Interview
Handle:
Buzz
Homepage
How did you come up with your alias ?
I used to call myself Bilbo, from Tolkien of course, but I discovered that other people were using that name too, so I changed it just before joining Abnormal.
Abnormal's name was subject to more planning. We wanted an 8-letter name that was early in the alphabet. I think we resorted to a dictionary to actually find the word. :)
City / Country:
I currently live in Trondheim, Norway. This is where I lived back in the good old days, too.
Born year:
1972
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
Heh, it was a Laser 200, I got it in 1983 or 1984.
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
Since I had no games for my first computer, I was forced to learn to make them myself. When a friend of mine got a C64, I started making stuff on his machine. All the wonderful things it had! Sprites, 16 colours at once and everything. Not to mention the whopping 64k :). I knew some assembly programming from my Oric-1, so I got started with that on the C64 too.
Then one day I met "The Fist" at a bookstore in town, and he wanted some help plugging music into a Basic(!) demo he had made. I got to his place and after a while started teaching him some assembler and stuff. We first got involved with a group called "Cobra National Crew", but that was a real flop. Then we finally got going with "Laser Cracking Service". I made my first real demo for LCS, but I don't think we released more than two in total.
In October 1988 there was a copy-party in Stjørdal, Norway where Abnormal's first demo was released. I became an official member there after making a few logos. Abnormal became a pretty big success, but in 1990 (I think) we split up. Some of us ended up in Panoramic Designs, a pure demo group, others in Illusion, a cracking group. Around this time, I also got involved with MUDs and suddenly I was lost in that world.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
When I received a letter from "Double Density" where they wanted me to work for them.
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
Abnormal's demos I suppose.
What would you like to be remembered for ?
My favourite Abnormal demo, The Unicorn.
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
Several things. First, we didn't exactly code much on the copy-parties anymore. We partied. Then I had to move to another town to go to school, and that sort of cut me off from my old mates. Third, I got hooked on MUDs, which made all my coding efforts go into two of those, first Genesis, later VikingMUD. Sic transit gloria mundi. :)
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Yeah, forgetting to zero out a scrolltext editor from the memory before we packed a demo. That was embarrasing.
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
Space Harrier.
DEMO(S)
A hard one. If I should pick out just one demo-part, it would be the first part of Panoramic Design's "Digial Illusion", released on a copy-party in Bergen, Norway in 1990.
PROGRAMMER(S) (OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S))
In the beginning I thought SCC were very good. Rawhead, later The Shadows, were good too, although we could not admit that in public since they were competition. :)
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
I didn't follow the cracking scene.
COMPOSER(S)
Chronologically: First Rob Hubbard, then Martin Galway and finally Tim Follin. It is hard to compare them because the music routines changed so much from Hubbard to Follin.
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
Knucke-dusters, Zoids, Magic Johnson's Basketball.
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY) / MEMORY(S)
Hm. We had the most fun partying at Horizon's party in Stockholm ('90 or '91), while the most fun coding at the Spydeberg party in Norway.
DRINK ?
Vanilla Coke.
What are you doing in your spare time ?
Computer stuff: I work a little with Linux, Emacs and other quality freeware. I have some enthusiasm left on that part still.
Non-computer stuff: I play some squash, swim, I have some rollerblades and will start playing street-hockey when the snow goes away. I also share an apartment with some friends that takes some of my time (it has its own homepage at http://www.pvv.unit.no/~ssb/penthouse.html ;-). I even go out and meet non-computer people occasionally! :)
What are you doing nowadays ?
I'm a UNIX systems and security consultant.
What is the meaning of life?
Reproducing. :)