-  Interview with  Simon Cooke  -
                       -  Author of The Lost Patrol -


SD: Yo Simon!!.
SC: Hi!
.
SD: How old are you?
SC: ummm...20 I think.

SD: Where do you live?
SC: Isle of Wight.

SD: Were you born here?
SC: Yep, born and bred.

SD: How long  have you been computing ?
SC: About 7  years,  my first  computer
    was a Speccy.

SD: How long did it take to write Lost
    Patrol?
SC: Well, it took a year.

SD: How long should it of taken?
SC: 6 months.









SD: Why did you decide to go with Ocean
SC: They offered us a deal first.

SD: How many guys worked on Lost Patrol
SC: 3 on the Amiga and 3 on the ST.

SD: Why  did  the  game take so long to
    write?
SC: I got bored with  coding it and the
    fact  that  Ocean kept hassling me.

SD: Who would  you of prefered to  sell
    it to?
SC: Who ever had the most money.

SD: What's your set up?
SC: I have an A2000 and an  A500 called
    Harold!!!
SD: What other  games have you written?
SC: I finished  Lost Patrol  and  wrote
    Xenodrome  for  Thalamus  which was
    never finished.





SD: Why wasn't it finished?
SC: Because  I  rewrote  it twice  then
    left  to  finish  Lost  Patrol.

SD: Do  you have any  fave programmers?
SC: Bullfrog (Populous), Rob Stevens

SD: Do you have any other pastimes?
SC: I watch alot of videos, and getting
    stoned.

SD: Do you have a fave gfx artist?
SC: Ian Harling (LP,Thunderstrike)

SD: Why do you hate the Darling
    brothers?
SC: When I  first  started  coding they 
    fucked me around alot!!

SD: And Ocean?
SC: These  guys really  treat freelance
    programmers  like  shit  and  their
    management  is  terrible.





SD: You said that Lost Patrol had been
    censored?!
SC: Yeah they changed all the
    controversial words like kill,dead
    etc.. to real soft words.

SD: What would you like to see happen
    to the industry?
SC: I'd like the programmers to be
    treated alot better, maybe we need
    our own union to govern what goes
    on.

SD: Will there be Lost Patrol 2?
SC: Fuck off not unless I was paid
    1 million pounds or 4k of dope.

SD: Has this game affected you mentally
SC: Too right, I've aged about 20 years
    in appearance.

SD: What did you use to write
    Lost Patrol?
SC: We used Devpac for the Amiga and
    Argasm for the ST.



SD: Do you know how many copies have
    been sold?
SC: 13000 so far.

SD: How much money have you earned
    to date?
SC: We have a guaranteed 15000 advance
    plus royalties.

SD: Thanks for this interview Simon
    and I hope that the VietCong don't
    come down on you too hard(hehehe).

SC: Thanks Colin, its been an
    experience.


    Interview conducted in a hall on
 the Isle of Wight surrounded by lamers

                     JESTER/STOLEN DATA
 --------------------------------------