This time around we go to Mother Russia, to talk to Tyrsis..
For all the details, head to the comments section.
From the cold regions of the north, where the snow is white and the jewels are bright comes our next interview: the "Russian Gem" - Tyrsis.
Tatiana Ryzhova, better known as Tyrsis, is the author of the brilliant DMOD "As Good As Eternity" and the excellent development file "Dink's Trunk" (co-winner of the Development Download of the year). For those Dinkers who have not looked at the "Trunk", it is a powerful add-on that lets Dink store many more things in his inventory than the standard 16 items.
Tyrsis has been helping out in the Dink Community for a number of years, sharing her knowledge and expertise in all things Dink, as well as maintaining the Dinktionary site. From Russia with Dink comes Dinker's View 7.
Q: First off a little bit about yourself, just wondering which part of Russia you come from and what it is like there? I have never been there, and most likely never will. Can you tell us a little more about yourself and your life, what you do when not Dinking, what your interests are...
A: I am from a mysterious town of Rybinsk. We have snow 5 months a year. If you find the European part of Russia on the map, you will see the Volga river. And the northest point of the river is where I live. I have some pictures of my town on my site.
I am a kind of system administrator at work, also I work with computers doing acounting job for a small business enterprise, even have made some programs to make tax reporting easier, and sold some of them. In the '80s I worked on PDP series mini computers. I loved their assembler language. Made a lot of things back then, even modified the multi-user system (e.g. security part). And I used to fix the hardware too, which was my main job then. Now I think of trying computer art (3d pictures).
I am 48 (it's true) - but I don't feel it. And people say I look younger
As for other interests, I like reading, music, walking alone in a quiet beautiful place when I am tired of people.
Q: You have a son, does he play Dink? Any other children?
A:Yes, Dmitry plays Dink, he was the first to play AGAE - and he is the only child.
Q: What would you say are the best features of your hometown, and what are the things you like least about it, and what do you think are the best and worst aspects of Russia?
A: I live in a small (for Russia) town - about 250 thousand people. Being a small town on the great Volga river, beautiful forests around, it has its good side. Rather calm, green town a little more than 230 years old.
The bads are economical, but all Russia has the same problems except a couple of grand cities.
Russia in general is a complex phenomena. It is naturally rich country, but somehow all this wealth comes to the wrong hands, and the laws are strict but somehow nobody seems to use them - neither the people who have to obey the law, nor the people that are supposed to make everybody obey them. And the majority of people who lead very poor life would rather wail or steal than work.
Q: Onto things Dink. When did you first start playing Dink and how did you find out about the game? Was it a game you got excited about straight away, or did it grow on you? How do you feel about it now, after all this time?
A: I think I began it in 2000. Found it browsing the internet for a free game to play. I had a poor but free internet connection, so I just left it to download until done. The first time I started the game I was not very much impressed, but then I thought - why, I can't just delete this monster without playing it once, so I started to play - and finished it, and then every Dmod bigger than 1Mb, then the smaller ones with higher "rating"... And I'm still here.
Q: As a DMOD author who has made one of the most visually appealing epics "As Good As Eternity", can you tell us something about its creation. What were your inspirations and sources of influence for the DMOD? And what were your original ideas, and goals you had for it? Was there anything you planned to do, but didn't get done? If there was, why was that?
A: After playing a lot of Dmods I really did want to try my hand. And my son told me - why, you can write a program or not? It took me quite a long time to make a story, using some folk stories as a source of inspiration. It was a challenge. I had not any 3D program to make graphics, but I just had to make some, so I used CorelXARA a nice and simple 2D tool.
At first I was thinking of a sequel - but I have seen too many bad ones (not Dmods or games - films, books), so I just finished the story as it ended. It is better to stop earlier than later.
Q: The "Trunk" is an amazing piece of work. Can you go into some detail about why you made this add-on and how it got developed? I believe Ted Shutes helped test it.
A: When I played Dink the first time I didn't like the small inventory size. When you are not so good at fighting, and at first we all are, you stuff the inventory with healing potions, and in dink you couldn't even drop an item you don't need any more. I had a considerable experience in programming, so I used it in this project. The goal was to use as little variables as possible, due to restrictions of the dink engine. Then I showed this code to Ted and he was impressed. So he not only tested it but tinkered with it and wrote a text in addition to my own description.
Q: Will you do a DMOD that uses the trunk soon? No-one has used it yet, although I know some of the concepts/ideas behind it have been used [I did a multiple bomb/exlixir thing in PQ because of the Trunk thing]
A: Yes, I think of using it - not as it is in the Dink's Trunk, it's more complex thing. I thought of releasing DT2 - but it would be a pity to make it just an add-on.
