Draft:Paul Donovan

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Paul Donovan
Credits
MediEvil (1998)	Main Programming
MediEvil 2	Main Programming
MediEvil: Resurrection	Special Thanks

Interviews

MediEvil EU site

1998

• Education: Computer Science, Warwick University
• Joined Millenium/Sony: Sept 1995
• Favourite Drink: Beer

PILOT

Why did you decide to work in games?
I don't know really I always wanted to be an airline pilot.

Is that your dream job then? 
It was at one point, yeah. I actually went for an RAF flying scholarship, it wasn't actually to join the RAF, they would pay for you to fly. I passed everything, the medical, everything apart, from my eyesight.

Are you short sighted? 
Yeah, so I couldn't do it. And when that happened I thought ah I'm not going to be a pilot.

24 HOURS

You could be a commercial pilot.
I could have been, yeah, but it also got to the point where they weren't recruiting anyone, so I went to university, computer science and decided I wanted to be a games programmer.

So you came straight here? 
Yeah. I have always loved games since I was about ten or eleven and I think when I was at university I sort of decided that a lot of computing was incredible boring and the best bit of it would be the games. I had written games when I was a kid on my own.

When was the last time you went home? 
I went home yesterday, for the first time in 24 hours, because we worked all day and all night Wednesday.

RED BULL

 What's your average working day then?
Get in about quarter to ten, work to midday then have lunch, finish lunch at one and then work till about seven or eight in the evening, go home, eat, watch TV and go to bed. Although the last year we've been working till midnight twice a week and then obviously depending on what we're doing, like this week we're here every night till nine.

So do you drink Red Bull? 
I drink Red Bull, but I don't drink that here I generally drink just Pepsi. 
We've got a coffee machine downstairs that does espresso, I tried one of those at three in the morning and that's like ooh!

NEARLY DIED

What's your favourite drink? 
Beer, I don't drink spirits anymore, because I've had bad experiences with spirits since I was about 18. Two years ago I nearly died drinking tequila and I don't know what else. It made me unconscious.

How many cartons of pizza boxes do you end up with? 
We're sick of pizzas. Basically it goes pizza, Thai, curry, Chinese are the four things we have.

I bet you end up getting the same pizza every time as well? 
Yes, I've worked out a set of Domino's toppings where it almost manages to not turn into a soggy mess! As for the Indian restaurant we get our food from, James always places the orders and they recognise him on the phone and say, "How are you", because we've ordered like twice a week for the past two years. I'm sick of pizza, not quite sick of curries yet.

So what was your favourite game when you were younger? 
I can't remember really. I remember getting Elite on the Electron for Christmas, because it came out on the BBCB a few months before. it was in my stocking at Christmas and when we were playing that all Christmas and trying to dock before I got the docking computer and crashing. Then I moved my computer into the lounge, to play it there, because my parents were saying, "Don't hide in the room."

So now you're in games, there's no escape you're trapped here! What's your favourite bit about the game your working on? 
The detail in the world. Medievil isn't based around height fields or grids, but allows for complicated, freeform geometry.

What bit did you spill the most blood over? 
Collision detection. Because the level geometry doesn't follow a set of rules this was incredibly difficult to achieve effectively.

CHIMPS

What's your favourite game on PlayStation? 
CastleVania or Gran Turismo, CastleVania I love even though it's a 2D sprite game. I love driving and driving games.

Who would you most like to play a PlayStation game with? 
Probably, Cindy Crawford.

What's the story about the monkey? 
Well, I don't know why but our group has got this obsession about chimps, they think chimps are very funny. We've always wanted to get one of those big chimps you can get in somewhere like Harrods. 
Whenever someone does something wrong we all say, "well you're the chimp and we put the chimp on their desk for a few of hours, to signify that they've done something wrong."

What's the thing with the Camel? 
That's James, he's had it since he started working here, I think it's one of those things you get in like packets of tea or something. 
Whenever anyone goes on holiday they have to take him away with them. He's been to South Africa, etc. At the Christmas party he had his tail chopped off and sown back on again, so that's Calvin the Camel.

FAQ e-mail

January 21, 1999

I recieved an email from Paul Donovan who claims that he was a programmer involved in the making of MediEvil. I am inclined to believe him. This is what he said about the apple with the hat in the end:

"The apple wearing a red origami hat pictured in the credits is Mr Apple. He was an apple that I bought for lunch one day which Matt Johnson (programmer) nicked and kept on his desk. Katie Lea (mapper) made him a paper hat. He lasted about 9 months without rotting due to the magical powers of the hat. Something to do with pyramids I guess..."