March 4th

WHEREVER YOU GO, GO TEX'N'CO
-or-
A VISIT TO THE PLACE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE
-or-
ORGASMIC EXPERIENCES IN A PEUGEOT 305
-or-
GEIKRZTILB
-or-
GERMANY, HERE WE COME!!
-or-
GERMANY, HERE WE GO AGAIN!!
-or-
KNUCKLES CHAINED AND BUSTED
-or-
THE EXCEPTIONS DO IT WITH PLANTIAC
-or-
BEING INTERVIEWED FOR A CHANGE
-or-
HOW TO MAKE AN INDOOR SWIMMING POOL CEILING WET
-or-
THE LETHAL FIVE MINUTES AFTER AN EDITOR'S WAKING UP
-or-
EXHAUSTING TIMES IN A SMALL TOWN
-or-
WHAT AM I DOING HERE?! WHO CARES ABOUT ALL THESE SUBTITLES?!

PART I - MARCH 4TH 1989

Yawn.

Right now it is 6.58 AM. ON A SATURDAY!
Normally, around these hours, I am lying in my bed, wrapped in
warm blankets and generally being utterly asleep.
YAWN!
Well, this is the day. This is the day the biggest computer orgy
ever is going to be held. In less than an hour from now, Richard
and myself will enter a car and drive to Germany. Gütersloh to be
exact. There we will visit a bunch of brilliant computer freaks
better known as TEX. They will create a demo screen for ST NEWS
and we will be there to behold it. We will be there to
participate in it. We will be there to be awed. We will be there;
mere mortals amongst the best and most famous computer hackers
ever to appear on the Atari ST. This is going to be a
commemorable day. Sleep is still infesting my system so I will
try to get it out by pouring large amounts of chilled water over
my body. After that, I will try to have some breakfast and the
journey will begin.......
By the way, I did not have such a great night sleep. Remnants of
a flu were haunting me (especially my nose has not completely
recovered yet) But inspiration is driving me out of my bed right
now and I will perform the actions mentioned above involving cold
water, vanilla yoghurt, Corn Flakes and some grass having passed
through a cow.

Stefan

07:13

Outside, a meagre sound can be heard made by a flying animal.
Darkness is releasing its grip upon Utrecht, where no other
sounds than those made by the flying animal can be heard. The
whole city is still, quite obviously, fast asleep.
For today is the day! We will meet our good old friends in
Germany, almost exactly ONE YEAR later than we last saw them. I
must admit I had kinda been looking forward to this occasion (who
wouldn't?!). Stefan is at the moment washing himself, and I sit
in the middle of a huge pile of assorted clothes and, chiefly,
drinks and crisps that will have to make the long voyage with us.
We have some Cola, lotsa crisps, Vieux (Plantiac, AAARRGGHH!),
beer, CDs and maybe even more that is now invisible because of
the rest.
"Let's do it!" Stefan just now uttered, and we're about to have
breakfast. Well....breakfast....a load of various diary products
and some Corn Flakes, rather. Stefan just now also pronounced the
name of a certain part of a female's body that would normally
cause significant excitement among us who are but the helpless
victims of hormones as he bumped his toe into a somewhat large
box containing about 300 little envelopes for my Virus killer
mailing.
Enough said for now. Let's EAT!

Richard

7:32

Strange humming noises irritate my ears as Richard is in the
middle of removing unnecessary amounts of hair from his face with
a somewhat noisy machine. Breakfast is now inside of me and we
are now getting ready to pack all the items and get going. I
won't be able to write much anymore for the next hours because I
have to control a certain machine with four wheels and a motor
that will take us to our destination. Well, I'm off helping
Richard carrying some of the various foodstuffs (both liquid and
solid) before he collapses under the amounts of junk he is piling
upon himself right now. See ya!

Stefan

07:45

The final preparations have taken place. Everything is ready.
We're gonna hit the road within minutes now (after having loaded
Stefan's car with crisps, booze and CDs).

Richard

07:55

In the car. In just about few seconds, every road between
Utrecht and Gütersloh will be unsafe for Stefan the Hazardous,
first-time solo automobile driver.

Richard

08:12

Sh.t! A car (a real one) with none of the commonly necessary
audio appliances?! So we're now listening to an extremely boring
craptalk program... Oh boy...

