My first gaming experience was on an Atari 2600 that my dad bought for my sister and I. My dad was always on top of the latest technology while I was growing up. I remember playing a game called Asylum on the TRS-80 and then, several years later graduating to Miner 2049er on the Atari 400 and 800. It seemed that Atari had treated him well so he moved into the Atari ST line instead of the Amiga line during the late 80s. The competition between the two systems proved to create a tiny pocket golden era for early computer users. The IBM machines were not quite there yet, requiring add on video cards with astronomical costs to play the same games that were available on the ST and Amiga. Several games were on the Atari ST that changed my life forever. The classic adventure games from Sierra like King’s Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Goldrush filled a good chunk of my video game youth. These were the family games though. The ones that everyone loved. Three games have stood out on the Atari ST beyond the Sierra classics however. Black Lamp, Sundog, and Brattacas have stuck with me over the years. Sundog has driven my interest in open world space trading simulation games over the years. With only one true modern successor in my eyes, Freelancer, it has been an lonely search. EVE Online attempts to file these voids but fails on some level at the foundation. While I keep on renewing my subscription to that game I always lose interest at some level that I just can’t quite understand yet. Black Lamp was a very obscure game. While it hasn’t fueled any new interests, it has always remained with me. I am not sure why as it was a typical hodge podge game with a very abstract theme. I never did manage to beat that game but always intended on going back and doing so on an emulator. I should mention the Sierra games one more time. Their impact on what I feel a game should be goes hand in hand with Sundog in many ways. An open world with the freedom to explore and yet a strong solid goal. The Sierra games drove me into exploring the AGI and SCI communities centered around tools created by fans of those games so that they could create their own classic style adventure games. These communities eventually led me to the AGS Community. Adventure Game Studio was where the Keptosh game was born and how my novel began to take shape. Finally, there is Brattacas. later, -junc