Interviews
Interview with L'trimm
Published in Domination #13
Performed by Jazzcat
One of the most active crackers in current times who has left his quality seal on many releases. Domination is proud to present an in-depth interview with a long time scener who is still knows his C64 roots.
J)
Welcome to the Domination magazine! Please introduce yourself to the audience.
L)
My name is Pascal Lemmerz and I am 23 years old. I am going to turn 24 in mid of October. My height is about 1.70 metres and I got a weight of 73 kg (146 pounds?). I got blue eyes and blond short cut hairs. I am still in the university and I am still living at my parents’ place (which is a low-cost life!). I don't have a girlfriend in the moment (we decided to split the relationship due some strange circumstances, duh!)...
J)
Could you tell us a bit about your C-64 history. When did you start in the scene? What groups have you been in? What are the main events and highlights of your scene career? Hmmm, you really want to hear my history? With all the groups involved?
L)
Okay, let me start, it will take some time, I guess :) If I remember right my career started back in 1988. A close friend of mine, formerly known as Eggman/Climax, was already involved to the scene. The Climax posse was responsible of the production of the Disk magazine "Trash News". I never knew about the scene before until I met Eggman. I have been a little boy which was damn proud of the stuff/games he got. I never figured out what the scene was about. Eggman/Climax was the one who showed me what the scene was and what it was used for. The scene was used for friendship and the mass production of new releases! As Climax used to be an legal group only, I did not know anything about the cracking scene to this moment. Well, I was impressed of the legal scene and the ones behind the scene. They have been the ones who created all the demos and magazines and who were the ones who set up the scene. At this point I knew, I want to get part of this, I want to be a member of the scene. But what the hell? I did not have any abilities to this point as well. Which group would take an member which cannot bring up any improvement to the group? As I did not know anything about coding or painting to this point I have decided to become a swapper. I have asked the group "Dualis" if they would like to gain a new member, a new swapper. They didn't reject me and so I became a part of the scene. I have joined up the forces in Dualis and became a swapper with some contacts (about 50!). I was damn happy as I first got involved into the scene and second I was able to get new stuff every day. At this point I have realized that there exists an cracking scene as well, as I have received a lot of cracks from my contacts... Hmmm, after a short period the group "Dualis" died and I became a groupless boy. I did not know what to do. Who would take me in? Would I ever get the chance to join up a new group? One day I got a call from Eggman/Climax again and he asked me if I would like to join up Climax as a swapper (he asked me if I would like to start mega swapping, I didn't reject this!). Due the fact that Climax was active on legal basis only, I had to start legal swapping only. I was not allowed to spread any illegal stuff during this time. I didn't care about this, as I was quite happy to become a part of the scene at this point again. During my time in Climax I started to paint some graphics. Eggman/Climax was the one who showed me how to set some pixels in the right order to get a real nice looking logo or graphics! He was very talented in my eyes and did some nice logos for the Climax gang in the past... I became a talented swapper during my time in Climax and I gained a lot of contacts... I have had about 150 Contacts during this time and at this point I was proud to call myself a mega swapper! I have had an idol during this time, it was Aslive/Hysteric! He was an amazing swapper! Wonder if he is still alive and still active on this machine? Well, time went by and even Climax reached the point of inactivity due lot of time problems of the coders/graphicians. I was very pissed about this as I had to send out frequently with some current releases. Some weeks later I have decided to leave this group in order to team up with another active group. I have asked the dudes of Gloom (former group of Graham/Oxyron if I remember right! :)), if they would like to gain a new mega swapper. They were quite satisfied and so I did it and teamed up in another legal group. The relationship didn't last for long, dunno why, cannot recall if the group died or if I decided to leave. I remember that I have been asked by Mindcrime/Vagabonds to join up Vagabonds as mega swapper and graphician. So I teamed up in this posse and did a couple of graphics for them, which also have been used in some intros. I was satisfied in this group as Mindcrime was damn active during this time and I was able to send out each week. So did I and the result of this was that I gained even more contacts during this period. Hell, I have gained about 300 (!) contacts and this was quite impressing. It was an amazing feeling to get 30-50 sending each day! The post-office was wondering and seemed to keep a close eye on me. Well, I used to cheat my stamps of course, or how would you pay 300 sendings each week? I was not able to pay 300 sendings the week so I decided to cheat the stamps, was a damn nice solution to me :) But crime get paid one time. The post-office busted me for stamp-cheating. ARGHH! But anyways, this was no reason for me to stop. I was not able to stop my activities in the scene. One day I got a call from another close friend of mine, Count Zero/SCS*TRC (formerly member of the group X-Rated). He asked me if I would like to get a member of the ruling X-Rated gang. I joined up X-Rated of course, as I was having some trouble with Vagabonds during this time as well. Vagabonds got pissed as they have lost another mega swapper to the rival. A little war started between X-Rated and Vagabonds... :) I did not care about it, as I was involved in one of the best groups of the business, I was able to send out each week again. Count Zero used to be an excellent cracker. He was the one who made me interest in the cracking bizz. He shared his knowledge to me and I was satisfied. I slowly started the cracking. After a long period I was about to release my first game for X-Rated. I remember it was a single filer, Danger Mouse or something like this. Hell, I was proud :) During this time in X-Rated I became better in my cracking skills. I did a couple of releases in teamwork with Count Zero. After two years (less or more?) Count Zero decided to leave this group! He joined up Red Sector Inc... Uhm, that meant I was about to become the main cracker of this group! Finally! Well, we in X-Rated never got the firsties but after all, our group was known for more quality cracks instead of fast cracks. I had put a lot of efforts into each crack. It never got honoured, but I was proud of my works anyways. I have been quite busy during this time, beside that I was still swapping with all my contacts! 2 years later the group was about to die, as X-Raffi (the leader) decided to leave the scene. I was not able to take over the leadership as I did not get any calling cards. I reached a point where I got in trouble with my spare time. I did not have any time left for doing some C64 related stuff. I have decided to leave the scene! Yeah, I really reached this point (never knew I would!). It was a hard step for me as I have had so many friends in the scene and a couple of cool guys in my contact list! But hell, there was no other way out... I have left the scene for some months... Lot of my contacts asked me whether I may would come back. Hmmm, I felt terrible being outside the scene. Time went by... One day, I got a call from Eggman/Climax again. He said, Climax is back in full effect. He asked me to team up again! Huh? Climax back? This is the moment of my return, I thought. I didn't bother about my time problems. I have accepted this offer and there I was back in the scene! The rebuild of Climax was a lousy joke in my eyes. We tried to get out a new issue of Trash News but we were not able to get the whole shit working! Eggman got pissed again and decided to leave again! Hell, just back on track and after a short period groupless again! That's life! I have been asked by a friend of mine, formerly known as Steve/Laser, to team up in Laser. He used to like my works I did for X-Rated and he used to like the quality releases! Laser was known as a quality cracking group as well. Most cracks are based on older games! That was quite impressing, as there were a couple of cool games I'd like to see properly cracked. I remained in this group for quite a time. I did a few intros, graphics and lot of cracks... Another phone call reached my