Interview with Zig
Job:Coder - Publication: Unknown
Job:Coder - Publication: Unknown
1999: Screenshot of Datablade from RushHours '99
by Floppy & MadWizards
Wade:
Zig: Gajos Wojciech.
Wade: I understand you call yourself a coder.
Zig:
Zig: It's OK for me. There are several groups which are very good at "sceneing", eg. Potion or Anadune. They made the party-competition more exciting.
Wade:
Zig: I don't know really. But I bought it because I guess so.
Wade: This here is a deadly weapon. Hundreds of sceners die each year, as a result of devices like these and models such as the 060.
Zig: I don't know why? 060 and PPC processors can help amiga compos look similar to PC compos. If we only use 30 or older cpus, amiga would be probably in much worse position that it is now.
Wade: A deadly weapon is a deadly weapon. The PC more deadly than others. Surely the best way to defend yourself against a PC is to acquire one for yourself.
Zig: No. I don't think that way. All I wanted to say is that we have to have the same possibilities. The demos (amiga and pc) will never look the same, because the scene is not the same. But the PC demos don't have to look better only because of much powerful cpus and graphics cards.
Wade: But, the PC performs so much better. Why should anyone wish to use a feeble Amiga in this day and age?
Zig: I don't think there's a big difference with possibilities between PC and PPC Amiga. Why should we stay with Amiga? I don't know. I'm staying because I like Amiga much more than PC and i used to. I think that PC is a good hardware, but it's not for me. It's question of your choice.
Wade: Okay. So what are your intentions? Do you plan to use your PPC as an unfair advantage, to win party competitions?
Zig: I didn't buy it to win competitions. But truly I thought about it.
Wade: You're lying. I want the truth. Do you or do you not believe a PPC will give you an unfair advantage?
Zig: I found out that it doesn't matter on what cpu (hardware) your demo was coded. It's all about how it looks like. And if it looks cool and people like it - you win. But PPC could help to make much complex effects at the same frame-rate and if you asked about it - the answer is yes.
Wade: Do you ever profit from these violations?
Zig: I won a little money. But not much. I don't code to earn money. I do it for fun. And for Amiga users' pleasure, for better productions on parties.
Wade: So, let me get this straight. You code only for parties?
Zig: At this time - yes.
Wade: It sounds to me as if you are driven by profit and gain. Does this motivate your work?
Zig: That's true. But this is not the only thing that make coders work harder, the other one is to be well known and a respected coder.
Wade: Tell me about your accomplices - the graphics artists and musicians behind your schemes. Do they work for you or with you?
Zig: Not actually the way I want it. I get some graphics and musics. Then I sit, listen to the music, think about gfx and code I have and that's where the design comes from. Then I code a demo, change my plans during it and... Next FLOPPY release. But it shouldn't be that way. I want to change it.
Wade: You mentioned design. Surely this should be an essential ingredient in order for your plans to succeed. Should a coder dedicate more time on designing their production?
Zig: In Floppy, when Thorus was a member, I spent my time on coding and he spent his time on design. Now, I spend my time on coding, and the rest (very small) on design. But I guess the first place takes DESIGN, and the second - CODING.
Wade: You seem to promote the Amiga scene, but have you ever considered using your talents to help others? Providing them with magazine engines, music demos or slideshows for instance, so that they too can aid the scene.
Zig: I coded a long time ago, but never released...
Wade: So, if you could improve the scene, how would you do it?
Zig: Make the Amiga hardware cheaper. Then many good Amiga-sceners, which bought PCs, would return.
Wade: I too would like to see that happen. But, restrictions are a fundamental part of the Amiga's success. It's what drove sceners of the past, the toils of working within a 1mb limit and a couple of floppy disks. One could appreciate their work more, knowing the boundaries they had managed to exceed. These days, there are no limits and the coder has far less difficulty achieving his/her goals.
Zig:
2000: Screenshot of Murderous
from MekkaSymposium 2000
Wade: Absolutely. If there were more standard AGA demos, I'm sure many ex-sceners would have remained in the scene.
Zig: For example. Its not possible to create c2p for 15bit truecolor that will be faster than chip-writing and preloading cache trick. So if i got that speed, what is there to speed-up?
Wade: Take Sanity's Arte as an example. Even in this day and age, it remains one of the greatest demos the Amiga has ever seen, and it only requires an A500 to run.
Zig: That's true. But would you like a demo like Arte released this year?
Wade: Definitely. It would certainly motivate my scene activities. The beauty of such demos is that they are designed purely for the Amiga, using it's custom hardware to the full. It takes a pretty powerful PC to emulate a demo such as Arte, whereas a simple 486 could handle most Amiga demos of today's era.
Zig: I don't think so. The times go by so the technique too. Better CPU (hardware) doesn't change the coder (man).
Wade: What about the challenge? Don't coders thrive on that any more? One hardly needs much in the way of low level coding expertise to program a PPC demo. It's speed could make an Amos demo look passable.
Zig: That's right, but it depends on what do you want to achieve. I can't do anything more on 060 so i bought PPC card and BVision. There are some limits you can't beat. Especially AGA and slow BUS.
Wade:
Zig: Never rip. I don't like using other people's sources. I write my own sources few times, cause I don't like to use old stuff. All my demos might look similar, but the code in each other is completely new or updated.
Wade: Do you have any plans for the future?
Zig: Currently no, but I think about a demo for BVision. Maybe a version for MC68060 and AGA too. But time will show what I do.
Wade: This is where you stand. In the very least, you are facing the following charges: possession of a deadly weapon, aiding and abetting, fraud, and last but not least, involuntary manslaughter. However, I'm willing to make a deal. I will grant you your freedom on one condition...
Zig:
Zig: I got some friends in Poland, like Mr Acryl, Maq, Elf, Klod, Informer, Skip, Mavey (who did i miss
I like Antibyte, Boogeyman, Jamie, Psycho and many others, which i don't remember now. They are great and I love them 
Wade: You are free to leave.
Zig: