Vault Entry
[📷 suggested: promo art or loading screen from Manic Miner]
Overview
Matthew Smith wrote Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy before he turned 19. Working from his parents’ house in Liverpool, he stitched together vibrant set pieces, a relentless difficulty curve, and humour that felt punk compared to staid arcade conversions.
Fast facts
- Breakout hit: Manic Miner (1983) sold hundreds of thousands of copies across the Spectrum, C64, and later formats.
- Toolchain: Wrote much of the game in Z80 assembly using a homebrew editor and lots of graph paper.
- Distribution: Initially partnered with Bug-Byte, then switched to Software Projects to retain more creative control.
Lesson connections
- BASIC Block 1’s loops and timing mirror the early prototypes Smith sketched before translating them to assembly.
- Block 2’s collision handling echoes Manic Miner’s single-screen platform puzzles.
- Transition-course discussions about interpreters vs. machine code use Smith’s career as a real-world case study of why assembly mattered.
Influence
Smith’s games showed that authorial voice could shine through 8-bit limitations. Their surreal enemies, musical cues, and secrets helped magazines treat programmers like rock stars—fuel for the bedroom-coder mythos.