Richard

08:21

Finally, this co-driver's Armageddon has stopped - at least for
a short while. At the moment, we're filling up the car's internal
energy supply at a Shell (oops) gas station, about 35 kilometres
before Arnhem. Finally, a chance to get our hands on some decent
liquids and liquorice for ourselves, too!

Richard

08:45

A student driver just flashed by. Stefan burst out in sadistic
hard-core laughter, causing the major part of the windscreen to
be covered by strange substances on the inside which he is now
trying to remove using his sleeve. Juck!

Richard

08:56

It this very moment, we pass the border to the country where
dreams are made: The Federal Republic of Germany. The custom's
people gaze at the crooked vehicle with awe. German road signs
pass us with an ever increasing speed as Stefan hits the pedal to
the metal and cranks up the poor car to its absolute top speed,
which is (ahem) 135 kilometres per hour (about 85 mph). WOW!
We're there! We're in Germany!!!

Richard

09:52

Along the road, we can see high exhaust pipes spilling forth
enormous amounts of dark yellow-browny and hazy grey fumes - we
have entered the Ruhrgebiet. The air is colored in a grey shade
of white (about color 333 on the ST's color palette). We
desperately try to hold our breath until we're past these sources
of pollution but it's impossible...and we again lose a couple of
years of our lives.

Richard

10:32

The word "Gütersloh Rasthof" just appeared along the road - the
first ever physical evidence of this town actually existing! This
means that we're very NEAR! I can already smell pizzas, lasagna,
home-made wine and the scent of blood, sweat and tears. Gosh!

Richard

10:55

The motor shuts off. We will now start on a quest for the right
address, after which the car will have to be unloaded and the
whole thing can start!

Richard

11:17

The car has been unloaded. Ready to mosh it up!

Richard

11:22

Well, we're here! We haven't caused any lethal accidents, no
victims have been left helpless alongside the road and we are
here.
It is a nice office filled with computers, people, mattresses,
Coke-bottles, crisp-bags, diskettes, audio equipment, assorted
pieces of electronic hardware and a lot of other stuff that I
cannot describe right now because I am simply too excited.

Stefan

11:43

My "VDU" version 3.3 has just been tested on two of the MEGA STs
present in the building, and it both times crashed at some
stage?!

Richard

12:01

"VDU" bombs away all the time. I think it's very funny! Richard
doesn't.

Erik

12:14

Was it my imagination, or did I just spot a FEMALE here? Am I
awake?

Richard

12:30

I just have seen a new game created by these guys. It is a
somewhat violent Kung-Fu game in which two little men beat the
hell out of each other. Really great artwork and animation. The
things I see here are really baffling me beyond the reaches of
sanity. Is this for real or am I just dreaming all this? Did I
really see somebody program something in about 15 minutes that
eliminated all borders? Is this a dream? I have to stop now
before I collapse in utter amazement.

Stefan

12:44

Stefan and myself have just witnessed some utter delights of
game programming; but the bad thing is that that darned Erik will
not let us write anything about them! Well, there's one game that
looks a bit like "Sorcery" but that's much better and has
infinitely better graphics. The scrolling is also ultra-
smooth....
Another game is now temporarily called "VGA" (Vector Graphics
Adventure), a 3D vector game made by the TNT-Crew. A definite
name is not known, and I doubt that we would be allowed to
mention it if anyone knew.
Boy, we also saw some TCB preview demos and they were utterly
amazing, too.... Oops. The batteries of the Z88 (on which this
article is processed) just ran low. But we already replaced them
("It goes quickest when you don't hurry" - Andreas quote).
I just caught some sentences involving the word 'food' flying
through the air: We will go and EAT!

Richard

12:58

I hear that we are going to eat. Well, since there are some
strange sensations coming from my stomach I think it is about
time that I get something to eat. Next to me is Level 16 busy
creating some article-stuff exclusively for ST NEWS and I see
borders disappearing like they were never meant to be.....

Stefan

13:17

I have to vomit. I have just seen some graphics for a game that
will also soon be launched (something with elves, dragons and
orcs), made by a guy called Thorsten. I cannot simply get hold of
all that graphical brilliance without it having some feedback on
my metabolism.

Richard

13:25

RAAAAHHHH!!! I have seen some graphics that are so utterly
brilliant that my poor brain....
Tarik Ahmia just entered (He is or rather used to be the editor
of ST Magazin)
...is now gasping for breath and the overheated neurons are
reaching a dangerous temperature. It is just too much for me.
Gosh.....

