Interview  with

Chaos of Sanity



       Q - Fester of Absolute!
             A - Guess...


Q:   At  first,  please  tell  us your
personal  'data',  and something about
your scene activities!

A:   I'm  now  22,  I  study  computer
science,  but  at the moment I have to
do  my  civil  service in some kind of
youthcenter.   I  like coding, biking,
boardgames  (mostly Games Workshop and
similar  selfmade  stuff)  and fantasy
roleplaying              ("Regelfreies
Erzaehlspiel",     some     kind    of
progressive  and  experimental  way of
playing   roleplaying   games  without
rulebooks).   You  can  find me at big
roleplaying-meetings  like  Stard  and
the  Uni-Con  in  Kiel.   I like music
like  New Model Army, Nine Inch Nails,
Faith  no  More  and  most  of all The
Pixies  (may  they  rest  in  peace, a
world broke apart, The Pixies split up
recently!).

Luckily  enough, most people know that
I  am a coder, and most will also know
some  of my productions.  I started as
a  64-lamer, and was quite lucky being
a  lamer  until  four  years.   Then I
joined   first  Axenon  and  then  the
Undertakers.   I was quite happy being
an  Undertaker but it wasn't the right
group  for  me,  the  Undertakers were
only  interested  in  games.   When  I
coded  my  first zoom-routine I became
ambitious  and  the  Undertakers  died
right  in  time for me to join Sanity.
Then  I  released  my  first real Demo
together with Panther:  Elysium.

@IPamigaC





Q:   Why did you become a coder?  What
was  so  nice about those bunch of 1's
and 0's?


A:   Oh,  I  never  started with 0 and
1's.  I started with code like this:

10 c=49152:forq=0to9
20 readA:pokec,A:c=c+1:next
100 data .....

But  very  soon  I  managed  to  get a
monitor  (SMON) and even an assembler.
So  coding  begun  to  be  fun.  I was
always  interested  in  electronics, I
never  thought that computers are good
for  something  else  than coding, and
when  the  first  computers were cheap
enough  for  me  I  bought one.  In my
"lame"-phase  I did almost everything.
I  coded every kind of stupid utility,
I  collected old computers, I repaired
computers,  everything.  It was fun to
explore   the   hardware  of  the  64,
especially   the   SID,   and  when  I
thought  I  had learned all, the Amiga
was  available.   Today  I think I now
know  every  detail  of the Amiga, all
the  code  I do is getting near to the
maximum,  almost  everything I thought
to be impossible is done, I need a new
computer.   I  hope Commodore sends me
my     second     prize     for    the
WOC-Demo-Competition  (an  A4000) very
soon... (Sad to be the second... -ed)

There  was  a  time  when I might have
become a musician.  I always liked the
SID,  and I made my first Hubbard-like
replay before Chris Huelsbeck released
his  Shades.   But  I seemed to be the
only  one  who  liked my compositions.
Today   I  make  only  music  to annoy
people, all  tracks get pervert  after
max.  8 Patterns.  Perhaps this has to
do  with all the Pixies and NIN-things
I listen to.

Q:   Why  did  you  choose  the Amiga?
Please  compare it to the PC or to the
Atari!

A:   Oh,  I  didn't  choose it.  I was
finished  with  the C64 and I did what
all   did.    I   changed   to  Amiga,
"Herdentrieb".

You  can't  easily  compare  different
computer systems, but I'll try.

Amiga  <-->  PC.   Today,  the PC is a
games  machine.  Although  you can get
almost every kind of software for this
computer,  most  "users"  like most to
play.   All  the  applications they do
(writing  letters)  could be done with
an  Amiga as well.  Furthermore, there
are  no  "happy"  PC-users.  There are
only  stupid  PC-users  who don't know
how  to  install  a  program   or  the
operating-system,  and  those who know
how  the  PC  works and how to install
extended,   expanded  and  excremented
memory,  who either know that PC's are
shit but cheap, or who never knew that
there are computers that can Multitask
with only 1 Meg of Ram and 7 MHz.  But
PC's give you most Mips per Dollar.

