Interview with the Creator of Deluxe Ski Jump

There was a time when everyone played this in Poland - because of Adam Małysz's hype. It felt like the golden age of ski jumping, at least here. The game ran very slowly on my first 100 MHz CPU, which kinda helped with timing the jump. I could get it to run a bit faster by pressing the magic "turbo" (boost to 120 MHz) button on the case for a while, until the system BSoD'd. Another popular thing alongside it was so-called "Małysz" malware, which would spread via infected version of this game. I remember getting the game on a diskette and finding out it just formatted my drive with Windows (95?) install upon reboot. Fun times.

So many fond memories of DSJ. Thank you Jussi. No other game kept me and my friends playing as much as DSJ.

Fun facts: Since Slovenia is being mentioned, recently Domen Prevc set the world record at 254,5m on the largest ski jump in the world in Planica, Slovenia. His sister Nika Prevc won the World Cup this season with a record difference in front of second place. They're both related to Peter Prevc, yet another ski jumper. The whole Prevc family is amazing. To crown everything Anze Lanisek got 5x20 (highest grade) for his jump also in Planica, Slovenia this season.

Tbh in Poland this game was called privately by all my colleagues "Małysz" - because people were so into ski jumping and Małysz was our hero. So I guess the huge fan base was in Poland at that time

A rare game where having worse PC actually made you perform better. It was easier to time the jump perfectly. I recall starting 5 instances of it to slow it down as a kid and beating records. Fun times.

> DSJ is really fun, but it also increased the risk of mouse strain. How much pain do you think you’ve caused your players?

> I was aware of the potential risks – not to mention neck stiffness from players tilting their heads to the right

Fun to see it wasn't only me :)

Fascinating interview! It's amazing to see the passion and dedication that went into creating such an iconic game. The technical details on the physics simulation were particularly insightful. Deluxe Ski Jump is a great example of how a solo developer can craft an enduring gaming classic through hard work and ingenuity.

I just had a massive flashback, I thought it might have been this game, but the timing wasn't right, I'm too old. Turns out I played a ton of `The Games: Winter Challenge` - googling it and seeing those ski jump screenshots just induced that unlocked memory feeling. Love this stuff.

https://freebie.games/games/the-games-winter-challenge/

PSA: DSJ2 is available on mobile. Doesn’t beat the mouse experience of the original, but still fun

For non Norwegians who wonder, the domain name means something like "game history".

So many fond memories of these games in my childhood, afterwards it's been interesting to see how widespread their adoption was outside of Finland. Some other notable games like Mine Bombers, Liero etc. come to mind. As a kid you always thought they were just a local phenomenom.