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Jon Dean's Multisystem Videos

Here's the full collection of videos filmed by Jon Dean during his time at Konix.

These are Flash video versions of the originals provided for the Retrogamer #8 magazine. The original videos came to 2 Gb in total - thankfully these have been compressed down to 300Mb in total. The are streaming, so you don't have to download them fully to watch them, you just need the Flash player installed which works with IE and Firefox.
As with most flash video playback - click once to wake it up then click again to start streaming the video.

Of course, you'll find most of them dotted appropriately around this website, but for those who just can't wait - here they are:

Jons description of the videos

3modes-demo
I worked with ATD in designing some simple demos for the Toy & Hobby Fair that would show off the three basic modes of the Multi-System. First is a simple racing game where a multi-system drives along a track (using the steering wheel); next there is a jet-ski (using the motor bike mode - we did this to distinguish it from yet another driving 'track'); finally there is a flight sequence (using the flight yolk mode) - this is a homage to 'Afterburner' which had been hot at that time. Again you can hear me talking with the guys at ATD during the video. The 'clicking you can hear are the games being played with joysticks, as we didn't have 'real' multi-systems.

Art-1
Filmed 19^thJan 1989. Extract of a training tape that I made to show how to use the art package that ATD wrote to make it easier to work on the Multi System. Chris Gibbs explains how it works…

Art-2
…more extracts from the art tutorial

Art-3
…more extracts from the art tutorial

ATD-landscape
The rolling terrain that ATD wrote to prove that they could make the Flare One fly. You can hear me talking with Chris Gibbs and Fred Gill of ATD as I film the screen, ready to take back and show Konix

ATD-outtake
I tried to get film of ATD talking about "Tunnels Of Doom", a concept we were working on. I used to try and get film of all the developers working on games I was involved with. I like to think I made them all look good… here is how!!
Mr Spielberg you have my sympathies! Fred hated my filming…

Audio-1
Filmed 19^th Jan 1989. Taken from the original filming of the audio tutorial (including outtakes!!). Martin Green (suffering through my direction!) gives an insight into the audio package that ATD created for Multi System developers.

Audio-2
…more extracts from the audio tutorial

Bikers
This was an early proto version of 'Bikers', the game that was going to be included free with every Multi System. It was in development at Argonaut Software. I took this film in an upstairs bedroom at what was, in early '89, Argonaut's offices - a house in Mill Hill, London. In this demo the bike only leaned one way! In the background you can hear voices - I am talking with Rick Clucas and Jez San of Argonaut, also Jacqui Lyons, who represented Argonaut at that time.

Cube-demo
This is me playing with the spinning cube demo. We came up with the idea of the spinning wire-frame cube demo as the answer to the usual 'tech' demos that each new hardware platform puts out at the beginning of its life cycle. So we have real games playing on some cube faces plus marketing messages on others. Watch as we speed up the cube and have it spin about all its axis simultaneously. You can hear me asking Fred Gill and Jon Steele what value would be 'safe' to quote to prospective software developers in terms of performance (frames and polys per second etc)

Hammer1
26^thJune 89. Mev Dinc using PDS on the Konix Multi System dev kit, demo of "Hammerfist"

Hammer2
Mev appeals for developers to join the Society of Software Authors (an industry body he and I founded)

Heads-demo
I believe this demo was created for the British Toy & Hobby Fair. It was a simple game demo by ATD - never intended to be a commercial product - featuring heads of the great and good - Alan Sugar, Mike Tyson, Rod Cousens, Clint Eastwood, Laurel & Hardy, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and of course, Wyn Holloway!

Konix-trailer
The promo video that Konix produced using the demo materials that I had worked with ATD to create. The video shows the Multi System concept, peripherals etc

Ninja
Filmed at ATD's offices, this film shows a Konix Multi System dev kit, upon which Jon Steele demonstrates the first milestone of "Last Ninja 2", which ATD were developing for System 3, for the Konix Multi System. The backgrounds are navigable, but no character or animation is present.

Rotox
Filmed 28.6.89. First work in progress on "Rotox" a game in development at Binary Design.

Sailing
24^th July 89. I am with David Pringle and co. at Oxford Digital Enterprises. Early work in progress on their Sailing simulator, a game which would have been awesome with the Power Chair!

Starray
28^th July 89. This was the first time I met Brian Pollock. He was writing StarRay for Logotron. This was the first time they had demoed the game for me, here seen at an early stage of development.

Techdemo
Fred Gill of ATD shows a poly demo running on the first Multi System prototype dev kit

Victor
Early prototype of Viktor Vektor, a character for a proposed game ATD had designed called 'Captivator'.

Yak1
On 13^th July 89, I drove to see Jeff Minter (and his Llamas) in his remote Welsh hideaway. This video shows Jeff working on the Multi System dev kit, and work in progress on Mutant Camels '89. The video does not do justice to just how stunning this game looked.

Yak2
More extracts from Mutant Camels '89. (The baby you can hear in the background is my son - he's 16 now! The female you can hear is my Wife - the two of them came with me on our daytrip to seek out the Yak!)

Yak3
Jeff and I discuss what else he has to get done on the game

Video content © 2004, JP Dean. May not be used or reproduced without prior written permission.

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