Interview
Handle: Exolon of FairLight
How did you come up with your alias ?
I think I was thinking of the greek letter epsilon, and wanted to make it shorter and it became exolon. Much later I discovered that there actually was a c-64 game called Exolon :)
City / Country:
Lund/Sweden
Born year:
1973
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
The first computer I used and programmed on was the Luxor ABC-80 (a swedish invention) back in 1980. My dad lended it from work a week at a time and it was much fun making simple games and stuff on it.
1983 I got a ZX Spectrum, the computer I really learned machine-code and computer engineering on...
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
When I got my Amiga 1000 in 1987, I quickly started programming on it and together with 2 friends, we started the group AmigaMania, and soon released a megademo, around the same time NorthStar had released their first megademo. Back then, it was not really a question of "getting into the scene", as the people who could program demos or crack games were countable on two hands (well a slight understatement but you get the point). So basically you _were_ the scene if you made demos :)
After less than a year I joined FairLight, who were based in Malmoe where I grew up, and since then I've been a FairLight member.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
Probably 2 moments actually - the first one was when me and my friend got accepted into the (already by then) legendary FairLight (due to our megademo coding), and the second one was when I got my first prize in a demo competition (a whopping 30 meg harddrive - a real treasure back then).
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
Many people greet me by saying something like "hey, weren't you the guy with the snurkel demo?".. The Snurkel Demo was a relatively small piece of coding by me but it was very fun to watch and had some really innovative algorithms.
Also, I wrote the StarTrekker, a tracker which at its time was a very good tracker, containing 8-channel possibilities, MIDI sequencing, and realtime synth-sound generation (a la c64 blip-blop's..). I think many people still remember that tracker (and in fact it's still referred to in today's MOD-player's compatibility lists).
What would you like to be remembered for ?
I never was much of a "scene-shark", I mostly programmed my stuff, and if anyone is going to remember me it should be for my programming.. I'm not totally gone yet though and you might see me around the net now and then...
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
Most things I did, I did between 1987 and 1991.. 1993 I got a PC (had no time left really for "leisure programming" by then) so that's when my amiga coding stopped almost completely.
I still take part of the "scene" though, although pretty passively.
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Hmm no, can't come up with any things I really regret.. it was so much fun.
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
The best games as I remember them were on the ZX Spectrum: Spindizzy, the Ultimate Play the Game series (Underwurlde, Knight Lore, Jetpac etc), Manic Miner/JetSet Willy and more...
Most addictive Amiga game must be the boulder dash copy, Emerald Mine, which came during the Amiga's first year in Sweden. Dungeon Master of course too, and Silkworm was a great shootemup, along with Turrican.
DEMO(S)
I think I got my biggest "wow" when I saw Slayer's entry "Mental Hangover" for the same demo-competition I won my harddisk in. He won, I came second. Fair game, his demo was truly cool.
I never saw a demo on the PC that could wow me as much I think, except for the first demos I saw on the PC (after I quit the Amiga) like Crystal Dreams II (the mandelbrot animation amazed _everybody_ in the audience). After that I discovered that you could do _anything_ on the PC as long as the CPU was fast enough (obviously) so almost all thrill went away then. I mean, if I see a demo now that has some really goodlooking "effects", all I think now is something like "ok he just maps a 3d space onto that cone and applies a cheap gouraud lookalike shading".. not very thrilling.
PROGRAMMER(S) (OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S))
I always liked the Fairlight/Northstar team which I was part of - I think we had the best programmers in Sweden in ONE big group when the FLT/NS collaboration was as its prime. Most of them are friends of mine still like Mahoney, Kaktus and Celebrandil.
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
I always admired PHS.. was he in DefJam or CCS? Also FairLight was a _big_ cracking group once upon a time. Red Sector? hmm damn can't remember all of them I wanted to list..
OVERALL GROUPS :
Dunno about that.. things shifted so fast it's impossible now 5 years later to say something about it. One thing is for certain, the times when a group could actually get big and get a reputation, are gone I think...
COMPOSER(S)
Rob Hubbard, Whittaker were the greatest of course... then our local composers like Mahoney and the guy in Phenomena, Robert Ling ?
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
Many of the old C64 game tracks... can't name many special, they were mostly great.
BEST GRAPHICS
No idea.
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY)
I liked one DigiTech copyparty in Gothenburg... Fairlight had occupied a room, and we threw out ALL trash we produced out from the window.. very immature but it sure was fun :)
Also I liked one party in Furulund, where we threw plastic grapes at each other.
MEMORY(S)
Hm I think I already mentioned the things I remember most...
DRINK ?
Coca Cola. Boozing kills your brain so I cut down heavily on any drinking the last years... anyway I prefer some good beers instead of drinks. NOT american beers of course :)
What are you doing nowadays ?
I'm about to graduate from the Master of Science program called Engineering Physics. I've specialised in digital construction (VLSI chips, processor design, computer design), and also of course normal programming like compiler design, and stuff.
I may soon start looking for a job.. if you want to hire someone who can learn any technology extremely fast, mail me :)
What are you doing on your spare time?
I only have spare time, hell, I'm a student :)
I play my synthesizer, my electric guitar, play volleyball, and occationally MUD some to chat with friends oversea.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
Take it easy, or anyway you can get it, and don't be a stranger. Don't spend 24hrs a day on IRC "hanging tough" by using spellings like "WaReZ d00dz". Stand up for what you think, and don't do illegal stuff that hurts individuals. Hacking a phonecompany is one thing, using another persons credit card is a totally different (and anti-hacker) thing.
What is the meaning of life?
To love somebody, and spend your life having fun with this somebody.