http://www.bitfellas.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.105 Page 1/5 Colorbird (Razor 1911) (00.00.1998) editor, coder Ghandy, Thu 03 May 2007 Interview with Colorbird Publication: Scenet.de in 1999 Introduction: Let's take a view on some blasts of the past! Let`s take a view on one of the most agressive writers of the last years. What is he doing now? Here`s the interview with Colorbird, the gameproducer, the taxpayer and the happy norwegian man from Sweden. But read it all yourself. Screenshot: Propaganda diskmag#4 pics by pouet.net, thx! Ghandy: Hello Colorbird... welcome in the Hall of Fame of Jurassic Mag.... take a seat..or nap.. erm better not..! Do you want to eat some pizza or drink diet coke? (or better something with alcohol?) Colorbird: Pepsi please? May I have one? NOW!!!!! Ghandy: Well here it is.. Hope we`ll have no problems transfering it via e-mail! Is there any pepsi-transfer-library? (or coke-protocoll) ... Okay..guess you`re now relaxed.. please tell us something about yourself, what is your name, age, education etc. Colorbird: My name is Johan Andersson and have come to the old age of 22 years old. I really only have the normal 12 years of school and gymnasium and a year at university studying Russian and Mathematics... http://www.bitfellas.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.105 Page 2/5 Ghandy: Do you have a girlie? Or if not, how do you spent your free time? Colorbird: No female at the moment... I spend my sparetime like all other normal people, watching TV, meeting friends, webbing, going out at week ends etc.. Ghandy: Please tell us something about your scene history.. why do you call yourself Colorbird? (Are you playing a loud colorfull bird ? hehe) Colorbird: I call myself Colorbird since the first time I joined Razor 1911. It just sounded nice I think, that`s why I used it. Previously I called myself Shike. Ghandy: Which jobs did you do? (Why did you start coding? Who did teach you? [maybe hammer?] Or did you learn it all yourself?) Colorbird: I learned how to program when I was 13 years old with my C64 together with some friends that was never in the scene. I later learned assembler and bought my Amiga and joined the demo scene.The most influential programmers in my scene career was in chronological order: Idler/Patriots, Odeon/Majic-12, and Crayon/Noxious. Those guys I can't thank enough Ghandy: In which groups have you been? Colorbird: I have been in many demo groups.. Strange, Majic-12, Supplex, Razor 1911, Noxious, Scoopex, Circle, Razor 1911 and then Scoopex again. Ghandy: I heard you are not longer in Scoopex? Did you loose all interest in the scene? Or what`s the reason? Colorbird: Lost most interest I guess. And it felt like bad to be in a group for a year and not doing anything at all.. Ghandy: Antibyte said in his interview in Seenpoint#3 that he will release Propaganda again, but I heard you are not interested to write any more articles? So what`s going on for real? Colorbird: Propaganda is dead and it will always be. Propaganda can only be done by Colorbird AND Diesel and we have no contact anymore and no interest in continueing the mag so.. Ghandy: Why was your style of writing articles so much filled with arrogance? Or was it not? What`s your opinion? (Do you think it`s important for a mag to bring out some sensations?) Colorbird: I wrote arrogantly with a smiley.. Anyway that was my intention. And I didn`t care enough about the scene to notice that for some people was their entire life. Not one of my daily friends was a scener and didn`t have any major computer interest anyway, so I thought that all people on the scene had normal lifes and that the scene was just a hobby some hours a week.. http://www.bitfellas.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.105 Page 3/5 Ghandy: But I guess you are now more interested in your work inside Funcom. What is the last demo you have seen? Was it Nexus7 at Party4? (Saw you there at the Rebels table) Colorbird: I saw some demos that I downloaded from aminet this year, but I don`t remember much, most were just boring pc style demos.. The gate???? was ok though.. Ghandy: Heard you have your own opinion about polish groups/productions? Colorbird: In 1993 when I last was active they sucked bigtime graphically and in design. Ghandy: How did Funcom contact you? What exactly IS Funcom? A software company, well that`s what everybody heard, but who is involved inside the Funcom project? How did they become the idea to hire scenes for their game projects? Or are ex-sceners working there in the management? (wich sceners are working there beside you?) Colorbird: There are only like 10 ex-sceners at funcom working in development. And we have like 80 employees. But of the 6 Lead Programmers, four are ex-sceners. Gargoyle/Polka Bros, Vanguard/Pure Metal Coders, Alta/Rebels and myself. Ghandy: Please describe us the difference between coding a demo and coding a game. What`s more complicated? (difference Adventure/action game) Colorbird: The difference between coding a demo and a game is like comparing doing simple maths for seven year olds and maths for university. That`s just a comparison to show the difference in the complexity and amount of work that`s to do a full game compare to a demo. Ghandy: On what kind of projects are you working actually? On which systems? PC? Sony Playstation? Colorbird: I personally have been working on Megadrive and SNES. Two games I have finished. Nightmare Circus and NBA Hangtime. Ghandy: How does the coding work? Do you have an extra card for SNES/SEGA on your amiga or pc (like with psx) ? Or a special assembler? How are all these games produced?? Colorbird: Things like that I am not allowed to talk about, since I think it`s production secrets and all that.. anyway.. I wont say anything... sorry Ghandy: Which games did Funcom release? Please tell us the names/system. Colorbird: Were Back (Megadrive / HiTech), Daze Before Christmas (Megadrive, SNES / SunSoft), Samurai Showdown (Sega CD / http://www.bitfellas.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.105 Page 4/5 JVC), Fatal Fury (Sega CD / JVC), Nightmare Circus (Megadrive / SEGA), Pocahontas (Megadrive / Disney), Impact Racing (PSX, Saturn / JVC), Casper (PSX, Saturn /JVC), NBA Hangtime(Megadrive, SNES /Williams) Ghandy: Didn`t you study anything as Funcom asked you to come? (don`t know) [or were you just finishing your school?] Colorbird: I send a letter to them and a disk with examples and got an interview and a job. Ghandy: What are your future plans? Will you stay there ? (Or will you ever return to your home in Sweden) Is Funcom successfull producing games? (Do they/you earn much money? Are they publishing them also? For example, who`s planning the marketing; who`s setting the deadline?? Colorbird: Funcom is a developer, other companies publish our games. 8 games out now since 1994 that I can think of. For Genesis, Sega CD, SNES, PSX and Saturn. I'll stay as long as I can here, its a great enviroment to work in and good pay. My home is here in Oslo NOT in sweden. I live here since over 2 years and pay my taxes so it`s my home. Ghandy: Was Funcom ever present at any fairs/scener`s partys? Is there any scener willing to pay anything for software? Is the company interested in the scene anyhow? Colorbird: I dont know? Screenshot of "We shave ass" by Razor 1991 from 1994 Ghandy: Do you want to add anything or greet any friends? Colorbird: Hengrov till Carl, Che, Henrik, Colin, Tore, Christian, Nils och Olav! Hejsan till alla andra pa Funcom och de andra jag kanner! Ghandy: Last question: Did you have a look at Jurassic Pack? What do you think about it? (design/idea/coding/articles/charts etc.) What are your favorite mags? (btw. what were your favorite mags? Don`t know if you find the time to look at any new productions) Colorbird: I hate mags with black background I am sad to say this and I know Mop will be happy, but there is only one mag that I have read the latest 2 years (including astro RAW), that has been good and that`s ROM. I don`t like it`s style, but its simply the best available! http://www.bitfellas.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.105 Page 5/5 Ghandy: Mop WILL be happy... hehe for SURE! Colorbird: Ciao! Interview performed by Ghandy .