Having co-founded Westwood Studios and brought us games such as Blade Runner, Command & Conquer, BattleTech, Dungeons & Dragons and many more, Louis Castle’s resume boasts some of the most revered titles in videogaming history. Now putting his more than three decades of experience into taking the helm as Head of Amazon Game Studios in Seattle, Louis was kind enough to answer my questions on some highlights from his career.
How did you get into working in videogames back in the 1980s? Could you give me a little bit about your early background etc - I mean, did you start off doing graphics on Fraction Action, or was there much before that?
Louis: I had decided to pursue architecture as a way to use my art skills in a less risky profession with a fall back plan of being a draftsman. When I saw early CAD/CAM software I was concerned that draftsmen would be replaced by computers so I wanted to learn how to use computers. That led me to working at the local computer store and doing art on computer games like Fraction Action.
Louis’ graphics on display in Fraction Action, one of his earliest credited titles. Image sourced from MobyGames.
I wanted to do much more ambitious animation which required programming so I taught myself assembly language and that ultimately led to making games. I started with type in games where the reader of a magazine would type in the source code of a game and run it on their computer. Most of the actual game was in assembly as data statements. The shell was in BASIC.
If I had been born a bit later, with all the graphic tools that were made, I may have been quite happy being a computer artist.
Now an iconic logo, Westwood were responsible for some of the most beloved gaming franchises of the 90s.
Can you please let me know how you met Brett Sperry and got started with Brelous Software - and why the change to Westwood even though you guys were in Las Vegas?
Louis: I met Brett while I worked for the computer store Century 23. Brett was a regular customer and he was the one who introduced me to the businesses making games in Vegas. Brett needed a print out for one of his games and I had a printer so he came over and we talked for hours. Brett really wanted to make a big company and I said I just really wanted to have fun and enjoy my life. We both got what we wanted!
The name Westwood was chosen because at the time Westwood California was the place that was part entertainment industry, part technology and part business. I loved the name since, as a high school student, I used to drive down to Westwood to hang out with Paul Mudra and our friends. We chose "Associates" so that we could do game or business software, since I was already making good money as a business solutions programmer.
Westwood developed games for some of the biggest licenses around – including Dungeons & Dragons.
Even very early on, you were working on some fantastic licenses. Do you recall how these came about? I'm referring to some of the Walt Disney games, Battletech, Dungeons & Dragons and Nightmare on Elm Street - and all by 1990.
Louis: We started with Epyx to make 16 bit versions of their 8 bit games. That led to their Games series of action sports games. We earned a reputation for making some very nice looking games which helped when trying to get into the big franchises like Disney. They liked that we had such an emphasis on art.
We actually helped SSI land the D&D license so that was more of getting a return on a long time beneficial relationship. With each hit the next one becomes easier to land. We were one of the few companies that continued to do licensed games as we expanded our original titles. I still think doing both original and licensed work helps create discipline around your IP developement.
Back in 1988, Westwood were hired by Epyx to create the Amiga port of California Games. Image sourced from Lemon Amiga.
At some point I'd love to have a more in-depth discussion about Mars Saga and Mines of Titan, but for now, can you tell me what it was like to release Mars Saga? Was this your first, from-the-ground-up commercial game launch that you led, designed and built yourselves?
Louis: Yes, Mars Saga was our first completely original game but we had done some other complete re-writes so we were not new to the full process. Ultimately the Mars Saga only performed modestly and EA was already focusing on the hits driven business so we were allowed to modify the IP and re-release the game as the Mines of Titan on different formats through Infocom. Making a second version of the game allowed us to react to customer feedback and reviews which was really great.
1989's Mines of Titan, a remake of Mars Saga from the year before, was a classic that contained many elements that would later become staple features of 1990s computer RPG.
Have you done much else on console besides Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun? If not, any particular reason for this? It seems you mostly stuck to computers even throughout the 90s' 16-bit console boom.
