You Ask The Questions - Francois Lionet

[merman]

Time for the readers to ask the questions once more, as I interview French programmer Francois Lionet.

Starting out with the Oric and then the Commodore 64, Francois joined the very French development team JAWX.

And then - interrupted by his military service - he unleashed first STOS (Atari ST) and then AMOS (Amiga). These programming languages helped many a 16-bit fan create their own games.

Forming Clickteam in 1993, Francois continued in the game maker genre with Multimedia Fusion and other products.

And in 2019 Francois has announced plans for AMOS 2 - a modern development environment with cross-platform support and (drum roll please!) backwards compatibility with STOS and AMOS planned!

A fuller list of titles will be added here, but get thinking up some great questions before I interview Francois and the best ones will be in the magazine.

[Rory Milne]

Which of your Captain Blood conversions was your favourite and why?

[DRS]

Andy Walker of Taskset is on record as saying 'The Oric was only really good for using as a doorstop. And even then, it didn't have rubber feet to stop it slipping.'

Would Francois like to defend the Oric or is he happy for it to be described as a 'butee de port'?

Hope it goes well Merman

[Antiriad2097]

Will we see an update of censored' In as a demo of AMOS 2 capabilities?

[Eric]

I would like to say thanks to Francois for creating AMOS for which I turn enjoyed many years creating my own games in. https://youtu.be/HhOIua21vvI

When moving from Amiga Amos to PC Blitz Basic I was able to port my AMOS game Hard Streets to PC line by line so AMOS helped in learning a new programming language and I still remember learning what a BOB was!

1. Were there any hurdles to overcome technical when moving STOS to Amiga?

2. What are your thoughts on Blitz and was it seen as a rival language?

[Antiriad2097]

Will we see an update of censored' In as a demo of AMOS 2 capabilities?

The forum censored my game title!

Will we see an update of C O C K' I N as a demo of AMOS 2 capabilities?

(It's an Oric game by Francois)

[merman]

Will we see an update of censored' In as a demo of AMOS 2 capabilities?

The forum censored my game title!

Will we see an update of C O C K' I N as a demo of AMOS 2 capabilities?

(It's an Oric game by Francois)

I had worked out the title - in the UK it was known as Chickin Chase, and Francois coded the C64 and Amstrad versions too. By coincidence, a previous French interviewee Alain Fernandes did the Thomson version.

[merman]

I spoke to Francois today and got some great answers to these questions, so thanks for taking part. Watch out for it in issue 198

[Spectrum1972]

I really liked the very good game Chickin Chase (I played this a lot on the ZX Spectrum). For some reason I was thinking about this game when I read that Francois was a good French software developer. I am not sure why but Chickin Chase seems like a very French game. Are there any plans on doing a new version?

[merman]

I really liked the very good game Chickin Chase (I played this a lot on the ZX Spectrum). For some reason I was thinking about this game when I read that Francois was a good French software developer. I am not sure why but Chickin Chase seems like a very French game. Are there any plans on doing a new version?

Francois agreed - it is very French!

[RichPT]

I just want to show off (or shame myself) and say I wrote the amazing Eat A Log Simulator And Tetris Joe in AMOS. I think they are 2 of the worst games written in the langauge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxeaVC2DZ9Q

I want to ask Francois what games were actually released professionally that were written in AMOS?

I would like to say thanks to Francois for creating AMOS for which I turn enjoyed many years creating my own games in. https://youtu.be/HhOIua21vvI

When moving from Amiga Amos to PC Blitz Basic I was able to port my AMOS game Hard Streets to PC line by line so AMOS helped in learning a new programming language and I still remember learning what a BOB was!

1. Were there any hurdles to overcome technical when moving STOS to Amiga?

2. What are your thoughts on Blitz and was it seen as a rival language?

Your games really look good. You have really mastered AMOS there. Great work!

[Eric]

I just want to show off (or shame myself) and say I wrote the amazing Eat A Log Simulator And Tetris Joe in AMOS. I think they are 2 of the worst games written in the langauge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxeaVC2DZ9Q

I want to ask Francois what games were actually released professionally that were written in AMOS?

[quote=Eric post_id=<a href="tel:1104664">1104664</a> time=<a href="tel:1562278313">1562278313</a> user_id=4346]
I would like to say thanks to Francois for creating AMOS for which I turn enjoyed many years creating my own games in. https://youtu.be/HhOIua21vvI

When moving from Amiga Amos to PC Blitz Basic I was able to port my AMOS game Hard Streets to PC line by line so AMOS helped in learning a new programming language and I still remember learning what a BOB was!

1. Were there any hurdles to overcome technical when moving STOS to Amiga?

2. What are your thoughts on Blitz and was it seen as a rival language?

Your games really look good. You have really mastered AMOS there. Great work!
[/quote]

Cheers Rich, I liked how your game includes bonus games - that must have been difficult to code various game styles. Do have video of uour Tetris Joe?

[RichPT]

Cheers Rich, I liked how your game includes bonus games - that must have been difficult to code various game styles. Do have video of uour Tetris Joe?

Thanks Eric. I actually forgot it had a bonus game in it. I just remember having no idea how to make a platform game and doing it completely the wrong way (using AMOS Zones for the platforms)

Here is Tetris Joe video https://youtu.be/Dz6GVdUVOh0 Apologies for the music!

[Eric]

Don’t think I ever used AMOS zones!

[RichPT]

Don’t think I ever used AMOS zones!

I think they maybe they are good for buttons you click with a mouse. I remember using AMAL maybe once or twice and never using that again. You had a lot of flexibility in that language

I also want to ask Francois - What was his favourite game made in AMOS?