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Inteview with Franky
| found in | Type | Author | Year |
  | Diskmagazine AGA Chipset required - interviews |       DarkageAvenger - Cheetah - Corrosion - ... | a6/98 |
In Focus: Franky of Bad Karma
Interrogatory Performed by Zoltrix
Hiya Guys and dolls! I decided that for this interview, I would call upon a
great guy. One that I have had a lot of fun with over the years. A nice guy
at heart and a nice guy to chat to on the irc late at night. fRANKY of the
late Bad Karma and CBK fame.
ZOLTRiX: Hi there Franky.. First of all introduce yourself
FRANKY: okay.. Well, obviously I'm FRaNKy. 21 years old. Started out with
the C64 in 1982 (I was 6 years old then), moved up to the A500 in 1989 and now
I've got about 5 Amigas... currently I'm organizing the BSE party (amiga
only) in belgium early august and I used to be leader from (Crux &) Bad Karma.
ZOLTRiX: What made you decide to get an Amiga ?
FRANKY: Well, basically that Batman Pack commercial.. I played around with
the C64 and actually I was quite good in that Basic. The store where we got
the C64 had a "Batman Pack Sticker" in the window so that meant they had it on
sale there.. After a lot of nagging my A500 was standing next to my C64...
ZOLTRiX: I also bought the BATMAN pack :) Only because the Flight of Fanatsy
Pack was out of stock. When did you really get stuck into the Amiga. I know
you have coded some doors for Amiexpress.
FRANKY: After the A500 and C64 have been standing on my desk side by side, I
decided to move the C64 aside and started to expand the A500. First I added
an A501 512Kb memory expansion and a A1011 external driver finally followed by
a 20Mb A590 Hard-drive. On the A500 there was already a fully working
Ami-Express installed but it wasn't untill I got my A1200 and a copy of
Sigma-Express that I started to do some Arexx-Programming. I have released my
doors under a lot of groups, to name a few: Chryseis, Therapy (not the
therapy that exists now, but a belgian group that existed around 1993),
Reflex, Purple Turtle (oh yes) and finally Bad Karma. I still have about 5/6
unreleased and (imho) nice doors ready on the A3000 now but since I'm too lazy
to write the docs I doubt they wil get released anyway. The last doors are
coded in E and C by the way, no more Arexx
ZOLTRiX: Well BAD KARMA thats a group that is on my mind a lot of the time.
When did you first decide to get involved with the crack scene ?
FRANKY: as said before I was making doors for Purple Turtle and I got sort of
fed up with the way TFX was running it and asked TCB, who took over Metal
Impact from my long-time friend Maddy then, if there was a place for me in Bad
Karma, wich TCB started a bit earlier... So I moved from Purple Turtle to Bad
Karma and when because of personal and hardware problems TCB finally quitted
me and Crisp took over and thats how I in general got involved in the crack
scene.
ZOLTRiX: The crack scene of those days, is very much different to the ones
these days. Many things have changed, perhaps the most important, being the
demise of many a good software house. Due to this fact, is this the reason
that you have gone more into the party side of things ? I mean the BSE party
that you organise ?
FRANKY: we (that is me and crisp) actually got fed up with the way were going
at the end of CBK. we could still get the originals and stuff but if we
released something we knew that within the hour the same program would have
been cracked by 10 other crackers and released by 10 other groups. So we had
no more "fun" in cracking so we called it quits. Crisp also wanted to go back
to demo-coding and I couldnt dissagree with him in fact so we started to
organize the BSE.
ZOLTRiX: CRiSP another nice guy. So are you working together with Crisp on
demos ?
FRANKY: I'm not a demo-coder at all, in fact I dont know a single line of
680x0 assembler. I think I designed one production for him once.. a Chippack
called Black Out 1, the first and last chippack done by Bad Karma, wich (for
the collectors) has the pictures of all major Bad Karma members in them from
back then when they were 4-5 years old. But to come back to crisp, well, we
work together a lot when it comes to the BSE of course and we have been to
party's together sincethe Saturne Party in 1996 in Paris (were we left after
20 minutes, because it sucked so bad by the way)
ZOLTRiX: How do you compare the demos of today, to the ones of years gone by
? like rSI megademo and scoopex mental hangover ?