@IPgotchiC




The  Atari:   Oh  like  this computer.
The  sound  is even worse then the 64,
and  the  Graphics  are primitive, but
each  Amiga  user should have seen the
Tri-di-screen   from  the  Overlanders
demo, never seen such fast vectors.  I
just   bought   one  for  a commercial
project,   and   I  simply  like  this
computer.  I also like the scene, much
more interesting people, if you search
me  at  the  CeBit,  look  at  Atari's
place.   By the way, the ST-Blitter is
much  better  then  the  Amiga-Blitter
(except  for a missing BLTPRI-switch),
and  it's  worth  a  try to use it for
vectors    (although    it    has   no
linedrawing or filling mode).
The  new  Atari, the Falcon 030 is the
best    computer    ever.    In   some
applications     (Texture     Mapping,
multiplications, sound,...) it is much
better  then  the  A4000, and it costs
(with  harddisk)  2300DM!  For coders:
A  complete  matrix calculation can be
performed by the DSP in 9 or 18 cycles
(32  MHz).   One  word(!) = one pixel,
this   makes   Ultima  Underworld  and
Castle Wolfenstein possible and easy.


Q:    Are   you  working  for  a  game
company?  If not, would you like to?

A:   Yes, at the moment I'm converting
a  simple  game  from Amiga to ST, and
I'm  also  involved  in  some  special
effects for the game Timet, the flying
squirrel  (this  will  be a NUMBER ONE
HIT  GAME!).  This (of course)  delays
the release of my next demo.
@IPpowerC







Q:  You have released a trackmo (which
did not win) on the World of Commodore
'92.   Why  didn't you choose a really
big  scene  party,  more precisely The
Party '92?

A:   Oh,  quite  simple!   We  did the
WOC-Demo ONLY and  ESPECIALLY for THIS
competition,  because  even the second
prize  was  much more  attractive than
the first in Aars! The first price was
A CAR! (and  again  I'm talking in BIG
LETTERS).    We   heard   about   this
competition   five  weeks  before  the
deadline,  and  we  needed one week to
check  out  the  details, another week
went  by for the game Timet, so we had
to do a demo in three weeks.  This was
only  possible  by using all the scrap
available on  my  Harddisk and Peter's
diskboxes,  everything that we thought
to  be  expandable and too bad for our
next  big  demo, Brocken Promises, and
ofcourse  all the good old things from
Jesterday and Optimum Fuckup.

This is the reason why our WOC-Demo is
what  it is:  a mixture of bad and old
effects,  almost  no  design  (we were
quite   happy   to   have   at   least
something)   and   bad  links  between
effects.   I  think  it  was worth the
effort,  but  you should never see WOC
as  a  normal  release, it was only to
get something for the competition.

Q:   Do you think that TRSI's demo was
better?

A:   The  graphics  were  great!   The
sound  so  lala,  some nice samples at
the   endsound  (but  I  still  prefer
Klisje  paa  Klisje  when  it comes to
classic-like modules), I expected more
from  a  musician that hasn't released
anything   for  the  last  years  (his
sounds  for  Delta were great).  Well,
we stole our own old effects, but THEY
stole  from  Melon.  They only added a
shadow (this is almost as difficult to
do  as changing the palette).  And the
other  effects?  Lame textpages and no
music-sync?   Rotating  objects in the
middle of the screen?  Rotating in one
axis, this looks pretty precalculated,
doesn't  it?   Even  if  it  isn't, it
still looks precalculated!  Whow, nice
Vector  World  , the objects are soooo
big,  and  all  in  only  two  frames!
S-U-P-E-R  effects,  so  creative  and
innovative!  The demo looks a bit like
a MB DPaint-Animation.

