MAGAZINE CRAFT: NICK ROBERTS

A true unsung legend of the publishing industry, Nick Roberts started out poking around on Crash before launching, editing and even designing some of the UK’s most iconic gaming mags. Given his clear plate-spinning talents, perhaps it’s somewhat ironic then that the first videogame he ever played was Wacky Waiters!

Words by Stuart Hunt

THEN

Growing up in Ludlow, Nick began his career writing reviews and tips for Crash magazine. When Newsfield was sold to Europress, he worked on several of its Force titles. He later helped to launch Play and games™ at Paragon Publishing and at one stage, was even the editorin-chief of this very mag.

NOW

Nick has since swapped magazine creation for game making. Starting out as an executive producer at Amuzo Games in Bournemouth, he has worked on mobile titles for the likes of Lego, Netflix and Sony. He is now the studio director of Sporty Games – a new development studio headed up by industry legend Jon Hare.

So Nick, as a writer on Crash , we’re guessing you soon switched from Commodore to Sinclair?

My friend Shane got a ZX81 and I was blown away when I saw it in 1981 – Sinclair was cooler than Commodore in my mind. So with the money I had saved up from DJing school discos, I bought myself a ZX Spectrum, a whole bunch of useless peripherals, like the Spectrum Light Pen, and loads of budget games. This must have been around 1984. I loved the Mastertronic range.

Chiller, with its Thriller-inspired zombie cover, was a firm favourite of mine.

That’s when my interest in games took off and I started to really get into reading Crash.

So how did the opportunity to write for Crash come about?

One issue I happened to notice that the playing tips writer, Hannah Smith, was leaving. She had written a goodbye piece in one of the issues. I was 15 by this point and thought I’d apply. I wrote to Roger Kean, who was the editor at the time. He was a wonderful man and became one of my best friends. A few weeks passed and I got a phone call from his secretary who said, “Roger would like to invite you in for a writing test.” I was so excited. I can remember the feeling now. It was like some Wizard Of Oz moment.

Can you remember that first time stepping into Crash Towers?

I remember the smell of the film planning fluid hitting you as you stepped through the door (I can still smell it today) and being interviewed by Roger as he sat puffing on a cigarette at his desk. Behind him was aSinclair Userlogo that someone had swiped from a PCW Show in London and had brought back on the bus. Anyway, I playedStormbringerand, in my review, mentioned that I knew that the author was David Jones, as I had played his earlierMagic KnightgamesFinders Keepersand Spellbound. I think that impressed Roger, so he offered me the job. Then, every day, after school, I would go into the Crash office – they would allocate me two or three games to review for a fiver a pop. After a few months Roger asked if I would like to take over the tips section – and I’m still writing it 38 years later!

"Crash was like walking into an arcade, with all these people playing and reviewing games. There were banks of Spectrums, TVs and wires everywhere"

NICK ROBERTS

Tell us about the editorial process on Crash .

Crash was like walking into an arcade, with all these people playing and reviewing games. There were banks of Spectrums, TVs and wires everywhere, and the Zzap!64 lot next door making lots of noise. You’d be handed a pad and a pen to make notes on and there were these big Amstrad PCW 8256 green screen word processors to type up your review on. You would then hand your copy on a 3-inch disk to a sub-editor to proof. As editor, Roger would have final say and do any final edits on his Apricot computer.