The Amoszine Interview (Mark 2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WELCOME TO THE AZ INTERVIEW. PLEASE ANSWER AS MANY QUESTIONS AS YOU LIKE, AS HONESTLY AS YOU LIKE, AND IN AS MUCH DETAIL AS YOU LIKE. FEEL FREE TO ADD OR REMOVE QUESTIONS. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----- GENERAL: WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Werdna Nosbig (My name in reverse - good one init?) (Try spelling your name backwards! It's great fun!) AKA Andy gibson -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- AGE? 27 DOB 25/10/68 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- OCCUPATION? DJ'ing a clubs at present!!! Hoping to get back into radio presenting -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----- THE MEDIA: WHICH MAGAZINES, DISKMAGS, NEWSPAPERS ETC. DO YOU READ REGULARLY. WHY? AUI Coz I like the Coverdisks Shopper Coz I like Steve Bye's input to it! CU Amiga sometimes AF - Never! Well, only if there is a review of my stuff in it! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE FILM? TALK ABOUT IT. Debbie Does Dallas, ooops! IT'S THE LAW BABY! Seriously, I love Star Wars and the likes. Not really a movie buff. I do have a collection of videos, but hardly watch them! I do have a very large collection of UFO Videos (documentaries) which I am into! I have about 30 vids filled with UFO related stuff! Some of which cost me over £20 to buy for each tape!!! Oh well, everyone has to have an intrest I guess, and that is mine. I do watch DIE HARD 1 & 2 sometimes and the BATMAN movies! I liked Terminator 2 with that big guy in it. What's his name? Ah yes, Arnold Sweatynickers! I just bought the Star Wars Trilogy a few weeks ago (Wide Screen and THX Digitally Enhanced). I can never get bored watching them. Classics. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE TV PROGRAMME. DISCUSS. Postman Pat. He's so kewl and I'de love to have a ride in his little van delivering everyone's free copy of Az to them! I'de have a good old stroking of his pussy anyday! (sick) If I had to pick an all time favourite, it would really have to be THE YOUNG ONES. I bought the complete collection on video and it's the only comedy I can watch over and over again! Ben Elton writes some great stuff, although I hate him as a stand up! THE THIN BLUE LINE is quite funny also. Another Ben Elton special! Bottom, The New Statesman - Fab also. I miss playschool and playaway! What about .... It's Friday, It's Five To Five and It's CRACKERJACK! (don't all shout it out at once!) Rainbow isn't the same without the original cast either! (Come back Mal) I'm really showing my age now! Remember Vision On with Tony Hart? I remember when Grange Hill started, I was still at primary school and watching Grange Hill gave me the shiters!!! I didn't want to start high school 'coz of it! If I ever see that Phil Richmond, I'll kill him. I don't like his soap, Brookside either. Although I'de love to S**g Jackie! hehehe (I think that's her name, the one with the blonde hair) And what about Doctor Snuggles Cartoon & Inch High Private Eye too? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHICH IS BETTER, NEIGHBOURS OR HOME AND AWAY. IF NEIGHBOURS, WHY? What? You don't expect me to answer that do you? Who wrote this and why? I haven't seen either for months. I only ever see 'em when Linda watches them in the living room. Sometimes I have a small peek at it, just to see what Shannon looks like. I had to see her coz Mike Richmond never talks about anything else these days!!! :^) By the way Mike, it looks like Shannon in turning out to be a Lesley Bean! (DIKE) Oops, how did I know this if I never watch it, erm, erm, Linda told me, honest! Next ... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BAND/SINGER? That's a bit of a difficult question to ask a DJ! I hate Pulp and Oasis though. As for Blur go, bunch of girly blouses! I must confess to liking the Dance Remix of Common People by Pulp ! I'm into all sorts of music and don't have a favourite, sorry, but I can't think of just one song/singer that stands out from anyone else! I hear so much shit though, it's unbelievable (now there's a good name for a song ...) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ALBUM/SONG/BOTH? This will sound sad, but George Michael's Faith album and Listen Without Prejudice are good and Sting's greatest hits CD are some of my own faves! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHO'S BETTER, BLUR OR OASIS? Bananarama!!! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK? My Bank Book! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----- GENERAL MADNESS: WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR? Tartain! hehehehe Got ye! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE WORD? I don't have one particular favourite, but string them all together and they make a great chat up line ... Shag A Fancy (can you re-arrange it? Better still just arrange it) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE COIN/BANKNOTE? I kinda like the 1p coz you can sometimes get away with sticking it in a parking meter (if you go slowly) but I didn't tell you that!!! The 1 pence coin is also great if you hate anyone! How? Well it fits nicely in between the three prongs of any 13 amp plug! Don't try it, shocking effects - Aaarrgggh! I think the 20p coin would have a better effect coz it jams right in there! I take no responsibility for anyone blown up, killed, injured etc if they try any of the above! On your own head be it! (It probably will be too if you blow your hand off!!!) Here's a little story I was told. Do you know why items never cost £1 or £3 etc. dead on in the shops etc.? Ya know, they are always like £1.99, £4.95 etc. The reeason being that before all the hi-tech cash machines (tills) came about, the shopkeepers had to watch that their staff were not stealing money. If an item was, let's say, £5 dead on, the shopkeeper's assistant could easily shove it in their pocket. By making the price £4.99, it made stealing a little more difficult!!! Clever or what? Also boring .... Next ... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----- COMPUTERS: WHAT'S YOUR SETUP? DESCRIBE WHICHEVER COMPUTERS YOU HAVE AND THEIR CONFIGURATION IN AS MUCH DETAIL AS YOU CONSIDER RELEVANT. Set Up: - Amiga 1200. 120mb HD. 4 Meg Fast -(Amitek HAWK) Zappo CD Rom Drive. Goodmans Active 65 speakers Minegen Genloc. Rombo Digitizer. Canon BJ10 -sx Cumana External. Audio Engineer Stereo Sampler. Plus loads of software, CD Roms etc. I did have a Power Scanner, but Steve stole it from me one day last year - well OK, he gave me a copy of the F1 cat disk for it. hehehehe Thanx to Malcolm Lavery for the Zappo and Cd's! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- IF YOU HAVE ANY NON-AMIGA COMPUTERS, WHY? I'll confess that we have a Sega Megadrive which we bought for Charlene (Linda's Daughter Aged 7) I've never played it, but both Linda and Charlene use it quite a lot! That sonic git is a pain in the arse. As for Columns ... Ooops, I've never played them, honest! 8-) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR COMPUTER-Y OCCUPATION? Professional, erm, erm, text editor I guess! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST FORAGE INTO THE COMPUTER WILDERNESS, AND WHY YOU WANTED MORE. I think I've typed this lot up before, but here goes again .... I first saw Jet Set Willy on a Speccy when I was about 15 I think and wanted one of my own! Next came the text adventure and I just had to write my own. Next sampling on my C64 (crap by the way as you can imagine) and then I bought an Action Replay cart for it too. (about £30 I think) Basically messing about until I finally bought an A500 with 1 meg of mem and external floppy drive (which I still use today - £60 for the Cumana, but after 5 years, it's still going strong :-) Worth every penny) I messed around with various games on my Amiga to begin with and then bought a cheap sampler and an Action Replay Cart too. I eventually upgraded my A500 to 2 meg and started writing silly stuff with SEUCK and also HATRACK II text adventure creator. Hatrack cost about £30 and was good in its day, but no gfx could be imported into it! So I gave up after writing about two games, which I've now lost! :( Eventually I upgraded my sampler to Audio Engineer which cost me £200. I also bought a Power Scanner, Rombo Digitizer and a Genloc ! I was creating all sorts of slideshows and music demos and getting some reviews in the Amiga press too. However, all this was too easy and wasn't paying me back my for all my hardware, so the next step was to write a game! I had never programmed before (except a few basic instructions on my C64 and also on my Commodore Plus4 - remember that one?) I had CanDo and wrote my first quiz game by the name of SKID MARKS Pop Quiz which was pretty naff really. Still, what do you expect from CanDo? If anyone has this game, please note that the bootblock was installed by using a very dodgy copy of XCopy. I'm afraid it's a virus bootblock (or so I've been told!) Check it out! I still wanted more! I had Amos Classic and decided to give it a bash, but had no manual and had to try and learn from the examples only! After about 1 year, I bought Amos Pro and things really took off with Ultimate Quiz 1 getting completed and on the coverdisk of AUI. After being Shareware for about 1 year, F1 took it on board for distribution. It managed to get a massive 95% rating :-) My next project was to be DMC (Disk Mag Creator) which was coded for my m8's PD Library. His customers liked it so much and wanted to use it themselves to create Disk Mags etc. So that's why it was eventually released via PD Libraries and named as DMC. I spent ages working on it and to my amazement, loads of PD Libraries were writing to myself asking for me to code their cat disks! Yippeee. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for! Eventually DMC was released as Licenceware with F1 and one thing led to another and I was asked to release yet another update. This time via the F1 GOLD Range which not only meant that DMC had to be updated, but I had to write/type up a full manual for it too in Final Writer. About 30 pages of it too! Some users have been crying out for even more features to the GOLD release, so an Updater Disk had to be worked on with full Amigaguide and C= installer routine etc. Should be released during Jan 1996 maybe! DMC has now been updated so many times, that I've lost track. Every suggestion from users have now been implemented and I'll no longer be doing any more to the code. DMC has been two years in the making and has taken up far too much of my time already! I also coded two issues of Moviezone Disk Magazine for my friend, Philip Swales, AKA Papa Legba in my spare time for FREE! Hi Phil:) I managed to code Ultimate Quiz II and a few Data Disks for it also and get it onto coverdisk and yet another 95% rating too :) One of F1's highest rated titles. In fact, that's two of my titles in the F1 cat that have been rated at 95% now! Has any other author reading this had two 95% ratings for their titles! I'm proud of this and so I should be. I have also been working with Amoszine since Issue 5 which I updated the driver code during Dec 1994 I think! I took over as editor by issue 7 and the rest is history! Do I still want more? Of course I do. I have been working on a couple of new projects, but to be honest, they might never see the light of day! A new Data Disk for Quiz II is being worked on at present and should be completed very soon. That will be a total of six data disks I've written for the game! Who knows what I'll do next! I know that I won't be coding anymore cat disks as this takes up too much time. (and I don't get paid for it either!) I will probably still code Moviezone and I will still work hard on Amoszine. I've also been messing about with GRAC. Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually sit down and create a game with it. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE COMPUTER GAME? I dont play many games, I have a few favourites at present though and they are: Deluxe Galaga AGA V2.6 - PD BLOX (By Dave Kirk) - Licenceware Deluxe Klondike AGA - PD Leisure Suit Larry III - Commercial (very funny sex scenes :) Of course I like Monkey Island 1 & 2, Relics and Legends Of Kyrandia. Now that I have a CD Rom Drive, I want to get hold of Simon The Sorceror on CD Rom to play. (does anyone know if it's available?) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- YOUR FAVOURITE UTILITY? It has to be Crunch Mania. I introduced hundreds of people to it over the last year and a half and I think it's now catching on. I think everyone who uses the Shareware/Beta release should register with the author. I did and it's the best £13 I have spent! I think I'm also correct in assuming that LSD use this cruncher now for their Dox Disks and that commercial game GLOOM has used it too. Malcolm Lavery uses it for Codename Nano and Teeny Weenys too! DMC uses it, Amoszine uses it. Everyone should be using it! The only thing it lacks is a util similar to PPMore. CrMore would be a nice addition to show text files crunched with it, but you can get round this with RTDD easily. My other favourite `Commercial' utility has to be Directory Opus. I've been using this since day one of buying my Amiga. (well, when I started getting serious at least) I am still using V4 as I've heard a lot of bad complaints against V5. Anyway, why change if V4 does what I want? I couldn't work without it. I have it totally re-configured to do everything I need from showing Gif Pics to De-Archiving LZX, LHA and DMS files etc. Amazing util and I think everyone with a Hard Drive should buy it today. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT COMPUTERS? Out of every computer I've used, including PC's, the Amiga has to be tops for creativity. You can do everything with an Amiga even on a low budget from simple animations to fully blown multi-media presentations via Scala and the likes. No other computer comes close to it (and I'm not being biased either). Name me one other computer that has all the features of the Amiga 1200 (standard model) at the same price! Can a PC have loads of little utilities multi-tasking in just two megs of mem? Case closed! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHAT SHOULD BE A FEATURE OF THE NEXT AMIGA (ONE THING ONLY, PLEASE) Hmmm, Sound Department first of all I guess -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WHY HAVEN'T YOU LEFT THE AMIGA SCENE? I'm a die hard fan and love the Amiga Community Spirit, if ya know what I mean. I've met some really great friends via the Amiga. It has to be said that everyone I know who owns a PC have never even bothered to do anything apart from playing silly games like DOOM etc. Lamer Gamers I call 'em! Everyone I have met through the Amiga are caring and damn good contacts. I'll be with the Amiga until its dying day :-) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----- THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN A PD/SHAREWARE/LICENEWARE PROGRAM? Bloody Hell! Too many to remember and I can't be bothered to list 'em all here either. Mostly music demos and the titles I've listed above. Some slideshows `n' shitty comedy disks filled with samples etc. Nothing to write home about really. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- DO YOU FEEL IT WAS WORTH IT, OR HAS THE EXPERIENCE LEFT YOU BITTER? I wouldn't go back to PD or Shareware. Quiz 1 and DMC did make me a few quid though via Shareware, but I think Licenceware is the best route so far ... Next step, commercial I guess! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- IS THE PD BECOMING TOO "COMMERCIALISED" OR DOES IT STILL HAVE THE SAME ATMPSPHERE AS, SAY, TWO YEARS AGO. Hmmm. I think it's too commercialised now. Especially since there are CD Roms filled with PD stuff on 'em. Too many people are starting up PD libraries now because of this. After all, you can simply buy a few CD's and have a full PD Library for under £80! It's sad really as PD is what made the Amiga what it is! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ARE CDS THE WAY FORWARD OR THE DEATH OF THE PD? CD's are the way forward for many, but PD will never die unless the Amiga does. There will always be some PD Libraries spreading floppy disks for years to come. There are just too many CD's filled with PD now! Sooner or later they will run out of things to put on them. Take the Aminet for instance, all that stuff on CD every couple of months. It will fizzle out eventually. The F1 CD is a new idea and hopefully more Cd's like this will be released. The only problem I can see in the future for PD Libraries is that once every Amiga owner has a CD Drive, nobody will by PD disks! After all, just wait a few months and buy it all on CD. CD's such as the F1 CD will surely be a threat to PD Libraries who distribute the F1 Titles. If only everyone had a CD Rom Drive, these libraries wouldn't need to worry about losing out on money. I think it's a case of upgrade or be left behind peeps :-) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I'll skip the Amoszine questions if you don't mind! Thanks to Mike Richmond for setting up this interview. We need more of this, so why not answer all the above questions yourself and let us know all about you. Andy Gibson End.