Interview - Blog Posts
I recorded an hour of me interviewing the former commander of Guantanamo Bay and chief of US Northern Command’s antiterrorism program. It goes over a lot of different topics, I’m gonna throw it up on Youtube and Spotify soon with a link to the transcript if anyone is interested
Talk show where I invite Harrisson ford on and I get to ask him what his favourite medication is, if he thinks funerals are a scam (why or why not) and if he thinks Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are in love with each other
Tune into @teaintheshade tonight to catch me on there talking about my #StudyGroup mixtape, my release party on Sunday, and I'm sure some random/funny/outlandish shhh also. Thanks again to @thecore94 and @shadee_nae in advance!!! #thecore94 #CloudVijon #TeaInTheShade #Radio #interview #IAmFugginAmazin
Hello, @lemon-mag featured my Vanya cosplay and a little interview with me in their TUA issue! Go check it, I am amazed with their layout of everything and how much stuff they put into every issue!
The Umbrella Academy Issue
DOWNLOAD HERE
ft. interviews with: @aileenarip, The Brolly Buddies Podcast, @crossthegoldendelta @elle-hargreeves, @inyourwildestdreamslove, @lesbuchanan, @valentine-in-my-quinjet
cover art: @laundy
fanartist contributor: @aileenarip
guest contributor(s): @certifiedskywalker and @isthatacalzone
Keep reading
Good Will Hunting | 'NSA' (HD) - Matt Damon | MIRAMAX Miramax @miramax
NSA job interview – Good Will Hunting (1997) Weyland @weyland.capital
Good Will Hunting (1997)
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Gen Z at Job Interviews 📚 | reverse card at its finest. #pov Andrea Rose @andreaisasleep
28/04/2024, sunday 28 april 2024, 08:04 a.m, indore, madhya pradesh, india.
Getting stuff from DR to CR (Interesting interview)
Yes, it is possible. I saw an interview with a shifter who has been shifting for tens of thousands of years on Amino. In his interview, he said that he tried to bring objects from other realities into this reality. He would concentrate and think that he had the object he remembered in this reality, and the object he had in mind would appear in his hand.
However, there were some limitations, such as not being able to bring objects back exactly the same. For example, objects created in worlds with incompatible physics would have a similar appearance, but the function or behavior of the object would change to fit this reality.
I have also seen several shifters experiment with bringing objects back, some with failure, some with success.
You can find an interview on this interesting topic here:
The live interview with Jason Ritter from today!! I can't believe this actually happened it was crazy
Happy 2025! I spent the first day of this new year getting something done that I had pending since April 2024, hahaha. Here's the full interview I had with Inbox13 by Canal Trece Colombia about my work as a cosplayer, subtitled in English!
Robert Pattinson es magazine interview
Though he has a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes having been awake since 4am — it’s now 7pm — when I come face to face with Robert Pattinson he is quick to assure me that he is totally fine. The early rising is just because he is in the middle of shooting a new film: a film about which he is extremely enthusiastic.
‘It’s with Parasite director Bong Joon-ho and it’s like nothing I’ve ever done before,’ he says. ‘The movie is so crazy, it’s a completely different style of working.’ In the film — Mickey 17, based on a dystopian sci-fi novel by Edward Ashton — Pattinson plays two versions of himself (both clones) who team up to work together. ‘It’s so much talking,’ he says. He’s been staying in a little hotel in Bedford near a vast airport hangar where they’ve built the set. In the evenings he has been back in his room, getting increasingly worried that it might be haunted. ‘Anyway, today I just realised that I’m probably not seeing ghosts — it’s probably just because I’ve been drinking about 17 cups of coffee a day.’ So to confirm: Robert Pattinson is not going mad, he’s just very, very tired.