Stefan

13:42

At this moment, we're sitting in a Greek restaurant called
"Auf'm Busch" in Gütersloh. Isn't it funny to realise what you
can do with a TRUE portable like the Z88? At this moment, we're
here with a lot of people: Tarik (ex-editor of "ST Magazin"),
Gunter (TEX), Erik (TEX), Jochen (TEX), Thorsten (an independent
graphic artists), Michael (TEX), Andreas (Level 16), Udo (TEX),
Michael (an independent programmer annex clock-cycle-counter) and
of course Stefan and myself. What a mess!

Richard

13:47

I want to tell you a short story about Jochen (the guy, who eats
a lot and eats everything). It was at some time in the night.
Jochen woke up and was very thirsty.... Without turning on the
light he searched (half asleep) for his Cola-bottle, and found
something...
He opened it and drank. Hmmm, that didn't taste good!!!
That was hair-shampoo !! Ugh. The next morning Jochen was not in
a very good condition. As he told us, he couldn't sleep for the
rest of the night. He had to visit the toilet very often....

Gunter

13:58

I tell you, folks, this story is TRUE! Really TRUE! That morning
I laughed myself to a thousand pieces and spent the rest of the
day collecting them together again...

Erik

14:04

The waitress brought me a large glass of cola, and since I was
completely dried out, I emptied the glass in one gulp. Really
interesting odours are exciting my nostrils right now and I
cannot wait for the 'Der Grieche' dish to be handed to me. Jochen
told me to get it and he said that it is really great.
The first food is being served. Finally I can EEEAAAAATTTTTT!!!!

Stefan

14:09

Nobody likes olives...and Gunter just devoured a whole pepper
without blinking even once!

Richard

14:31

Yeah. I just finished my greek dish and my stomach is now fully
filled and satiation is now the main thing for me. I had a REALLY
interesting talk with Gunter and he explained to me how to do
really fast scrolling and I understood him! Yes, watch ST NEWS
closely because I now really feel like creating great demos. New
colas have been brought and I have to wetten myself a bit....

Stefan

14:36

Ooof. Jochen and Erik told me that the "The Griech" (the dish we
just ate) was quite much, bragging about them being able to eat
it. Well, Stefan and myself just ate it and it's nothing special.
Well...it IS delicious but it was just a regular quantity.
Just now, the Greek restaurant played a record called "Flim
Flam" or something like that - a record in which a BURP appears.
Good morning!

Richard

14:41

I see that Gunter likes tomatoes. He is now stealing them from
Richard's bowl of salad. Udo is again reciting his MOVEM course
for the very, very advanced. I hear muffled noises from the
adjacent table where Jochen, Erik, Michael and Thorsten are
stuffing Greek delicacies in their mouths. Gunter just told me
that The Union Demo crashed quite painfully a couple of times
because Jochen dared touch the $484 (keyboard bleep) variable.
Jochen is now gesturing wildly to indicate that this is not true
he just exclaimed: 'Abgesturzt ist es nie' (It never crashed!)

Stefan

14:49

Jochen just handed over some pictures. "Hush, hush", he
whispered, while winking one eye, "here are some X-rated pics!"
We looked at them and were shocked. We saw the utterly bare
internals of an ST. Complete with juicy details pointing to where
you need to cut and solder, it succeeded into utterly disgusting
us and we barely kept our delicious food inside.
I never looked upon Jochen as someone spreading this filth, but
I must have been mistaken.

Richard

14:57

Remember the X-rated pictures? Well, it turned out to be
instructions how to make some hardware modifications to achieve
hardware-no-borders! Yes, your ST will then default display the
screen without any borders, and you have all processor-time left.
Isn't that wonderfully great? Of course, things like the desktop
or anything else won't work anymore, because the resolution will
be drastically increased, but it should be possible to create
some switch so you can create the most fantastic demos. Wow, this
is really something.

Stefan

15:03

This hardware-overscan is very simple. At first some things, you
have to know: The glue-chip in your ST produces a signal (the DE
signal) which tells the rest of your computer when to display
screen and when to display border.
So all you have to do is to cut this signal and put it
permanently to low (which means: display screen all the time).

Gunter

15:16

Photos made (group fotos).

Richard

15:17

Stefan sneezed just now.

Richard

15:28

Back in the office. Everybody is again seeking their system and
programming seems to go on. More graphics will be displayed...and
I might just now again feel again the urge to throw up...

