Retro Gamer article

[merman]

So, Retro Gamer is commissioning an article to mark the 35th anniversary of the VIC.

I've been trying to contact various people, so if you'd like to be involved send me a message.

And if anyone has contact details for kweepa, that would be handy...

[merman]

Thanks to everyone who took part.

Just to let you know the VIC-20 article will be in issue 154 of Retro Gamer, published on the 21st of April.

To buy a physical copy after that date, visit the shop at

http://www.imagineshop.co.uk

And the magazine page at

https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/magazines/retrogamer.html

In the US, Barnes & Noble stock the magazine.

For digital versions, check out

http://www.greatdigitalmags.com/retrogamer

[Mayhem]

Did you get hold of Kweepa in the end?

[merman]

Yes, the article includes

Michael Tomczyk
Albert Charpentier
Jeff Daniels
Jim Brain
Boray
Misfit
Revival Studios
Kweepa
Simon Ullyatt from Cronosoft

Oh, and some bloke called Mat Allen

[Misfit]

Okay..
I watched new "Inside Retro Gamer" video..
.. and what the..

[lance.ewing]

Bought my copy today. Shall be reading this evening...

[merman]

Okay..
I watched new "Inside Retro Gamer" video..
.. and what the..

Had to get that quote in there!
Shame they didn't use your photo in the end...

[Mayhem]

Hopefully that means the subs copies have arrived...

[mrr19121970]

Mine arrived yesterday. I was a little disappointed. I hoped to read more & see more pics. I guess we will need to wait for oldcomptr's book instead.

[merman]

Mine arrived yesterday. I was a little disappointed. I hoped to read more & see more pics. I guess we will need to wait for oldcomptr's book instead.

I submitted a lot more pictures. Obviously they chose to concentrate on the historic images.
In terms of the words, this was pushing close to the limit of the spread size.

[mrr19121970]

This was my suspicion. The article was not meant for 'enthusiasts' but rather to attract people to learn more. I have the Amiga, C64/Spectrum specials (also Atari, SNES, PS too). I doubt there would be enough interested to make a VIC20 special.

[Boray]

The front page says the Vic-20 is c64's little brother. Hmmm... I would say the older brother is the big brother.

[Boray]

Q. When did your first get a VIC-20?
A: My older brother bought one in 1982 when I was 9 years old. Later, I bought it from him in 1987.

Q. When did you start programming it?
A: The very same day I bought it. My brother insisted on that I should learn programming and helped me with my first basic program. I then went through all of the examples in the user's manual. He said it was more fun to make your own games than just play games. And he was right.

Q. What are your favourite VIC-20 games of all time?
A: Omega Race. The Vic-20 has in my opinion the best implementation of the game. It's even more fun than the original arcade version (which I've only played through emulation though). Other games I enjoy is Mole Attack and Pit (by Kavan). I probably hold the world records in those three games by the way

Q. When did you start programming new games and tools for the VIC?
A: You mean when it became more of a retro hobby? I think it was around year 2000.

Q. Do you use cross-development tools or work on the original machine?
A: Both. Previously I've always felt that programming on the real machine is part of the retro experience. However, some projects kind of grows over to a modern PC for practical reasons. That's what happened to my backgammon game. In the end I only edited it with Basedit.NET, compiled it (which I planned from the start) and run it in warp mode in VICE to test how much better a change to the AI player was after a couple of thousand games. Something like that could never have been done on the real machine.

Q. Why do you keep using the VIC? +
Q. What made the VIC special?
A: The Vic-20 was my very first encounter with the magical world of computers. Much of that magic is still there. The Vic-20 is also a great little machine on which you actually can make playable basic games. It's better than the c64 in this aspect: It's 20% faster, it has just half the resolution, which means you need less power to move the same size of objects in basic. It's simpler to do sounds. And the sounds have a nice raw power to them with a bit of distortion found nowhere else.

Q. Which other coders still using the VIC do you admire?
A: Misfit made some top quality games lately including "Bertie the Ball". Tokra and Mike have developed new impressive graphics modes. Pixel is also developing new impressive games, including the latest version of "Pulse", which I've made the intro music for, which he is streaming from tape at a higher sample rate than my SD2IEC player.

Q. How did the streaming music tool (using the SD2IEC) happen?
A: Making music is one of my biggest hobbies. When I got the SD2IEC, the idea of streaming my own music from it wasn't far fetched.

Q. What would be your dream game to create on the VIC?
A: Backgammon. So I've already done it. It's probably the only game of mine that doesn't build on an original game idea. That is usually the key for me when programming, that I want to do something unique that haven't been done before.

[beamrider]

I'm surprised Pulse wasn't included in the "essential homebrew".

[pixel]

I'm surprised Pulse wasn't included in the "essential homebrew".

I guess I might have an explanation. Although of course I'm not sure. But then again I didn't do anything to anybody and Mom says I'm only a bastard in real life so this is the closest explanation I can come up with:

Nigel Parker of Commodore Free told me that he got harsh, offending mail from some troll who used my name after he reviewed Pulse two years ago. Fortunately he figured out that it was fake. Later I got off–putting responses or no reply from other magazines when I tried to contact them about the tape release. I didn't care really and went on with other things to bother about. One review even got removed from the Net. I also had to get Google to unblock my web site and other stuff about me – in Europe you can ask them to block results about you. It wasn't me so they reappeared. Would have loved to get one of those mails just to get an idea about who it was. I hope that asshole is done. Now I got this out of my system. Even if I'm far off from what really happened it had to be mentioned at some point that these things happened. No offense to Retro Gamer intended.

However, I got enough attention for a life time with Pulse already. The other guys like you have put much more effort into the VIC scene.