FRANKY: hmmmmmmm I think that, and this is a personal opinion, the demos rely
too much on CPU-Power these days. back on the A500 coders had to drag
everything out of the machine to create cool effects, today when I watch a
demo I get the feeling "yeah, looks nice, good work mr coder, NEEEEEEEEEXT".
I mean, there is hardly any design left in the most of the demos of today.
Luckily it is not as bad as on the PC-Demo scene (at Mekka & Symposium almoast
all PC-demos looked the same for christ sake). So in general, I'd vote for a
demo with a good and ORIGINAL design rather dan a demo with all kind of
cpu-hungry effects...
ZOLTRiX: Do you agree, that today, a lot of the fun that we were used to in
those days, is now left out, because of the technical marvels and something
that really is greatly missed, is the fun ?
FRANKY: you could say it that way... personally I miss the fun listening to
my modem and get CONNECT 9600/HST/HST/V42BIS on my screen. Also on the
party's I go to. Mekka & Symposium is FUN, compared to The Party which is all
business.. It is hard to find some "fun" these days in the scene...
ZOLTRiX: It does seem to me also that the fun has died a lot. But people
like you, keep me coming here. Who are your idols, (not sure if that is the
correct way to put it) of the scene today and in years gone by ?
FRANKY: Back on my A500, I looked up to the people "behind those scrolltexts
in the intro's". I wasn't the kind of kid that only used those intro's to
test if the mouse still worked or to find out the name of the game, but I
actually read all those texts. So if you are looking for my idols, maybe
thats them and today I am part of that "thing" behind all those scrolltexts
and cracks, which of course doesn't have the amount of cracks anymore lately.
Wich brings up why I am still here ? maybe because the people I know here and
have visited and seen over the years on party's and other ocasions.. who
knows ? maybe I'm totally insane ?
ZOLTRiX: No I dont think you are insane. Those Scroll texts were the bizz.
My fave cracktro was FUCK YOU ANGELS by the DEViLS. What is the one you most
like ?
FRANKY: If you want me to pick out 1 or 2 intro's, I would take the ones by
Gaston, because of how they look and the music that was in them... The one I
have in mind for the moment was with a crack for a Sega Arcade-game
conversion... The other one I really like(d) is on the disk with the game
'4x4 Off Road' if I'm right.. with the picture of a devil fucking an angel
and the text scrolling around it in a circle...
ZOLTRiX: Yes that is the one :) the fuck you Angels by The Devils. My fave.
It was funny to watch :) Gaston of the FAiRLiGHT fame ;)
ZOLTRiX: There are not many fun to read scrolly texts in the intros now are
there ? Most of the time, a released game does not have any sort of intro on
it, just a text file displayed using TYPE. It used to be a challenge for
people to put an intro onto a disk, now I dont think they bother or maybe I am
wrong ?
FRANKY: The last intro's I really "liked" watching were the one's on the
Crystal cracks (done by Melon Dezign if I'm correct ?), they showed some
orginality. Today its just a screen (with some kind of effect if you are
lucky enough) with an ascii-logo of the group and the name of the game...
maybe the challenge is gone but I think that today groups are under
time-pressure because there aren't as many "majors" to release these days..
back then, it didnt matter if you really had a release that fast, because
there were plenty of orginals to get.. for the good suppliers at least...
ZOLTRiX: I think the Challenge died a lot, when Hellfire came onto the scene.
They seemed unstoppable, and slowly less and less of the old time groups
vanished and moved on to other platforms. Do you think this has helped the
Amiga situation to become more and more diminished ?
