Interview with Antony / Pulse

Cremax/Nothing

1. Can you tell us about you and your group?

My name is Antony Squizzato, and my PC group is Pulse. I am 22 and I have been in the scene for ages.. about 10 years :) It began on ST, then Amiga and today PC. Some people say I am a graphician, so.. I am a graphician.

2. What do you think about the progress nowadays in the demoscene?

Well, technique is progressing but for me, good ideas are the one only thing I enjoy when watching a demo: old demos from people like melon, movement, funky buddhas, anarchy.. will always look good to me.

3. Do you think 3D is making a better scene or boring one?

Today technique is overshadowed by companies' softwares because they got a lot of money to produce 'movie like' games... so 3D will be nothing without original concepts: if you have a kickin' engine, it won't be enough to make kickin' ass demos.. I love 3D when people know how to use the 3d culture: not trying to reproduce natural or realistic stuff, which is nonsense for me: you won't reach the quality of other supports like video.. 3D is good.

4. What do you think about making demos under windows?

I love this idea: you can spread demos to non computer freaks (such as girls, specially good looking ones: then they are able to watch them and to show them to other girls they know saying 'i know the boy who did that' and others say 'wooawwww!! let us know him')..

5. What platform you think supports the demoscene better? Do you think DOS will survive?

In fact I don't know and I don't care a lot, for me the real thing is what you see, and what you can learn/enjoy/feel.. from moving pixels.. I think I would not have been a good coder (j'ai vomi mon yaourth). I don't know if dos will survive, coz dos is not like jesus.

6. What you think about hardware "support" on demos?

I guess you mean 3dfx like stuff.. Well, it adds good image quality to the demo, that can be quite important if you request some special effects focused on technique.. But please coders: avoid all the boring 3d ugly objects and tunnels with 3dfx.. We already had to watch them too much using our good old hardware.. So please, use the 3dfx to bring really original productions so that everyone will be happy and the world will feel better.

7. Which is/was your favourite party (if you attended one)?

I attended a lot of parties when I was active on Amiga (ie: 3 or 5 years ago).. Anyway, my two favourite parties were:

- GASP held in Montpellier, France, because the atmosphere was fabulous and it was not only a computer-based party

- The Party 5, well, I'm not sure if it is TP5.. It is the one when we released "Reve".. the party when Pulse was born, when we met our Polish mates, we were really excited and a lot of good friends were there..

8. What is your favourite demo?

I don't know. I like demos from Tpolm, Sonik, Melon, Coma, and Orange.. I like weird demos, unusual attractions.. I like Mina Omistan / Movement and Planet M / Melon.

9. Would you want to contribute to the demoscene with anything?

Yes, a cooking book on CD-ROM: I like cooking. Really.

10. What do you think about diskmags?

I like reading them, when they are good (ie: not childish articles). The PC scene lacks diskmags compared to Amiga.. But I know it is a huge work that won't give scene journalists any money.. and people have to buy their cookies not to starve..

11. Are diskmags still necessary?

Diskmags are more than necessary: it would be nonsense to make demos and not having real forums around them.. Communication in the demo scene is mostly based on mags.. For sure I would be too lazy to launch a mag on PC these days, so congratulations to all editors for their hours of typing articles and connecting people.

12. What do you think about other media like irc, newsgroups, online-mags?

I like IRC. Years ago, I was quite addicted to french minitel, which is a bit the same. IRC adds the international dimension, and technical facilities.. Today it is much easier to make international productions thanks to these tools.. and it is cheaper than minitel..

13. What groups do you consider "well-known" and in some way contributed to the scene?

Well, as I told before, I like groups that got strong identities and that try to bring something special and original to the scene.. I don't like people copying from other media and trying to recreate already seen stuff. I enjoy imaginative people more than popular and really-good-in-programming-or-pixel-technique persons. Of course, my favourites will remain the ones with both technique and imagination..

14. When do you think to release a new demo from your group? (we would like to know :)

I think they are many projects from various people in Pulse.. maybe I will contribute to some of them.. but not draw all the graphics of any (I would lack time for this, and it's good to work in team).. The summer should bring new demos from us: both Pulse prods and coprods with other bands. We started some projects from the "reve" team time ago (ie: Shad, LCA, Ajt... me) but LCA is so busy with Electronic Arts that he cannot complete demos.. This is too bad, because LCA is my favourite coder: he is a kewl dude, he never says "no, you cannot do that", and his codes simply kick ass.

15. One last question, what are your favourite music bands? ;)

They are so many I enjoy: pop rock (Pulp, Stones Roses, Ride, Cocteau Twins, Suede), techno & experimental (future sound of london, gus gus, New Order, Underworld, Goldie..), I also enjoy singers like Jay Jay Johanson, Jeff Buckley, Iggy Pop.. Well, many styles: it's good to change all the time.