Richard

15:30

Jochen is now demonstrating some new music he made for some
games that will soon be ready..."5th Gear", "Battle Valley", and
more... I feel something coming up...
All games are made by Hewson, by the way.

Richard

15:36

Richard's dream has come true. Jochen finally managed to create
the "Knuckle Buster" music! To prevent Richard from hurting
himself while listening to it, they actually tied him to a chair
with iron chains. I took pictures and he looks really weird,
writhing in his chains, drooling, crying, shouting and making
spastic movements while the fantastic music is being reproduced
through two giant 'JBL' loudspeakers. This is really something,
you know. "Knuckle Buster" has finally been converted! YEAH!

Stefan

15:47

You should know how many bottles of coke are around here. I just
discovered another box and another bag filled with bottles of the
well-known black and bubbly fluid. I think these guys really live
on this stuff. No, I don't think so, I KNOW so!

Stefan

15:53

The Knucklebuster music has ended and Richard's agony is
completed when Udo slowly formatted the diskette containing the
music demo......
He is now even making more drastic movements as he desperately
tries to prevent the program from being formatted totally. But
this is quite difficult with a chair tied on your back with heavy
iron chains and two guys holding it down!

Stefan

15:50

I feel dead. I hope Jochen feels so too. I just witnessed the
best music ever conceived on ANY computer and they FORMATTED the
bleedin' disk!! And that limitless knucklehead Jochen does not
have a backup! It is for occasions like these that I feel a
certain four-letter word is invented.
I used it several times!

Richard

15:59

I AM ALIVE AGAIN! Jochen still had a backup copy! After having
tried to kill him with a baseball club (while he tried to kill me
with a prehistoric Indian weapon) they rushed out with a backup
which they booted up. I am alive again... And yet they say there
is even more to come....

Richard

16:20

I have just seen a demo of the Amiga (bwuurrgh) version of the
most recent game made by this software company. You can get extra
sound effect and things like that, and they proudly showed off
the better sound capabilities. Graphics were identical, however,
and the animation was sometimes a bit slower (the Amiga blitter,
they told us, is slower than the software routines they wrote on
the ST).

Richard

16:30

General mayhem and chaos has passed. Richard chased Jochen
around with a baseball club until Jochen found a somewhat large
knife and assaulted Richard with it while crying various
addresses of the ST's soundchip.
After the entire TEX crew was injured trying to separate the two
fighting computerfreaks I got to my senses and booted the
"Knuckle Buster" floppy and started the demo. Richard froze
immediately and with a very swift movement, Erik wrestled the
baseball club from his clutch.
Jochen, not prepared for such a sudden change, crashed into a
pile of floppy disks, still wielding the large blade. Peace has
returned and everybody is now peacefully sitting in Jochen's
lair, listening to some synth sounds he is creating right now....

Stefan

16:53

At the moment, Tarik is talking with Gunter and Udo about
writing articles, and Michael, Erik and two others (Thorsten and
Holger) are talking about priorities and stuff with regard to
their arcade adventure they're writing. I surely think that this
software company will come forth with at least half a dozen games
this year that will each STUN the world. When I was sitting at
the Greek restaurant, surrounded by all those programming
miracles, I wondered if ever on earth there will be such a
talented bunch of people gathered in a single restaurant (that
does not include Stefan and myself, of course, for our minds are
but shrivelled walnuts when compared with their unimaginable
intellect). Probably never.

Richard

17:20

We just found out that the main routines of a well know 5-disk
karate-game were written in GfA BASIC! We got it right from the
programmer himself (Marc) who is here right now. Isn't that
something, written in GfA BASIC???????
I just played around with Jochen's music editor and I fooled
with his electric guitar (a busted Gibson Les Paul clone by
Pearl). I even managed to get some sounds out of the music
editor! The program to me is complete arfle-barfle-goop, but I
managed to get some sounds out of it. They even sounded really
nice. I guess I triggered some pre-programmed sound effects or
something. GREAT!

Stefan

17:53

I am aroused from my deep thoughts concerning al kinds of absurd
scrollings, graphics, musix and other stunning stuff by Gunter
who tells us that we have exactly ten minutes left to get us some
stuff so we can have some breakfast tomorrow morning. So we
dashed out of the door and entered a local drugstore to get some
assorted items like bread, cheese and some gallons of milk.