FRANKY: As there were fewer things to crack, ofcourse the number of crackers
went down I guess... But the problem with the Amiga started out with the bad
management at C= back then when they had to pump all the money from the Amiga
into their dying PC-Line. There was some kind of time-out with the first
bankrupcy because the magazines could only publish about it end of july, while
it happened in april... Problem is that the amiga has aged too much and that
the hardware is getting outdated compared to todays "standards".
ZOLTRiX: How do you feel about the Amiga situation today on the whole ? I
mean, we have heard lots of promises from the likes of Escom and Viscorp, and
now, Gateway 2000 has the rights. Do you feel that it can regain its former
glory ? even with new processors and addons, I doubt it will feel like an
Amiga any more :(
FRANKY: Well, I think that the amiga will no longer have the "custom
chipsets" anymore as we have them now, because there are better vga-cards on
the market these days... Now that we're talking about the future of the
amiga, I just read on the CUCUG that there is some major "announcment" coming
up from Gateway... so lets hope that is something positive, but you have to
face it that it hardly can get any worse then that it is today
ZOLTRiX: Very true words typed there my friend. You have a PC too, are you
involved in the PC scene side at all ?
FRANKY: no.. not in the demo or cracking scene.. only pc-involved thing I
am in is that I do the network-layout and maintain the linux-servers for a
Quake-clan..
ZOLTRiX: As I have said before many a time, but would like to ask you, if you
feel the same way, The Amiga Scene, feels for their machine, it does show that
in the demos and stuff, but the PC, from what I can tell, is just a business
as usual machine. No one really has a feeling for it, just the amount of
software that they have for it and the amount of extras they can add on at
cheap prices.
FRANKY: Thats the truth in general I'm affraid.. Everyone gets a PC because
its cheap and you can get it at every streetcorner. The same with PC Demo's,
they are made to win the demo competitions, to bring in cash, where on the
amiga they are (mostly) still made to prove things and for the fun of it...
ZOLTRiX: Is there anything that you wish you could change, to make the scene
a better, more secure and fun place to be ?
FRANKY: Well, if I could change all PC's, or at least a part of them, into
nice Amiga's so that we would have a big and supporting usergroup again, that
would be nice for the amiga and for the scene.. the companies would come
back, the releases too, more everything in general... if the scene would
become more fun... that remains to be seen of which people come in it at that
moment
ZOLTRiX: I am sure you feel it too, but for me, I feel a sense of loss. As
each day goes by, another friend from the past vanishes from the scene,
leaving a hole, that nobody can fill. Its sad, but thats life. If the Amiga
can survive this, its greatest challenge, will we see the return of Bad Karma
and other groups do you think ?
FRANKY: It is hard if someone you know calls it a day and quits the scene,
but if you know him very good, you try to stay in contact.. sometimes that
works, sometimes it doesnt.. For Bad Karma, there really is NO way to tell if
it comes back or not, I'm not going to start any speculation here but for the
moment NO, maybe in a year if (and lets hope that will be the truth) there
will be a lot of releases to do, it is possible.
ZOLTRiX: Its always a sad day when we see groups call it a day and leave.
Dont you think, that this kills the amiga more than it helps it ? I mean, are
releases really that important, that it can kill a group, that has many other
talents to be explored and lack the motivation therof ?
FRANKY: I think we come to the "friendship" platform here, if the people that
run the group know each other very well, I think you dont really need that
much releases to keep the group together.. This was the cause with Bad Karma,
we only had like 3-4 releases a month, but they were good releases and the
people running Bad Karma (me, crisp, tcb, makno in belgium) all knew (and
still know) eachoter very well and stayed friends from before Bad Karma was
formed.
ZOLTRiX: This is the point I have tried to make. That no matter how many
releases, the Foundation for a good group is that all important, Friendship.
You can buy games and utils, but friendship should never be comprimised or
bought. Now then about yourself. Is there anything you have done in the
past, that you wish you had not done ?
FRANKY: Not really... although maybe I should have stayed co-sysop at a
local BBS some years ago called Camelot (sysop was Perceval). But before Bad
Karma I never did anything "great" in a group, I was a modem trader and in my
time-off I made some Doors.. If I could start over in the same time-period, I
think most would go the same...