For a long time now, Pattinson has been one of the most consistently interesting character actors of his generation. Most recently he has moved back into blockbuster territory as a pleasingly off-beat Bruce Wayne in The Batman. In the decade before this he honed his craft on the art-house and indie circuits, often playing lowlifes, oddballs and creeps for some of the world’s most respected directors (David Cronenberg and Christopher Nolan among them). My personal favourite is Pattinson as deeply unsympathetic street hustler Connie in the frantic Safdie brothers film, Good Time. You forget that you’re watching a man once regarded as the world’s hunkiest teen heart-throb, which is basically the point. The narrative for many years now has been that Pattinson’s career choices are a reaction against the megastardom that was thrust on him during his time playing Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise.
But anyway, he’s here in his capacity as a Dior fragrance ambassador as the fashion house relaunches Dior Homme Sport and adds a shaving cream to the best-selling line. He has worked with the brand for 10 happy years, such that now he tells me he’s become close friends with many of the people at the company. ‘I’m not even just saying it to be nice. It’s been one of the most enjoyable work, and personal, experiences that I’ve ever had in my life.’ In terms of fragrance, he says he is bad at identifying what his favourite smells are, ‘but — I mean, it’s kind of cheesy — if you’re in love with someone, their smell becomes very particular to you… so yeah, something like “girlfriend in a dressing gown”.’ His girlfriend is the model and musician Suki Waterhouse. The pair have been together for a number of years though they only recently went ‘red carpet official’ and, given the public interest in his previous relationships (first with Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart, then with the musician FKA twigs), it’s perhaps little wonder that they’ve stayed under the radar for so long.
What he particularly likes about working with Dior is the opportunities it has afforded him, he says. In the last Dior Homme fragrance ad, he got the chance to face one of his biggest fears and dance in public. ‘I thought I’d broken my curse when I did that scene [it involves Pattinson performing an exuberant, freewheeling shimmy]. But then I went to a party a few weeks later — thinking I’m like Billy Elliot and as soon as I took one step on to the dance floor had one of the biggest panic attacks of my life. You know when you think you’re that guy and then suddenly, you’re just brutally humbled. Yeah, it felt like my dad had just caught me joy riding a car. I went cold; I think I left the party after that.’ Pattinson has spoken in the past about the fact that he’s uncomfortable with being the centre of attention, and he doesn’t like crowds.
Acting seems an odd career choice for someone with these particular aversions, though, presumably, he didn’t expect to inspire such rabid lust in roughly half the world’s teenagers. Perhaps the most unfiltered snapshot we get into his views on fame is via Fear & Shame, the three-minute comedy short that he wrote and starred in, in 2017. In the film, a hungry celebrity finds himself on a neurotic downward spiral as he dashes across New York in search of a hot dog. As he tries to evade baying paparazzi and avoid being spotted (‘That’s Teen Wolf,’ says a passer by. ‘She’s definitely mocking you,’ responds Pattinson’s internal monologue), you get a sense of the claustrophobia and paranoia a person in that position might experience.
Problematically, he is really hot. Even on minimal sleep Pattinson is handsome enough to make you blush (and I wasn’t even Team Edward back in the day): sharp-jawed and leonine, he is also unassuming, self-deprecating. On the photo shoot for this issue, he entered with such little fanfare (clutching a dog-patterned bag-for-life with his lunch in it) that at first no one even realised he’d arrived. He moved around the room, shaking everyone’s hand, saying ‘hello’ to each crew member in turn. He’s not exactly charming, in that smooth LA way, he’s too English and fidgety (he vapes throughout the interview — it’s not a flavoured vape, he tells me — he’s trying to quit), but he is funny. It is not something I expected, you so rarely read it about him, but everything he says has a wickedly wry inflection. He has a keen eye for the absurd (see again: Fear & Shame) and is quick to laugh, often at himself. In the days leading up to our interview, I happen upon a number of people who know him or who have met him, all of whom offer up stellar reviews. Succession writer Lucy Prebble, for instance, raves about him; they aren’t close but they have met a few times and he is a lot of fun, she tells me, good on a night out.
