Quotes and Perspectives
Interviews
Paul Woakes was famously private and gave almost no interviews during his lifetime. What survives are fragments: text written into his games, accounts from those who played them, and a handful of press retrospectives. For company history, see History. For Paul Woakes' biography, see People.
The Games as Text
Woakes embedded personality into every layer of his games. The Mercenary manual and in-game messages have a dry, British wit that reflects the author. The opening of the Damocles user guide sets up the game's premise in a voice that is purely Woakes -- spare, sardonic, and precise about the stakes.
"You are a 21st century soldier of fortune. A mercenary. Your fight, should you choose to take on the challenge, is against the forces of nature. Your objective in any event is to gain a fortune in return for your endeavour. You have been invited by the State President to the planet Eris. The comet Damocles, in its present trajectory, is on a collision course with Eris and will destroy the planet."
Damocles: Mercenary II, User Manual, Novagen Software, 1990. Read verbatim in Perifractic (Retro Recipes), 'Peri Plays DAMOCLES -- MERCENARY 2 Full Amiga Longplay', YouTube, 2020.
The in-game messages carry the same voice. When a player completes Damocles after navigating the entire solar system, the congratulatory message arrives with characteristic understatement:
"Congratulations on a rarely inspired performance. Calculations show you have saved Eris and Damocles. Our special reward is credit to you."
Damocles: Mercenary II, in-game completion message, Novagen Software, 1990. Quoted verbatim in Perifractic (Retro Recipes), 'Peri Plays DAMOCLES -- MERCENARY 2 Full Amiga Longplay', YouTube, 2020.
citations/transcripts/kNvr56_iK90.txt.
The Game in Play
In 2020, Perifractic (Peri Haselton) played through Damocles live on YouTube, explaining the game's systems to an audience encountering it for the first time. His commentary captures both what the game achieves technically and why it connects with those who played it in 1990.
Perifractic"This was probably one of the first games that had filled vector 3D graphics on the Amiga of this level in this detail. The atmosphere of this game... the greatest graphics are in your mind and the imagination. These games gave you a hint of the graphics but not too much detail -- your imagination had a real foundation to play with."
Perifractic (Peri Haselton), Retro Recipes, 'Peri Plays DAMOCLES -- MERCENARY 2 Full Amiga Longplay', YouTube, 2020.
Perifractic"This is one of my favourite games of all time. Written again by the late great Paul Woakes. How did Paul Woakes program this incredible system?"
Perifractic (Peri Haselton), Retro Recipes, 'Peri Plays DAMOCLES -- MERCENARY 2 Full Amiga Longplay', YouTube, 2020.
citations/transcripts/kNvr56_iK90.txt.
Perifractic's stream transcript is 85,025 characters of commentary.
In Memory
Paul Woakes died on 15 July 2017. He had not given public interviews for many years. The tribute video posted by Stu-dog is one of the few public documents capturing the community's response and recounting the basic facts of Novagen's history for a post-internet audience.
Stu-dog"Paul was a reclusive man, a private man who never really gave any interviews. In recent years, as the internet began to evolve, a lot of retro gamers and fans of his work sought him out, attempted to get in contact with him to see if he would provide them with an interview or a brief statement on his career. Such an interview would have been absolutely fascinating."
Stu-dog, 'Paul Woakes Head Of Novagen', YouTube, 2017. Video transcript atcitations/transcripts/10onBxcRu4g.txt.
Stu-dog"In my own very honest opinion I believe that Paul Woakes and Novagen created a series of classic games when they created the Mercenary trilogy, and I thoroughly suggest that anyone with an interest in retro gaming, old-style 3D polygons, vector graphics, should definitely look into getting a copy."
Stu-dog, 'Paul Woakes Head Of Novagen', YouTube, 2017. Video transcript atcitations/transcripts/10onBxcRu4g.txt.
citations/transcripts/10onBxcRu4g.txt.
Retro Gamer Coverage
Retro Gamer magazine published retrospective features on Paul Woakes and the Mercenary series across multiple issues. These features drew on period interviews and developer recollections not available via YouTube. Full quotation text from Retro Gamer issues requires verification from archived print copies.
For Retro Gamer article references and verified developer quotes, visit retrogamer.net.