In Focus: BoyC of Conspiracy
Interviewed by Magic-Nah-kolor
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers? Please tell us about your previous groups as well as your current ones.
I'm BoyC, a Hungarian democoder. I'm mostly known for my work in Conspiracy, where I'm in charge of coding the tool responsible for the visual part of our intros. Before CNS I was (and still am) in a group called Digital Dynamite, and even before that I was in a 'group' called TM/BB (don't bother looking for any releases tho ;). I'm also associated with S!P a bit.
How did you get into the demoscene? When did you start being active in the demoscene?
That's a funny story, but a most common one. I got a computer (a c-116) when I was 6, and that summer I went to a sort of lecture on computers. There I saw a couple of older guys standing around a computer watching this incredibly cool thing. I went to ask what it was, they responded that it was a "megademo" and I was too young for it and I couldn't watch. Demos were interesting to me at the first glimpse so to say, and I've always been attracted to them. Me and a couple of my friends have followed the demoscene througout the 90's, but never managed to actually go to a party, mainly because we didn't know when or where one was held. I became active as soon as we found out about a party in advance, so we produced a release and went to it (FLaG 2000). I had found that first demo I'd seen a year before, the search for it kinda led me into the scene.
What do you think is the main difference between the oldschool and the newschool scene? Do you like that progression?
I think the difference is that when the hardware limit shifted out of reach, most of the performance-based effects got pointless and boring. With all the newer and faster hardware coming out all the time it's impossible to keep up. I think both new- and oldschool demos have their beauty. I do like the progression though because I like that the effect-after-effect approach has been replaced with more seamless transitions and demos telling stories.
What is your favourite demo?
Tough one. 'Instant zen' comes to mind first, but I have a lot of demos on my top list :)
What was your best moment in the scene so far? And what was your worst?
My best moment was clearly the end of the Breakpoint 2003 64k compo. We were overwhelmed with the response to Project Genesis, and I made some very very good friends that day (hello Gizmo ;)
My worst moment? That was right at the beginning. We did a demo without havig ever been at a party or knowing what the current standards were. We went into the party place at FLaG 2000, got our tickets and immediately entered our demo. 10 seconds later we saw the bigscreen and wanted to get our entry back. The worst moments of my scene career were the ones when our first demo was shown on the bigscreen... the 64k entries kicked our ass without breaking a sweat. Luckily noone knew who we were :)
What are you doing for a living now?
I'm working as a freelance game developer on an online game system.
In which ways did your demoscene-background help you get into the work you do today?
My employer looked at the demoscene to find a coder. Gargaj and me were the top of his list :)
How did you like Breakpoint 2006?
Best. Party. Ever. :)
Can you tell us something about your current projects? For what party can we expect a new Conspiracy intro or demo?
We have a nice time table for our project for about the next year, we hope that we can accomplish it all. We're still working hard on the new tool and new engine and it'll still take some time for anything to be released with them, but hopefully before the end of the year. In the meantime you can expect an intro at Assembly :)
What do you think is necessary to bring the demoscene a bit more into the public?
I think the art approach is a nice way to make it more public, it can give people an idea of why the hell we're doing all this. I'm not sure what steps could be taken to further this end though. More media coverage could probably work, and there are already some organisations trying to get the word out.
What things do you like besides computer work?
As I'm writing this I'm sitting in a net booth at an open air music festival :) I'm leading a double life - one is behind the screen and the other one is mainly on concerts and partying a lot.
Which party you visited you liked the most and why?
Breakpoint 2003 was the turning point for us, and it was the most overwhelming experience I've ever had. For one minute we were sitting as unknowns in a crowd, the next we were family :)
Where do you get ideas from for the code you make?
With the tool coding I mainly make up what we need and discuss it with Zoom. GUI building is not that an innovative process. For effect codes, there are various places. Sometimes when I see something cool I feel an irresistable urge to code it.
Any HDR in a Conspiracy release soon?
Time will tell ;) The next generation tools will have a lot of new things, HDR might just be one of them.
Please tell us which rankings you had in the various competitions at the various parties you visited and how you liked it?
There are a lot, but here are the major steps:
flag 2000 demo compo 5th - ouch, that was a painful experience
conference 2000 64k compo 2nd - first try at a 64k
flag 2001 demo compo 1st - that was a more rewarding one
m&s 2002 64k compo 17th - this inspired me to work on our intro system
flag 2002 64k compo 1st - the first test of our intro system
bp 2003 64k compo 1st - the breakthrough
sota 2004 64k compo 1st - the second generation tool debut
asm 2004 64k compo 1st - my long dream came true, we won an asm compo :)
What programs do you use for making an intro/demo?
For the graphics we work with our in-house developed tool called aDDict. For the sound part Gargaj wrote a couple of buzz plugins.
Please name your 5 most favourite coders from the demoscene and tell why they are your favourites.
I won't write a top list, but here are five coders who inspired me with their work:
ryg and Chaos of Farbrausch
Reptile of Astroidea
Smash of Fairlight
and Picard of Exceed
What is the best routine / music you have ever made? And why?
I liked that tunnel effect I reused in a lot of stuff lately very much. I wouldn't say its my best code but it was very cool to figure out how it worked after seeing it (in a winamp plugin). Sorry for overusing it tho ;)
Any last words? Some greetings perhaps ? Be my guest..
Sorry for the rush anwsers, I'm getting booted out of the booth soon :) Greetings go out to all my friends :)
