Jim Sachs - Artist Interview (cont'd)

Defender of the Crown is probably the most recognized game from your Amiga portfolio out there, but was it your favorite to work on? If not, what was your favorite Amiga game (that you worked on)?

The first couple of weeks working on Defender of the Crown were incredible. It was an exciting time in a field which was brand-new. Each day I'd break new ground with the technology, and see effects which no one had ever seen on a computer screen before. But the non-stop 20-hour days quickly took their toll, and the lack of money from the publisher left a bitter taste.

When Commodore was still in business, your artwork was seen and created mostly on Amiga computers. Did you ever dabble with any other platforms, and if not, why not?

I considered the Amiga the ultimate artist's machine, so except for brief periods porting my own artwork over to other platforms, I never had any desire to use any other system. Once Commodore folded, PCs were just starting to catch up, so I made the switch.

(Jim's artwork didn't just appear in games, but in magazine covers like this one and even book covers)

Software like Deluxe Paint and Brilliance were the tools of your trade back in the Amiga days. Do you miss those programs? And what tools do you use today?

I was extremely comfortable with those programs and could draw very fast with them. Left hand on the keyboard, right hand on the mouse - I was almost like a touch-typist. Today I use PaintShop Pro, but I've never been able to equal the level of comfort that I had with the Amiga programs.

Your artwork was initially all two dimensional. What got you into 3-D graphics and did you have a hard time adjusting to the different way that artwork is created?

When I was doing work for Aegis Development, Alan Hastings wrote Videoscape 3D, and Stuart Ferguson wrote Aegis Modeler. I could see that 3D was the wave of the future, and I was just starting to use those programs to create 20,000 Leagues when Aegis folded and those two guys went over to NewTek. Remaining loyal to my colleagues (including Tim Jennison at NewTek), I stuck with their new Lightwave products.

(This interview is four pages, please continue below to the next page)