INTERVIEWS WITH PHANTER-CHAOS

         Interviews with   PANTHER/SANITY   and   CHAOS/SANITY   conducted
                        by the   WEAPONMASTER/CYTAX  

  The following article contains two interviews. At first one interview
with Panther/Sanity, since it was done by phone and in German, the answers
were a little bit revised and translated.  On the 27th of July 1991 I met
Chaos/Sanity on the Exort & Elicma Party in Papenburg/Germany. After he had
read my interview with Panther, we made a small additional one.  Recently,
some Sanity-members have spreaded rumours about internal problems in Sanity
which should have started some time after the party. Since both interviews
were made before the happening of these pretended problems, they don't
contain questions about it. Read the article 'How Sanity exoloded' for
information about it.

  I.C.E:   Let's begin with an obligatory question, Panther. What is your age
       and function in Sanity ?
  P.   :   I'm 18 and I'm working as leader and coder in Sanity.
  I.C.E:   I guess your're still going to school.
  P.   :   Yes, you're right, I'm in the 13th class and have one year
       left.

                                                
  I.C.E:   How have you got into the scene ?  Give me some
       pieces of information about your career.
  P.   :   Hmmm, hard to say.  Before my membership in Sanity I've been
       in several groups since 3 years.  Often the names were changed,
       to mention are 'Vindicators' and later on 'Escape'.
  I.C.E:   Have you started on the C64 ?
  P.   :   No, all the groups I joined were on AMIGA already.
  I.C.E:   What hardware-equipment do you own ?
  P.   :   I have an A500 with 1MB, 1081 Monitor and a LC-(24 ???)-10 Matrix-
       printer ...
       (remark by I.C.E.: Probably this enumeration isn't complete, because
        I don't remember if he mentioned equipment like external drives and
        other hardware ...   On the Exort & Elicma party Chaos/Sanity told
        me that P. owns two external drives.)
  I.C.E:   How do you have learned programming ?  Have you gained your
       knowledge out of books, did you swap sourcecodes or
       exchange tips with other programmers ?
  P.   :   Well, at first I used some books.  Later on a fellow 'Escape'-coder
       gave me some sourcecodes I examined.   I made a lot of tests and
       experiments to invent new routines.  I have nothing against

                                                
         swapping sourcecodes but I think that a good coder should try
       to develop something new instead of simply copying routines from
       other coders.
  I.C.E:   Yeah, that's my opinion, too.  Let's come to the next question.
       Since the quality of some demos has increased a lot in the last
       time, a demo like 'RSI Cebit'90' is nothing sensational anymore.
       You need a lot of time for a good demo and it's becoming harder
       and harder for a coder to satisfy requirements.
       What is your forecast about the further development in the
       near future ?
  P.   :   Difficult question ...,  it's getting always harder to find new
       ideas. On the other hand I don't think that the requirements
       increased so much in the last time.  I don't understand the
       popularity of vector-grafics.  Nearly Everyone is able to program
       vector-gfx and in my opininion it's boring.
  I.C.E:   I don't think so, vector-gfx has great possibilities, consider
       the 'Virtual World' demo by Thomas Landsburg.  Probably,
       your demo 'Elysium' would have achieved a better place,
       if you've added some new vectorgfx-routines.
  P.   :   Our primary aim was to show new routines instead of old ideas,

                                                
         the competition-place wasn't so important.
  I.C.E:   Ok, what do you think about the current situation in the scene ?
       Some people I talked with hold the opinion that there are too
       many modem-traders.
  P.   :   It's right, the German scene consists out of too many modem-traders
       which are mainly responsible for the scene's bad reputation .
       The Scandinavian scene is much better, they have more good
       coders, gfx-artists and soundmakers.
  I.C.E:   What is your opinion about the 'friendship'-movement  ?
       Some freaks critisize it and say it's mainly a lame excuse
       for post-swappers that send old stuff.
  P.   :   I've nothing against 'friendship', it's all the same to me.
       Post-Swapping and 'friendship' may be good to keep many contacts
       of different groups.
  I.C.E:   Would you like it if there would be more (copy-)parties in
       Germany ?
  P.   :   I'm not interested in and won't visit them. I prefer parties
       in Scandanivia because as I've mentioned it ealier the scene
       is better and there are more freaks I'd like to meet.
       The only (copy-)party I visit in Germany is the CeBIT-party.

