(This is the story of the author and the game, written/paraphrased by Csabo from a Skype interview.)

I first encountered computers at elementary school in grade 7. Our school's lab had five ZX 81 computers (the ones with only 1K memory). During the summer break, the school allowed a few select students to take the computers home (it was deemed safer than leaving them in the school, unattended). For the summer break in 1984, I took home one of these. I played on it and also did some BASIC programming. I learned from "Ismerd meg a BASIC nyelvet!" ("Illustrated BASIC" by Donald Alcock), which was a generic BASIC book.

Next year, in '85, the school received five Primo computers and a single C64. The C64 was highly sought after and hard to get access to. The games on it were amazing! For this summer, I was allowed to take a Primo home. This computer had notoriously bad keyboards (which were nicknamed "tappantyúzat/masszirozantyúzat"), but otherwise they were capable machines. I did some sound programming, as well as some graphics. I learned how to draw lines and such (since there were no built-in graphics commands), but it was all in monochrome.

In '86, I started high school at "Szekszárdi Garay János Grammar School". By this time, my parents saw that I had some talent and interest in computers. However, a Commodore 64 was 64000 HUF, which was extremely expensive back then. Eventually they did buy me a C16 (12000 HUF) and a datasette (4000 HUF). I loved the C16, since it had decent BASIC, a built-in monitor, and finally, color!

During this time, the Garay Verseny (or "Garay Pályázat") was already running each year in our school. It was the idea of Győző Kovács. As a first year student, I heard of the contest, but I did not enter.

I learned programming in assembly by myself using Commodore 16 Programozói Zsebkönyv. In 2nd grade, I decided to write a game and enter the contest. This game is Tűzoltó C-16. I developed it during the winter break of '87, in around two and a half weeks. It was all done in the built-in monitor, plus my tape. I did some small adjustments afterwards, but the programs had to be submitted more than a month before the contest (which as in March). My physics teacher always encouraged me to code, and we chatted about programming often. He was on the jury, and when he told me I made the finals, I was very excited!

About the game: it has three distinct parts, which tell a complete story of a fire brigade putting out a fire. The first part was inspired by the Nintendo game-and-watch game "FIRE". (One of my classmates owned this game and it was passed around at school.) You have to catch the falling firemen to progress. The second part is probably the weakest of the three. I really wanted to do soft-scrolling in this section, but unfortunately I ran out of both time and memory. The third part was inspired by the foldable multi-screen Nintendo game Mickey & Donald. Here you have to put out the fire. I picked the music probably because I learned to play this song on the guitar at the time, and additionally I wanted an "adrenaline-pumping" tune to be playing. I now realize it can get annoying after a while, but unfortunately there wasn't enough memory to include more music.

In the finals, everyone had a station with their own computer, where the public could come up and try the games and educational programs. The jury invited each contestant into a separate room one-by-one, where we had to present our programs. Since I was the one doing the presentation, I could show them all three levels of the game (meaning the first level being a bit hard to complete was not an issue). They were very impressed by everything, but especially by the fact that this all fit into 12K. I was just happy to be there in the finals, I didn't think I would win!

After winning the contest, I knew the "Mikroszámítógép Magazin" was going to publish an article about it. However, when I tried to buy this issue, it was sold out! I was only able to read this a few years ago, once it was available on the internet.

My prize was a 64K Primo computer, as well as some other smaller gift. I decided to sell this, as well as my old C16, and from that money I purchased a C64. Therefore, this game was my one and only big project on C16.

One of my classmate's friends was selling programs. He heard about my game, and asked my permission to sell it. I agreed! I designed and colored the cover, made 50 copies using a photocopier. Sent that to him to Budapest, where he was selling them. Some time later, he sent me a cheque for about 3500 HUF and that was the last I ever heard from him.

Two years later, during my senior year, I entered the yearly contest again, with a synthesizer program. This could use all capabilities of the SID, including putting filters on an audio input. I managed to blow my SID chip a few weeks before the contest when I connected a cheap amp to my C64, which cost a lot of money to fix. Thankfully, I managed to have it replaced in time for the contest. I presented my program and I played my guitar at the same time, and I managed to win the contest once again. After that, I moved on to programming on the PC and I've been working as a software developer ever since.