Stefan

18:09

We're back. The night can begin.....

Stefan

18:23

A large door to the front balcony is open, and I type this
message while the wind glides gently through my hair and the
evening sounds of Gütersloh (some late driving cars, shopkeepers
closing their doors, mothers crying for lost kids) are to be
heard.
I just performed an interesting scientific experiment: What
would happen if I throw a bag of "Amsterdammertjes" (crisps that
are made in Holland and that are VERY nice) into the hackin' mob
in the other room? I could have known the answer. When they had
all tasted some and were licking their lips for more, the bag
fell into the hands of Mad the Hairy. May the bag rest in peace
(he even devoured the plastic of the bag itself).
Tarik is at the moment interviewing the TEX crew and Marc (from
Gigabyte) for "ST Magazin/68000'er". Everybody is still busy.
This evening, some more programming will be done, for we didn't
go to Gütersloh for nothing: We intend to leave here tomorrow
with new ST NEWS musix, an ST NEWS demo and the funniest and
largest real-time article ever written. And I've got this hunch
we will succeed...

Richard

18:40

Laser-time! Andreas some time ago bought a laserdisk player and
he demolished it so that he now only has the laser. We have just
now scared off harmless and purely innocent pedestrians using
this small device to put small red dots on their chests, heads,
or the ground before them. It was quite funny, as you can
imagine. Some of them ducked to the ground crying "Die Russen
kommen!", "War of the Worlds!" or "Schwarzenegger!"

Richard

18:52

Laser time again!
Richard grabbed the small laser device, plugged it into the
nearest outlet and started swaying it around. The people at the
other side must have wondered what that little dot was doing on
their ceiling. Also, that old man way across the street must have
thought he was targeted by some kind of SF hitman ready to blast
him to pieces with laser-precision. Big fun we had with that
thing!

Stefan

19:04

While going on with the laser, the man from the pizza parlour
got scared and looked around. He said, when he had discovered us,
that he was afraid the Mafia was here with a laser-pointed gun!
Fun to the power of two!

Richard

19:48

Jochen just demonstrated some of the capabilities of his
synthesizer to me. That Roland is really capable of creating THE
most stunning sounds. I mean EVERYTHING is in there. From
tweeting birds to growling bears and from pounding basses to
fiddling flutes.
Richard just told me that Thorsten is going to give us some of
his pictures to include in ST NEWS. This means that the next
couple of ST NEWS issues will feature some of the best artwork
ever to be created on the ST. Also, both Richard and myself
will get a sound demo which is utterly stunning and uncopyable.
Great stuff to make other people jealous....
What more can a simple ST user want? I am really sorry, but I
fail to utter any more words. I am so gruesomely inspired right
now that I just do not know what to write anymore. My head hurts
from all the dazzling experiences I have had and I need some kind
of break before I simply explode.

Stefan (sob)

20:08

I spent half of the afternoon in front of an Atari-monitor,
gazing at some incredible good graphics. They were painted by
Thorsten, who loves to sign his artwork with 'Gogo'. Too bad that
this game was sold to the wrong company...
Again they're shooting the innocent pizza-man on the other side
of he street. He begins to shout some funny Italian words and
wields a kind of club! I guess we'll never be able to buy a
single pizza at his shop again...
These two crazy dutchmen start talking about doing an ST NEWS
logo which I should draw for them. I fear that they found a new
prey after nagging Jochen to his total mental disease (he's now
even more weird than he was before the Dutch invasion hit our
innocent land...).
At least, they brought a very tasty alcoholic drink with them.
After drinking half a litre of this stuff, I will start to do
their logo!

Erik

20:26

Boy, the Plantiac is quite popular around here. Everybody is
running around with small glasses in their hands, sipping away.
Especially Erik (who does not care to take a glass, he just takes
large swigs from the bottle) and Jochen seem to be really fond of
it. If this goes on like this, the entire TEX crew will be
utterly intoxicated, and we will be able to plunder all hard
disks, stealing all sources, musix and pictures! We carefully
planned this, of course, knowing the devastating effect Plantiac
has on humans, even if they are humungusly brilliant computer
programmers. Even Tarik, who seems to be quite cool, is busy
drinking the brown fluid. This is going to be one hell of a
night!