I can’t tell you what the equation is that means that one hot actor ends up pegged as a ‘serious thesp’ while another is written off as mere ‘eye candy’, but Pattinson is certainly not the first to find his assigned lot frustrating. Earlier this year, Alexander Skarsgård said that after his first job, he ended up on a ‘stupid “sexy hunky hot list”’ and then no one took him seriously. In the past Pattinson has spoken about resisting the pressure to get ripped for his roles, including Batman. It was a joke, he says (‘although I got in so much trouble for saying that I don’t work out, even from my trainer, who was like, “Why would you say that?”’) but it certainly hints at his discomfort with being viewed as a sex symbol. It’s also, he points out, ‘quite embarrassing when you get into a pattern of answering questions about your workout because there’ll always be a guy who’s in better shape than you.’
Joke or not, his quotes did shine a light on the pressure men face to look a certain way, a pressure that’s been filtering down steadily to younger and younger boys. ‘Yeah, it’s crazy,’ he says. ‘And it’s very, very easy to fall into that pattern as well, even if you’re just watching your calorie intake, it’s extraordinarily addictive — and you don’t quite realise how insidious it is until it’s too late.’ Pattinson says he has never struggled with body image, ‘but I have basically tried every fad you can think of, everything except consistency. I once ate nothing but potatoes for two weeks, as a detox. Just boiled potatoes and Himalayan pink salt. Apparently it’s a cleanse… you definitely lose weight. And I tried to do keto once. I was like, “Oh, there’s a diet where you just eat charcuterie boards and cheese all the time?” But I didn’t realise that you can’t have beer as it completely defeats the purpose.’ One of his 2023 resolutions is to try consistency — and to get a dog. ‘I’ve spent so many hours looking at pictures of different dogs, I mean literally for months and months, so if I don’t get one it’ll be a colossal waste of time. I mean, I really went in.’ He tells me he favours the scruffy, runt variety.
It’s funny that in this next film he plays clones of himself because there’s a healthy trade in Robert Pattinson deep fakes on social media. ‘I know, it’s terrifying,’ he says. ‘The amount of people who know me quite well and will still be like, “Why are you doing these weird dancing videos on TikTok?” It’s really bizarre. You just realise that we’re two years away from it being indistinguishable from reality — and what on Earth am I going to do as a job then?’
Despite a schedule so intense it borders on the psyche – delic, he tells me that he still worries about where the next job is coming from. ‘There’s just something in me which runs very, very deep and it makes the idea of taking a holiday seem like an impossibility… I find myself going, “No, I have to keep working, I have to keep working all the time, this might be my last opportunity, I’ve got to save for a rainy day.
‘It’s genetic. My dad was always bad at taking holidays,’ he continues. ‘He’d always love it but I remember even as a very young child, there’d always be tears the night before — he’d say, “Just go without me, just go without me.”’
Soon, though, he tells me as we finish up, his time to take some time off will come. ‘And in the meantime,’ he smiles, ‘I’ll just be here battling with the ghost demon.’
Interview
So; a funny thing happened at work today!
We're trying to hire in a junior developer. My boss is great at interviewing; but software development is outside of his area of expertise (he's more of a network / infrastructure guy), so he really wanted my input on this.
I straight-up told him: "You need another me; a generalist that can do everything from front-end to back-end, and more importantly, can figure out how to do things they have no prior experience with".
Fast-forward: we have a candidate coming in for an in-person interview. Two items peak my interest:
She's female. (This absolutely shouldn't be remarkable; but unfortunately, there is still a very, very heavy gender imbalance in the software world.)
Her name was simultaneously contemporary and fashionable, yet rare.
This really made me wonder... And my suspicions were confirmed when I entered our conference room and saw that she had bright blue hair.
I can only wonder what her thought process was - how intimidating it must be to walk into a prospective job interview as a trans woman, only for one of the interviewers to be introduced.... as a trans woman.
It was a good interview. Afterwards I told my boss: "When I say you need another me, I didn't mean literally"!
The final decision isn't mine to make; but part of me really hopes that she gets the job. I see a lot of my younger self in her (outside of the obvious parallels); and I would love to be able to mentor a neophyte developer, in much the same way that I was tutored by my friend and colleague.
