Odd from Sweden talks to SimArchitect

Former webmaster of the Bapyard, a site for custom addons, Odd now spends his time creating cities and fantastic buildings in BAP.

SimArchitect: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Odd from Sweden: Well, it all started when i was born in Landvetter outside Gothenburg (Sweden) in 1971. My dad worked as a gardener in the amusement park in Gothenburg, so i probably have had more rides on the Ladybug Rollercoaster than anyone else. I moved to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in 1992. I studied various stuff at the University and worked with facade and roof renovations in a construction company. Last year (2000) i went back to school to study architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology. Hobbies, except Architecture and the Sim City community, are some clubs here in Stockholm and a tiny record label that i run together with some friends.

SimArchitect: What part of SimCity do you enjoy most?
Odd from Sweden: BAP is my favourite! Of my "simming" time, i guess 80% have been in BAP and 20% in the actual game. But what i enjoy most is the people in the BAT community. I really like those times we have met for an architect chat the simcity.com chatroom, or the both fun and educational threads in the sc3000.com BBS. I really cannot understand how people can afford to miss all the fuzz in the alleys of Sim City. Lots of good architects just upload buildings in the exchange and never leave a trace anywhere else. They miss the best part!

SimArchitect: Tell us about Your website, the Bapyard?
Odd from Sweden: When Unlimited just got out, i decided to start a website where people could exchange decals and paints, and the newly-invented props. The Bapyard was the first site that focused on download stuff for BAT and BAP. Among the artists who sent me material were Mikeseith, Fredfree, Bzrburns and even MaxisJoseph. Then, we all know the bad sides of Sim City and BAP. Crashes, memory-eating, unexpectedly unworking decals and so on. So one day i thougt that i should have a real break from Sim City and then the Bapyard went offline.

SimArchitect: Will there be a reopening of the Bapyard?
Odd from Sweden: Not likely. Nowdays, there are a lot of download pages, SimArchitect, Freeland and Sim Gothia to mention a few, and i would not have the time to keep up to the standards of those sites.

SimArchitect: Where do you get your inspiration from (for buildings or cities)?
Odd from Sweden: Oh, from almost anywhere. Sometimes i really make research for a special kind of buildings, sometimes i grab one "straight from the street" here in Stockholm, sometimes i build with inspiration from photos i find on the net. I own a digital camera, quite a few buildings i have made have paints and decals based on my own photography.

SimArchitect: How much time (on average) do you spend playing SimCity or making things for it (buildings, props etc)?
Odd from Sweden: It depends, sometimes zero hours in a month, sometimes a whole weekend. Hmm... I have about 50 buildings in the simcity.com exchange now and it took me a year in the making. Say that they took 4 hours in average to build including research, taking photos, scanning, prop and decal work etc. That is 200 hours - or about four hours a week.

SimArchitect: Do you use yours (and others) buildings in the game or do you use the default buildings?
Odd from Sweden: Yes, i use both own and other people´s creations when i play. I guess i replace some 50% of the buildings in my cities. (Now i mean real buildings, not fillers, fences etc.). The most frequent architects in my cities are JMGarcia and Cordes.

SimArchitect: What is your favourite SimCity building tool (SC3URK, BAP, BAT, SCURK)?
Odd from Sweden: I have never tried SC3URK, but maybe i will when we start seriously with CAD in scool - it would be fun to have my own creations from scool in the game. SCURK was a favourite back in the old days, but all my buildings went away in a HD crash, i had never uploaded them anywhere. I think BAT still is a good program. You might have noticed that my brewery, one of my most popular buildings, is a true BAT buildings made only with original BAT decals and no props. But of course nowdays, BAP is my first choice.

SimArchitect: Are you currently working on any new buildings or custom addons?
Odd from Sweden: I am always... I have both Swedish and American buildings "in the drawer", but i think the most fun part right now is to make custom addons so maybe You´ll se some in the future.

SimArchitect: Do you play any other "building" games other than SimCity?
Odd from Sweden: Not really. I have tried Civilization and some Tycoon stuff but i never got hooked enough to buy any of those games. I like to custom-paint the Porsces in Need For Speed, but i guess that does not count as a building game.

SimArchitect would like to thank Odd from Sweden for allowing us to interview him.