In at the Deep End

Introduction

Although it’s quite some time since Début was originally published, I still get the occasional enquiry about it.  It’s also close to my heart as my first ever fully developed and published game.  So this page serves to provide a little history.

What's Début?

Début is (or maybe was, I never can remember) a videogame for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga.  It provides three major experiences - A complex planet simulator, a traditional side-scroller experience (rare on the Atari in those days), and an interesting audio diversion known as Vibes (a kind of Trip-a-Tron for the ears).

   

History

The history of Début is complicated, but suffice to say Début was long hard slog for its creators - myself and Mark Davidson.  Its original conceptual representation was formally put to paper in spring 1988.  Many ideas for what it might be significantly predate this.  It was published in time for Christmas 1990, and for a brief spell was in the top-10 games sold in London high-streets over that period.  Unfortunately for its creators, the publisher never did find the time to perform that fiddling paperwork concerning royalties.  Such is life, and you learn from it.

The Press Tour

When we did the press tour in 1990, we spent quite some time writing up the full story of how the game came about, including false starts and numerous obstacles along the way.  The game was hugely ambitious.  Looking back, it’s pretty miraculous that only a couple of guys with some friends to help could turn out a full-scale gaming experience.

The press tour was a hell of a lot of fun, three of us drove around the UK visiting all the big publishers of the time.  I remember visiting Chichester, Bristol, Liverpool, Runcorn, and London all within a few days of each other.

During the press tour we handed out some rather nice custom boxes, with a bunch of Début swag and info contained inside.  When I get the opportunity, I’ll try to put the press pack online.  In the grand scheme of things it’s pretty insignifiant trivia, but it’s pretty amusing, detailing all the trials and tribulations we had along the way.

Learn about the Début Music.