house... Count Zero was on the phone... He was working hard in his own group (Cyberpunx). He asked me if I would like to enter this group instead of wasting my time in Laser. I accepted this offer as I was able to put out some quality stuff within Count Zero's help, as he was living just only 5 kilometres away! Steve was living in England and therefore we got some problems. He often used to call me, but that's not the same... Cyberpunx was an excellent time. The cracking scene died slowly during this time as the game company's decided to leave the development of the C64 games. I have been pissed about this but I was able to remain in Cyberpunx to provide some fucking cool versions of some older games! The stuff we did in Cyberpunx was honoured. I had gained a lot of reactions to the versions I did... During my time in Cyberpunx Count Zero and me rebuilt Talent with some friends of us. This was pure fun. We coded an extremely weird demo called Pulp Fiction! :) Hell, we have been boozing and coding/painting all the time meanwhile watching Pulp Fiction... Talent was more an demo group orientated group nowadays. My cracking skills still remained to the Cyberpunx gang. I did not crack for Talent! I did a couple of graphics and not more! Time went by again... We have been boozing a lot... Count Zero teamed up in the spanking group called SCS*TRC, still remaining in the other groups! I have been quite busy on my own with Cyberpunx! The stuff never got spread during this time, as I have dropped my swapping activities due the lack of money! Stamp cheating was not possible anymore... We used to spread our stuff via the internet. We got our own directory on The Digital Dungeon! Thanks a lot for this Enno (Burglar)! I will never forget this! The stuff we did was beloved! REALLY! I have seen some download statistics... Impressing... Count Zero was getting more and more lazier with Cyberpunx! I asked the spanking rulers to join up their team! It was an easy step for me, as Count Zero is one my best friends. So I reached one of the really best in the business! I did a few cracks for them! One first-release! My first one! Another proud moment of my life... Hehehe... :) During this time, Cyberpunx seemed to be dead. I was not able to get all the stuff done by myself. I discussed this with Count Zero and he said that he only does something for the fun, not for any status! I decided to leave Cyberpunx! I have asked the Remember posse if they would like to gain one more cracker. I have seen their cracks and I was very impressed of their style! Even though they have had a couple of originals! They accepted me and I have started another career! Fungus/ex-Cyberpunx teamed up as well... Fungus is a cool friend of mine and I was pissed about it to leave him alone in the sinking ship... He is a talented cracker and rather more a brother to me... I wouldn't like to miss him! Thanks for all the help Scott! SCS*TRC went a little bit too silent for me, as the game market didn't release any new stuff. I have asked my friends in F4cG whether they would like to gain a new member, an active one! Fungus and Walker (both also in Remember!) were satisfied... I teamed up in their posse and achieved some originals. PAH! Lame originals! Well, I didn't care about it, as the age of time did not bring any better stuff. I tried to gain more help from the rest of the sleepless pirates in F4cG. But hell, I was not able to wake them up. I got pissed! After a short period, I left the F4cG gang again! I have decided to remain in Remember only! Doing some proper versions of some classic games. The Remember staff is damn cool. I really like the work of Jack Alien, Hok, Fungus, Derbyshire Ram... And our stuff is beloved! I guess even more than the stuff I did for Cyberpunx. We got our own site "Immortal Antiques" (check it out at http://members.xoom.com/Remember64/)... Well, we got an Guest Book Area there and I have read lot of really impressing reactions about our releases... That's what I like. Well, one day I have had a talk with you (Jazzcat) about Onslaught. I offered my works to you and you said you would like to see me in your troop. There I am now! And I have shocked the other groups already with my first releases. Hell, I am pretty fast. I have gained some reactions about Red200 and I was amused about the fact that other groups are still working on this title for about 2 weeks now! This was work for one day! :) I guess I will remain in this group here for quite a long time, as I got a couple of good friends in this troop... Whenever I will leave this group, I won't join another group! I guess it wouldn't change anything. I am trying hard to climb in the charts now! I have seen myself somewhere in the top ten! Most of the voters have seen my Remember cracks I guess, but wait for the Onslaught wares, that's what I can say. Well, to see myself in the charts is the acceptance of the scene to the stuff I did!!! This was my goal, I hardly tried to reach. To get one of the best! You asked me for some highlights of my scene career? First of all, I was quite impressed when I have seen my name at the first time in the cracking charts! This was some kind of highlight to me... Basically some highlights have been the parties I had visited. I have been at the TP6 (? I guess it was the 6th, at least it was the one in Denmark!), and at the X98, and long time ago at the copy party in Bocholt! Lot of fun :) May this interview is an highlight as well?! I never have been interviewed yet... Hmm, another one was nice. A game company asked me for some graphics long time ago. I never realized this shit, but it was a honour to me! :) Huh, another one was nice. Nyarlathotep/Sunrise (wonder if this name is written correctly!) once visited me long time ago. This was pretty amusing. We both have had lot of fun, he showed me some of his weird codings... He was an excellent coder in the past. Did lot of shit with the sideborder... IEEK! I am looking forward for the first Remember meeting... This will be pure fun as it will contain lot of booze, cracks and such shit :) Sad enough that the foreigners won't be there... I would like to visit my brother (Fungus) and my grandpa (Derbyshire Ram) :)) Derbyshire Ram is one of the best in the scene, I like him a lot. It is totally evil what originals he can supply! Never stop this Barry! You are my master!!! That's it for my history, quite impressing eh? Did I bore you? :) I had lot of fun ... Hehehe...
J)
What are your hobbies outside the scene and how would you describe the average day of your life?
J)
Computers are still my favourite hobbies besides the scene. I like to play some fancy adventures on the Playstation or I just like to have some fun on IRC/WEB. I like to get some new MP3's out of the net, beside all the porn pictures I always collect :) Hi to Deekay and CBA ;) Beside all the computers I often like to party. I like to meet the friends of mine, I like to booze around with them. Sometimes I even like to relax on my own, without anyone else. I relax on my bed while listening to some weird techno or goa sounds. Or I just keep cool while reading a fantastic book... I am not involved in any sports business in the moment... An average day looks a little like this... In the morning I drive to the university in our city. I take part on all courses which will be offered to me. Most times the university takes about 7-9 hours a day. Afterwards I may take a break for the net at the university! Later on I drive back home which takes some time as well, nearly an hour... Mostly I will relax and enjoy some TV or I will hang in front of my C64 doing some C64 related stuff, cracking most times :-)) I do not work beside the university at the moment, which is the reason why I am always having a lack of money and no working phone line. The university is my life in the moment. I am studying computer science and I have to admit that it isn’t easy... PAH! :)
L'trimm's all-time favourites:
Demo Group: Bonzai, Black Mail, Light, Censor, Triad, Padua, Booze Design
Demo: Dutch Breeze/Black Mail, Red Storm/Triad, Wonderland 8/Censor, Torture Series/Padua, Totally Stoned 1+2/Booze Design
Programmer: HCL/Booze Design, King Fisher/Triad, Walt/Bonzai
Musician: A-Man/ex-Action, Fusion/Quasar, PRI/Oxyron
Graphician: Red Wizard, Hein Design, Carrion/Elysium
Game: Aliens, Oil Imperium, Maniac Mansion
Cracker: Antitrack/ex-Legend, XXX/ex-Talent, Fungus/Remember/F4cG, Sorex/WOW, Burglar/SCS*TRC, Count Zero/SCS*TRC
Cracker Group: Talent, SCS*TRC, Legend, Dynamic Duo Fixer: Pudwerx, Elwix
Fixing Group: Dynamix
BBS: ??? Didn't call any! May Spankerz Heaven :))
Food: Pizza, Chickenwing, Chilli
Drink: Cola, Coffee, Beer
Movie: The Alien Series Music
Group: Pink Floyd, Eloy, The Cranberries and several german Hip Hop Bands
J)
What's your view on the internet and how it has effected the way computer scenes and people communicate and produce?