OK,  I'm  just angry that THEY got the
car  and WE didn't.  I hate textpages,
old effects and silly vectors, and the
Wicked Sensation demo consists only of
textpages,   old   effects  and  silly
vectors.
By  the  way,  neither we nor TRSI got
our  prize  till  now.  They are still
waiting  for  their  car,  and I still
wait  for  my  A4000.   The prizes are
getting   smaller  and  smaller,  less
Harddisk, cheaper cars,...
Q:   What  do  you  think  about these
coders:

A:
The   Spy:   He  never  did  something
really sensational.  OK, the pixelised
vectors (coded by Guzzler...  -ed) are
one  of  the  best effects of the last
year,  but,  be  serious, LINEVECTORS!
His  splin are  ugly,  his  vectors
slow.    Hardwired   is   a  perfectly
designed demo with above avarage code.
But The Spy can do more...

@IPgotchuC


Dan:   He  never  did something really
great except some REAL animations like
in    System   Violation   (coded   by
Mediator...  -ed).  Hey?  Why is he in
the  charts?  He has never done a good
demo at all!  Madness 1 and 2 are only
vectorbullshit.   I think he made some
parts for the Digital Stagnation demo,
well  Digital Stagnation is one of the
worst  releases  ever.   26 Minutes of
total boredoom, almost as boring as my
Optimum Fuckup.

Performer:   He  never  did  something
really  great  at all.  He started the
dragonball-madness,      but     whats
difficult  about  a  circle  with some
lines  on  it  (its  coding...   -ed)?
Altough   Melon  is  known  for  their
design,  they  still had a textpage in
their  demo.   I hate textpages.  Look
at  Elysium,  there were no textpages,
all "textpages" were complete effects,
no   boredoom  possible,  or  look  at
Hardwired  (still the BEST demo), only
one real textpage in the middle of the
demo,  and  it was only done as a joke
about   Global   Trash   ("And  now  a
spaceship ...  raytraced of course").

Hornet: Don't know him.

Laxity:   He  did  some  of  the worst
effects  last  year,   especially  the
"Zooming  by  Pretending"  in Guardian
Dragon   II  is  ridiculous.   I  hope
everybody  knows  that  the  so-called
zoom-effects    in    GDII    are   no
zoom-effects.   They  are  all done by
simple modulo-schwabbel (first done in
1986).    They   mostly  made  zooming
vectors  around pictures that are only
zoomed in the Y-axis, thats easy.  You
may  say that it's good if they manage
to  fool  you,  I say it's ridiculous.
OK,  there  is  one real graphic-zoom,
but  it's much too slow, compare it to
Jesterday and laugh. (Haha -ed)

Winny   Mandela(Wayne   Mendoza):   He
should  start  coding his own effects.
Who  needs  blenk-vectors  or the 104.
dragonball?    I   don't.   Who  needs
vector    rotation  by  one  axis?   I
don't.  Who needs boring textpages?  I
don't.  But it's his first real demo,
so   there   will   surely    be  some
surprising   demos  from  him  in  the
future.   Well, the textpage in Wicked
Sensation  is  much  better  then  the
textpage   in  the  new  TRSI-Release.
Their  new textpage is even worse than
the  one from Substance, (The textpage
from Substance is REAL shit).

Hey,  is  the scene so blind that they
don't  recognise a coder when they see
one?  Design is important, but I judge
CODERS by their CODING!  Where are all
the  great coders in the list you gave
me?  Where is Buddha, the unbeaten king
of  texture-mapping, where are Tai-Pan
and   Tec,   the   SUPERIOR  kings  of
vectors, you can't really prise Laxity
and Wayne if you have seen Tai-Pan and
Tec!    All  the  vectorshit  that  is
released   these   days  is  worthless
compared  to the true masters!  Nobody
knows  names like Musashi who invented
the  effect,  that Lone Starr used for
his State of the art (check  'A  chart
can't be good' -ed),  or Vico who gave
a   new   meaning  to  the  word  "Dot
Sphere".   It  seems  as  if nobody is
still  interested  in  seeing  new and
good  effects.   None  of  the  coders
above  (except  Spy, he is quite good)
reaches  the  standards of 1991!  Just
think   about  Vector  Preview,  Hunt,
Third    Dimension,    Phantasmagoria,
Enigma,  Cube-o-Matic....   All  these
demos  were  more  interesting and had
better coding than Wicked Sensation or
Guardian Dragon II.

