,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, An interview of John (Kuski of Month on June 2004): ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' -= When did you start playing? =- I started playing in the summer of 2002. I visited my cousin and he had elma on his computer, he showed it to me and I thought it looked quite cool so I tried it and got hooked pretty quickly I guess. -= Ex-teams and why did you change teams? =- First team I've ever been in was a team I created with my friend Aizan somewhere in late 2002 I think, it was called ElmaCo and wasn't that very serious. One day Aizan came and told me he had gotten some 2.1x on Apple Harvest I played some AH too and soon beat him by few secs, he got quite mad and we both left the team. ;/ After leaving ElmaCo I was teamless for a quite long time but in may 2003 I created a team together with Red and Mika, we called it AC - Apple Collectors. We also took Juish and SoC in. I left it after the summer when having quite a lot of teamrecs and instead joined WNO, my current team. -= Current total? =- 37:52:19 -= Top5 newest and oldest personal records? =- (check the last modified times of your replays) Newest: 15. Serpents Tale 56.72-------13/12 2004 25. Precarious 24.73 | 20. Upside Down 1.01.83 | 40. Double Trouble 1.24.98 | 39. Haircut 41.06-------27/11 2004 Oldest: I know these 8 records are the oldest but I don't bother to check for the 5 oldest: 11. Gravity Ride 24.61 24. Ramp Frenzy 53.80 34. Bumpy Journey 37.05 35. Labyrinth Pro 2.23.11 43. HeHe 58.28 44. Freefall 11.69 51. Tricks Abound 44.78 54. Apple Harvest 1.35.59 -= Across Career briefly. Any WRs?, World Cup I and II and so on.. =- I have only had the shareware and have never played it much. -= Elma career? =- Ever since it started I've been playing mostly internals, first I was kinda isolated player knowing only one other guy playing and that was Aizan. He showed me moposite and it was at his place I for the first time saw the moporecs, we were both totally amazed. It was after seeing those recs I really started playing internals seriously, I guess the moporecs inspired me. I remember braking one hour limit, it was so easy to brake that I told Aizan to not brake it for me on my state. I also remember having 54 min TT (I thought it was cool to have 1 minute average on every lev :). I progressed a bit in TT and soon I started getting a few good times like swedish records on Freefall, Tricks Abound and also Bumpy Journey I think. TT dropped a bit more and in august of 2003 I got my first internal wr, it was Freefall 11.93 and I had it for a week :) So far I've had 4 different wrs, almost got Circa too when darm got caught. I've been in 3 teams, ElmaCo, AC and WNO. -= Do you still like Across? Why/why not =- I dont like it that much, because you get stuck in vertexes. -= How did you get Across/Elma? Was it your worst mistake? or the best? =- I don't really remember how I got it but it might have been from Aizan, anyway the game has brought both positive and negative things with it. Positive is the entertainment I've gotten these xxxx hours I've played the game and spent at IRC. I have met nice people from all over the world and gotten something fun to do after school. Negative stuff is that I'm skipping different schoolstuff like homeworks and studying for tests, lack of fresh air and not enough sleep :) -= What elmaversion do you use? =- I use 1.11h for internals and 1.2 for externals, that's just the way it has become so there is no special reason for using different versions. -= Favourite internals / most irritating internals =- This changes all the time depending what mood I'm in so no point in telling any favourites. Mainly my favs isn't the shortest levs nor the longest. Flat Track, Apple Harvest, Gravity Ride, Bowling and Enigma are some levs I don't feel like playing right now. -= Your own best WRs? =- Haven't had many but first one at Freefall made me happy :) -= Best WRs in your opinion? =- Downhill and Bowling (Luther), Serpents and Upside (Zweq) and AH (psy) are some impressive ones. -= What's the limit of WR times? =- There's still some time to shave off wrtt but it's impossible to know by how much because you still get surprised about the times popping up at wr-table. But in theory I think WRtt could drop to some 36.3x, there's still some styles left to be done, somewhere :) -= Are there some kind of external contests you like? What kind of contests do you like? Are there any new competitions you would like to see? =- Battles is the external contests I like the most, but also I like different levelpacks where the competition for best times never have a deadline, I play those levpacks every now and then when I've gotten too bored of internals or just having a bad internalday. I would like World Cup 5 to be held soon, I've never participated in a world cup before and it would be cool I think. -= Best lgr in your mind? What lgr do you use? =- HighQ is the best one when playing much internals (like I do) but I use it for both internals and externals because I hate when pictures are covering too much. Best theme-lgr is definately Pirate by Ville J. -= Mention some good things you have gotten with Across/Elma? =- Entertainment, patience and friends from all over the world. -= Mention some bad things you have gotten from Across/Elma? =- Lack of sleep and fresh air. Maybe a bit lower grades. Stiff hands... -= What is the most frustrating thing you have faced in your career? =- That my two first wrs never got white background if you know what I mean. :) I don't get that frustrated over elma though. -= The biggest mistake of your Elma career? =- Started playing too seriously so now I'm too deep into this game. -= Cheating, what feelings? Do you use level unlocker/1.11hb/1.2 