L)
The Internet is a great invention. It makes us all to one family! I was finally able to reach some of my old swap partners, which I missed a lot during the last years! The IRC became something like a second home to me and I guess most of the others think the way I do. It is just pretty amazing, whenever you pop up in the channel #c-64 and you see all your friends in there. It is amazing when you get a nice hello from all the spankerz in there! Some of them are happy to see you, some of them are may pissed to see you :) Well, the net is fast! I would prefer a normal relationship via phone calls and snail mail instead of the net. But as said before, the net is pretty fast to communicate! You are able to talk to each one, you are able to send out files instead of sending the shit via snail mail! The net makes life a bit more electronically... This may can even frighten a little. Sooner or later we will all sit at home and communicate from the computer only. No one will get out of the house anymore, none will call the others to meet! I prefer the good old way of communication... I guess the net can be used for fast production of serious stuff. If you are going to code a game for example, you can gain help from all over the world in a damn fast way. If you would have to wait for the sendings via snail mail it would take even longer until the production is about to get finished! It is a good purpose for such examples... But nothing else, in my opinion... Sooner or later you will loose the point of reality!!!
J)
Your handle, where do you get it from or what does it have a special meaning?
L)
Hehe, I have been asked this question quite a lot during my scene career. What does it mean? I have no idea what it does mean, the only thing I know is that this name is originally used by an American Rap Group. I know the singer of this band, it is a female one and her name is Rachel. She contacted me some years ago as I was using their Group Name as my own nickname. She asked me why I was using such a familiar name, I explained that I liked to listen to her music and that this was the reason why I have decided to use this name. She was real impressed of this and now we both became close friends... To be honest, I like such strange names. I remember another brilliant one, D'Arc/Topaz Beerline... This is a cool name as well, never figured out what the meaning of this name was used to be?! Regards to this dude, I used to swap in the past with him! He was a cool friend as well and a brilliant coder! Wonder if he is still alive, if so, contact me: ltrimm@c64.org ... :)
J)
What is the hardest game you have worked on? And what crack by any other past or present cracker have you seen that has been the most impressive?
L)
One of the hardest games I have been working on was Aliens (c) 1986 by Activision. This was a real fucking bitch, I remember that it took me some time to train this game properly. The trainer in the first level took me a whole week (!) to find. I was going insane during this time. All in all, the training session for this game took me nearly one month! I have been hardly working on this title. Nevertheless, I will do a better version of this game under the Remember label. I have some ideas to shorten this game more than the Cyberpunx version I did in the past. Another title which I was working hard for is Elite! This will be our 200. Release for Remember. I have to mention that this game got a huge amount of documents which I had to type during a week. About 1500 Blocks have been typed by me. These are quite a lot, but it was pure fun, as I'm pretty fast typing some text into the C64 memory. Beside this, it was a nice competition to me to crack this game as it was not easy at all. Firebird used to use some fancy loaders in the past. I remember one loader (tape of course!) which is extremely hard to crack and which makes me going insane as well, it is the Cyberload... Oh my... A hell of code :) Another title I can recall right now is Neuromancer. I remember that I have had some fun with Count Zero cracking this game. The game was optimized for 1581 use only! It was packed down from 4 sides to work perfectly on a 1581 drive. Maybe even on a Hard disk?! It was a real competition to me, to get the dig sound of the game into the main file. I have had some fun getting this done. I remember that the mainfile took 202 (!) Blocks on the disk... A few bytes more and I would have had some problems, hehehe... Well the most impressive cracks nowadays and in the past are most cracks done by Burglar/SCS*TRC. He is an excellent cracker and he used to crack in an excellent way. I won't mention any titles in here as the scene knows his style for sure. I have been impressed by XXX and Fletch and of course by Antitrack. Those were some talented ones. I have been impressed by the ones who were able to crack from Cartridges! I never knew how to get such shit cracked... Respect to those people... Sorex/WOW did a couple of cool cracks as well. I remember he did an evil version of Skate or Die. One-sided and Iffled... Oh my! Respect to you Geert, this was a jewel version!!! Personally I like to crack games from tape. Even multiloaders. I don't have a problem to get the game working to load from a disk drive. But beside this, it is maybe better to crack a multiloader from the disk original, as it may contain some fancy irq loaders and such shit... One of the hardest games I did for Onslaught which I can recall is Blitz 3000 (c) by Jon Wells. Jon seems to be an excellent coder who was able to use some weird coding style. He was using illegal opcodes and such shit and I have had some problems to get this game working properly. And beside this, he used to know a lot of protections... This game contained a couple of protections inside... I removed about 7-8 different protections and this impressed me as well :-)) hmm, will check my game later on and let you know, okay?
J)
Ever considered NTSC fixing?
L)
Not really. Maybe as I am not as good in coding as in cracking. I don't have a good coding skill and therefore I could not fix weird game effects as there are Parallax Scrolling and FLI Interlace Mode and several crap. I am glad if I am able to code my own intro. So don't ask me this question :) Personally I would like to fix my own cracks...
J)
Do you see a need to do NTSC fixing these days? If so or if not, why?
L)
This is a good question. Actually I don't know if the American scene is such present as the European one. I only know a few Americans. May there exists a couple of them? Personally I would to fix all the shit, as long as it is fixable in a fast and easy way. The Americans would like to see some decent cracks I guess. For example my Elite version. This is going to be fixed by Fungus/Remember, he is an American. I don't know if he is going to fix it for his own use only, or if he is going to fix it for the whole public. I bet for the public! I prefer to fix all the stuff we are going to release in time as the American should share the feelings in the games we used to get. Nowadays I only know a few fixers who are able to get some pretty hard games workable properly on an NTSC machine and this makes this question more difficult. Respect goes to those people who are able to make some games workable on an NTSC machine! The scene and especially the elite cracking groups needs you all! Never consider to stop! :-))
J)
Some groups are not to active on the first release front lately, such as Hitmen, Chromance, and AFL - who even announced there were no more originals, personally I think this was a sad excuse for giving up, what do you think about the organisation of a group, it's releases, should other groups wake up or new groups be born? Or is there not enough originals? (Oldie cracks included...)
L)
Phew... The organisation of a group is one of the most important action inside a group. Without a perfect leadership you are not able to get all projects/cracks done properly. The leadership is responsible for all current releases of a group. The leadership is going to connect all the people behind a group's name. I guess without an organisation there would be only a less amount of releases of each group, as everyone in the group would probably or let me say mostly work on his own. About Alpha Flight: I only have to say that it was a poor excuse to quit the scene in my eyes. Okay, the games production is not the best as in the past but there are at least some releases each year, which would provide the current groups to keep alive. Basically most of those groups could invest their free time (if they don't gain any originals!) in coding some tools or maybe some fucking awesome demos? There are so many things to create on this little machine, so I cannot believe that so many groups are inactive and maybe even bored of this machine. Beside this, some of those groups could start cracking in the oldskool business as well, which is a more competition to me and my friends in Remember as there are real protections inside those games and those games need more work and knowledge instead of the stuff which is going to be released nowadays. To point it out, the oldskool scene is more active, at least we are, as there are so many originals left which are not cracked properly in the past. We got a huge amount of originals, let me guess, at least we have about 1000-1500 (!!!) originals and this will take some time. And beside this, our brilliant suppliers are nearly able to get 99% of the requested originals! Respect goes to Derbyshire Ram and Fatman of Remember for supplying all the stuff we are looking for! So you got the point now, these are all sad excuses to leave the scene nowadays, there are a lot of games to crack! Just turn over to the oldskool scene and have some fun. Maybe most of these groups do not have real crackers who are able to crack from those old games, as those games got some weird and hard protections some times! Hmmm, maybe this is the reason why some groups are inactive and are supposed to leave the scene... I don't know...
