Interview with Atomix author Günter Krämer

[alexh]

Hi, a discussion about Atomix in the HOL section resulted in Gerry of Thalion Source contacting me and asking me to post an interview I did with Günter Krämer (Gunther Kraemer) of SoftTouch from 2001.

Günter co-wrote (amongst other games) Atomix for the Amiga, published by Thalion.

Originally Posted by alexh

Hi, I run a website dedicated to Thalion games. I just wondered if any of you know the history of Atomix??

Originally Posted by Gunther Kraemer

Sure I know the history of Atomix, because I am the Author of the original Atomix for Amiga and also the Author of the Windows 98 version and Atomix II.

What informations do you need?

Originally Posted by alexh

1) Who invented the game?
2) Which version came first (Amiga, AtariST, C=64/+4, PC(DOS))?
3) How did Thalion get involved? Did they just publish the game for you?
4) If you only did the Amiga version, who did the others?
5) I guess you still own the copyrights to the game?
6) What do you do these days?

Originally Posted by Gunther Kraemer

A friend of mine and myself invented Atomix. It was I think in the year 1989. We did our lunch in a well known fast-food restaurant and we start thinking about the food we eat there. "What the hell is all inside this food?" was our question, because it taste not good. So the idea was born to make a game with atoms and molecules (because of the chemical components of the food).

The Amiga version was the first, my friend Rolf Steffens (RoSt Grafic) did the artwork. Then the Atari version. After this the C-64 and the PC version. But the PC version had nothing anymore to do with the original Atomix. Maybe the programmer we choose for the PC version was not good enough or the PC was not ready at this time for a game like Atomix, who knows?

At the time the game was finished, we tried to find a distributor. But at this time, we had not the right contacts and so our designer, Rolf Steffens, contact Thalion, because he had a friend working there. We did not expect a success with Atomix, because we made it only just for fun and so we sold the game to Thalion.

The game was a great success for Thalion. Unfortunately we sold the game complete to Thalion, so we did not get so much money for our work.

The Atari version was converted by a Thalion programmer, I don't know anymore the names of the C-64 and PC version programmer, because at this time I tried to find rules for my new game Turn It.

Yes, I own the copyright, but Thalion has the exclusive rights to sell the games in Europe.

I lived since 1995 in the Philippines (but he's back in German 2018 after 22 years) and develop esoteric software, something like palm reading, graphology etc. Unfortunately, I don’t have anymore time for game development. How much I wish I could go back in the past...

[StingRay]

I've just today, when looking at the game as I updated the WHDLoad patch, found 2 hidden easter eggs in the Thalion intro, these will work once the Thalion logo is on screen:

1. typing "aaarrgh" will switch tunes
2. typing "schnism" will make the Thalion logo bounce up and down

[lilalurl]

Thanks for posting the interview alexh. I have edited your post in the Atomix name thread to link to this thread.


Thanks for the codes Stingray. I have added them to the cheatcodes for the game. I have also added that "aaarrgh" will restart the new tune if you type it again.

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by lilalurl

Thanks for the codes Stingray. I have added them to the cheatcodes for the game. I have also added that "aaarrgh" will restart the new tune if you type it again.

That was fast, I was about to post these codes in the HOL section as well but now I don't have to anymore.

[Amigajay]

You would have thought the developer would get the name right, its Atomic not Atomix!

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

You would have thought the developer would get the name right, its Atomic not Atomix!

No?
It is Atomix... says so on the box
The title screen is a little bit confusing as it plays with a combination of "i" and "c" forming the letter "x"

[lilalurl]

Gorf, read this thread:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=93759

Amigajay was joking I am pretty sure (hence the winking smiley).

[modrobert]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

You would have thought the developer would get the name right, its Atomic not Atomix!

At least one of the reviewers got the name right.

Fun game, even more so with the timer off, give grumpy old man some time to think. Updated WHDLoad slave working fine so far, thanks StingRay.

alexh,

Interesting interview. I wonder how much they actually got paid for the game by Thalion?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Stingray

I've just today found 2 hidden easter eggs in the Thalion intro

The Thalion intro was ported to Amiga by the musician Jochen "MadMax" Hippel. He single handedly ported almost all of the early Thalion games to the Amiga from the ST! These two easter eggs were in the intro (first used in Warp) and is almost a Library routine re-used in several other Amiga Thalion games.

Originally Posted by modrobert

I wonder how much they actually got paid for the game by Thalion?

It's like 30 years ago. I'm sure they won't remember. But if I happen to be talking to him for anything else I'll ask.

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by alexh

The Thalion intro was ported to Amiga by the musician Jochen "MadMax" Hippel. He single handedly ported almost all of the early Thalion games to the Amiga from the ST! These two easter eggs were in the intro (first used in Warp) and is almost a Library routine re-used in several other Amiga Thalion games.

I know that Jochen Hippel ported a lot of ST code to the Amiga. I don't think however that these easter eggs are in all the Thalion intros on Amiga as I checked many of them when making WHDLoad patches/cracks of Thalion games and only just now found these easter eggs in the Atomix intro. Might be that I simply overlooked the corresponding code in the other intros though, I'll check in the next days.

[alexh]

Definitely in Warp which was the first Thalion game published. The clue to the Easter eggs are in the high score table of that game

https://goo.gl/images/U97VDv

[lilalurl]

Checked and confirmed. I added how to activate the easter eggs to the HOL entry for Warp.

[Wepl]

Thanks for the interview, very nice reading

[clenched]

Originally Posted by lilalurl

Checked and confirmed. I added how to activate the easter eggs to the HOL entry for Warp.

More material to add for Warp game. Don't miss first 3 words above picture. SPS disk used, not crack which was the topic of that thread.
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=993942&postcount=44

[lilalurl]

Originally Posted by clenched

More material to add for Warp game. Don't miss first 3 words above picture. SPS disk used, not crack which was the topic of that thread.
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=993942&postcount=44

Thanks for pointing to that. I tested it a bit. I'll PM you to clear things up and then add to the cheats for the game.

[saimon69]

BTW, just to make sure: is THAT Guenther Kramer?
[ Show youtube player ]

[Jope]

Heh, I knew the name was somehow familiar.

[alexh]

Fast'em 1988 was published by Turtle Byte Software.

SoftTouch (aka the Günter Krämer who wrote Atomix) did a game for them called My Funny Maze

So I find it likely that they are one and the same.

However is it only me that finds it a bit ironic that there is an accusation of theft in a crack intro on a stolen game?

[Jope]

Ironic in a way, but it's a different kind of theft. :-)

Bob Dinnerman got to keep his name on F/A-18 Interceptor even after Ewing and Dreamforce deprotected it.

Piracy is theft with a twist? :-D

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by alexh

SoftTouch (aka the Günter Krämer who wrote Atomix) did a game for them called My Funny Maze

That looks pretty good from the screenshot; need to try this out