A few words about me, thanks @metalmagazine
Got in my local paper a few weeks back and I'm happy to share it with the entire world!
Never ever ever forget
FORBIDDEN SIREN INTERVIEW WITH MIKI TAKAHASHI (CONCEPT ARTIST ON SIREN)
Thank you to Bokeh Game Studio and Miki Takahashi for taking the time to answer my questions!! I featured some of the answers in my latest video on the first Siren game, but here's the full interview for everyone to read:
1. What kind of directions did you receive when asked to design the Shibito? And what aspects of the designs in particular do you feel come from you and your style specifically?
2. How did you approach combining humans with sea creatures in the context of horror? I imagine you could take that idea but also end up making it look too cool or even quite funny, so how did you ensure they stayed creepy?
(Answering both 1 and 2)Regarding the combination of humans and sea creatures – as there was the aspect of the “Sea Sending” ritual in the story, the Art Director requested that sea creatures be incorporated into the Shibito’s design.
However, I preferred to detach myself from a traditional horror design. There are many monsters with decaying bodies, big mouths, fangs, and glaring eyes seen in other works. I also felt that if the creator’s intention of trying to intimidate viewers becomes too obvious, the result would be less interesting.
The Shibito is a physical manifestation of God’s blessing. They are not zombies, but rather bodies that are being reborn. This is why I incorporated the colors and shapes of lively, beautiful sea creatures in the design.
I also believe that ultimately in horror, there is a fine line between humor and pity. The final design was an outcome of pursuing this line.
3. What was your favourite Shibito design and why? Were there any particular Shibito concepts you made that you really liked but didn’t end up in the game?
I would say that Mina Onnda’s Shibito Brain is my favourite. This is the first Shibito I had designed, and I remember Toyama liking it. This therefore allowed the overall approach of the Shibito’s design to be clearer in my head.
4. Datatsushi’s appearance resembles a Shakoki-dogu. When it came to the design process, were the real-life counterparts the origin or starting point of a design? Or did they only come in during the later stages of creation to finalise details? I’m interested in how the relationship between reality and fiction worked during development!
Thank you for spotting the resemblance of the Shakoki-dogu! The design was inspired by the
beheading of Datatsushi. The reason for it… I think I will leave it up to your imagination.
5. What did you learn from your time working on the first Siren game? Are there any particular memories you’d like to share?
Through thoroughly incorporating the world and atmosphere of the game, I discovered how rewarding it is to create a convincing design. I find that the stories and settings that aren’t present on-screen are the most important aspects. I believe these give depth in the overall design of a work and stirs the imagination of the viewer.
INTERVIEW WITH SAM BARLOW AND TOMM HULETT ON SILENT HILL SHATTERED MEMORIES
As part of my Shattered Memories video, I decided to try and reach out to Designer Sam Barlow and Producer Tomm Hulett to ask them some questions. And I was delighted that they said yes! I couldn't fit everything into my video, but what they shared was too interesting not to post somewhere in its entirety! HERE IT GOES:
What was it like building the profiling system and what kind of resources did you tap into? I read that professionals helped and even analysed some of the team members! What psychological test was most surprising and interesting to you?
SAM: It was a deep dive into psychometrics! Yeah we spoke with academics who had done work into eye tracking. We put the team through a battery of personality tests to have some data to work off of. I worked with a therapist who insisted I attend sessions as a patient and genuinely, in order to make things credible. The most fun (surprising!?) anecdote is that we were working off the 5 factor personality model, which is the popular one. The fifth factor of the 5 is psychopathy. But we ended up dropping that factor because we found that everyone naturally behaves a bit like a psychopath when playing a game! So it kinda skewed the data.
TOMM: My related answer - As soon as I read the pitch with the psych profiling and how it would change the game world, I instantly (if slightly presumptuously) demanded to Produce the game. This was the type of outside-the-box thinking that I felt suited Silent Hill as a brand, but could also drive it forward with new innovations that would surprise players. Management granted my request, and I made it my personal mission to protect this feature from outside meddling, and to evangelize it across Konami.