ZOLTRiX: Do you think that people respect the Crackers/coders more than they
do the modem traders. I mean, cracking is an art and very complex thing to
do, but the trader is the one that moves the files around, and I think,
carries just as much an important task.
FRANKY: It is true that the cracker gets/got the most attention and fame.
Modem traders have/had their respect too, more back then in the early 90's
then now I guess but from some people they had respect and they deserved it
for sure because it was them that wasted their money spreading all the
releases from the group and hence giving the group its name and fame.
ZOLTRiX: Well, even today, we see the What have you done for the scene crap.
If you say trader, then you are instantly scarred for life. No one remembers
traders, but everyone remembers Crackers/Coders/Leaders dont you agree ?
FRANKY: in the long-term I have to agree... and I think about everybody
does.. so with being leader in Bad Karma, I hope to have made my note in the
history books :)))
ZOLTRiX: I think for many, you already are :) But for myself personally, you
are more than BK you are a good laugh and a good friend. What do you think,
your next step will be in this scene ?
FRANKY: My next goal is to make the BSE remembered as COOL party, that people
in 10 years time will look back and say "Man, that BSE in Belgium was a
helluva party...". I think that this year we can come close and if all goes
well we should be able to have that level next year... because the organizers
are still motivated to organize it, and thats a big pro for a party...
ZOLTRiX: What in your opinion makes a GREAT PARTY and one that should not be
missed ?
FRANKY: the atmosphere, meaning.. the people that are there.. I go to a
party to meet people I know from IRC, to have fun, for me the competitions are
secondary. first thing I care about is that I have FUN.. This is why I did
not like The Party 7 last december.. The people were there, but the
organisers were a royal pain in the butt...
ZOLTRiX: Most groups seem to release more and more at The Gathering and
Assembly. Why not also the BSE ? It is as if they spend all their time just
for those Parties ? I myself, because of my age mainly, and the time needed
for such things, have never been to a party of this type. I hope that one
day, I will, but maybe I turn up in a wheelchair.
FRANKY: "The Gathering" and "Assembly" is a well-known name for party's,
since they have been organized for some time, the BSE is only at its 2nd
edition this year and is in general nothing more then an out-of-hand joke
somebody made to me & crisp on a birthday-party. The BSE needs time to grow
and we are planning to make it "nice" this year and try to give it a place in
history in 1999.I ts one big pro is that it is and will remain Amiga-Only, let
me rephrase.. will remain Wintel-free.. one thing I dont like at some, are
people coming there to trade porno, warez and to play quake.. the BSE doesnt
have that (well, not in those big numbers anyway :) )
ZOLTRiX: From the chats that I have had with people that go there, they like
to get drunk a lot. Do you think that this influences the results of the
competitions ?
FRANKY: I admit liking to drink a beer, but I usually know when to stop
(except during the blackout at TP7, where I was completely out cold).
Personally I dont think that getting drunk influences the competition result
since the people getting drunk dont vote that much.... although I dont get
why the Birdhouse Projects-wild demo got so high in the results at Mekka &
Symposium (Yo Zinko btw ! )
ZOLTRiX: When will the BSE party take place this year ?
FRANKY: 7-8-9th of august... last year it was at the end of august but
seemed we missed a lot of people who had to re-do their school-exams back
then.. so this dat is 'strategically' better, altho it is at exactly the same
date as Assembly we think that with being Finland and Belgium being quite some
distance apart, we won't 'miss' much people because of Assembly
ZOLTRiX: The dates are important, Summer time sees a big drop in people as
its their Holidays. And this is the time that other parties start too :) I
hope it all goes well for you guys. Will you organise a little better than
others, and make every title available to the public under one label, so we
dont see dupes etc.. and maybe even a FTP site or Web page ? Nothing is
worse than having 3 out of the top 5 Winning demos etc.. and months later
they turn up.
