Psygnosis, Neil left to form Curly Monsters with five colleagues, who created two futuristic racing games - N-Gen Racing for the PS and Quantum Redshift for the X-Box. After returning to Sony to work on their F1 and Motorstorm series, Neil moved most recently to Bizarre Creations as Studio Art Director, where amongst other things he's overseeing state-of-the-art PS3 racer, Blur.
1988 - Chuckie Egg: ATARI ST (provided artwork for Pete Waterfield)
Interview(s): The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Neil Thompson: July 2010
Last known company worked for: Bizarre Creations
Neil Thompson started as a graphic artist with Icon Design in 1987 on 8-bit titles, before graduating to the 16-bit Amiga. Moving to Psygnosis, Neil worked on many projects including the Amiga puzzler Never Mind and overhead racer Nitro. Microcosm played well but was targeted at the ill-fated FM Towns console. Unhappy with the management role he found himself in at Psygnosis, Neil left to form Curly Monsters with five colleagues, who created two futuristic racing games - N-Gen Racing for the PS and Quantum Redshift for the X-Box. After returning to Sony to work on their F1 and Motorstorm series, Neil moved most recently to Bizarre Creations as Studio Art Director, where amongst other things he's overseeing state-of-the-art PS3 racer, Blur.
Ste Cork
Release(s): 1989 - Chuckie Egg: PC (CGA/EGA/TGA) (with contributions from a musician and artwork from Martin Holland)
Interview(s): Planet Soldier of Fortune (29th March 2001)
Action Vault - Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Q&A #1 (30th April 2002)
The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Ste Cork: March 2005
Last known company worked for: Raven Software
Ste Cork joined the industry in early 1986, after publishing a game he'd written at school with a friend. Since then he's written around 30 games, and has worked on various machines such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Einstein(!), Playstation and PC. Chuckie Egg was only the 2nd or 3rd PC title that Ste coded - the first being Nebulus (aka Tower Toppler). He's lived and worked in the UK, Switzerland, and now the US, joining Raven Software in November 1998. Most of the early 8-bit games are (in his own words) "best forgotten", but some of the more well-known titles were PC games like Xenon 1, Never Ending Story 2, OverKill, and a string of conversions for Psygnosis such as Obitus, Never Mind, Armour-Geddon and Last Action Hero. Prior to working for Raven, Ste worked for Hammerhead Ltd. in Southport, England on the PC/PSX versions of ShadowMaster, then a creature editor for the Playstation version of Quake II.
Interview(s): Planet Soldier of Fortune (29th March 2001)
Action Vault - Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Q&A #1 (30th April 2002)
The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Ste Cork: March 2005
Last known company worked for: Raven Software
Ste Cork joined the industry in early 1986, after publishing a game he'd written at school with a friend. Since then he's written around 30 games, and has worked on various machines such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Einstein(!), Playstation and PC. Chuckie Egg was only the 2nd or 3rd PC title that Ste coded - the first being Nebulus (aka Tower Toppler). He's lived and worked in the UK, Switzerland, and now the US, joining Raven Software in November 1998. Most of the early 8-bit games are (in his own words) "best forgotten", but some of the more well-known titles were PC games like Xenon 1, Never Ending Story 2, OverKill, and a string of conversions for Psygnosis such as Obitus, Never Mind, Armour-Geddon and Last Action Hero. Prior to working for Raven, Ste worked for Hammerhead Ltd. in Southport, England on the PC/PSX versions of ShadowMaster, then a creature editor for the Playstation version of Quake II.
Martin Holland
Release(s): 1989 - Chuckie Egg: PC (CGA/EGA/TGA) (provided artwork for Ste Cork)
Interview(s): 'Games That Werent' 64 (select Interviews/Martin Holland)
Last known company worked for: Virtucraft Studios Ltd
Martin Holland, the artist who worked on the PC (CGA/EGA/TGA) version of Chuckie Egg, sadly passed away on the 15th August 2003. Martin was one of the most well-respected artists in England's North West development community and, although the quality of his work should certainly not be judged just from his contribution to this simple game, we respect his involvement and were saddened to hear of this loss. Martin made contributions to Gene Pool, Canvas Software, M.C. Lothlorien/Icon Design and Software Creations during his career, before moving on to Virtucraft Studios to work on titles like X2: Wolverine's Revenge.