etc? =- It's stupid, it mess up statistics and ruins for other people. About level unlocker and 1.2 I have "Edit locked levs" checked in elma 1.2 so yes I use it, but I don't see it as cheating. -= Elma tuning, have you tested? Opinion about it? =- I tested for first time in august this year (2004) but I had known about it for some time already. I was playing HiFlyer and had a time of some 34.6x and tried to do bounce but the wheel just didn't bounce. I got some old nvidia graphiccard from my dad so I put that one in my computer and I tried HiFlyer with OpenGL vsync off, didnt take longer than 5 mins before I had 33.70 when wr was 33.65. Also improved a few other levs. Later I heard OpenGL vsync off doesn't effect elma so maybe it was some psychological thing. Now I have downloaded RivaTuner and tried Direct3d vsync off, then I noticed the real difference but it's a bit laggy when I'm turning around so I'm hoping to fix that soon. Edit: About that lag-thing, I have almost gotten used to it now :) -= Best kuskis and teams? What are the things you value in another kuski/team? =- Zweq is awesome allroundplayer, Markku is insane battler, FM has max teamspirit and ICE is fast. Things I value is skills in different ways of playing. Players who can handle many different ways quite good are the ones I would call skilled. And about teams, teamspirit is important. -= Your best achievements? =- 37min internal TT, few wrs, finishing MOPOCO15 in 56.88, and being 5.12 sec from pipewr driving with feet (unhoyled) ;) -= Do you do any other neat finger-related stuff like playing violin, repairing watches, pick pocketing etc? I'm pretty good at Track & Field to playstation, you know the game where you press like mad to make the speedometer go up, but I'm not sure if that is very neat finger-related. Even found a new pole vault-style in it btw ;) -= How much did you play in your sickest period? How much these days? =- I'm not sure about this but the sickest might be around 10 hours of playing in one day. A normal days average is around 1-3 hours I think. On weekends there's always more, naturally because you have more time then. -= Have you had Elma dreams? =- No never. At least no dreams I can remember. -= Strengts and weaknesses as a player? What moves you like/dislike? =- One strength is that I'm a decent stylefinder so I guess I'm a quite ok battler. One weakness I have is if I believe a style is very hard I don't play it long enough to see if it's really true, I tend to give up those instead. Favourite moves: * The deadbounce, looks cool and it's fun doing it. * Smooth bouncing. * Pipedriving. Not that many moves I dislike. -= Tips for average players? =- Play battles because there's so many different sort of levels represented there and you see what tricks is good in which situations. Have patience. -= Best memories with Elma? =- * When I was pretty new to the game and could improve over 30 seconds on internals, that was fun. * I remember first time I checked if I was on any of Sweden's top10 lists, I was around 9-10 on some and was very happy for that though I thought it was strange that other players times had 3 digits, later showed it was SWE average top10s I had watched and that I wasn't on any top10 lists at all. Funny memory :) * When both Aizan and I played seriously. * I didn't have internet at home at first so I remember bringing floppydisks with state.dat to computerclasses and sent in from there. That was in 2002, got ADSL that christmas so that's when I got really into the scene. * I remember how I said I would stop elmaplaying when braking 40 minute limit :) Got under 40 on my sisters birthday in July 2003. Also said I would stop/take it easier after 39 minute limit. So now recently when I broke 38 I thought I could just keep quiet since I wouldn't stop anyway :P * When I joined WNO. It feels now like WNO is where I belong. * My first wr. Those are the memories that first came to my mind. -= First time at IRC?=- Somewhere in 2003 I think I tried to login at IRC but didn't find any server so I never got in there. Later I tried bit harder and I remember when I first logged in at #across (on an Austrian server :P), seeing all the crazy kuskis that I had seen at mopositelists but never seen at lauta. Now when I knew how to connect to IRC i tried joining #battle. The very first battle I played was against magicman only. He uploaded lev in private and we started playing, mostly for fun. When time was out I quit elma and went to IRC and saw magic's lines "what time u got? u have to tell times u know", he explained bit more of the rules and I began playing real battles soon after. I thought and still think it's a great way of playing elma. -= Best Elma friends? =- There are a few ones I talk to almost on daily basis: Teammates, Stini, cAEz, infected. Then there are others I talk to every now and then. -= Thoughts about Elma meetings? =- I would like to go to one but I'm not sure if I ever will. It sounds really fun, especially FEM05 next year. -= What do YOU think should be improved in an eventual new version of Elma? =- Physics shouldn't be changed, at least in my opinion. I would like new internals and a better version of the editor, also totaltimecounter inside the game, maybe even new total time should appear at the same time as Best Time!. Maybe checkpoints too but not as some startingpoints when you die, I mean only for timecomparing. MOD-supported. Then some sort of statistics would be nice too. For example "You have finished level 01 - Warm Up 945/1198 times, best time is xx:xx and worst time is yy:yy". Maybe also "You have played the game for a total of ____ hours". Would be cool if those statistics also were updated at moposite. :) -= Are you against elma 2? (tijsjoris) =- I'm not