Louis: We did Disney's The Lion King on SNES and Genesis, Dragon Strike for the NES, Vindicators for the NES, Young Merlin for the SNES, Command & Conquer for the PS and N64 and a bunch more. Westwood always had some console efforts going but only The Lion King really met with huge success.
The Lion King was Westwood’s most successful console outing. Megadrive/Genesis version shown here.
This all started some 30+ years ago now - what have been the major changes in the industry, or at least in terms of your work, that stand out to you? (To be clear, I mean more in terms of your working role, and not so much the hardware and other tech advancements).
Louis: I started as a solo artist, became a low level programmer to do my art, went into game design to keep our 7 person company growing, served as out art director and our technical director as we grew to 28, took over finance when we were acquired by Virgin, developed our operations and technical systems while we expanded to 200, maintained a role as executive producer and even dabbled once and a while back in bits of code through the EA acquisition in 1998 and until we closed Las Vegas in 2003.
From there I continued with EALA as chief creative officer, build a team to make games with Steven Spielberg, ran a fledgling EA studio then left to learn about web based games as CEO of an IAC company. I took the VP of studios role at Zynga to work with Mike Verdu again but left when I have the opportunity to be the Chief Strategy Office of a public gambling supply company where I ran R&D and was actively involved in M&A. For three years I worked as an individual contributor to multiple PC, Console and Mobile companies and have now taken the role of head of games for Amazon in Seattle.
Over the years I started as the customer and continued to evolve my roles around art, design, technology and the business functions that facilitate creating entertainment in a technical world.
I'm constantly astounded by how much and how fast our industry evolves and find the pace intoxicating.
Today I'm most excited about cloud based computing and how it can be used to connect large communities of players and enable them to help us make the entertainment the players want.
Westwood’s contributions to the real-time strategy genre cannot be overstated thanks to titles such as Dune 2 and the Command & Conquer series (including Red Alert, shown here).
Over your career, is there one particular standout title that has been either your favourite project, or the title(s) that you're the most proud of - and why?
Louis: Blade Runner is always a stand out for me. I was the head of and actively participated in design, art, technology and licensor relations. I owe so much to the talented team that brought that game to life as it remains one of my favorite experiences.
Few games have shown as much of an appreciation and faithfulness to the source material as Blade Runner. You can look forward to a more in-depth interview with Louis on this classic adventure title.
Thanks a lot Louis. Appreciate you taking the time.
Louis: Happy to contribute!
Huge thanks to Louis for answering my many questions, and for agreeing to help out with future interviews. He’s contributed some absolute classics to gaming history and I’m really looking forward to publishing more of his game development memories right here.
Previous:
Interesting People #15: Kristaps Vaivods and Maris Ziedonis on Hash Rush
For those who may have missed it, my second interview with Louis is here:
Interesting People #20: Louis Castle on developing DragonStrike and other D&D classics
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Greate post @badastroza. thankyou very much .
Thanks! Really enjoy interviewing Louis. He's worked on so many great titles.
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Wow! Louis Castle has worked on some amazing titles.. had no idea. I was a massive fan of C&C. Many a long night up playing that game and recently playing again - emulated on Windows 10.
Did you interview him yourself? That's incredible!!!!!
As a side note, I found one of your comments on @curie and clicked on you to check out some of your work. I'm liking what you've got! And I'm glad I took the time to have a look outside the walls of my own blog. I spend MUCH more time contributing than I do curating and its terrific to know people like @curie and curators spend the time to find high grade work.
Hope to read more of your writing soon.
All the best,
Nick
Wow, that's high praise! Thank you very much!
Yes all the content I've posted is my own work, with all interviews conducted myself. :) It's a lot of fun.
I hear what you say about time spent contributing your own content vs checking out other people's stuff - one can get tangled up in one's own blog here, regularly refreshing the browser window to check for new replies or new upvotes...
You know, you should really come to PALNet and join #teamaustralia - it's a good community. Come say hi. :)
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Awesome! Thanks a lot. Much more like it to come.
Command and Conquer. I would spend hours playing that game. I remember linking the old Playstation 1 together with the dual TVs to get our game on. 34 hours straight I think was my record. What a legend and great interview.
Thanks very much! I remember buying a mouse for my PlayStation so I could get into some strategy games (including C&C Red Alert) on the TV! Good times they were. :)
Glad you enjoyed the interview. Yep, Louis is a real legend for sure.
Ahh I played The Lion King on PC, was such a cute game XD Also got into the C&C series a bit, was also playing WarCraft (and later StarCraft) and a couple of other RTS vaguely around that era. Otherwise most of what I remember was watching whatever games I or my cousin had at the time slowly improving in graphics from basically a cluster of pixels in vaguely the shape of a character on the screen progressing all the way through to what we have today XD I have missed a fair chunk as I stopped gaming regularly shortly after I decided I wanted to do film rather than games.
Pretty cool learning about all these people who have been doing games since it was agonisingly painful to do so (devs and even artists these days don't know how comparatively easy they have it XD), thanks for taking the time to hunt them down for interviews :D
Thanks for the comment! I love talking to these people. Games were such a huge part of my youth and the fact that nowadays we're able to reach out to their creators and ask them questions directly I'd just awesome.
Even better is when people, like Louis, are so willing to discuss their old classics. I'm very happy to be bringing them to a medium like Steemit so that once in the blockchain and catalogued by Google/other search engines, these interviews will be accessible by everyone, including future generations who may stumble upon these great old gaming gems and want to learn more!
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It was really amazing to read this interview of Louis Castle. He has been a part of the making of so many great games.
Well, I have played Blade Runner, it's really fun and one of the most popular games.
Thanks @badastroza for regularly sharing with so many nice interviews of awesome people.
Thanks a lot! You're welcome - and yes, Blade Runner really was an amazing game. I'm looking forward to posting a big interview about it with some great additional content provided by Louis himself.
All coming soon!
Wow, that will be great. Looking forward for it. :)
Awesome interview, very good questions and what an interesting fellow to interview! Very polished article, delightful to read!
I particularly thought that your question about how he's life as a game developer has been was interesting:
Very interesting question that received an equally interesting answer! Interesting to follow his career, especially for me as I'm trying to pursue a similar career.
Thanks for taking the time to conduct this interview, love each one, but this one instantly became a favorite!
Props man, keep the awesome content flowing!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Would you be willing to resteem if that's something you do? :)
I'm preparing my next interview with him. It's really fantastic that someone with this much experience who has developed so many amazing games is willing to share his memories and insights with us. I'm very happy to be able to bring this content to Steemit!
I would give this article the honor of being my first resteem! I don't usually resteem, but this one is relevant to my followers and I love it, so yes I would :)
Yea absolutely, I mean Dungeons & Dragons, that's some heavy stuff right there! As you said, amazing that he takes the time to share his views :)
Peace man, going to resteem right now, props for an awesome interview!
Thank you very much!
If you love D&D then you'll definitely enjoy one of the pieces I'm preparing with him this week. More to come soon :)
very extensive artile and super duper that you did all the interviews and all the pics are yours. im going to be bloggin here as well.
Thanks for posting this info! I didn't know they're the one responsible for the game Red Alert. I love it!!!
No worries! Thanks for the comment. Looks like I definitely need to do an interview with someone on the Red Alert team. Clearly a favourite!
Thank you for sharing this interview @badastroza! Great post! Red Alert certainly brings back memories :)
My pleasure. I'm hopefully going to be able to find more of the team who worked on it for a full interview on just that game. Such a classic!
@originalworks - an interview conducted by myself specifically for Steemit. As original as they come. :)
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Id buy that for a dollar
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Great interview, thanks for sharing @ badastroza :)
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You Are An Excellent Steemian. This post has received a 8.33 % upvote from @steemthat Return the favor and SteemThat Person Back: @badastroza. It is so easy to use @steemthat. Just transfer 0.010 to @steemthat and a copy of the link you want upvoted in the memo.
