Methos: Did you play any other games prior to Quake? If so, what were some of  your favorites?

Sujoy: I used to be an Amiga user so I missed out on Doom. I played all sorts of games, but it was the multiplayer ones which I loved most. I would get a huge thrill out of playing even a simple light cycles game against other people. My favorite was probably the Bomberman style games. It was only a few months before Quake that I bought my first PC.

Methos: What about Quake appealed to you when it came out? There have been lots of other games, what made Quake different for you?

Sujoy: Before Quake was released I was just getting into Doom. I was admittedly a newbie and playing on keyboard(!) but I was completely hooked on four player deathmatches. When Qtest was first released, I only had access to a few 386's in the computer room but I remember hooking two together and absolutely drooling over the player model, even at about 2 frames per second! Quake was the only game at the time that worked well over the internet and once I had my own computer and a decent modem I was completely hooked.

Methos: You became well known as one of the best 1on1 players in Quake. Can you tell us what your practice routine was in regards to your techniques and strategy?

Sujoy: Dueling has a very different game style to clan matches or free-for-alls. It never really took off in the UK until early '97. When dueling got popular I used to play on the Crystal servers all the time, learning and improving. Quake duels are always more serious than any other style since they depend far more on skills other than the basic aim+shoot, but you can get a whole lot more satisfaction out of playing a duel well. When the UK One on One League opened I decided that I wanted to win it so I spent a lot of time playing 1 on 1's, learning the skills, learning the levels, learning how people move around - which way do they dodge, which way do they run. There's as much psychology involved as many of the other disciplines.

Methos: Your clan (Demonic Core) has remained mostly intact from the beginning.With a lot of clans coming and going so quickly, what advise do you have for other clans in terms of longevity and remaining competitive?

Sujoy: I don't believe that there is an easy formula for building and maintaining a strong clan, unless of course you have the media coverage and financial backing of Death Row! Everyone in Quake loves to be competitive and I find it's the close matches where you have control of the level one minute then backs to the wall the next, that people really enjoy playing. If you don't get an adrenaline surge as the final countdown to start blinks up on your screen then you're definitely doing something wrong.

Methos: You've been involved in two of the more popular Quake demos around. One was a match between yourself and your clan mate Danold. The other was your infamous LavaJump demo. Can you relate the stories behind these two demos?

Sujoy: Danold has always been a star for DC, our master tactician. I've never seen anyone play a game as cleverly as him. We finally got to meet Daniel at the first ever UK Quake Meet, where he flew over from Paris for the event.

Daniel arrived the day before the festivities began so instead of getting some sleep to be fresh and lively for the event we just played Quake into the night. The classic demo jdanold was actually recorded at 4am and if you've watched it, you can see that at one point I needed one more frag to win but I end up dying and throwing the game away out of frustration (accompanied by lots of very silly attempted rocket jumps to the quad). I'd like to put it down to exhaustion, but having said that we we're both on pretty good form at the time.

I was surprised when I saw the demo go up on Danold's website because he actually sneaked it off my hard drive when I wasn't looking! It went on to get more publicity as a highly rated demo on Planetquake's Demoland. It's been over a year since that game was played and I cringe when I watch it now with all the mistakes and missed opportunities, but there were a few good moves and at the time I remember thinking it was great.

Quake duels on dm4 have come a long way since that game last year, and it's become a very serious battle of wits to dominate the level. Some of the games with Timber recently on dm4 have been absolutely fantastic. (get more Sujoy demos from My Demo Page or from Sujoy.Com)

The Lavajump Demo actually came a couple of months earlier in January '97 when the demo of the 2 on 2 game between DC and QPD turned up on Blues News! I only put the demo up on my site as a joke and to get at the infamous QPD-Danman, but Blue took it upon himself to make it into a complete headline! There's no getting around the fact that all four of us in the game were playing awfully by today's standards.

Watching that demo after the publicity, I noticed how many times falling into the lava turned the game around. One minute you're in control and raking in the frags, a little slip and then you're taking a very hot bath while the other guys get tooled up. I fired up Quake, toggled god mode on and spent a long time trying, unsuccessfully, to do a conventional rocket jump out of the lava. I noticed that the real problem was that pressing swim-up didn't send you upwards fast enough to get out. Then I remembered that by pointing up or down and moving forwards or backwards you can swim vertically much faster. I realized that all you needed to do was combine the fast climb out of lava with a rocket jump and you can make enough distance to get out of the lava on dm4!

At the time, no-one else seemed to know about this trick and for a while I would be accused of cheating as I took a little lava dip then jump back out again :). The 'lavajump' can be used to your advantage in lots of situations - the dm4 deep lava, all four of the dm2 lava traps, the slime pits in UKCLDM2, and many other maps.

Methos: How do you feel the future of Quake 1 is going to progress? Will it be around much longer or do you think yourself and others will slowly but surely change to other games such as Quake 2?

Sujoy: There's no denying that Quake 1 is now getting old. When it comes to graphics, the newer games are way ahead but from personal experience I find that Quake 1 offers more competitive matches for the time being. The Quake 1 scene in the UK has a lot of very fierce competition. In particular, the modem-only league could be won by a number of different teams this season and each game I've played so far has been close.

Methos: This leads us to the obvious question. What is your opinion on Quake 2? Is it the game you thought it would be? What (in your opinion) are the pros and cons with Quake 2?

Sujoy: I just don't get the same rush with games of Quake 2. I can accept that this may be because everyone is still settling in to the new game, but there are a few things which I don't like about Quake 2. The player control feels very detached. Playing Q2 on a LAN reminds me of playing Q1 on a modem but with lots of pushlatency. I also believe it was a mistake to balance out the weapons as this defocuses the action in a level. It does make a quick game more enjoyable because you can hop on, pick up any gun and get a couple of points with little effort, but I always thought it was far more rewarding to really have to work to get into a game. Struggling to get hold of that elusive rocket launcher, aiming to get 'tooled up' with armor and lots of rockets. I don't think Q2 can ever match the huge satisfaction you get from the absolute carnage of a quad rocket killing spree. Still, it would be short sighted of me to say that Quake 2 is not as good because it's different and I expect that there will be new and different joys to get out of the game in time.

Methos: How is sujoy.com doing? Being your second attempt at running a web page, what do you hope to do differently with the new site?

Sujoy: My new site is more of a casual affair than my last effort. It's mainly somewhere I can rant openly against the injustices of the world and every so often I try to put up some useful information for Quake players too :). I've always aimed to write a guide to my style of playing Quake and related games but Thresh beat me to the punch there on Gamers Extreme. In fact, I learnt a few new tricks from his site, it's very well written. Press jump as you land in water eh? Smart.

Methos: Okay, short questions time. Favorite level?

Sujoy: Probably dm4 but it's a close call with dm3.

Methos: Do you ever listen to music while playing? If so, what?

Sujoy: Music?! I need to hear where they respawn damnit!

Methos: Favorite demo (without you in it)?

Sujoy: Quake Done Quicker. Stunning.

Methos: Favorite player?

Sujoy: An extremely difficult choice with the famous Americans and all the UK Quake talent, but from an all round point of view I have to choose Perkele of FAQ.

Methos: Toughest opponent?

Sujoy: Watching Timber play duels inspired me to take up the discipline again. A real star, and still a teenager!

Methos: Thanks Sujoy

Sujoy: Thanks