Q: Do you think there are any reasons why the Trunk has yet to make an appearance in a DMOD? Is it just the laziness, forgetfulness of authors, or something else?
A: I don't think it is hard to use this in a Dmod. But when you know you can add 30 items more - you have to invent them, and this is not very easy, if you don't just make 10 different swords, bombs, etc. The same applies to magic (you may use Trunk to keep magic scrolls too).
Q: What is it about the Dink game that you like the most, and the least?
A: The most likeable thing is that Dink is a world, not just game. It's a nice community. The game itself is very simple, but I never liked simulator type games, when you must memorize a lot of keys to control it. So it is just the game for me. Then, I have a dial-up internet, quite slow, so its relatively small files are good for me. I was able to download even PQ (7 hours, with FlashGet). The graphics: I like old DOS games, with their cool legends - and the graphics always were not of the most importance for me. The main part of Dink is that anybody can write a good story and make a game other people would enjoy. A lot of people criticize dink for its graphics - maybe they are right, but it has that "old" flavor, I would miss it.
What I like the least - BUGS. But now that the source is released it is not a big problem. Now we already have re-Dink. We can hope for more to come.
Q: Are you working on any new DMODs right now? Are there any little gems of information you care to give us about what we can expect in the next project?
A: I don't know when I release a DMod - and all this fuss about graphics being kind of remade confuse me a little. I am afraid of being forced to redo all the map and sprites... So now I do story and scripting part first.
Q: I believe you were helping Ted Shutes out with is revised version of Nexis' "Prophecy of the Ancients" DMOD. Can you tell us a little about that, and what sort of things you were doing for it? When I talked to Ted last it had been put on hold, is it still on hold?
A: Ted's POTA revision is very much like his LOT remake. A lot of bugs fixed, some minor plot additions, and this time it includes the map fixes and some new graphics. The gameplay became easier as with LOT, but it's Ted's credo: the game should not be a trial but a restful distraction, a pleasant adventure. I don't remember his exact words, but the meaning is like I said.
Q: The Dinktionary site. Can you tell us a little about it, what its purpose is, and the history behind the project?
A: Each community has some indoor slang and idioms. Trying to keep a track of them is the main purpose of the site. The idea was Dethlord's, but then he left us - and he asked me to take the page. Some people had given him the definition of some words, and even for their sake it would not be fair to drop the project. I remade the page completely to make it look more like the rest of my site.
Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in DMOD authoring? Are there any tutorials on the Dink Network you found really helpful? What are the areas that you found most frustrating?
A: The first advice - try to make a small Dmod to play with, to test how it works. Look into a small Dmod like milli-vanilli to see the inside of it, read source files and see maps. I had at first only DinkC.txt by Seth, it was very inconvenient, then I found some tutorials. The most complete was Ted's revision of DinkC.txt, and earlier I used the easiest tool - Dink help file by Mike Snyder and Robert Fogt. The Sound FAQ by Silencer was very useful too.
There are some difficult things in Dmod writing, I even wrote an article about that on my site (Hints and Bugs Page).
Q: Do you have a favourite DMOD, and what are the reasons why?
A: The favourite one - Prophecy of the Ancients. I played it long ago, it was the first of the epics I played, and with its plot, graphics, new magic system and the new "follower" possibilities... I was impressed.
Q: What is your favourite movie?
A: I just found I don't have a favorite movie
I don't even own a TV (don't want it).Q: You don't want a TV, why? Is the television there bad? Do you get a lot of US shows or is it mainly Eastern European shows?
A: I live in a small town where the cable TV is a rarity. The 3 TV channels with a normal reception are not very entertaining. The shows are Eastern European, but not very witty. I despise the soap operas, which are interrupted by long ads (10-15 min film, 5min an ad), and the news I see in Internet. The TV shows are rather dumb, so I don't watch the TV.
Q: What is your favourite computer game? And why?
A: Funky Bubbles. It's the only "tetris" kind of game you can win. And tetris trains reaction leaving the head free
Really there are some good games I remembered. Of old DOS ones - Shannara, DeathGate, Dig (legends were the main attraction), MYST; the newer games - Summoner, that I liked even better than the famous Morrowind; Neverwinter Nights, NOX.Q: What is your favourite food?
A: Apples
Q: What are your 'pet' hates?
A: I hate being crowded. Once I have read that people are like animals: some are tame, grass-eaters, and some are carnivores. Some have a small "privacy zone", so they don't object to being crowded. And other feel discomfort when anybody comes nearer than 1/2m.
Q: If you were ever to meet Dink (in some weird and warped universe splitting kinda accident), and he tried to hit on you, what would be your response?
A: "I think you have incompatible BIOS, sonny."
Thanks for taking the time to do this. And thanks for being part of the Dink Community.