really against it but still not 100% for it. Elma 2 could have a bunch of new and better internals than in Elma, a better editor and new cool stuff we haven't even thought of. But it could also have bad internals with only very few styles, same editor as in Elma but in different colors etc. Then I would prefer keeping current version. -= How about battles? =- Very fun, battlebot makes the battles worth playing too with exact battletime, results and so on. -= Have you got any negative feedback about playing Elma from your mates? =- Yeah the usual "lolz that you still play that sucky 2d game", also family make comments sometimes but not about the game itself, more about me playing too much. :) -= How much do your parents know about you/elma/scene? (tijsjoris) =- They know the name of the game, that there is a site about Elma (moposite), that I hang at IRC chatting with other players. They also know I'm battling, because sometimes they hear the battlebot. If any of them are at comp and battlebot starts talking they sigh and turn the volume down :P They know I have quite low TT and that I sit up til late at night playing "that stupid game". I have by the way tried to get my mom to finish Warm Up but she doesn't want to try at all. ;) -= What games do you like beside Elma? =- Tony Hawk games and Shenmue (to Dreamcast) is probably the best games I've played besides Elma. CS is nice too (though I rarely play it). -= Did you buy Elma? Why not? =- No I haven't bought it, I don't really remember from where I got it. After having it I haven't thought of buying it, seems somehow complicated but sure I could easily pay those few dollars, it's like 0.002 dollars for every hour I've played it. -= Have you thought about if you could stop playing Elma soon, or anytime? =- I think I could but I don't want to, it's too fun. Something big is needed to make me stop playing, like my computer burning up or similar. -= What gets you still playing Elma? =- The Best Time! ... I love it :P Also the whole community, moposite and the IRC-channels. -= Are you at the top of your career now? If not, when? =- Looking at my times I guess I'm on the top of my career. Looking at the joy of playing it was higher in 2003, though I enjoy it still. I guess I had the mania-part of Elastomania back in 2003. -= Forecast the future of Elma. How the scene will be in five years? =- There will be a lot of new players besides a couple of hardcore players from these days I think. WRtt in Elma will be 36.3x and in Elma2 42.1x. Moposite is still there having two different sections for different versions of Elma. Asia might have discovered the Elmacommunity and many new asian players will send in their times to moposite. -= Was it a surprise to be voted for the kuski of month? If it was who should have won in your opinion and why? =- Well I didn't do anything special that specific month, I guess it was my constant playing for TT that put me there. If I wouldn't have won I think Stini should have, good player and one of the best friends I've gotten in elmascene. -= do you think you could've won KOM in this month too? (tijsjoris) =- I got under 38 in the middle of november so if I would have been nominated for that I would have been in the decemberpoll. But I don't know if I would have won it, hard to beat MadMan I think. -= Mopolauta, thoughts? =- It's quite ok, I use to check it at least once every day. "General" and "Replays and times" mostly. -= Opinions about Elma Crime, MUe's animations and stuff like that. =- Never seen those. -= What's your favourite Elma website (not moposite)? =- Probably skint0r's site because it looks good and there is lots of good levs there. -= Your relation to OLP? =- None really. I've tried them but that's it. -= What are your goals in elma now? Comming Wcup5 or 24h-tt? or just drive wr's and improving tt? (magicman) =- I don't think I have any special goals but I guess I'll play World Cup 5 when it comes and until then I'll play some more internals, hard to get enough of them :) I know few levs I should try to improve, maybe even get wr on. Get some more battlewins too. -= Do you think any other guy will make it to the 37 mins club now? (tijsjoris)=- Ye definately. I think most of the players in 38 mins club could also play themselves down to 37 if they hoyl a bit. -= Why that nick, John? =- Well it's not a real nick, it's my real name. I guess I didn't plan to join the scene so I just wrote John when starting elma and then too lazy to come up with nick when first sending in to moposite. Now it would be lame if I changed to some nick. -= Your real life. Do you have it (school/work, other interests etc)? =- I live with my mom, littlesister and 2 cats. I'm studying last year in upper secondary technical school (gymnasium or whatever it's called :), studying to be an engineer, concentrating on design and construction. Uhm, I like BMX-riding and biketrial, maybe that's why I got so hooked by elma. BMX was just some cheap solution I started with when my trialbike got broken down completely. Couldn't afford a new one so I got a BMX instead to fill my need for things rolling on 2 wheels. I have for as long as I can remember played all sorts of videogames, that is a big hobby of mine. I don't know what will happen in the future, this next summer I will graduate from school then we'll see what happens. -= Write something about the game, fellow kuskis, moposite, #across, etc =- Merry christmas and a happy new hoylyear to ya :* -= How did this interview make you feel, like a moviestar? =- I am thankful for winning this KOM and the interview was quite fun writing, but it was a bit hard to express myself because I had to write in english (onlinedictionaries helped me some). Anyway I hope you like it :) John 23rd December 2004