2019-04-01_Retro_Gamer

M

y mom saw an article in our local

newspaper about two kids that had

built this game,” John begins.

“I went

me, that’s something I could do. So I bought a over and talked with them. That inspired

C64 (with a loan from my grandfather) and that

summer I programmed my first game,

Rescue

Squad

high school. The school’s computer was where .” John was 17 years old and a senior in

his programming career had started, followed by

teaching himself machine code on the TRS-80.

John needed a publisher for his game. “The

day I finished the game – at least I thought I was

finished – I literally opened up the phone book.

When I look back I realise how ridiculously crazy

it was that this actually worked. I was just lucky

there happened to be a publisher in Baltimore,

MUSE Software. I called up, and I can remember

to this day, saying, ‘Hi, I was wondering if you

published Commodore 64 games? ’ And the

operator said, ‘No, I’m sorry we don’t.’ I

was literally hanging up the phone

The Making Of

The Commodore 64 classic Space Taxi was ahead of its

time, featuring a sophisticated physics engine, speech and

creative level designs, and is now highly sought after.

John F Kutcher explains how he created it while studying

m Words by Andrew FisherW

space

p the phone e don’t.’ I d the

52 | RETRO GAMER