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Rock Star Ate My Hamster
Developer	Colin Jones
Publisher	Codemasters
Designer	Chris Graham[1]
Composer	Allister Brimble (Atari ST)
Platforms	ZX Spectrum,Commodore 64,Amstrad CPC,Amiga,Atari ST
Release	EU: 1988
Genres	Strategy, music management
Mode	Single-player

Rock Star Ate My Hamster is amanagementstrategycomputer game developed byCodemasters in 1988 and originally released on their full-price Gold label for theAmstrad CPC,ZX Spectrum,Commodore 64,Amiga andAtari ST. The game was written byColin Jones, later to become known as author/publisher Colin Bradshaw-Jones.

The name of the game was inspired by a 1986Sun newspaper headline - 'Freddie Starr ate my hamster'.

Desperate to get out of the circus theatrics business, Cecil Pitt and his sidekick, Clive, turn to the world ofRock music Management with the help of a £50,000 inheritance.

To win the game, one must select a band, record an album and earn 4gold discs within the space of a year. If the player fails to meet this target, goes bankrupt or has no musicians left, the game is over.

The game is almost entirely menu-driven with options that allow the player to decide what the band does next.

The player's first task as manager is to pick musicians for the band, and then decide whether they should buy them brand-new equipment, second-hand equipment or get some dodgy gear off the back of a lorry.

Once in the main game, the options presented are as follows:

• Practice - the players lock the band away for up to 5 days so they can practice. The music of the band is also presented, gradually increasing from atonal noise to actual music (songs are generated on the fly by the software).
• Gig - the players go on tour and is the primary source of moneymaking in the game.
• Publicity - the players organise a publicity stunt that can make the band more famous, but can also trigger events that kill a band member.
• Gifts - the players have to buy some gifts for the band to keep them sweet, otherwise they will make some rather costly ultimatums.
• Record - once the band gets a recording contract, this option appears and allows them to record an album.
• Release - once the album's recorded, this option releases it along with any singles.

Along the way, the player also has to decide:

• Whether or not to play a charity gig. Some of the charities that contact the band are real and others fake. The band could end up with negative publicity if they ignore a genuine charity or get duped by a bogus one.
• Whether or not to accept a sponsorship deal.
• To shoot amusic video and who will direct it, the location and the theme of this project. The player has the options to select from a range of choices, each with a cost value, such as an expensive directors and locations or less costly ones. As with the parodical nature of the game director names lampoon real-life directors. A selection choice of a high level (most expensive) director is named Steven Cheeseburger (a parody ofSteven Spielberg). There are many others fitting with the theme of recognizable but legally distinct names.
• Which recording contract is best for the player's band.
• What to do if a little organisation inKorea is bootlegging his or her records. Players have to decide if they should do nothing, sue them, buy them out or "send in the boys".

Releasing an album or single makes them eligible for the charts. A Top 10 Singles & Albums charts (depending on what players have released) gets displayed on screen every Sunday. The other bands in the Top 10 are also parodies of other rock bands.

At the outset, the player can choose to hire up to four musicians to make up the band. The musicians are parodies of contemporary pop music stars. Their weekly wage depends on their abilities and their fame, ranging from £30,000 for "Bill Collins" down to just £50 for "Sidney Sparkle".

The game is heavy on parody on existing people and names, which wasn't well-received across the board: according to Jones, "an irate parent had taken objection to one of the jokes in the spoof newspaper included in the box andWHSmith pulled the game from their shelves".^[1]

All the information above was taken from either the actual gameplay, the game manual and/or packaging.

• ScrewAttack.com's Humorous Retro Video Feature on Rockstar ate my Hamster
• Rockstar Ate My Hamster at SnakeBecomesTheKey
• Rock Star Ate My Hamster at SpectrumComputing.co.uk

• 1988 video games
• Amiga games
• Amstrad CPC games
• Atari ST games
• Codemasters games
• Commodore 64 games
• Europe-exclusive video games
• Music management games
• Parody video games
• Single-player video games
• Strategy video games
• Video games developed in the United Kingdom
• Video games scored by Allister Brimble
• ZX Spectrum games

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