In regards to elements of the game (character appearances, dialogue etc.) being tailored to the player’s profile, were there any other features you would have liked to implement that would also change depending on the profile? Also any other things you would have liked to have affected the profile? I saw mentions of Mii data and the Weather Channel for example!
SAM: I think always it was a question of how deep we could go -- the more specific we got, the more money it would have cost! So there were compromises in terms of the number of variations. We'd go in asking for as much as we could think of and then end up compromising and picking the key ones. Could always have used more hairstyles, outfits, or set dressing! It was particularly tight on things like monster animations -- those had to be generic, but fit against any additional animation bones, say an udder -- rather than be unique to each form. The way they moved could have been a real nice differentiator.
Yeah, we really wanted to do some stuff where we pulled in the player's Mii data, or tapped into the local weather/time for their console. But all of those things ended up being things that would have possibly upset the Nintendo guidelines, so we kinda skipped over those. We wanted to find as many ways we could make the player feel seen, and add to the feeling that the Harry they were making was tied to them.
I read that when speaking to some of the developers of the original game, you sought to understand some of their goals with the first title in order to aim for those same targets in SM. What were those goals? Was there anything the developers would have liked to do for the first game (but couldn’t for whatever reason) which were then included in SM?
SAM: Hmmm, I'm not sure we spoke directly to anyone for SH:SM. I know we had access to some people at Konami on Origins, but it was slightly difficult -- a lot of the files/documentation didn't exist anymore, so it wasn't always straightforward to tap into intentions -- as well, SH:1 was kinda of a miracle and product of a very particular moment in time so I think a lot of how the original turned out was organic. We certainly wanted to make something that would feel -- in a fresh way -- like the original felt; rather than rehashing it in a way that would feel like diminishing returns. We wanted to take some of the themes of the first game, and also some of the ideas thrown out by 2 and 3, and take them to a place that was a little bit more lived in. Like there was a vibe I got when going into the K. Gordon house in SH1 that felt so real and domestic and it had a real presence... walking into a domestic living area, that atmosphere of it being abandoned, the proximity of the horror to the domesticity, the uncanny feel. We wanted to tap into that. And to remind people that it was snowing in Silent Hill 1!
Sam, was there anything you took from SM that applied to or evolved in your future games? I think I first noticed your mark the second the VHS intro started playing with a menu in the style of a typical TV interface, the use of technology as an immersive viewpoint in your other titles has been something I’ve always loved!
SAM: Yeah, clearly I have a real interface-within-an-interface thing going on! You could argue that the principal's office puzzle is basically Her Story 0.1! I definitely enjoyed the use of the frame narrative and the idea we had that 'the player is not the protagonist' -- the idea that you create tension between the main character and the player, and explore that for dramatic effect. We deliberately kept shifting POV (3rd to 1st person) and introduced time jumps to create a disconnect with Harry. Also a lot of the way the profile system worked -- vector math and fuzzy logic underpinning choices, rather than binary trees -- has been something I've used in every game since. Under the surface the way that Her Story or Immortality knows about its scenes and connects things, and plays music, etc. is all using a similar setup.
Not a question, but I adored how going into the options/quit game menu would also display that TV interface style, like Cheryl’s view was that outer layer in the narrative that gets peeled back at the end. Reminds me of the use of the screen reflection in Telling Lies in a way!
SAM: Yeah, again, I think this is clearly my thing! Creating layers *between* the player and the narrative in a way that can actually help with a kind of immersion.
I read in a few interviews that it was an important point that every player could finish the game, with some adjustments kicking in if players were struggling. Where do you think your philosophy of prioritising players getting to experience the full story over the possibility of them getting ‘stuck’ at a difficult obstacle in the game came from? Did that stem from personal frustration you have with other games? Do you think this philosophy contended with the existing SH fanbase who were used to the perhaps more unforgiving nature of survival horror conventions?
