FROM THE ARCHIVES

The short-lived NU WAVE label from CRL was home to an eclectic and experimental series of games, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence. Retro Gamer talks to founder Clem Chambers and the programmers to find out more

WORDS BY ANDREW FISHER

» [MSX] The stylish loading screen from Deus Ex Machina.

Clem Chambers launched Computer Rentals Limited in 1982. “I started it after I left school. I didn’t get the grades to go study industrial archaeology (thank goodness). I rented the cheapest office possible across the road from where the Kray Twins were brought up, over a tailor’s shop on Whitechapel Road.” The King’s Yard address became home to The Zen Room programming team, and the name changed to CRL. Then Clem saw a game that inspired him.

“The whole computer game thing was so new it all felt experimental to me. Successful games were often totally unique, so it seemed that was an exciting tack to take for games and one that would have an audience,” says Clem. “Deus Ex Machina by Automata influenced me that a game could be wildly experimental and still be a success. To do something first and unique excited my creativity, which it always has and still does. Nothing beats being on the bleeding edge. It’s only there you can move fast, have a clean sheet to work with and almost by chance come up with something startling.”

Clem started a new publishing label under CRL called Nu Wave Software. We asked how he came up with it and about its connotations with the strange and unusual. “I’m not sure about saying they were strange, apart from that being a correct usage of the word, because strange has a negative connotation of threat and foreboding. They just weren’t games where little fellows ran around with hammers. We did look for games for the label, not the other way around,” he replies.

First up was iD, by Mel Croucher and Colin Jones. “It was originally my idea, and [Mel] took it, morphed it, and made it his own,” explains Clem. “My idea would have been more abstract, but his take was tremendous and better and more accessible. It was as if I had said, 'We need a fantasy story about little guys,' and he went off and wrote The Hobbit. Mel’s work in games was immensely influential at the time. He is also chronically experimental.” Did Clem enjoy collaborating with a genius like Mel? “It was as easy as pie (or pi). Really brilliant people are very often highly productive, and Mel is a machine when it comes to output.”