Stefan

20:36

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH! That Plantiac stuff is great, and all
members of TEX and the others here seem to think so, too. I just
took an enormous swig after having heard the music from "Comic
Bakery" on the Amiga. It is nerve-baffling!!
I just mentioned that I would like the "Parallax" music on the
ST, and Jochen and Gunter went away mysteriously.... I hope they
are now trying to surprise me again...Oh boy! What they did with
me this afternoon (with "Knuckle Buster") was quite a surprise.
But the chains.... Ough! My Adam's apple is still aching!

Richard

20:41

GOOSEBUMPS, I HAD GOOSEBUMPS! Normally I am not fond of Amigas,
but this time I was glued to one as it was playing the 'Comic
Bakery' tune. To me this is one of the most breathtaking tunes
ever made on any computer and I was completely overwhelmed when I
heard it in stereo, programmed by Jochen himself. IT IS
FLABBERGASTIN' GREAT! My dear, I never thought computer music
could have such an effect on me, but the shivers are still
running down my spine as I remember the soothing tune. I think I
will go back now and listen to it again. Oh dear, I am falling
apart here....
Some maniac neurons in the back of my mind are right now
considering the possibilities of buying an Amiga so I can connect
it to my stereo and listen to the tune all day long, but that
would probably drive me completely out of my overkilled mind.

Stefan

20:47

NO, Stefan, please don't do what your maniac neurons tell you
to!!!!!!!! I beg you!!

Richard

20:49

Orgasmic shivers are mangling our bodies as Thorsten hands us
his 'pics' disk. This means that ST NEWS will be filled with
'hyper super ober affengeil' (just some German superlatives)
pictures from now on....
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Stefan

20:58

Something wonderful has happened....
Michael just opened one of the many envelopes and found a
scrolling message in there. Now not a digital one, but a PAPER
ONE. Yes, 30.80 meters of a narrow piece of paper with a long
message on it. Sometimes very humorous and they greeted Willeke
in it! WOW. It was a reaction on the B.I.G. demo by Dr. Solo and
Mick. Fantastic guys! Superbly original and just utterly
amazingly great. What a life!
I feel sorry for Gunter who has heaped the task upon himself to
roll up the entire 'scrolling message'. Jochen relieved him just
now and he is rolling up the paper with a frantic look in his
eyes....

Jochen is totally amazed by the fact that these guys have made a
tape with some of the B.I.G. demo tunes to play on their
walkmans!

Stefan

21:22

OK. I've seen enough. These guys must definitely be crazy.
Especially this strange fellow from Holland ,R.K. (You know who
is meant) who's drinking all this brown, strongly alcoholic
stuff. Finally he said that he feels more like drinking Coke for
the rest of the evening. Jochen continues his creative work:
after 22 minutes he has just finished rolling up this somewhat
strange fan-letter. Well, R.K. was right, this brown stuff really
makes your head swim (what?). I think we should change to real
Bacardi Rum.

Tarik

21:26

DROOL! I have just seen ANOTHER thing that nearly exterminated
the few neurons in my poor brains that were not yet lethally
overloaded. Level 16's whole-screen all-directions scroller. The
WHOLE screen scrolled SMOOTHLY in all 8 directions, swaying and
waggling along, changing backgrounds, with a scrolling message, a
rather large and moving Level 16 logo AND Jochen's eternally
present music just like it is the simplest thing to do. THE WHOLE
SCREEN.
Raaaahhhhh....
Richard is right now negotiating with the boss around here
(Holger is his name) to write some introductory novels for some
of the games that are produced here.
Michael just photographed me, sitting serenely behind one of the
STs, frantically trying to ignore the no-borders, the full-screen
scrollers, the cannotbedescribed music and all other neuron-
insinerating things that surround me while I am typing this.
He told me that he just put a film in his camera. All day long,
he has been taking pictures of the most crazy situations and
there was no film in his camera.....This proves that TEX are
human after all.....

Stefan

21:54

Just come back from a very interesting Lesson about one of the
most advanced role-playing games for the ST with very, very nice
graphics (Erik mentions, by the way, that he has strong neck-
pains).
Udo has shown some very impressive animation sequences of this
impressive role-playing game and explained some of the game-
logic. You can think that this game is some kind of a graphical
molecular-simulation when Udo gives you a convincing impression
of the very complex interaction that he put into it.
Richard just said that he is a convinced capitalist.
ES just tried to strangle Michael because of some minor problems
with some strange photographs...