FRANKY: We have been talking to several belgian ISP's to put up a webspace or
special domain name like bse.cool-isp.be or .com but they wont do it because
(and here it is again) the amiga-usergroup is too small.. We will release the
demos ourselves of course, but there are always some groups which release
their intro and/or demo separately and as an organizer you can't do a lot
against that. For the organizing we were surprised that there were no real
'problems' last year, only problem we had was one sucker with a DIY-Power
supply wich blew the power about 15 times, at that moment we have discovered
about 10 new ways of hurting people without leaving any scars
ZOLTRiX: Sure groups like to release their own demos etc. and you cannot
deprive them of that, but as in a lot of cases, we have to wait some weeks
after the party to see these demos. Sometimes they never appear, and all that
work is lost and a lot of people never get to see it. All I would ask, is
that ALL are made available, so that we can see ALL the ones that take part,
and in the comfort of our own home, judge for ourselves. Tho I guess it will
be very time consuming.
FRANKY: We DO plan to release everything to 'the public' after the party,
together with the results.. with the competition entry's we will get this
year put together with last years we have enough to even create our own
directory on Aminet (we checked), so at least everyone can get the demos THERE
ZOLTRiX: Sounds great to me! Have you ever felt like just getting rid of the
modem, and giving it all up ?
FRANKY: the idea has come up sometimes, but mostly after another
hardware-failure but it never lasted long.. else I wouldnt be sitting here at
the moment
ZOLTRiX: So What has kept you going since CBK died :(
FRANKY: Hmmmmmmmm tough one :) I guess its the BSE partly, since we organised
the first one before CBK died (which was end of october I guess) so we
continued to be in the 'scene' to keep the BSE going.. not to forget I still
am leader in X-Trek :)
ZOLTRiX: How long do you think the Amiga scene has left ? as it appears more
and more are moving over to new platforms ?
FRANKY: You simply can't tell.. When I look at the C64, I think how that it
is possible that there still is a scene left at all on the 15 year old
machine.. Maybe in time people will be looking towards amiga-scene people in
the same way, when everyone is coming to the party's with their 700Mhz Alpha's
and we are still sitting there with our A1200/030/50Mhz...
ZOLTRiX: Is there anything you want to say to those out there, that are
having second thoughts about their choice of machine ?
FRANKY: If they think they are on the wrong machine they should move.. and
not wait any longer because then they will 'spread out' a feeling of "nothing
is happening".. I notice this with people saying "amiga is dead, nothing is
left, it all sucks" etc but they stay on the platfom, and I dont get why they
stay if they say it suxx.. maybe because they know that the other choices all
suck even harder into their eyes ?
ZOLTRiX: Very true indeed! Now comes the Big list of greets and messages to
your friends out there :) Off you go get tapping those keys :)
FRANKY: Ehmmmmmmm.. okay.. here we go .. handshake's, headbutts and other
ways of greetings in random order to : Crisp (hope you got your
drivers-license today), Crusader & Candyman, Zinko, Shane, Grey (Finish the
BSE Invitation intro you ###?!), Graffito (Pay the gas from MS98 plz :) ),
Def-Base, Santa Claus, Clary & all other crux-dudes, my other swedish pals :
Boone, Schindler, U-bi-MAN-kenobi, Marwic, Nike, Killer Dwarf (I'll get you a
box of diapers before the baby comes). In the US to Don Dog (Long live ICQ)
and Eric The Red (where the SMEG are ya ?) and not to forget Intruder and his
oh-so-cool consolegames shop. Other Belgians : TCB, Maddy, Bigphone (oldest
guy in the scene and still alive & kicking), the guys from Overdoze (Kosmo,
t'es une tapette ! whaahah), Sigma, Toxic. And about all other people I have
know over the years modemtrading & stuff.. I know I missed out a lot of
people here but they know who they are and so they should know that they are
hereby greeted...
ZOLTRiX: Thank you for the time spent in this interview. I feel like I have
known you years. Oh! I have :) Well, Respect as always dude. And as long as
The Amiga is alive! We will be here.