PUNKSHEEP: Bio Michel JANICKI

1) – The discovery of a passion

I discovered computer science in the early 80s when a friend introduced me his commodore VIC20, I immediately joined. Afterwards, I bought my first microcomputer, a Tandy MC10, on which I learned the BASIC language. At the time, the performances were so weak, that it was almost impossible to circumvent to have to go to the assembler, it was necessary for me to continue in this direction. Later I finally decided to acquire a VIC20 on which I programmed everything. But the arrival of Commodore 64 changed the situation. It was rising, in front of the possibilities offered by this machine, I had to resolve to invest again, my passion grew with my new material. Then it was the turn of the Amiga 500, the top of what was done at the time. I learned a lot about this machine, I was able to program video games.

2) - From Creek to Ocean

In 1989, I joined Ocean France, I worked on the adaptation of P47, a shoot-them-up from the arcade. I programmed on amiga 500 in basic configuration, then little by little I added hardware (memory, hard drive). I was playing the games (Beach Voley, Cabal, Ivanhoe), it was truly a fantastic period. I worked at Ocean until 1994, when the box closed his door. This adventure left me with very good memories, despite the enormous amount of work, but we were all ferus, and I was able to evolve as a professional in this exciting environment. I continued to program at home, with the help of another developer (Pierre-Eric LORIAUX), I finalized the amiga version of Liquid Kids.

3) - CRYO: The Great Adventure

Afterwards, Cryo hired me, the big current studio. I used my assembler knowledge on the SEGA consoles (Master System and Game Gear) in making Speedy Gonzales, a platform game. After having developed on several console of that moment (Mega Drive, Saturn, ...) and PC, I was appointed technical director of the studio "Game Boy" towards the end of the 90s. This is where I met Eric GACHONS and Jerôme LIGNER respectively programmer and graphic designer. We were a small team in this vast company, especially of a true autonomy, we developed all ourselves, tools on pc, has programming games entirely in assembler Z80 on Game Boy and Game Boy Color. By the moment the studio end up living in 2001, we made the games "Rip Tipe Racer", "Asterix" and "Gift", and even a model of the adventure game "Atlantis".

4) - The end of an era

Some time before the end of Cryo, I moved to Bordeaux, where I continued my teleworking activity. I've been hired by In-Fusio, to do mobile games, I used the JAVA language.

5) -Towards new digital horizons

After I worked on large platforms (computer, console, mobile), I decided that it was time to propose my own technology. I currently work on the development of a new console with an Arduino core. It is called "Console 101" I hope to seduce players eager for new video play experience, and also programmers whether they are novices, or experienced.