Hello all!

Andrew Spencer answered to me.I made small interview.

I asked totally 11 questions and he answered to me. Now I have emeiled to him that can I publish our interview to others, and If there is no problem I will soon publish it here in this topic.

He said for example,one of the biggest challange was to make level 9 as strong as it is now.

But, I will tell you more if I can publish our emeil.

See you !

-B-

ps: Yesterday i got couple more draws at level 9 with 500% speed, my poll hasnt solution yet. Maybe 500% level 9 is unbeaten at this year
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That's great news, boogie, well done for putting in the time and effort to find Mr Spencer!

I'd love to read the whole interview, and I'm glad he's decided to respond to you.

Keep us posted!

Hey, did you tell him that I reckon I can beat him no problem at IS even though he created it

Hello all!

Here are the questions and answers with Andrew Spencer, internationall soccer creator.Totally 11 questions.

1) Did you programmed IS alone? Did you need help for other programmers, or did you everything on your own?

I programmed it on my own and did the graphics / animation.

2) How long it took to create that game ? What were biggest problems/challenges to create that game?

It took about a year to create. The biggest challenge was to make the computer
opponent good enough to be difficult to beat. Set pieces like throw-ins also presented some problems.

3) How old you were then ( game published 1983?) and how old are you now? Are you from England?

I was 23 then and I'm 47 now, and yes I am from England.

4) Can you tell me any special tricks about IS ? I have learnt on my own some tricks, for example how to lift ball on your head and so on.

I don't know any tricks really - not even how to lift the ball onto your head.
The ability to run down the field with the ball bouncing on the head was an
accident of programming, but I was pleased because people found it funny.

5) Can you tell about players who hasn’t got ball, is it there someway how you can control them or are they just walking randomly all around?

The players who haven't got the ball are basically random, but they try to
follow the flow of play, so that if you run forward with the ball, they tend to
go forward too. I think they also try to intercept passes that you make from
the controlled player. Apart from that, the players without the ball just try
to keep fairly evenly spread out. This is partly so they get some space so
that you can pass to them, but it is also because it caused problems with the
graphics on the Commodore-64 if too many players got in the same place.

6) Do you know very good players of IS and do you play that game a lot? Has anyone else IS freak contacted you and asked these same questions? I would like to meet other IS players and discuss about this game. I have played that game with one Spanish friend. He had somekind of KAILLERA tools and software. We played against each other at Internet. He wasn’t able to get one single draw from me. I really liked to find other IS friends.

I am sorry to say that I don't know anyone who still plays IS and it is a long time since I played the game myself. I played it so much while I was
programming it that I became a bit tired of looking at it. In fact when I
closed my eyes I could still see little football players running around and by the time the game was completed, I definitely needed a break from it!

7) Is it possible to create VERY VERY difficult computer opponent? About 10 times stronger than usual level 9 is. As I told,my record is 14-0 against level 9, and it would be nice to had challange on that game.

When I made the game I tried to make the computer opponent as difficult as possible without cheating (i.e. the computer can only do what a human player can do) and this became level 9. The other levels were made by making the computer 'think' less quickly and sometimes do the wrong thing. As I said earlier the computer AI was the hardest part to do and I couldn't really make anything stronger than level 9.

About kick strength of ball. Is it there somekind of “aftertouch” by controlling ball? Sometimes I think I can do higher kick and sometimes I can´t. And sometimes I think I can kick ball to fly stronger, if I kick it exactly same time when I turn right or turn left. Its hard to explain, but I mean any kind of after touch.

There is no actual after-touch programmed into the game, but I think you are right in saying that it is possible to get the ball to go further by turning
while you are kicking it. This was an accident of the way that I made the
players kick the ball.

9) Do the colours have playing strong difference? There are 6 different colour at game, and I have played hundreds of tournaments with different colours. Believe or not, I got my tournament results at watching lots of demo games. I tried solve out, which colour is the best.

The colour of the team makes no difference to the play (except some colours areeasier to see!). There is an advantage to playing left-to-right (orright-to-left, I can't remember which) which was caused by a slight bug in the program.

10) About other versions of IS. There are Soccer 2, Voelbal, Mondiano86 etc. At those versions you can change player colours, and do instant replays. Have you programmed those or have you just given rights to other programmers to make those extra things?

The only soccer game I made was Commodore International Soccer and I also did International Basketball. I based IS on a soccer game I saw in a shop, running on an 'Intellivision' console. Other people based later soccer games on mine,adding their own improvements but I didn't get any royalties for any of thoselater games.

11) I have done BBA –exam at information management, and I have done little bit programming with Visual Basic and Java.Actually I´m weak programmer, but I know basics. Is it possible to learn programming game of IS? Would you allow to touch to that game code? Do programmers need special tools and software to do different versions of IS? New ideas could be like raising computer difficulty or making overtime when you tie at IS. Im not seriously interested to make new versions of that game, but Im very interested of this game.

IS was written in Assembly Language which is not really used in game
programming nowadays because it is very fiddly to use. It would be easier tomake a new soccer game in Java (or C++, or C) but it would still require a lotof work.