J)
Any titles currently being worked on by Remember you would care to name to the audience?
L)
Oh yeah, there are some famous ones... As we are nearly about to release our 200. Release we are busy working on a real classic title. The name of this game is Elite! This version will shock the scene and the oldskool lovers. This version will include a mega trainer (and I mean a mega trainer!) and the whole documents of the game. I have typed about 1500 Blocks of text for this game and hopefully we are able to get the whole game on one disk side! This version will be a real teamwork crack from our gang. The training session was realised by Jack Alien. NTSC fixing was performed by Fungus. Original Tape and Documents supplied by Derbyshire Ram. Cracking and Docs typing was done by me... Beside this game, we are busy working on lot of other titles. I only can mention some of my projects I am going to realise in the future. The next games I am going to do is the GAMES SERIES! Creatures 1+2, Die Hard 1+2, Katakis ... Lot of games... Even the Last Ninja series will be done by us... Basically we won't stop our cracking session for Remember as long as we get originals... I like to collect all our cracks as they are the best versions around and those versions are all debugged and fixed to work properly... What do you need more? I have no idea ;-))
J)
What's your views on the C64 legal scene past and present?
L)
In my own opinion I have to mention that I don't like the present legal scene. I really don't like the new style demos with all this shitty 4x4 pixel rotating routines and this crap. Whenever you check a demo these days, you will see similar effects in different demos, which personally makes me sick. I like to remember the good old demos from the past. There have been released so many cool styled demos in the past. Dutch Breeze, The Torture Series, Wonderland Series and many more. All of them used to have different style. I would like to see more of these oldskool demos these days. It would be pretty good if the talented groups of the demo business would code in the old style instead of these new stylish effects. It would be fabulous to see Padua and Crest doing it the old way but I guess that the coders do not share the oldskool feeling I got. Personally I would like to get some reactions about this topic... Maybe some coders are reading this and will react on this with a nice article in the next issue? I am just curious what the coders are thinking of this idea?!?
J)
Ever had any wars or disliking towards some group or person in the scene?
L)
Not seriously. I remember that I have been phoned up one time by Antichrist/G*P. I don't remember what's the reason for this call used to be, he was pissed about something... I have had some trouble with one of my groups in the past. Vagabonds started a war with X-Rated after I had team up in X-Rated. Nothing spectacular in my opinion... Ragging on each other and nothing more. Personally I respect all people in the scene, but I hate those ignorant scener who think that they are the kings... Don't look at me now :-))
J)
The magazine industry on the C64 has developed over the years, what are your views on C64 disk magazines and their purposes in the scene?
L)
Oh well... I like to read every magazine. I respect the editor's efforts. The magazine is a must for the scene in my opinion. Without the internet and the magazines, you wouldn't be able to gain any news about your favourite scene group. I guess the magazines are honoured by all sceners, especially the world famous ones. Okay, may there are quite a lot of magazines nowadays, but most of those groups don't have any other chance to realise any other projects (demos, cracks) and so it is their only choice to release a magazine. I have read a couple of different magazines lately. Some amused me, as some of them used to have a weird looking style. But anyways, I still respect the people and what they did do to keep the C64 scene alive. I have heard from a couple of guys that they would not release such weird looking magazines. This is a point for me which I cannot understand in the moment... Those ragging bastard should create something on their own instead of crying out loud! PAH! Surely it isn’t easy to create something new which could impress the scene as the current top magazines do, but after all, the works are going to be respected sooner or later. Put more efforts in your works and try to make things better than the last time! Nobody is perfect in my opinion. There are surely some very talented guys out there and those are the ones who gain respect at first but this shouldn't be a barrier for a scener. Take in mind, the stuff you do, will be respected sooner or later... It took me a long while until my works have been respected...
J)
Something that shocked me lately was that Newscopy was kicked from F4cG, any opinion on this?
L)
Oh well... I don't have a opinion on this! First of all, I must admit that it was totally crap that this so called "kick-session" was performed in the full public. These are personal and internal actions of a group which should not be spread to the public! Actually I don't know Newscopy personally but I have to admit that I respect the work he did in the past. Shame that he got kicked. There have been spread a couple of rumours lately. Respect goes to Draz/F4cG. I guess it was him, or was it Devil? (I have read it on Spankerz Heaven!). Anyways, one of them decided to leave F4cG as well as Newscopy got booted out and this is a good step from a friend. To mention it, I would handle the same way he did... No offence to the leadership in F4cG! I used to be a part of this group as well and I did not have any problems with the guys inside F4cG. It was my own decision to leave this group again, I have not been kicked! All in all, there are some friends of mine in this group and I respect them all... Hi Walker, Fungus, Intruder :-))
J)
Please feel free to send any greetings to anyone you know...
L)
Hehe, this will be a longer list then... Nah, to be honest, I will name a few friends of mine (mostly all which are on IRC)... Respect and a cold beer to these partners in crime... First of all the whole Onslaught Posse with some personal hellos to: Jazzcat, Code 18, Naphalm, Deev, TMR, Jolz, Sting, o'Fire, GRG, Morbid, Donar... Now over to the group greetings... Still lot of respect and a cold beer from me ... Remember (Jack Alien, HOK, Fungus, Intruder, Walker, Derbyshire Ram, Fatman) SCS*TRC (Burglar, Count Zero, Splatterhead, CBA, Lord Crucifier, NSJ) WOW (Einstein, Sorex, Iceman, The Alien) Crest (Crossbow, Deekay, Mermaid, Xayne) Padua (Anonym, Cupid, Chaotic, Lubber) Elysium (Brush, Carrion) Smash Design (Bombe) Oxyron (Graham, Fanta, PRI) Plush (Dow Jones, Honk, Map) Laxity (Didi, B.A.) Nostalgia (Didi, Zyron, GRG, Mr. Alpha) Chromance (Lion, Mr. Wax, Jaydee) Triad (Acidchild, JFK, King Fisher) Phantasy (Raver, Fusion) Hitmen (Stan, Tranziie) And some others which groups I cannot recall yet like as there are: Strobe, Eric, Deadbeat, Sta, Ul-Tomten, Lexi, Ray, QED, TGD, Red Tears, Adriana-6, Melange and some more... I am slowly running out of memory error :))
J) Thanks for your time Pascal, do you have some last comments for the readers?
L)
First of all I thank you for this honour to be interviewed in one of the best magazines around David! Well, some last words from me? Hmpf... I have no idea what to say at the end... Maybe, don't stop your activities on this fabulous machine. Respect each other and try to get every dream and idea of yourself realised on this machine. Don't miss to check out all Remember releases which will follow in time from us. Don't miss to give us your feedback on our Homepage! Stay stoned and cool, nothing more to add, I guess... So long... Talk to you all later on IRC :0 It seems that I am IRC addicted... Oh fuck it...
