The guy who wrote Star Raiders, but actually didn't..

Odd one this and a bit out there...

I remember a thread on Atari Age a while back where we were talking about Star Raiders. One person whose name I simply cannot remember mentioned that there was a guy from a later well known dev team who kept claiming he wrote Star Raiders. Now, the fact his name wasn't Doug, and he wasn't even alive when Star Raiders was written didn't seem to deter him making this wild claim.

I remember asking the guy who also was a dev if the guy was having a prank or was serious, he said he was very serious and kept repeating it.

Like I said, it's a weird out there story that not many know, I wondered if any here had heard the same. The other guy who was relating the story was a genuine dev, I wish I could remember which software house it was, but I knew of him and his work. Can't say I ever found him a BS merchant.

As you guys know, I've had contact with a great many devs because of my job and links in the industry back then, 99% were normal guys, some had massive ego's but in general you could chat to them and get common sense back. BUT, there are a lot of mental health cases out there in the industry. Some because of the stress they are put under with LONG hours, especially leading up to a release and just pressure to get on to the next money spinner. Truly unfair, but that's the norm for ALL work now. Just recently in the C64 community we had a very well respected new dev stopping work, so to self section himself, poor guy was / is in a very bad place.

Another person I helped get a job for a certain dev was also suffering from quite autistic style symptoms, his coding was excellent, but Allan had his own demons which clearly were getting in the way.

I mention all this because I wonder if the guy that was claiming to have written Star Raiders was also another person suffering.

I know it's a weird little story, and I really wish I could remember the dev who related it to me and the group.

 

Sorry, Paul.

I don't think I can help at all here.

I seem to remember Matt used to have some recollections/mentions of who was truly behind The Last Starfighter but clearly a completely different title/software story...



Anyone else know more about this Star Raiders claim?

All we can glean / get confirmation from on Atarimania is what we knows already...





Doug Neubauer - didn't he just toddle along with an idea and create the game, originally, as a little demo of what he was messing about with at the time?!

Some more info here:
https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/NEUBAUER.HTM

Mind, looking at the COMMENTS next to the game, there are 1-2 which might lead you to believe someone also had another "version".. or am I reading this wrong?



Or is this "other" dev referring to this "update" possibly?



I dunno, guys - someone will!

Over to you, Atari Owners

 

The only update I can imagine was the never officially released game by Aric Wilmunder, Savetz on AA managed to get an interview and the game was released on AA. And a much better game than the Last Starfighter rebadged game. Had it been released as The Last Starfighter then it was perfect, sadly it was renamed and sold as Star Raiders II, yet every reference to TLS was still there...Silly..

The film, The Last Starfighter did reasonable numbers, the fact that the arcade machine in the film shows the same loading screen as the Atari Star Raiders II rebadged version. And the fact that we know it was written as TLS because the finished proto leaked.

My interest in this other guy is purely as to why he was so keen to make out he had written it..

As said, it's a very little known claim, but it's real and barmy as hell..

 

I cannot comment on this specific case but it's obviously impossible. Some people try to blag their way in life claiming they have done something they haven't hoping to other party doesn't check in all walks of life. I know there was a lot of plagiarism back then. Coders would lift routines lock stock and barrel right out of other games to a point programmers would leave notes in the code telling others to eff off and write their own or they would slightly alter it. So claiming you wrote a game is not a stretch, that said claiming you wrote Star Raiders a really famous game where it's patently impossible seems a bit Walter Mitty to me.
As an aside who is the coder who has downed tools on modern C64 games Paul.

 

The guy who wrote Galencia, the Galaga style shooter, Jason Aldred..

A bit regarding it and a message from him..

https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=983069&hilit=jason+aldred#p983069