Here was our interview,and I gave special thanks to Andrew Spencer!

-B-
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Boogie

Many thanks for posting the interview, it's an interesting piece. It sounds as if a few things happened by accident along the way that actually improved the game slightly... but that's OK, sort of nice that not every aspect of the game was meticulously thought out and planned.

I'd be quite interested to see the Intellivison game that Andrew Spencer was inspired by.

As I mentioned before, big thanks to you for finding the programmer to one of the most simple and addictive football games I've ever played. IS played a role in my future as it helped me with my exams when I was studying as it was a fantastic way to have a quick break from all the books to 'recharge' before getting back down to it again.

I hope you can send Andrew a link to this thread and forum so he can read a few of our thoughts on an old-time favourite of ours.

I guess there are a few questions I would like to ask him: I'd like to know if he was a soccer fan himself? How did Commodore find him – did he write the game himself and then send it to them, or did they somehow find him first and ask him to create a soccer game? Did he know it was going to be a cartridge game, because for me the quick loading aspect of it was a huge factor in me playing it so much. And did he ever play any soccer games himself on any computers/games consoles? Lastly, I'd like to know if there were any ways he would like to have improved IS if he was given another chance. I'd also love to know if he ever got to play Emlyn Hughes IS, and what he thought of it. For me it WAS International Soccer 2!

Hey, it's interesting about the comment about not knowing about how to kick the ball on to your head, as I'm sure something was mentioned about that in the instructions of the game! Maybe I'm wrong, I'm trying to remember something from 20+ years ago!

Sorry, I did not read the whoke thread, but I'd say I'm the most obsessive _watcher_ of IS . Every now and then, when I get together with pals from "the days"(tm) we just have the computer play itself and watch the game. Oddly, it's always a different result, an it's quite cool to just sit there and comment on it like a real soccer games (of course, beer is involved...).

Dave
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Hello!

Yeah, I really got contact with Andrew Spencer. At my first emeil I asked are you really A S, and then i asked those questions. It took several weeks when he answered to me.

Andrew Spencer´s last hope was to don´t publish his emeil address, and it´s now difficult to behave correctly...

Some people has sent PM to me about his address,and I think if I tell where you can propably found that address, not exactly that address, I think I have kept my promise

So he works at Sheffield University at England nowadays....

And reply to soccer watcher:

Yes, that grazy time when I was 11-12 years old, I also recorded games to video tape, and practised as tv-reporter. I recorded same time my reports to c-cassette and video-tape recorded audio, it was my voice, about IS game.. it was really fun at those times. I also could wrote results on the normal c-64 screen, and that helped reporter to read latest league results like as real reporter...and I had real tv-magazine report when I push PLAY-button same time in video and cassette recorder...


-B-
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Edit: I think its time to enter details of your stupendous prowess on Wikipedia! haha

"International Soccer" was a great game. Obtained it on cartridge for Christmas way back in 1984. Never played it again after getting an Amiga though. Besides, later I was was addicted to Amiga's "Sensible Soccer" and "SWOS". Still am!

I am sure you would beat me 50 - nil in "International Soccer", Boogie!

However, can anyone possibly kick my rear-end at "The Way of the Exploding Fist" (2 player)? I'd like to see you try! haha

Hey Boogie76, only now, months after you posted what's shown below, did I realise you did indeed interview Andrew Spencer, the creator of International Soccer (and International Basketball).

After a bit of polish, this could be included in the interviews on the Lemon64 Games' tab page? How about it?

Good job!

boogie76 wrote:

Hello all! Here are the questions and answers with Andrew Spencer, internationall soccer creator.Totally 11 questions. 1) Did you programmed IS alone? Did you need help for other programmers, or did you everything on your own? I programmed it on my own and did the graphics / animation. 2) How long it took to create that game ? What were biggest problems/challenges to create that game? It took about a year to create. The biggest challenge was to make the computer opponent good enough to be difficult to beat. Set pieces like throw-ins also presented some problems. 3) How old you were then ( game published 1983?) and how old are you now? Are you from England? I was 23 then and I'm 47 now, and yes I am from England. 4) Can you tell me any special tricks about IS ? I have learnt on my own some tricks, for example how to lift ball on your head and so on. I don't know any tricks really - not even how to lift the ball onto your head. The ability to run down the field with the ball bouncing on the head was an accident of programming, but I was pleased because people found it funny. 5) Can you tell about players who hasn’t got ball, is it there someway how you can control them or are they just walking randomly all around? The players who haven't got the ball are basically random, but they try to follow the flow of play, so that if you run forward with the ball, they tend to go forward too. I think they also try to intercept passes that you make from the controlled player. Apart from that, the players without the ball just try to keep fairly evenly spread out. This is partly so they get some space so that you can pass to them, but it is also because it caused problems with the graphics on the Commodore-64 if too many players got in the same place. 6) Do you know very good players of IS and do you play that game a lot? Has anyone else IS freak contacted you and asked these same questions? I would like to meet other IS players and discuss about this game. I have played that game with one Spanish friend. He had somekind of KAILLERA tools and software. We played against each other at Internet. He wasn’t able to get one single draw from me. I really liked to find other IS friends. I am sorry to say that I don't know anyone who still plays IS and it is a long time since I played the game myself. I played it so much while I was programming it that I became a bit tired of looking at it. In fact when I closed my eyes I could still see little football players running around and by the time the game was completed, I definitely needed a break from it! 7) Is it possible to create VERY VERY difficult computer opponent? About 10 times stronger than usual level 9 is. As I told,my record is 14-0 against level 9, and it would be nice to had challange on that game. When I made the game I tried to make the computer opponent as difficult as possible without cheating (i.e. the computer can only do what a human player can do) and this became level 9. The other levels were made by making the computer 'think' less quickly and sometimes do the wrong thing. As I said earlier the computer AI was the hardest part to do and I couldn't really make anything stronger than level 9. About kick strength of ball. Is it there somekind of “aftertouch” by controlling ball? Sometimes I think I can do higher kick and sometimes I can´t. And sometimes I think I can kick ball to fly stronger, if I kick it exactly same time when I turn right or turn left. Its hard to explain, but I mean any kind of after touch. There is no actual after-touch programmed into the game, but I think you are right in saying that it is possible to get the ball to go further by turning while you are kicking it. This was an accident of the way that I made the players kick the ball. 9) Do the colours have playing strong difference? There are 6 different colour at game, and I have played hundreds of tournaments with different colours. Believe or not, I got my tournament results at watching lots of demo games. I tried solve out, which colour is the best. The colour of the team makes no difference to the play (except some colours areeasier to see!). There is an advantage to playing left-to-right (orright-to-left, I can't remember which) which was caused by a slight bug in the program. 10) About other versions of IS. There are Soccer 2, Voelbal, Mondiano86 etc. At those versions you can change player colours, and do instant replays. Have you programmed those or have you just given rights to other programmers to make those extra things? The only soccer game I made was Commodore International Soccer and I also did International Basketball. I based IS on a soccer game I saw in a shop, running on an 'Intellivision' console. Other people based later soccer games on mine,adding their own improvements but I didn't get any royalties for any of thoselater games. 11) I have done BBA –exam at information management, and I have done little bit programming with Visual Basic and Java.Actually I´m weak programmer, but I know basics. Is it possible to learn programming game of IS? Would you allow to touch to that game code? Do programmers need special tools and software to do different versions of IS? New ideas could be like raising computer difficulty or making overtime when you tie at IS. Im not seriously interested to make new versions of that game, but Im very interested of this game. IS was written in Assembly Language which is not really used in game programming nowadays because it is very fiddly to use. It would be easier tomake a new soccer game in Java (or C++, or C) but it would still require a lotof work. Here was our interview,and I gave special thanks to Andrew Spencer! -B-

Hello!

I havent (been crazy) and played Internationall soccer for months.

So my Poll result is clear. Nobody has won level 9 at 500% speed. I got draw once but not won.

In this moment,Is feels little bit boring game and i havent got time and interests to play it. Maybe I playu it more after couple a years

Happy new year to everybody !

-B-
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Hey, boogie76.

I've seen I haven't post my opinion about the Andrew Spencer interview yet!!! My fault!

I've enjoyed with the interview, especially with questions about how did he programmed the game. I would like to know what's the slight advantage of playing left-to-right or right-to-left.

Anyway I'm very surprised with you, ea31... watching the demos, counting the goals of all teams, doing reports... But I must admit I did something similar with Sensible Soccer. That's insane!

But more insane is that you played IS with your LEGS!!! Anyway I find funny your tactics about "PASSIVE" players.

And finally, congratulations. You didnt win level 9 at 500% but you managed to draw. GREAT result!
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Hi everyone,

I too loved this game but once I started to thrash level 9 I stopped playing.

I remember having glandular fever and being off school for around a month when I was about 10 (1985) its at this time I spent most of my time (when I was awake...which wasn't too much, gladular fever + ashma +10 year old = bad news) playing international soccer.

I lost interest in the c64 and only got interested in it again through emulation.

Playing IS after all these years is weird like going back in time.

I didn't know you could play the game at a greater speed can someone tell me how I do this?

If you use CCS64 emulator, press F9 and choose "options". Then you'll reach the options menu where you can increase or decrease the speed. I suppose you can do the same with other emulators, read their docs then.
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hahah..I used to play IS all the time and get my mate massive cut when I would run around the room after every goal or pump my fist in his face

Im going to dig it out again and whack it in the old C=64..
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Hello!

Still I think Internationall soccer is good game but I havent played it for years. Still people here who would like to discuss about the game ?

-B-
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Hi, I havent played it for years neither, maybe occasionally. But my love and interest for the game have not decreased.

In fact I have recently bought some RetroGamer magazines and one of them was especially chosed because it contains a report about Andrew Spencer and how he made International Soccer & Basket. I still havent read that report (I'm reading the magazines by a specific order: first the oldest), but it sounds interesting.
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