B.I.G. in Trier: Underground with XVI-bit veterans

Who are the computer people who inspire us still today? Microzeit has been asking this question since its foundation. However, seven years have passed since our first publication Breakin’ The Borders, which deals with the hopes and struggles of building a career in the pioneering games industry.

The current book project provides a welcome opportunity to revisit the 16-bit gaming veterans and get a fresh retro perspective. Driven by Stefan Kimmlingen, we accepted the invitation to Trier and visited the small video game store SK GameNatiX, right next to the iconic Porta Nigra.
 

Augusta Treverorum. The city gate of Trier was built around 170 AD under the Roman Emperor Augustus. From here, the traders came directly to the market and offered their goods for sale. The name Porta Nigra stands for ‘black gate’ and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Once you have passed the dark Roman city gate, you will encounter the witnesses of a colourful home computer world. In Kimmlingen’s shop, we find retro games but also Blu-rays and a wide range of video classics for Playstation, X-Box and Nintendo consoles. On Saturday, however, the compact store seems deserted. But superficial calm is deceptive. In the underground, the shooting and driving sounds of long-gone arcade days clatter and hiss. Here, specially installed rows of Namco, Sega and Atari machines live on in a musty cellar.

The railing-less staircase leads straight into this old gaming world of warm circuit board smells and robust wooden cabinets from the glowing 70s and 80s. It may be a coincidence, but a meeting underground feels just right. Big names such as Erik Simon and Niklas Malmqvist are packed together here with Jochen Hippel. The Exceptions and The Carebears, Level 16 or The Respectables, and Unlimited Matricks – those are ‘big labels’ of the old Atari ST scene. Long-defunct demo groups, who down there again talk excitedly about interrupts, as if time had stood still.

Like yesterday. F.l.t.r.: Stefan Kimmlingen (Tyrem), Armin Hierstetter (Ex-TOS magazine editor), Stefan Brech (Hawkmoon), Michael Schüssler (Sammy Joe).

The reason is called Tyrem. The pseudonym behind Kimmlingen enthusiastically expanded the organisation over the course of weeks, inviting more and more friends from the old days of The Union. Originally planned as an intimate little interview, the list eventually grew to include 15 demoscene activists and game developers from the Atari and Amiga days, willingly answering my pressing questions in a vintage arcade atmosphere.

 Interviews in an arcade machine. Richard Karsmakers (ST NEWS), Georges Kesseler (Gunstick/ULM) and Armin Hierstetter (Mr TOS & Bodalgo) in conversation.

 With B.I.G. Demo from 1988, TEX showed that Atari’s 16-bit machine was capable of more than monochrome applications. The screen shows 512 colours (Atari ST palette), a 3D layer with rasters and effective shadows, as well as graphics in the lower border.

 

The Exceptions (TEX)
Jochen Hippel (Mad Max)
Erik Simon (ES)
Gunter Bitz (6719)
Michael Raasch (Daryl)

The Lost Boys (TLB)
Michael Schüssler (Sammy Joe)
Fabian Hammer (Oxygen)

The Respectables
Klaus Schmitt (Duke)
Stefan Kimmlingen (Tyrem)
Stefan Brech (Hawkmoon)

Level 16
Andreas Franz (Ilja)

The Carebears (TCB)
Niklas Malmqvist (Tanis)

ULM
Georges Kesseler (Gunstick)

ST NEWS
Richard Karsmakers

TOS magazine
Armin Hierstetter

 

Some of them helped shape the rise and fall of Thalion Software GmbH between 1988 and 1993, creating 16-bit gaming classics such as Lionheart, Ambermoon, Wings of Death and No Second Prize. But careers develop and so I ask groups and individuals about their experiences and involvements, while a Galaga record falls and the Super Sprint arcade machine is revived. I am also interested in today’s standings, projects and opinions on current technological developments. In the flourishing days of the home computer industry, everyone soon agrees, they started without a long-term concept. Experiments and discoveries determined the developers’ lives at all times. But time was running out all too quickly...

Jochen Hippel (Mad Max) had to start his journey home after lunch. But not before we had finished an exciting one-on-one interview with some surprising news. His family was there the whole time and the children were particularly well represented in the Star Wars arcade.

In Roman-Germanic mood, we finally leave the location and end up at the Asian restaurant, where fancy sushi, Vietnamese soups and good wine from the surrounding area are served. Jurie Horneman joins us via video. The former Amberstar developer works at Ubi Soft and reports directly from Canada. The decision to repeat the meeting and recruit more Thalion Stallions is made loudly. Marc Rosocha and Michael Bittner, among others, were sorely missed. After all, we know how difficult it is to coordinate a network reunion today: the boys come from Germany, but also from England, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

After the games and food, there were still three interviews to do (The Lost Boys, Tanis, The Exceptions). Equipped with local wine specialities, we make our way to the last stop, where Kimmlingen leads us into an underground bank. However, the value of this facility cannot be measured in money…

More room for interviews – playfully negotiated (picture 1, The Lost Boys). Tanis settles in the centre to talk about his career at King and Snowprint (picture 2). TEX talk themselves into a rage and just gush over with anecdotes, while Duke listens in a relaxed manner (picture 3).

The Trier Wine Bank offers atmospheric meeting rooms in a genuine cellar vault. Noble wines are stored here behind barred lockers. The guys around TEX then chat away and cover a wide range of topics in a 90-minute talk show, from personal anecdotes of the Thalion era to computer knowledge and developer experiences. The nerd factor is still present in their jobs, conclude Gunter (6719), Michael (Daryl) and Erik (ES) over a good cigar, while a previously hidden demoparty video continues to heat up the atmosphere. As the assembled team watches their 16–18-year-old alter egos, it becomes clear to everyone that there has been a lot of personal development over the years.

 

F.l.t.r: Michael Schüssler (Sammy Joe, TLB), Armin Hierstetter (TOS), Ms Karsmakers, Fabian Hammer (Oxygen, TLB), Michael Raasch (Daryl, TEX), Richard Karsmakers (ST NEWS), Stefan Kimmlingen (Tyrem, The Respectables), Gunter Bitz (6719, TEX), Klaus Liebe (Duke, The Respectables), Marco Breddin (Microzeit), Andreas Franz (Ilja, Level 16), Georges Kesseler (Gunstick, ULM), Niklas Malmqvist (Tanis, The Carebears) and – the horizontal – Erik Simon (ES, TEX).