Interviews

Interview with Rusty Johnson
of JNS Doors

From: "Rusty Johnson" <rustyjohnson57@hotmail.com>
To: flv@texoma.net

Note: The above address for Rusty appears on his Web Page.

Hello Frank,
I would be happy to answer your questions and appreciate you asking.

Hello Rusty,

As Editor of the Fidonews, a publication of the Fidonet mail network, I'm trying to interview various Authors of BBS related programs and other software for the Fidonews.

Since you are still supporting your door software, at least in the form of accepting registrations, I thought you might agree to answer some questions. Please feel free to refuse with no harm done.

Q: Tell us a little about Rusty Johnson. Just who are you? :)

A: I am from a town named Barboursville just east of Huntington, West Virginia. I was born and still reside in this area. I am a Master Electrician with skills in other construction areas. I am 43 years old, married with 3 children, ages 15 to 20 years. I enjoy all manner of sports and still play quite a bit refusing to grow entirely up, too soon.

Q: What got you first interested in BBS?

A: I got interested in computers and BBS's back in 1988. Anything related to computers interested me. Back then 1200 baud was the most used modem speed with XT 4.77 processors, so things we're a bit slow but it was so fun. I actually enjoyed it more then than later when things speeded up.

Q: How long have you been programming?

A: I begin programming in 1988 when I bought my first computer. It came with the old GW Basic which is the first Basic language I learned. I am completely self taught and steped from GW Basic to Turbo Basic to Quick Basic then into PDS Basic 7.1. I also learned what I needed to of Pascal and C++ but I'm not real fluent in these.

Q: What prompted you to begin writing JNS Doors?

A: I decided to start writing doors after I started helping a friend run a BBS back in 1988. I was always the one setting up the door games and found it hard and sometimes next to impossible to get them to run. Back then most doors we're written for specific BBS formats and we're tough to get running on our Wildcat BBS. So I decided I would try my hand at writing doors. My first was In-Between and it took me 6 months to complete. I was determined to make it easy to setup on almost any BBS software package and also make my home phone available to sysops trying to use my doors. For nearly no other door author gave there phone numbers for support. I still give phone support today.

Q: What do you see as the strong points of your doors? Give us a quick review.

A: I think the strong point for my doors are they are very competitive. Most are some type of solitaire game and I started out by making sure everyone recieved the exact same shuffle for each hand. I wanted scores to be based off your playing ability and not the luck of the draw. Also I never gave sysops full control of the games. Meaning I had an upper limit to the number of hands that could be played in a single day. For some BBS users had time to play for hours while other BBS users could only play for 30 minutes or so. This way all players could play the same number of hands per day and stay competitive. Also the ability to make up missed days and also play out the month in case a user was going out of town or to stop the last day rush to finish up. In other words I spent many hours thinking of ways to keep the games interesting and appealing to the users.

Q: Where do you see door games going in the future? Q: Where do you see BBS systems going in the future.

A: Actually I haven't a clue. Personally I would like to see BBS's revived and leave the internet for more commericial applications. I think as rates increase for internet accessibility it may revive the BBS market. BBS doors are some of the most entertaining games made in my opinion, and I would like to see them return. I think BBS systems and doors will run hand in hand. Also most BBS's in the past we're mainly visited by the users for the file database and games. So as BBS's are setup I think the door games are a must.

Q: Anything else you want to add or tell the readers?

A: I personally think that the BBS and Internet both have there place. Most users don't understand how either works they just use them. I think that a lot of users, especially the old ones, would really like seeing the BBS back in full swing. There is nothing like logging on to a home town based BBS and playing games, competeing against friends and family. Then with the internet keeping in touch with family and friends around the world.

Thanks for your time and help in this interview.

Regards,

Frank Vest - Fidonews Editor

JNS Doors can be downloaded from:

http://www.geocities.com/jnssoftware/