                                                
  I.C.E:   Nearly everbody says that there are too many diskmags. Despite all
       new diskmags are released day in - day out. What is your point
       of view and what can be the main reasons ?
  P.   :   I'm not much interested in diskmags. I think the main reason
       for always new diskmags is that groups want to become famous.
  I.C.E:   What is your opinion about CDTV ?  Will it become a hit or a flop ?
  P.   :   CDTV offers great possiblities to the coders.  If it will become
       cheaper it can be a hit. The success depends on the software produced
       for it.
  I.C.E:   But you aren't able to copy the software ...
  P.   :   I don't know, perhaps it will be possible in the future.
  I.C.E:   What do you think about the Amiga 3000 ?
  P.   :   The hardware isn't fully developed yet. You haven't any advantage
       because if you write software for it that uses the
       new hardware possiblities it won't run on normal Amigas.
       The system is too expensive and doesn't sell enough.
  I.C.E:   Considering available grafic- and sound-extension-cards PCs
       are becoming more and more powerful.  Does the Amiga have a
       chance in the future if you compare both systems ?
  P.   :   In my opinion a PC is better for application software like

                                                
         wordprocessing programs.  As long as the PC-concept doesn't
       change the Amiga is better for games because of it's custom-
       chips. I don't like the PC's machine language. A lot of
       good programmers and artists will stay on Amiga the next time.
  I.C.E:   Ok, the final question.  What are the future plans of Sanity ?
  P.   :   We're going to produce 'D.I.S.C.' and Chaos works on a new demo.
  I.C.E:   Thanks for your attention.

  As mentioned above already, I met Chaos/Sanity on the Exort & Elicma party.
For all the readers who haven't heard his name before, he produced together
with Panther the 'Elysium'-demo.  Therefore it's not astonishing that he
agrees with the most of Panther's answers, so it wouldn't make any sense to
ask him similar questions.  Unfortunately one Cytax-Amiga had a malfunction
so we had to use an Amiga of another group for a short time. Due to these
circumstances I couldn't extend the interview, so take it as some
'bonus-questions'.

  I.C.E: Please take your chance and introduce yourself to the I.C.E.-
       readers, Chaos.
  C.   :   I'm 20 and I do some coding for sanity. I learned 'Mefl- und

                                                
         Regelmechaniker' (don't know what that's in English). Now I want to
       study computer science, but perhaps I have go to the civil service.
  I.C.E:   In our 'list-of-party-guest'-program you wrote as a message
       (quotation): "Germany sucks".  Do you hate Germany ?
  C.   :   The german computer-scene is shit. There are absolutly no good demo-
       groups in Germany. Red-Sector releases no new demos and we are all
       waiting for a new Spreadpoint-demo, but they release nothing, too.
       German parties are shit as well. I think, it's much better for a
       demo-group to be in Denmark or Scandinavia.
  I.C.E:   You hate the German scene, but aren't you a patriot ?
  C.   :   Yes, in general I am a patriot, but it's hard if you see German
       demos.
  I.C.E:   Give me some explanations why you dislike vector-gfx (as Panther
       does, too).
  C.   :   Vectors are lame. Everyone can code vectors today, and most vector-
       demos look the same. First they zoom in the credits in Mental-
       Hangover-style, then they rotate some lame objects, and between the
       vector-parts they show you the old Mandelbrot-set in totally new
       colors. I want to do something new and creative, not just the 42th
       version of CeBit90.

                                                
       If you code a vector-demo, you have to optimize a long part of the
       sourcecode. This is much work, and when you've finished it, you find
       out that Kreator, Tec or Tai-Pan are faster (Most guys release their
       demos anyway, and they are really successful with really lame stuff).
       If I code a non-vector-demo, I sometimes have to optimize only 10 or
       20 lines (the mainloop must fit in one CED-Screen). The rest is
       terribly lame coded, but who cares? Coding non-vector demos is more
       innovative, creative, it's easier, faster and it's more fun.
  I.C.E: Ok, thanks for your statements.
                                                (Weaponmaster/CYTAX)