Cheers,
L'trimm.
Published in Domination #13
Performed by Jazzcat
One of the most active crackers in current times who has left his quality seal on many releases. Domination is proud to present an in-depth interview with a long time scener who is still knows his C64 roots.
J)
Welcome to the Domination magazine! Please introduce yourself to the audience.
L)
My name is Pascal Lemmerz and I am 23 years old. I am going to turn 24 in mid of October. My height is about 1.70 metres and I got a weight of 73 kg (146 pounds?). I got blue eyes and blond short cut hairs. I am still in the university and I am still living at my parents’ place (which is a low-cost life!). I don't have a girlfriend in the moment (we decided to split the relationship due some strange circumstances, duh!)...
J)
Could you tell us a bit about your C-64 history. When did you start in the scene? What groups have you been in? What are the main events and highlights of your scene career? Hmmm, you really want to hear my history? With all the groups involved?
L)
Okay, let me start, it will take some time, I guess :) If I remember right my career started back in 1988. A close friend of mine, formerly known as Eggman/Climax, was already involved to the scene. The Climax posse was responsible of the production of the Disk magazine "Trash News". I never knew about the scene before until I met Eggman. I have been a little boy which was damn proud of the stuff/games he got. I never figured out what the scene was about. Eggman/Climax was the one who showed me what the scene was and what it was used for. The scene was used for friendship and the mass production of new releases! As Climax used to be an legal group only, I did not know anything about the cracking scene to this moment. Well, I was impressed of the legal scene and the ones behind the scene. They have been the ones who created all the demos and magazines and who were the ones who set up the scene. At this point I knew, I want to get part of this, I want to be a member of the scene. But what the hell? I did not have any abilities to this point as well. Which group would take an member which cannot bring up any improvement to the group? As I did not know anything about coding or painting to this point I have decided to become a swapper. I have asked the group "Dualis" if they would like to gain a new member, a new swapper. They didn't reject me and so I became a part of the scene. I have joined up the forces in Dualis and became a swapper with some contacts (about 50!). I was damn happy as I first got involved into the scene and second I was able to get new stuff every day. At this point I have realized that there exists an cracking scene as well, as I have received a lot of cracks from my contacts... Hmmm, after a short period the group "Dualis" died and I became a groupless boy. I did not know what to do. Who would take me in? Would I ever get the chance to join up a new group? One day I got a call from Eggman/Climax again and he asked me if I would like to join up Climax as a swapper (he asked me if I would like to start mega swapping, I didn't reject this!). Due the fact that Climax was active on legal basis only, I had to start legal swapping only. I was not allowed to spread any illegal stuff during this time. I didn't care about this, as I was quite happy to become a part of the scene at this point again. During my time in Climax I started to paint some graphics. Eggman/Climax was the one who showed me how to set some pixels in the right order to get a real nice looking logo or graphics! He was very talented in my eyes and did some nice logos for the Climax gang in the past... I became a talented swapper during my time in Climax and I gained a lot of contacts... I have had about 150 Contacts during this time and at this point I was proud to call myself a mega swapper! I have had an idol during this time, it was Aslive/Hysteric! He was an amazing swapper! Wonder if he is still alive and still active on this machine? Well, time went by and even Climax reached the point of inactivity due lot of time problems of the coders/graphicians. I was very pissed about this as I had to send out frequently with some current releases. Some weeks later I have decided to leave this group in order to team up with another active group. I have asked the dudes of Gloom (former group of Graham/Oxyron if I remember right! :)), if they would like to gain a new mega swapper. They were quite satisfied and so I did it and teamed up in another legal group. The relationship didn't last for long, dunno why, cannot recall if the group died or if I decided to leave. I remember that I have been asked by Mindcrime/Vagabonds to join up Vagabonds as mega swapper and graphician. So I teamed up in this posse and did a couple of graphics for them, which also have been used in some intros. I was satisfied in this group as Mindcrime was damn active during this time and I was able to send out each week. So did I and the result of this was that I gained even more contacts during this period. Hell, I have gained about 300 (!) contacts and this was quite impressing. It was an amazing feeling to get 30-50 sending each day! The post-office was wondering and seemed to keep a close eye on me. Well, I used to cheat my stamps of course, or how would you pay 300 sendings each week? I was not able to pay 300 sendings the week so I decided to cheat the stamps, was a damn nice solution to me :) But crime get paid one time. The post-office busted me for stamp-cheating. ARGHH! But anyways, this was no reason for me to stop. I was not able to stop my activities in the scene. One day I got a call from another close friend of mine, Count Zero/SCS*TRC (formerly member of the group X-Rated). He asked me if I would like to get a member of the ruling X-Rated gang. I joined up X-Rated of course, as I was having some trouble with Vagabonds during this time as well. Vagabonds got pissed as they have lost another mega swapper to the rival. A little war started between X-Rated and Vagabonds... :) I did not care about it, as I was involved in one of the best groups of the business, I was able to send out each week again. Count Zero used to be an excellent cracker. He was the one who made me interest in the cracking bizz. He shared his knowledge to me and I was satisfied. I slowly started the cracking. After a long period I was about to release my first game for X-Rated. I remember it was a single filer, Danger Mouse or something like this. Hell, I was proud :) During this time in X-Rated I became better in my cracking skills. I did a couple of releases in teamwork with Count Zero. After two years (less or more?) Count Zero decided to leave this group! He joined up Red Sector Inc... Uhm, that meant I was about to become the main cracker of this group! Finally! Well, we in X-Rated never got the firsties but after all, our group was known for more quality cracks instead of fast cracks. I had put a lot of efforts into each crack. It never got honoured, but I was proud of my works anyways. I have been quite busy during this time, beside that I was still swapping with all my contacts! 2 years later the group was about to die, as X-Raffi (the leader) decided to leave the scene. I was not able to take over the leadership as I did not get any calling cards. I reached a point where I got in trouble with my spare time. I did not have any time left for doing some C64 related stuff. I have decided to leave the scene! Yeah, I really reached this point (never knew I would!). It was a hard step for me as I have had so many friends in the scene and a couple of cool guys in my contact list! But hell, there was no other way out... I have left the scene for some months... Lot of my contacts asked me whether I may would come back. Hmmm, I felt terrible being outside the scene. Time went by... One day, I got a call from Eggman/Climax again. He said, Climax is back in full effect. He asked me to team up again! Huh? Climax back? This is the moment of my return, I thought. I didn't bother about my time problems. I have accepted this offer and there I was back in the scene! The rebuild of Climax was a lousy joke in my eyes. We tried to get out a new issue of Trash News but we were not able to get the whole shit working! Eggman got pissed again and decided to leave again! Hell, just back on track and after a short period groupless again! That's life! I have been asked by a friend of mine, formerly known as Steve/Laser, to team up in Laser. He used to like my works I did for X-Rated and he used to like the quality releases! Laser was known as a quality cracking group as well. Most cracks are based on older games! That was quite impressing, as there were a couple of cool games I'd like to see properly cracked. I remained in this group for quite a time. I did a few intros, graphics and lot of cracks... Another phone call reached my house... Count