Cecco’s Log

Stardate: 1 August 1988

Well people, I am very happy, to say, this month will see the completion of the Cybernoid II project (at last). The wonderful thing ought to be on the shop shelves pretty soon, so look out for it won’t you (course we will, Raf — Ed). All that’s left to be done is incorporate the. new music soundtrack by Dave Rogers (who also put together the original Cybernoid tune). I’m now raring to go with Stormlord once again.

Stardate: 2 August 1988

Severe memory problems on the old Speccy are really getting me down. The machine is absolutely crammed to the brim and Nick ‘these scales are wrong’ Jones suggests I remove my name from the credits to scrounge a few bytes back (stupid boy).

A wily bunch of programmers at Hewson’s HQ in Abingdon

Stardate: 8 August 1988

Looks like Cybernoid II is well on the way to being finished now. It should only be the proverbial ‘about a week’ before it’s done. (Now where have I heard that before? — Andrew Hewson.) (Ditto, Andrew — Ed.)

Stardate: 16 August 1988

It looks like a couple of demos of Cybernoid II are required for tomorrow. I’d better get on with some work.

Stardate: 17 August 1988

After having finished off the Cybernoid II demo tapes I disappear for the rest of the day, which, it appears, is not the most brilliant idea I’ve had this month.

Arriving home in the early hours, I discover a message scrawled on a piece of paper which reads:

... Phone Hugh Binns ?!! Phone Nick Jones?! Phone Andrew Heson?!! Gulp! Sounds like Bad S--T!!

Now it just so happens that all the people mentioned on this little gem of a note (many thanks to Chris Hinsley for being so concise) are all intimately involved with Cybernoid II. In a panic I decide to ring Nick. I am duly informed that I am in fact a dead man and should hang, draw and quarter myself; as this will be a lot less painful than what Andrew Hewson is going to do to me. (Oh gawd!)

‘This is my favourite section,’ says Caroline Fonseca (Hewson’s Rack-It Sales Manager)

Apparently the Cybernoid II tape wasn’t quite right, and the fact that I wasn’t available all day or night to rectify the situation went down as well as a strip-o-gram at a vicarage tea party.

Stardate: 18 August 1988

It’s nine o-clock in the morning and it’s time to face the music (or the final curtain as the case may be). With trembling hands I dial Andrew Hewson’s number. The conversation we had (or rather Andrew had) can be summarised thus:

“!”

The printed word just cannot do justice to the severity of the damn good verbal thrashing I had.)

Nick and I work through the whole night on Cybernoid II to give a good impression at tomorrow’s meeting. We contemplate a suicide pact, but decide that this would make Andrew even more peeved with us. There is nothing more irritating than hearing bird song at the crack of dawn when you’ve been up all night.

Stardate: 19 August 1988

Nick Jones and I are off to Hewson HQ to sort out yesterday’s fiasco. I am quite confident about today, as anything, short of going to Hell and back, just can’t be as bad as yesterday’s phone call!

Nick and I are invited to the super-dupa Hewson pre-PC Show bash at Stringfellows in London (this is going to make all other PC Show functions look utterly pathetic by comparison). We pretend that the Stringfellows do clashes with our ‘Bridge ’n’ Best Bitter Night’ at the Legion, and we’ll be unable to attend. (Chortle, chortle ...)

Stardate: 22 August 1988

I receive a panicked call from Paul ‘camera shy’ Chamberlain at Hewson, virtually begging me to convert some loading screens on an Atari ST to a form that the Spectrum can use. After that master of disaster on the 17th I decide that I owe them a favour, and Paul’s such a nice chap. (Little do they know, it will only take about five minutes to do, for I have the technology!)

Sandra Cousins (Operations Manager): ‘she’s like a mother to me,’ says Raf

Stardate : 23 August 1988

Ha ha! ’tis off to Hewson HQ (yet again — I may as well be working in-house) to meet Dominic from CRASH today. (Better watch what you say here, Raf — Ed.) Between you and me, the only reason I am turning up at all is for the free lunch I’ve been promised. (Same here, Raf — Ed.)

I am rather bewildered by the air of hectic activity that is constantly present at the Hewson offices — no-one seems to keep still for more than thirty seconds. (That’s because we actually work for a living Raffaele — all the Hewson staff).

After briefly chatting to Dominic, we set off to lunch. It turns out that a few other people (almost all the staff, it seems — Ed) from Hewson are coming along with us.

The Hewson entourage (rabble) make their noisy way to the nearest pub (Sandra’s favourite). (I was actually expecting a bit of cordon bleu but I suppose I’ll have to make do with a ploughman’s.)

I am given the dubious pleasure of sitting in the back of Andrew Hewson’s car (well, I had to have the front — Ed) — it’s all very impressive you know; crushed velour upholstery, electric windows, power steering, turbo-charged, bloody small at the back. (How many Shell tokens have you got now, Andrew?)

Back at the offices, I show off Stormlord to Dominic (mmm, very impressive — Ed) and am informed that I must take a few snaps of everybody (definitely NOT my idea — Ed). Needles to say, anybody I point the camera at (including Dominic!) runs a mile, swears at me or threatens to bust the camera. Anyway, from the photos I did manage to take, you can see that the Hewson offices should ideally be based at either Broadmoor or Rampton. By the way, you can win my camera (well, a replica — Ed) in the Cybernoid II competition in this issue. Sandra finds time to show me the rough artwork for Stormlord. Seems as if nubile young women (nor my sort, really) squeezing out of perfume bottles is the ‘in thing’ at Hewson. Some of the sketches should be scattered around the page.

Stardate: 25 August 1988

Received the first demo of the Cybernoid II music soundtrack today. I’m impressed that although the soundtrack melody is quite different from the original Cybernoid, Dave Rogers has still managed to capture the Cybernoid atmosphere. Great stuff. My only problem now is to find the memory to put this lot in! (By the way Dave, why the A4-sized jiffy bag for just one cassette tape?!)

Stardate: 26 August 1988

It’s 11am and I’m just putting the last entry into the Log. Guess where I’m going today. Yes, Hewson HQ! The poor old Fiesta just can’t take anymore of this (especially the way I drive).

Catch you later...