How it all started...
Ever since my father brought home an old Sony MSX2 computer I've been hooked to the digital world and the many mysteries it held, and still holds. I was only 5 to 6 years old, but already typing in unfamiliar words onto a screen and hitting that magical ENTER button while the suspense built up, only to be confronted with something I will always remember as the screen seemed to be spitting out always the same thing: 'SYNTAX ERROR'.
It was obvious to me that a career in programming wasn't going to be my thing, so I embarked further on my journey through the world of MSX, starting with all the games my father would bring home. I didn't know anything about piracy back then, but I'm fairly certain that besides the ROM cartridges every single game had been copied. I played and played, mostly Konami titles that were ported from their arcade versions, until I stumbled upon a game that truly captivated my young mind: Metal Gear.
Most from my generation know this franchise saw its light on MSX2 (no, not on the NES or Playstation!) and to me it was the perfect combination of excellent gameplay and intriguing storytelling. I can still hear the alarms going off when I think back, frantically trying to hide from all the enemy soldiers while waiting for their alertness to wear off. Come to think of it, I think the first game I ever bought was Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The graphics were mind blowing at the time, including the moving portraits while talking to characters through radio transmissions.
The Internet
When we got our first Internet connection at home my digital world grew exponentially by the day. Apart from providing me with the means to connect with others and play my first FPS online (Duke3D with a dial-up connection was fun!) it gave me that old MSX feeling back. That feeling I had that there was so much to discover and that the possibilities seemed endless. Every time I typed a keyword on the old search engines back then, it gave me that old suspense just before hitting the same old ENTER button. Back then you actually had to wait quite a while before results were finally downloaded to your computer, unlike today's instant searches and suggestions made by modern search engines.
It was back then, around 2001 and during one of my nightly searches that I came across something I had not seen before and really intrigued me as passionate graphic designer and gamer. While I was looking up information on Adobe's website about Photoshop, I found something better: Adobe Atmosphere.
Atmosphere for me, was the first platform where interaction with 3D computer graphics and other users was possible, and in an easy way, putting people and their art in touch with others around the world. It consisted of a client (I used a browser plug-in) which was free for all, and a separate software bundle for building content. Unfortunately, the creator bundle wasn't free and thus I never got introduced to 3D modeling, at least not for the time being ;-)