Zero was on the phone... He was working hard in his own group (Cyberpunx). He asked me if I would like to enter this group instead of wasting my time in Laser. I accepted this offer as I was able to put out some quality stuff within Count Zero's help, as he was living just only 5 kilometres away! Steve was living in England and therefore we got some problems. He often used to call me, but that's not the same... Cyberpunx was an excellent time. The cracking scene died slowly during this time as the game company's decided to leave the development of the C64 games. I have been pissed about this but I was able to remain in Cyberpunx to provide some fucking cool versions of some older games! The stuff we did in Cyberpunx was honoured. I had gained a lot of reactions to the versions I did... During my time in Cyberpunx Count Zero and me rebuilt Talent with some friends of us. This was pure fun. We coded an extremely weird demo called Pulp Fiction! :) Hell, we have been boozing and coding/painting all the time meanwhile watching Pulp Fiction... Talent was more an demo group orientated group nowadays. My cracking skills still remained to the Cyberpunx gang. I did not crack for Talent! I did a couple of graphics and not more! Time went by again... We have been boozing a lot... Count Zero teamed up in the spanking group called SCS*TRC, still remaining in the other groups! I have been quite busy on my own with Cyberpunx! The stuff never got spread during this time, as I have dropped my swapping activities due the lack of money! Stamp cheating was not possible anymore... We used to spread our stuff via the internet. We got our own directory on The Digital Dungeon! Thanks a lot for this Enno (Burglar)! I will never forget this! The stuff we did was beloved! REALLY! I have seen some download statistics... Impressing... Count Zero was getting more and more lazier with Cyberpunx! I asked the spanking rulers to join up their team! It was an easy step for me, as Count Zero is one my best friends. So I reached one of the really best in the business! I did a few cracks for them! One first-release! My first one! Another proud moment of my life... Hehehe... :) During this time, Cyberpunx seemed to be dead. I was not able to get all the stuff done by myself. I discussed this with Count Zero and he said that he only does something for the fun, not for any status! I decided to leave Cyberpunx! I have asked the Remember posse if they would like to gain one more cracker. I have seen their cracks and I was very impressed of their style! Even though they have had a couple of originals! They accepted me and I have started another career! Fungus/ex-Cyberpunx teamed up as well... Fungus is a cool friend of mine and I was pissed about it to leave him alone in the sinking ship... He is a talented cracker and rather more a brother to me... I wouldn't like to miss him! Thanks for all the help Scott! SCS*TRC went a little bit too silent for me, as the game market didn't release any new stuff. I have asked my friends in F4cG whether they would like to gain a new member, an active one! Fungus and Walker (both also in Remember!) were satisfied... I teamed up in their posse and achieved some originals. PAH! Lame originals! Well, I didn't care about it, as the age of time did not bring any better stuff. I tried to gain more help from the rest of the sleepless pirates in F4cG. But hell, I was not able to wake them up. I got pissed! After a short period, I left the F4cG gang again! I have decided to remain in Remember only! Doing some proper versions of some classic games. The Remember staff is damn cool. I really like the work of Jack Alien, Hok, Fungus, Derbyshire Ram... And our stuff is beloved! I guess even more than the stuff I did for Cyberpunx. We got our own site "Immortal Antiques" (check it out at http://members.xoom.com/Remember64/)... Well, we got an Guest Book Area there and I have read lot of really impressing reactions about our releases... That's what I like. Well, one day I have had a talk with you (Jazzcat) about Onslaught. I offered my works to you and you said you would like to see me in your troop. There I am now! And I have shocked the other groups already with my first releases. Hell, I am pretty fast. I have gained some reactions about Red200 and I was amused about the fact that other groups are still working on this title for about 2 weeks now! This was work for one day! :) I guess I will remain in this group here for quite a long time, as I got a couple of good friends in this troop... Whenever I will leave this group, I won't join another group! I guess it wouldn't change anything. I am trying hard to climb in the charts now! I have seen myself somewhere in the top ten! Most of the voters have seen my Remember cracks I guess, but wait for the Onslaught wares, that's what I can say. Well, to see myself in the charts is the acceptance of the scene to the stuff I did!!! This was my goal, I hardly tried to reach. To get one of the best! You asked me for some highlights of my scene career? First of all, I was quite impressed when I have seen my name at the first time in the cracking charts! This was some kind of highlight to me... Basically some highlights have been the parties I had visited. I have been at the TP6 (? I guess it was the 6th, at least it was the one in Denmark!), and at the X98, and long time ago at the copy party in Bocholt! Lot of fun :) May this interview is an highlight as well?! I never have been interviewed yet... Hmm, another one was nice. A game company asked me for some graphics long time ago. I never realized this shit, but it was a honour to me! :) Huh, another one was nice. Nyarlathotep/Sunrise (wonder if this name is written correctly!) once visited me long time ago. This was pretty amusing. We both have had lot of fun, he showed me some of his weird codings... He was an excellent coder in the past. Did lot of shit with the sideborder... IEEK! I am looking forward for the first Remember meeting... This will be pure fun as it will contain lot of booze, cracks and such shit :) Sad enough that the foreigners won't be there... I would like to visit my brother (Fungus) and my grandpa (Derbyshire Ram) :)) Derbyshire Ram is one of the best in the scene, I like him a lot. It is totally evil what originals he can supply! Never stop this Barry! You are my master!!! That's it for my history, quite impressing eh? Did I bore you? :) I had lot of fun ... Hehehe...
J)
What are your hobbies outside the scene and how would you describe the average day of your life?
J)
Computers are still my favourite hobbies besides the scene. I like to play some fancy adventures on the Playstation or I just like to have some fun on IRC/WEB. I like to get some new MP3's out of the net, beside all the porn pictures I always collect :) Hi to Deekay and CBA ;) Beside all the computers I often like to party. I like to meet the friends of mine, I like to booze around with them. Sometimes I even like to relax on my own, without anyone else. I relax on my bed while listening to some weird techno or goa sounds. Or I just keep cool while reading a fantastic book... I am not involved in any sports business in the moment... An average day looks a little like this... In the morning I drive to the university in our city. I take part on all courses which will be offered to me. Most times the university takes about 7-9 hours a day. Afterwards I may take a break for the net at the university! Later on I drive back home which takes some time as well, nearly an hour... Mostly I will relax and enjoy some TV or I will hang in front of my C64 doing some C64 related stuff, cracking most times :-)) I do not work beside the university at the moment, which is the reason why I am always having a lack of money and no working phone line. The university is my life in the moment. I am studying computer science and I have to admit that it isn’t easy... PAH! :)
L'trimm's all-time favourites:
Demo Group: Bonzai, Black Mail, Light, Censor, Triad, Padua, Booze Design
Demo: Dutch Breeze/Black Mail, Red Storm/Triad, Wonderland 8/Censor, Torture Series/Padua, Totally Stoned 1+2/Booze Design
Programmer: HCL/Booze Design, King Fisher/Triad, Walt/Bonzai
Musician: A-Man/ex-Action, Fusion/Quasar, PRI/Oxyron
Graphician: Red Wizard, Hein Design, Carrion/Elysium
Game: Aliens, Oil Imperium, Maniac Mansion
Cracker: Antitrack/ex-Legend, XXX/ex-Talent, Fungus/Remember/F4cG, Sorex/WOW, Burglar/SCS*TRC, Count Zero/SCS*TRC
Cracker Group: Talent, SCS*TRC, Legend, Dynamic Duo Fixer: Pudwerx, Elwix
Fixing Group: Dynamix
BBS: ??? Didn't call any! May Spankerz Heaven :))
Food: Pizza, Chickenwing, Chilli
Drink: Cola, Coffee, Beer
Movie: The Alien Series Music
Group: Pink Floyd, Eloy, The Cranberries and several german Hip Hop Bands
J)
What's your view on the internet and how it has effected the way computer scenes and people communicate and produce?