Tarik

22:06

It seems that I have had a TEENY WEENY bit too much to drink.
While the rest is watching a video that was used to create the
animation sequences of one of the new 'role playing games', I am
here typing more and more crappy stuff into the word processor. I
DO make a lot of spelling mistakes now, by the way, because I am
getting to be fairly drunk and because I have to type on a German
keyboard (we have switched to an old ST somewhere after half past
seven this night).

Richard

22:10

I just took a FAR TOO LARGE swig of 'home made wine', made by
the people responsible for Gunter's existence. GOOD!! NICE!!
NICE!! (I said that already, didn't I?)

Richard

22:13

I just found out that it's UDO making all those movements on the
video (falling, dropping dead, making summer-saults, etc.)! Funny
to the power of THREE!!

Richard

22:27

Now, after watching this old video, I'm drinking a beer,
thinking about the times when we worked on our role-playing game
time to time and not with a fixed date to finish it...
But this won't keep me drinking this beer and get drunk....
(By the way, did I mention that I had no demo to finish today? No
hard working on spurious interrupts and other stupid things to do
with the borders...)

Udo

22:36

I just heard a HOT rumour: "Spelunker" is almost ready on the ST
(only the levels are not finished). GREAT! It seems that
Brøderbund is getting along FINE on the ST.
At the moment, I have difficulty controlling my fingers - they
seem like fat and uncontrollable sausages now, after consuming
FAR too much beer, home-made wine and Vieux. Terrible! I thought
I was able to write down my thoughts at any time, any where, but
it doesn't seem to be true... I even have difficulty finding the
darned 'RETURN' button...

Richard

23:05

Some terribly drunk persons are getting crazy about our famous
laser. Those maniacs cry "Here! Here!" (only in German) when they
spot the small red dot of this amazing piece of technology. I
think we should have had some dinner, as an empty stomach cannot
stand too much alcohol. Richard said he could fall asleep at once
if he would lay down. Already! This can be seen as a proof that
he has never done any military service (don't mind, I have never
been there either). By the way, those maniacs of the red laser
just came back, now shouting "Kill it!" (the red dot). Someone's
just trying to find out the limit of my tolerance by practising
some kind of disgusting heavy metal guitar in Jochen's room,
while Jochen and Erik are getting excited about the Atari 800
emulator.
Please STOP this Guitar-Playing!

Tarik

23:15

Ha! Guess who was playing that guitar?! Didn't you think my
"Smoke on the Water" impression was kinda neat?

Richard

23:29

Jochen, Erik, Thorsten and Michael are now glued to a video
screen where some pre-recorded Atari-XL (vintage!) stuff is being
displayed. The tape was made by an old acquaintance of ours, New
Zealand's Harvey Kong Tin who was responsible for the 'Garfield'
picture over a year ago in ST NEWS. "Rescue on Fractalus",
"Ballblazer" and other extremely old computer games are taped.
But they are impressed by the techniques back then and Erik is
muttering about the fractal-techniques they used on the 8-bit
machines. "It must be fantastically fast on the ST" he says. Well
folks, I believe we can expect some real-time graphics in the
future, based on fractal techniques, knowing these guys! They are
looking at it again and like I said, do not be amazed by
completely revolutionary graphics stuff in the future!!

Michael is eagerly waiting for the laser to cool off so he can
yet again use it to scare off some completely innocent
inhabitants of Gütersloh.

Stefan

23:47

Jochen is now making some musix for ST NEWS (including a
soundchip version of "Knuckle Buster") while Andreas and Gunter
are once again annoying people outside with the remarkable
portable laser device...

Richard

23:50

Erik worries about getting some swimming trousers for everyone
tomorrow. He is really down. Jochen sighs "Well, that's a lot of
work doing all these musix for Richard round midnight". An
ambulance passes. I should have ate something tonight.

Tarik

23:57

I just spent some time with Jochen as he was busy coding the ST
NEWS musix. Something strange happened to his screen as he was
busy modifying some registers. He banged his ST to the desk a
little and the jerking disappeared. But a few seconds later the
gibbering returned and he simply lifted the cover off his ST,
wriggled a somewhat large (the GLUE I guess) chip around and
replaced the cover. The jerking disappeared and with a slight
grin on his face, he continued to program. I guess every ST in
this office has been brutally abused one way or the other. I
almost feel sorry for them....

Stefan

So far the first part of this story. Read on in part II, which
will reveal even more of the intimate details concerning this
computer orgy in Germany...