This month I have chosen a mature member who is so good at HTML that some say he invented it. He is a regular at the Continuous Screenshot Competition and has won it quite a few times.

Give three and a half cheers for: Elrich!

Yeebaagooon: Hello Elrich and welcome to this interview. Most people probably know you for your dedication to the Continuous Screenshot Competition. What do you think your greatest achievement there was?

Elrich: Hello and thanks.
Since I like to challenge myself and to try to pull off the most unconventional ideas, I have to say my Happiness theme shot, Priceless, was my greatest achievement. To make a screenshot that is actually looking straight down at the map appear to have full depth was quite a challenge and I think I can say by the resulting votes that I accomplished this.

Yeebaagooon: A few months ago you started a minimalist movement with your whitehouse screenshot. Could you tell us more about it and why you did it?

Elrich: Since the dawn of art, man has tried to use art as a physical representation of the metaphysical, the existence that lies beyond the senses.......aw hell, that is a bunch of crap, really.....The truth is I was having a really busy week and time was running out for my entry in CSC and after chatting with Baske one day, I said "I hardly have enough time to make a field of grass A and put a log in it" and then I got an idea, a wonderful awful idea. The rest is history...

Yeebaagooon: Do you use AOM for anything apart from screenshot design? Are you making a scenario?

Elrich: I started off playing Age of Empires, then Mythology as a war game playing against friends, but when I looked into the scenario editor, I was hooked. I guess I'm still that kid from the 80's inside who loved to make his own games. I only jumped into screenshot design because that is all I can afford time to make. Professionally, I am a software developer and even though you didn't mention it, I help in the Trigger Request thread making custom triggers for people when I have the time.
As for a scenario, I am working on a comedy skit.

Yeebaagooon: Can you tell us anything about your comedy skit?

Elrich: I almost have the script finished. It is written specifically for scenario designers as I make fun of triggers, bugs, bad scenario designs, lack of eyecandy and most of all myself. It will be a showcase for my story writing, cinematography, eyecandy and trigger skills and I'm aiming for it to be a classic amongst other comedies like Mythic Cops, but I hate to even mention it as it is so early in its development. I am hoping that with the coming summer and the slower pace it brings that I will have time to finish it.

Yeebaagooon: Yes, comedy scenarios are great fun. I really loved making Pwn The N00b with Mephiles, and I am sure you will enjoy your scenario just as much . Could you give us some background information about yourself?

Elrich: Well, first off, I'm an old guy (check the AOM census). I grew up in the dawn of computer games, the 70's. I remember pitching in with my friends on our block to buy an Atari 2600 game system. I used to make my own games written in assembly language on my 48k (yes kilobytes) Atari 800 home computer. During college I met my wife, who is from Poland, and together we have two daughters who I drive to and from school and all their activities pretty much every day of the week. Despite being extremely busy, I still am able to get in some AOM time and time for my other favorite hobby, playing guitar.

Yeebaagooon: Wow! I didn't know you were that old! Could you tell us more about your guitar?

Elrich: When I was young, the mainstream radio music was from rock bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Kiss, Rush, etc. I was dazzled by the guitar solos, so I started playing guitar. I started a band with a few friends and moved onto playing bass guitar. We played at a few parties, but our favorite thing to do was to play Rush songs for ourselves. It was all about the challenge and making that sound come together. With new family life, my guitars were gathering dust in the closet until a friend from work took me to a Dave Matthews concert in Sep 2003 just after Johnny Cash died. Dave played the most incredible version of Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash song) that just hit me like when I was a kid and I went out and bought a beautiful Ovation Legend acoustic guitar. I only get to play about once a week, but I hope to compose, perform, and mix my own songs into a scenario one day.

Yeebaagooon: Do you have any plans for the future, both in AOM and real life?

Elrich: Right now I am part owner of a company that I have been building over the last few years. I hope to sell it for big bucks in the future and travel the world on the money with my family. As for unreal AOM life, I have several projects I work on from time to time, including a trigger manager program where you can make your own custom selections of triggers so you don't have to skip through all the ones you never use. Soon you will see my compilation of the first SST story, Neerah's journal, as an acrobat reader file and I will put together an amazing new screen for the SST main thread. I will probably work with the Trigger Request thread people on a comprehensive trigger creating tutorial and I almost don't want to mention it, but I have brewing in my mind, writing a Titans version of AOMED in Visual Basic for PC users. Oh, and finally I'm thinking about getting me a smurf. I just have to think of a secret name that no one would associate with me.....

Yeebaagooon: Thanks for your time Elrich. I'm off to the pub.

Elrich: If you're headed off to the pub, you better take and old guy like me along so I can buy your beer for you

Unfortunately, Elrich forgot to send me some picture, or he couldn't find any. Sorry!

He also owes me quite a lot of money for that cup of tea I had in the pub...

[This message has been edited by Yeebaagooon (edited 04-10-2008 @ 03:22 PM).]