Domination 08 Interview 3b

GREMLIN/BEYOND FORCE interview continued..
 
D)
Your handle, GREMLIN, why did you choose this name?
and have you had any other handles?
 
G)
Actually all the credit for picking my name goes to
Barracuda. He is nowadays in Extend as far as i know.
He was the one who suggested the name to me and
after a while of consideration i took it and have it ever
since. It is also my only handle i've used in the scene.
 
D)
Have you ever done any commercial work on C64 or
other platforms, such as games or utilities? or have
any future plans to do so?
 
G)
I have had some plans to code a game and i coded a long
time ago a two player tetris clone with bizarre pieces,
but it turned out that i was not going to make it a
commercial product and it isn't finished up to this day.
Anyway, i haven't had any really serious attempts to
make money with my C64. It's only a nice hobby. But when
talking about other platforms, i sure am going to make
money with computers.
Besides i am studying computer science in a University
and in a few years i'm going to be diploma engineer, so
i'll probably work pretty much with computers in the
future.
 
D)
What words of advise can you offer to the learning
programmers out there? How should they go about
things to improve their abilities?
 
G)
Ofcourse if they are really into programming, the best
way to learn it the right way is to study computer
science. If not in the university then in some kinda
institution or something like that. Aslo it helps if you
have good skills in mathematics. So you never know
too much about mathematics.
 
D)
Anything you wish to change to your demo entry at
Assembly? Also the placings, a lot of people say WRATH
should have been higher, whats your opinion?
 
G)
There is only one thing i would like to change in the
demo and its the vertical mapping routine, which should
have included a really fast doom clone and some more
interesting effects. Now it is just nearly finished and
shows only a small piece of it's potential. There are
deadlines you know.
 
About the placings, i'm very happy with my second place
finish. Byterapers deserve well their victory and
Mr.Sex is really a great coder. Too bad he couldn't
have the best effects included in the demo. Actually
the comeback of Byterapers is a good example of a
proper comeback of a great team, since they are
still producing high quality wares.
And my opinion about WRATH.. hmm.. i don't know. It may
well be that the demo should have been placed higher,
but i'm sure as hell not the right person to answer
that, because i don't remember one single effect from
the demo (and no, i'm not proud of that).
 
One more thing that sucks about Assembly.
They haven't paid the prices yet for this year and not
for the last year either. I'm a bit mad about this.
Other prices for other categories have been paid but
not the C64 prices. I know they aren't that big prices,
but you tend to feel that C64 isn't that important to
the organisers which really sucks. They always
promise to pay but never seem to get it done.
This is why i'm going to boycott Assembly'97 if there is
going to be one and they haven't paid the prices
before it. I'd like to use this opportunity to say to all
fans on C64 that you shouldn't release anything on
C64 at Assembly '97 unless the organisers start to
show some respect to our machine. Go to some other
party.
 
D)
What are your goals in real life and in the scene?
Tell us what you hope to achieve..
 
G)
Hmmm.. my goals.. well i don't have any. Okay, to be
honest i have some goals one is ofcourse finishing
this interview. But to real life plans. My number one
goal is to continue my studies and try to graduate
some day and get a nice job before it. Well there are
some other plans but i'll probably keep'em to myself.
In C64 scene my biggest goal is to keep the great
traditions of Beyond Force alive. I'm happy to say that
i'm not the only one left though. I have no serious plans
to produce something extraordinary but to have fun
in the scene as well as i can.
 
 
D)
What has BEYOND FORCE got planned on C64 in the
future? could you give us any news or memberstatus?
 
G)
The  biggest plan we have is now arranging a meeting,
which will be held in Sam/Beyond Force's place in
January 1997. This is really the first proper meeting
we've had for a long, long time and many Beyonders
should be present. We may even release a meeting
demo or something, you never know.
I'll try to give some sort of memberstatus. It won't be
complete, i won't make such stupid promises, but here
goes:
Hazor,Axeman,Sam,Solomon,Tnt,Gremlin,Pioneer,Boss,
Rsb,Himuli,Xentrix,Napalm,Tlb,Jake,Sage,Jogi,Ali,Dare,
Max and some others.. Sorry can't remember all there
is so many of us. I have to say that many of them are
nowadays more into PCs but they still have an interest
in the good old C64.
 
D)
Whats your opinion on the demo group Reflex and their
past demos Access Denied, Radio Napalm and
Mathematica?
 
G)
Well, well, well.. ehm Reflex? Reflex who? Just kidding.
To be honest i didn't know about them before Assembly
1996 where they released a demo, which bugged like
hell in the democompo. Too bad. One member of Reflex
told that there was some very interesting stuff that
wsn't shown on the big screen.
At Assembly many active C64 people told me about
Reflex and i had a chance to see some parts of their
releases. I have to say that i was pretty impressed.
This is exactly the problem when you have breaks in
scene activities, you really don't know whats in or
whats out, though it can be a benefit too when you
make a demo. That way you don't tend to get ideas from
other people's demos.
 
D)
Heres your chance to say hellos to your friends and
aquaintances, go for it..
 
G)
I'll keep it short and send greetings to everyone i've
swapped with, been in contact with and especially all
the good friends i've had in the scene through to this
day (this is one question which could have had an
answer way too large).
 
D)
Thanks for your time Gremlin, i hope you enjoy this
edition of Domination. any last words to leave a final
impression on the readers?
 
G)
Thanks to you too. I'm very honored to be interviewed
to a disk magazine which at least to me seemed to be
of pretty high standard. And this is to all the sceners
out there, try to get a hold of our old demos aswell as
the new ones, if you haven't seen'em and be prepared
to have a brand new product from the everlasting
Beyond Force sometime in 1997 and the huge 10-years
demo in 1998. Keep the faith!
 
Signed: Gremlin/Beyond Force.
 

So this draws a conclusion to the very interesting
interview i with the main programmer of Beyond Force.
If you have the availability of the Internet check out
the Beyond Force web page at:
 
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                                                                                             Yours;
                                                                     Jazzcat/Onslaught