L)
The Internet is a great invention. It makes us all to one family! I was finally able to reach some of my old swap partners, which I missed a lot during the last years! The IRC became something like a second home to me and I guess most of the others think the way I do. It is just pretty amazing, whenever you pop up in the channel #c-64 and you see all your friends in there. It is amazing when you get a nice hello from all the spankerz in there! Some of them are happy to see you, some of them are may pissed to see you :) Well, the net is fast! I would prefer a normal relationship via phone calls and snail mail instead of the net. But as said before, the net is pretty fast to communicate! You are able to talk to each one, you are able to send out files instead of sending the shit via snail mail! The net makes life a bit more electronically... This may can even frighten a little. Sooner or later we will all sit at home and communicate from the computer only. No one will get out of the house anymore, none will call the others to meet! I prefer the good old way of communication... I guess the net can be used for fast production of serious stuff. If you are going to code a game for example, you can gain help from all over the world in a damn fast way. If you would have to wait for the sendings via snail mail it would take even longer until the production is about to get finished! It is a good purpose for such examples... But nothing else, in my opinion... Sooner or later you will loose the point of reality!!!
J)
Your handle, where do you get it from or what does it have a special meaning?
L)
Hehe, I have been asked this question quite a lot during my scene career. What does it mean? I have no idea what it does mean, the only thing I know is that this name is originally used by an American Rap Group. I know the singer of this band, it is a female one and her name is Rachel. She contacted me some years ago as I was using their Group Name as my own nickname. She asked me why I was using such a familiar name, I explained that I liked to listen to her music and that this was the reason why I have decided to use this name. She was real impressed of this and now we both became close friends... To be honest, I like such strange names. I remember another brilliant one, D'Arc/Topaz Beerline... This is a cool name as well, never figured out what the meaning of this name was used to be?! Regards to this dude, I used to swap in the past with him! He was a cool friend as well and a brilliant coder! Wonder if he is still alive, if so, contact me: ltrimm@c64.org ... :)
J)
What is the hardest game you have worked on? And what crack by any other past or present cracker have you seen that has been the most impressive?
L)
One of the hardest games I have been working on was Aliens (c) 1986 by Activision. This was a real fucking bitch, I remember that it took me some time to train this game properly. The trainer in the first level took me a whole week (!) to find. I was going insane during this time. All in all, the training session for this game took me nearly one month! I have been hardly working on this title. Nevertheless, I will do a better version of this game under the Remember label. I have some ideas to shorten this game more than the Cyberpunx version I did in the past. Another title which I was working hard for is Elite! This will be our 200. Release for Remember. I have to mention that this game got a huge amount of documents which I had to type during a week. About 1500 Blocks have been typed by me. These are quite a lot, but it was pure fun, as I'm pretty fast typing some text into the C64 memory. Beside this, it was a nice competition to me to crack this game as it was not easy at all. Firebird used to use some fancy loaders in the past. I remember one loader (tape of course!) which is extremely hard to crack and which makes me going insane as well, it is the Cyberload... Oh my... A hell of code :) Another title I can recall right now is Neuromancer. I remember that I have had some fun with Count Zero cracking this game. The game was optimized for 1581 use only! It was packed down from 4 sides to work perfectly on a 1581 drive. Maybe even on a Hard disk?! It was a real competition to me, to get the dig sound of the game into the main file. I have had some fun getting this done. I remember that the mainfile took 202 (!) Blocks on the disk... A few bytes more and I would have had some problems, hehehe... Well the most impressive cracks nowadays and in the past are most cracks done by Burglar/SCS*TRC. He is an excellent cracker and he used to crack in an excellent way. I won't mention any titles in here as the scene knows his style for sure. I have been impressed by XXX and Fletch and of course by Antitrack. Those were some talented ones. I have been impressed by the ones who were able to crack from Cartridges! I never knew how to get such shit cracked... Respect to those people... Sorex/WOW did a couple of cool cracks as well. I remember he did an evil version of Skate or Die. One-sided and Iffled... Oh my! Respect to you Geert, this was a jewel version!!! Personally I like to crack games from tape. Even multiloaders. I don't have a problem to get the game working to load from a disk drive. But beside this, it is maybe better to crack a multiloader from the disk original, as it may contain some fancy irq loaders and such shit... One of the hardest games I did for Onslaught which I can recall is Blitz 3000 (c) by Jon Wells. Jon seems to be an excellent coder who was able to use some weird coding style. He was using illegal opcodes and such shit and I have had some problems to get this game working properly. And beside this, he used to know a lot of protections... This game contained a couple of protections inside... I removed about 7-8 different protections and this impressed me as well :-)) hmm, will check my game later on and let you know, okay?
J)
Ever considered NTSC fixing?
L)
Not really. Maybe as I am not as good in coding as in cracking. I don't have a good coding skill and therefore I could not fix weird game effects as there are Parallax Scrolling and FLI Interlace Mode and several crap. I am glad if I am able to code my own intro. So don't ask me this question :) Personally I would like to fix my own cracks...
J)
Do you see a need to do NTSC fixing these days? If so or if not, why?
L)
This is a good question. Actually I don't know if the American scene is such present as the European one. I only know a few Americans. May there exists a couple of them? Personally I would to fix all the shit, as long as it is fixable in a fast and easy way. The Americans would like to see some decent cracks I guess. For example my Elite version. This is going to be fixed by Fungus/Remember, he is an American. I don't know if he is going to fix it for his own use only, or if he is going to fix it for the whole public. I bet for the public! I prefer to fix all the stuff we are going to release in time as the American should share the feelings in the games we used to get. Nowadays I only know a few fixers who are able to get some pretty hard games workable properly on an NTSC machine and this makes this question more difficult. Respect goes to those people who are able to make some games workable on an NTSC machine! The scene and especially the elite cracking groups needs you all! Never consider to stop! :-))
J)
Some groups are not to active on the first release front lately, such as Hitmen, Chromance, and AFL - who even announced there were no more originals, personally I think this was a sad excuse for giving up, what do you think about the organisation of a group, it's releases, should other groups wake up or new groups be born? Or is there not enough originals? (Oldie cracks included...)
L)
Phew... The organisation of a group is one of the most important action inside a group. Without a perfect leadership you are not able to get all projects/cracks done properly. The leadership is responsible for all current releases of a group. The leadership is going to connect all the people behind a group's name. I guess without an organisation there would be only a less amount of releases of each group, as everyone in the group would probably or let me say mostly work on his own. About Alpha Flight: I only have to say that it was a poor excuse to quit the scene in my eyes. Okay, the games production is not the best as in the past but there are at least some releases each year, which would provide the current groups to keep alive. Basically most of those groups could invest their free time (if they don't gain any originals!) in coding some tools or maybe some fucking awesome demos? There are so many things to create on this little machine, so I cannot believe that so many groups are inactive and maybe even bored of this machine. Beside this, some of those groups could start cracking in the oldskool business as well, which is a more competition to me and my friends in Remember as there are real protections inside those games and those games need more work and knowledge instead of the stuff which is going to be released nowadays. To point it out, the oldskool scene is more active, at least we are, as there are so many originals left which are not cracked properly in the past. We got a huge amount of originals, let me guess, at least we have about 1000-1500 (!!!) originals and this will take some time. And beside this, our brilliant suppliers are nearly able to get 99% of the requested originals! Respect goes to Derbyshire Ram and Fatman of Remember for supplying all the stuff we are looking for! So you got the point now, these are all sad excuses to leave the scene nowadays, there are a lot of games to crack! Just turn over to the oldskool scene and have some fun. Maybe most of these groups do not have real crackers who are able to crack from those old games, as those games got some weird and hard protections some times! Hmmm, maybe this is the reason why some groups are inactive and are supposed to leave the scene... I don't know...