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Thanks - can you explain the workings of the bot as to why my earlier send got a 25% vote but this, for the same transfer amount, received 8.33%?
Trying to figure out how it works and how best to use it for myself and others. Cheers!
Yes absolutely. I should add this to the SteemThat.com website also so thank you for asking. Almost all of the upvote bots on steemit operate the same way so this can help when bidding on other bots also..
Currently @steemthat opens a window for upvotes every 1.25 hours roughly. So During that window of time several people might send in a bid for an upvote. If everyone sends in the same amount then my upvote gets divided evenly across all of those bidding for my upvotes. So it is kind of like an auction in a way. SteemThat doesn't turn anyone down unless they do not meet the minimum acceptable bid amount of 0.010 sbd. So If 10 people bid the exact same amount then 10 people would get 10% of my upvote percentage. If someone sends lets say 0.020 and there are 10 people in the window that person gets a little more for their added bid amount. It is a complicated formula and each upvote bot can set their own algorithm but for the most part this is how it works. The good news is that I am small and you usually get a great upvote. Keep in mind that as I grow I'll just keep adding more steem power and my upvotes will get better.
My goal is to get to $5 upvotes for people for $1 bid. Depending on the server costs to deploy the code at that time I might not be able to keep it that low but I sure hope that I can to help new folks get paid for their high quality content. I simply want to help people. Thank you again for using @steemthat
Awesome, thanks for the detailed explanation. I didn't know you were operating in terms of bids. I thought it was simply "send an amount, get 5x that in an upvote, but numbers are very small at the moment". Appreciate the clarification.
Is there a site that shows the current bids and timer until next vote? Or should we be watching @steemthat's wallet transfers?
Out of all of the bots I think @treeplanter is the only one that has a guaranteed 3x return. It is tough to implement this kind of situation and help as many people as possible at the same time in my opinion. I have found that treeplanter is usually good on this upto about 0.150 and often only doubles. Keep in mind also and no one likes talking about this but I'm honest as you can tell already. 75% of the amount each posts earns goes to the Author. The other 25% goes to the curators...so roughly 7.50 per 10.00. Plus keep in mind that you can either select 100% steem power return or 50/50. For utilizing the upvote bot system you have to go with 50/50 to reinvest into your other posts. You should not publish more than 4 posts per day and use the upvote bot system. You will rarely ever do anything but break even but sometimes about 1 out of 4 if the content is hot enough you can keep a post trending a little longer and benefit from the added eyeballs and that makes it worth while. Plus you often pick up a few more followers etc.
This is going to sounds nut but you can try it with like @steemthat and @drotto because they are affordable to test with. I actually did better by finding other peoples posts early and writing a legit comment about the post and the sending an upvote bot than I did doing my own post upvoting. Crazy right! Sometimes though I didn't pick good posts to do it on I guess and didn't do so well. So how does that work exactly. I should write a few more articles tomorrow or the next day on www.SteemThat.com and explain it in full detail . both systems and how they work and what to do etc.
Thanks for the detailed explanation! Looking forward to learning more about how to maximise ROI on the bots for sure. Thanks for your efforts.
You're welcome :).
There is actually a tool by a guy who has several tools but he doesn't want anyone using them I don't think. If i come across the link again I'll try to share. I used to use the tool but I think he doesn't want anyone using it but himself even though it is published and live. It seems like he just wanted people to go look at it for bragging rights...So Who Knows. I'm working on building some tools just for this but also working on building @steemthat into a one stop upvote bot.
So basically you could just send say $5 sbd to @steemthat and the bot will talk to all other upvote bots in its program and spread the money to them and then they will all upvote when their window closes. Working on it now but might take a while. When and if I can do it @steemthat will save you and a lot of new folks some time. The funds I raise now will help make this all possible for sure. We shall see. I'm an old coding slow turtle for sure.
Great one @badastroza.
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Congrats again :)
Namaste