Where

are they?


@IPshksC










Q:   Rank  these  things  in  order of
importance:

	a. compatibility
	b. speed
	c. design
	d. timing (effects & music)
	e. new routines
	f. originality
A:
1:   Compatibility.   I  want  that my
demos  can  still  be executed in five
years, when nobody has an Amiga with a
number  below  1200.   I  don't  write
demos  for  today,  I  write  them for
eternity.   I  can't see about half of
all  demos  on  my  computer because I
have  1Meg Chip (read 'The ECS fuckup'
and the 'Memory fuckup' -ed).  This is
really stupid, because ALL Amigas that
are produced today have 1 Meg Chip.  I
expect  at  least compatibility to the
Amigas of today.

2:  Speed.  The possibilities of our 7
Mhz  are not expired, there is much to
come.   I  like demos best where I see
something  moving  faster  then I ever
thought.   This  happened  only  TWICE
this  year,  when I saw the Dot-Sphere
in    the    Alchemy-Demo    and   the
feedback-effect   (clouds?)   in   the
Shinings  40K  intro.   As  far  as  I
remember,  there  were  no  other  new
effects  this  year that deserve being
mentioned   (or   do  YOU  think  that
glenz-vectors,   sine-scrollers    and
jelly things are sensational?).

3:   New Routines.  I don't like demos
where nothing new happens (like Wicked
Sensation).   I  like only new effects
(Shining  40K)  or old effects if they
run   much   faster then  in  previous
releases   (3D-Demo   II).    I  can't
understand   things  like  dragonballs
(not  the  original,  the  copies!) or
even GLENZ-VECTORS!

4:   Originality.   This is almost the
same as #3, but I think you had things
in  mind  like Karaoke.  I hate seeing
always  the  same  (Melon)  colours, I
hate   seeing  everybody  doing  jelly
things, try to do your own ideas!

5:   Timing.  A design is worthless if
music and effects don't fit together.

6:  Design.  Well, I am not interested
in design.  My future productions will
have  a  highly improved design, but I
hate the idea of spending much time in
so nasty things.

Q:    What  do  you  think  about  the
agressive  texts in your demos?  Don't
you  think  that it is unfair to write
shit about a person in a demo, but not
telling  the  crowd  why is the person
deserving it?

A:   I  can only apologise.   It won't
happen again.  I hope.  Only in hidden
screens.   Hidden screens with  a  big
label  saying  "Hidden  Screen  Here",
that  are activated when you press any
key  or button or move the mouse a bit
in any direction...

No,  I think we are finished with this
phase.   Things like the "Lamercharts"
must  never  happen  again.   And they
will never happen again.

Q:   What  do  you  think  about these
things:


A:
Politics:  Too important to be left to
the politicians.

German scene: Mostly bastards!

Diskmags:  Like medicine.  Too much of
them kills you.
Computer  parties:   They  must not be
too  big,  as  long as you friends are
there.

Well   designed   intros  without  any
original   ideas:   unnecessary,  only
interesting to pack-makers.

Q:   What can we expect from Sanity in
'93?


A:   A  lot!  (of delays).  There will
be  the  Interference-demo  from  Zap,
Microforce,  Cosmos, and there will be
our   next   major   release:   Broken
Promises.   There  might  also be some
other,  smaller  things coming up.  In
the  last  year,  it  was a bit silent
around  Sanity,  but  this  year might
become OUR year.

Q:  How did you spend New Year's Eve?

A:  Not very interesting because I was
too tired.

Q:   Now here are some empty lines for
your messages, etc.

A:  Greets to all the people who still
try to make something NEW.
Vico/Alchemy, write me, please, I need
your address!
If you are interested in contacting me
please write to:

Dierk Ohlerich
Thuner Straße 181
W2160 Stade
Germany

You  will  get  an  answer  if you are
interesting,  I  mean "I am a poor guy
and  I  know  nothing, please write to
me"-letters will be ignored.


			THE END





@IPlizzardC