J)
Any titles currently being worked on by Remember you would care to name to the audience?
L)
Oh yeah, there are some famous ones... As we are nearly about to release our 200. Release we are busy working on a real classic title. The name of this game is Elite! This version will shock the scene and the oldskool lovers. This version will include a mega trainer (and I mean a mega trainer!) and the whole documents of the game. I have typed about 1500 Blocks of text for this game and hopefully we are able to get the whole game on one disk side! This version will be a real teamwork crack from our gang. The training session was realised by Jack Alien. NTSC fixing was performed by Fungus. Original Tape and Documents supplied by Derbyshire Ram. Cracking and Docs typing was done by me... Beside this game, we are busy working on lot of other titles. I only can mention some of my projects I am going to realise in the future. The next games I am going to do is the GAMES SERIES! Creatures 1+2, Die Hard 1+2, Katakis ... Lot of games... Even the Last Ninja series will be done by us... Basically we won't stop our cracking session for Remember as long as we get originals... I like to collect all our cracks as they are the best versions around and those versions are all debugged and fixed to work properly... What do you need more? I have no idea ;-))
J)
What's your views on the C64 legal scene past and present?
L)
In my own opinion I have to mention that I don't like the present legal scene. I really don't like the new style demos with all this shitty 4x4 pixel rotating routines and this crap. Whenever you check a demo these days, you will see similar effects in different demos, which personally makes me sick. I like to remember the good old demos from the past. There have been released so many cool styled demos in the past. Dutch Breeze, The Torture Series, Wonderland Series and many more. All of them used to have different style. I would like to see more of these oldskool demos these days. It would be pretty good if the talented groups of the demo business would code in the old style instead of these new stylish effects. It would be fabulous to see Padua and Crest doing it the old way but I guess that the coders do not share the oldskool feeling I got. Personally I would like to get some reactions about this topic... Maybe some coders are reading this and will react on this with a nice article in the next issue? I am just curious what the coders are thinking of this idea?!?
J)
Ever had any wars or disliking towards some group or person in the scene?
L)
Not seriously. I remember that I have been phoned up one time by Antichrist/G*P. I don't remember what's the reason for this call used to be, he was pissed about something... I have had some trouble with one of my groups in the past. Vagabonds started a war with X-Rated after I had team up in X-Rated. Nothing spectacular in my opinion... Ragging on each other and nothing more. Personally I respect all people in the scene, but I hate those ignorant scener who think that they are the kings... Don't look at me now :-))
J)
The magazine industry on the C64 has developed over the years, what are your views on C64 disk magazines and their purposes in the scene?
L)
Oh well... I like to read every magazine. I respect the editor's efforts. The magazine is a must for the scene in my opinion. Without the internet and the magazines, you wouldn't be able to gain any news about your favourite scene group. I guess the magazines are honoured by all sceners, especially the world famous ones. Okay, may there are quite a lot of magazines nowadays, but most of those groups don't have any other chance to realise any other projects (demos, cracks) and so it is their only choice to release a magazine. I have read a couple of different magazines lately. Some amused me, as some of them used to have a weird looking style. But anyways, I still respect the people and what they did do to keep the C64 scene alive. I have heard from a couple of guys that they would not release such weird looking magazines. This is a point for me which I cannot understand in the moment... Those ragging bastard should create something on their own instead of crying out loud! PAH! Surely it isn’t easy to create something new which could impress the scene as the current top magazines do, but after all, the works are going to be respected sooner or later. Put more efforts in your works and try to make things better than the last time! Nobody is perfect in my opinion. There are surely some very talented guys out there and those are the ones who gain respect at first but this shouldn't be a barrier for a scener. Take in mind, the stuff you do, will be respected sooner or later... It took me a long while until my works have been respected...
J)
Something that shocked me lately was that Newscopy was kicked from F4cG, any opinion on this?
L)
Oh well... I don't have a opinion on this! First of all, I must admit that it was totally crap that this so called "kick-session" was performed in the full public. These are personal and internal actions of a group which should not be spread to the public! Actually I don't know Newscopy personally but I have to admit that I respect the work he did in the past. Shame that he got kicked. There have been spread a couple of rumours lately. Respect goes to Draz/F4cG. I guess it was him, or was it Devil? (I have read it on Spankerz Heaven!). Anyways, one of them decided to leave F4cG as well as Newscopy got booted out and this is a good step from a friend. To mention it, I would handle the same way he did... No offence to the leadership in F4cG! I used to be a part of this group as well and I did not have any problems with the guys inside F4cG. It was my own decision to leave this group again, I have not been kicked! All in all, there are some friends of mine in this group and I respect them all... Hi Walker, Fungus, Intruder :-))
J)
Please feel free to send any greetings to anyone you know...
L)
Hehe, this will be a longer list then... Nah, to be honest, I will name a few friends of mine (mostly all which are on IRC)... Respect and a cold beer to these partners in crime... First of all the whole Onslaught Posse with some personal hellos to: Jazzcat, Code 18, Naphalm, Deev, TMR, Jolz, Sting, o'Fire, GRG, Morbid, Donar... Now over to the group greetings... Still lot of respect and a cold beer from me ... Remember (Jack Alien, HOK, Fungus, Intruder, Walker, Derbyshire Ram, Fatman) SCS*TRC (Burglar, Count Zero, Splatterhead, CBA, Lord Crucifier, NSJ) WOW (Einstein, Sorex, Iceman, The Alien) Crest (Crossbow, Deekay, Mermaid, Xayne) Padua (Anonym, Cupid, Chaotic, Lubber) Elysium (Brush, Carrion) Smash Design (Bombe) Oxyron (Graham, Fanta, PRI) Plush (Dow Jones, Honk, Map) Laxity (Didi, B.A.) Nostalgia (Didi, Zyron, GRG, Mr. Alpha) Chromance (Lion, Mr. Wax, Jaydee) Triad (Acidchild, JFK, King Fisher) Phantasy (Raver, Fusion) Hitmen (Stan, Tranziie) And some others which groups I cannot recall yet like as there are: Strobe, Eric, Deadbeat, Sta, Ul-Tomten, Lexi, Ray, QED, TGD, Red Tears, Adriana-6, Melange and some more... I am slowly running out of memory error :))
J) Thanks for your time Pascal, do you have some last comments for the readers?
L)
First of all I thank you for this honour to be interviewed in one of the best magazines around David! Well, some last words from me? Hmpf... I have no idea what to say at the end... Maybe, don't stop your activities on this fabulous machine. Respect each other and try to get every dream and idea of yourself realised on this machine. Don't miss to check out all Remember releases which will follow in time from us. Don't miss to give us your feedback on our Homepage! Stay stoned and cool, nothing more to add, I guess... So long... Talk to you all later on IRC :0 It seems that I am IRC addicted... Oh fuck it...
Cheers,
L'trimm.