The German programmer Mr. Pet is wellknown for creating the musicdisc Turmoil and for coding parts of well known demos such as World of ...
Mr. Pet coded … Commodore, Roots, Roots 2.0, Arte and other productions from Sanity and later from Einklang.net.
Obviously, it’s been a long time since Mr. Pet was the last time at a demo party. But he has not lost interest in the subject because of that. He recently published the first version of his new website, which is also integrated into an app for Android and iOS Smartphones. „The Art of Hard Coding“ theartofhardcoding.com should be finished for Revision 2022. We recently interviewed Peter Cukierski aka Mr. Pet in detail.
Mr. Pet wants to finish hin website about the demoscene until Easter 2022
By the way: At his private homepage cukierski.de you can have a look at some of his previous projects. Wer der englischen Sprache nicht mächtig ist, das Interview gibt es hier auch in Deutsch.
Interview with Mr. Pet
„Demos deserve more attention and respect“
by Ghandy of Nukleus
Ghandy/JP: For the start, do you want to introduce yourself?
Mr. Pet: Good morning! Moin! My name is Peter Cukierski, known to many as, mr.pet / sanity or pet / einklang.net, I don’t want to say it but I am already 48, have a teenage daughter and live alone but happy. In the summer I try to hang out outside a lot, I’m sailing a lot and I like to swim.
JP: Why did you choose the pseudonym Mr. Pet? What’s the background story back then in the 90s?
4Mr. Pet: To be quite honest, I used to play a lot on c64, and since most highscores only supported 3 letters, often the only thing left of my first name was „pet“. When the band „Pet Shop Boys“ became known and I realized the meaning, I thought it would be a suitable name for me.
JP: After Sanity you joined Free Electric Band and then Einklang.net, how came? Why did you guys not go on with Sanity on other plattforms as Amiga?
Mr. Pet: I don’t want to blaspheme too much, but I didn’t like the elitism of most Sanity and SCALA members back then, so I started my own cute little demo group!
JP: For Revision 2022 you plan to release a demo. But for which plattform? PC, Amiga?
Mr. Pet: Unfortunately that’s not right, on revision 2022 we want to finally release our platform „The Art Of Hard Coding„, which is currently in alpha but is already very testable, just give it a try.
JP: What was the last party that you have visited?
Mr. Pet: Oh, yeah, hmm I think that was a bit ago, but I think that was Assembly 2017. I spent several days traveling around Helsinki afterwards and met really cool people and places, greetings to Helsinki!
Mr. Pet: Demos deserve attention and respect!
JP: What’s the story behind your new website called „The Art of Hard Coding„?
Mr. Pet: I’ll keep it short, you can find more explanations on the platform. I’m tired of seeing my demos with constant commercial interruptions on YouTube and I think demos deserve more attention and respect and should be presented decently and in the appropriate context. You realize there’s a lot of emotion behind it.
The motto for his website is: mobile first!
JP: How came you have also developed an app for iOS and Android for it?
Mr. Pet: Today’s world is increasingly played out on cell phones, I see that too well in my daughter. That’s why I want to show demos as accessible as possible. And that means on mobile devices. The slogan „Mobile First“ was/is therefore very important to me in the development of this platform.
If things go well in the near future, we have a lot of plans for the platform. Not least through the initiative of our friends around Tobias Kopka (demoscene-the-art-of-coding.net), who have opened some doors for us by recognizing demo art as intangible cultural heritage. Thank you, at this point.
Cukierski earns his living with coding games
JP: Does your current job have anything to do with your coding skills? How can you use them for your job?
Mr. Pet: I am a man of conviction and love to crack hard nuts, especially when I am convinced of the cause itself. And yes, I also program games for a living.
JP: What are the other ex-Sanity members doing nowadays? Are you still in contact regulary? Or do you eventually work together?
Mr. Pet: Most ex-Sanity members, at least the Hamburg ones, hang out at Farbrausch, a relegation group. Undue laziness, too many drugs and too early fame have completely screwed up the guys, what can I say…? Just bad!
Mr. Pet: Demoscene less greedy and narcissistic than the IT industry!
JP: What will you do in 10 years? Will you ever loose your interest for the demo scene? What’s the fascination for you?
Mr. Pet: The digital cultural revolution of the early 20s produced a whole new generation of programmers. The spirit of the Silicon Valley computer pioneers seems to have had a revival. „Don’t be evil“ has returned, and greed and narcissism seem to have become significantly less important… Utopia?
Amiga!
Oh, and you forgot the most important question I want to answer right away: Yes, of course there will be an Amiga category at „The Art Of Hard Coding“, next to C64, Atari ST and others for which we are still looking for experts :)
Thanks for reading and
-> PEACE and LOVE <-
Signed Peter Cukierski also known as Mr. Pet of Sanity & Einklang.net !
JP: Thanks for your replies, all the best for you!