Interview(s): 'Games That Werent' 64 (select Interviews/Martin Holland)
Last known company worked for: Virtucraft Studios Ltd
Martin Holland, the artist who worked on the PC (CGA/EGA/TGA) version of Chuckie Egg, sadly passed away on the 15th August 2003. Martin was one of the most well-respected artists in England's North West development community and, although the quality of his work should certainly not be judged just from his contribution to this simple game, we respect his involvement and were saddened to hear of this loss. Martin made contributions to Gene Pool, Canvas Software, M.C. Lothlorien/Icon Design and Software Creations during his career, before moving on to Virtucraft Studios to work on titles like X2: Wolverine's Revenge.
Lee Miles
Release(s): 2003 - Chuckie Egg: J2ME (Sharp GX-10, GX-20)
Interview(s): -
Last known company worked for: TheImode Ltd
As TheImode Ltd, Lee Miles wrote several J2ME games, Dr Bok being the first and most widely published. This can still be found around the various free J2ME games sites. Lee was then approached by Elite to re-write Chuckie Egg for J2ME. Lee was the only developer in TheImode on the original port. The port was first created to run in the generic sun emulator and then on the Sharp GX10/GX20 handsets, which was released to the Vodafone live! games portal. The Nokia 3410 and 7210 screenshots are from early 'alternate' ideas but they were binned in favour of an exact copy of the original Spectrum release. After Chuckie Egg, Lee went on to port Ant Attack to J2ME but due to licensing issues this was never released.
Interview(s): -
Last known company worked for: TheImode Ltd
As TheImode Ltd, Lee Miles wrote several J2ME games, Dr Bok being the first and most widely published. This can still be found around the various free J2ME games sites. Lee was then approached by Elite to re-write Chuckie Egg for J2ME. Lee was the only developer in TheImode on the original port. The port was first created to run in the generic sun emulator and then on the Sharp GX10/GX20 handsets, which was released to the Vodafone live! games portal. The Nokia 3410 and 7210 screenshots are from early 'alternate' ideas but they were binned in favour of an exact copy of the original Spectrum release. After Chuckie Egg, Lee went on to port Ant Attack to J2ME but due to licensing issues this was never released.
J2ME Re-Release Developers
Release(s): 2005-6 - Chuckie Egg: J2ME (Various Nokia handsets)
Interview(s): -
Last known companies worked for: Alexei Kuznetsov from Nikitova (Nokia 7650 port) and Antonio Vera of Psytronic
A couple of years after it's initial release, Elite Systems contracted several developers, including Alexei and Antonio to port the Sharp GX-10, GX-20 J2ME codebase to a range of Nokia handsets.
Interview(s): -
Last known companies worked for: Alexei Kuznetsov from Nikitova (Nokia 7650 port) and Antonio Vera of Psytronic
A couple of years after it's initial release, Elite Systems contracted several developers, including Alexei and Antonio to port the Sharp GX-10, GX-20 J2ME codebase to a range of Nokia handsets.
Gaz Murfin
Release(s): 2009 - Chuckie Egg: Android 1.5 (Cupcake)
Interview(s): GFX-Base (29 May 2001)
Amiga Future (Issue 76, Jan/Feb 2009)
The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Gaz Murfin: February 2010
Last known companies worked for: Freelance (www.garethmurfin.co.uk)
Gareth Murfin from Newcastle is a game developer with over a decade of experience, and several Amiga releases to his name. After finishing university, Gaz spent time coding as a member of the legendary Rockstar Studios on big-name titles such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Manhunt. Now freelancing as a mobile application developer, Gaz was contracted in 2009 by Elite Systems to port their J2ME version of Chuckie Egg to Google's Android 1.5 (Cupcake) open platform.
Interview(s): GFX-Base (29 May 2001)
Amiga Future (Issue 76, Jan/Feb 2009)
The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit - Gaz Murfin: February 2010
Last known companies worked for: Freelance (www.garethmurfin.co.uk)
Gareth Murfin from Newcastle is a game developer with over a decade of experience, and several Amiga releases to his name. After finishing university, Gaz spent time coding as a member of the legendary Rockstar Studios on big-name titles such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Manhunt. Now freelancing as a mobile application developer, Gaz was contracted in 2009 by Elite Systems to port their J2ME version of Chuckie Egg to Google's Android 1.5 (Cupcake) open platform.
Credited Within Game - Actual Authors' Identities Still Unknown:
UNKNOWN
Release(s): 1985 - Chuckie Egg: AMSTRAD
A'n'F R&D TEAM
Release(s): 1985 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): AMSTRAD
AnF R&D TEAM
Release(s): 1985 - Chuckie Egg 2 (Choccy Egg): SPECTRUM 48K