SAM: I think if you're going to give the player something 'different', you also need to balance that out with a kind of generosity. You can't ask them to meet you halfway and then keep punishing them. It's also very much a truth that the more you make players repeat things, the more you make them stuck, the more they see the illusion -- they start to see the clockwork, the seams of the experience. So it was very important to me that we help players move smoothly through this experience to properly deliver our emotional payload.
Yeah, I think there's definitely a minority who look for a very specific game template and equate difficulty/obfuscation (and the resulting padded game time!) with the kind of survival horror experience. I don't think Shattered Memories was a game for them, in that sense. For me it's all in service of engaging the player. Sometimes challenge can do that. But the classic survival horror template definitely can also take that too far.
I read that Cold Heart turned into SM as Konami had greenlit a SH1 remake, although SM was a reimagining instead. As a result, there seemed to be a little disconnect between the marketing and what the game actually was. What were some of these differences?
SAM: I guess if there was a disconnect ultimately it was that there were probably high up bosses who thought this was a very traditional remake (just with Wii controls?) rather than a reimagining. That was something that I'm not sure was ever run all the way up the chain! But I think generally marketing got that aspect -- we would reference Battlestar Galactica and they liked that comparison. Really the big disconnect was that we'd made a game from the (new) Wii audience and most of the marketing went into positioning it as a 'gamer's game on the Wii.' That was a real missed opportunity to be honest.
What were some of the challenging aspects of making a reimagining with existing characters as opposed to brand new characters? Were there some advantages even?
SAM: I think it was all upside for us. It's great to have something to start with that you can then springboard off of. And a lot of the intent of SH:SM was that we would create a weird Deja Vu for people who *had* played the original -- a sense of things being recognizable but also very different. That was a whole extra level of vibes and emotional responses that we could tap into. This was much more fun than, say, Silent Hill: Origins where it was all downside... there it felt like we were making fan fiction, having to embellish and add small details to an existing story that had no real spare room or need for those embellishments!
Now that there have been many years to reflect, were there any ideas that you wished made it into the game? Or anything you think would have been better to have been changed or removed?
TOMM: Late-ish in development after getting a lot of feedback and considering how consumers might react, I pitched Climax on adding an element of threat and tension to the "normal" world. Nothing like overt combat or enemies, but just something so the player wouldn't feel entirely safe. This didn't go in obviously, but I sometimes wonder how it may have changed initial reactions from players.
(still third question I hit enter accidentally) Also I wish the western releases of the game didn't have a bug making one ending harder to get than intended. That's the main regret.
I think the only other SH game to have pushed the series out of its comfort zone as much as you did with SM is PT. Do you think players/critics these days are more accepting of change in their favorite franchises than they were when SM released? How did you feel when you first saw PT? Was there some specific joy in seeing the series you worked on go into a new direction like SM did?
TOMM: PT was the first (only?) SH game I got to experience after leaving Konami and I certainly think it owes something to SHSM. I'm very proud that our game was essentially a "walking simulator" before that term existed, and how favorably it compares to the notable games of that type, when we were charting our course without a map as it were. On the right day, I do think critics now are more accepting of changes and I think we owe the indie scene for that a bit. Many critics even EXPECT new titles to change up familiar elements, rather than sticking in the same molds. That said, fans are still fans. When they hear about a strange new mechanic in a series they love, I hope they remember first-person Resident Evil, Yakuza RPG, and maybe SHSM, and give it a fair chance.
SAM: Maybe? We're definitely living through an age of renewed nostalgia and backwards thinking. So many reboots and remakes! So maybe now is the wrong time to push franchises in fresh directions. Which is a shame. But outside that, I think the audience is definitely open to new experiences and the definitions of genres have expanded. P.T. was great -- I loved how it was delivered, the impact on players. To be honest, in all likelihood how things turned out was probably best? I can't imagine the full Silent Hill reboot ending up having the same impact that P.T. (and it's being lost to time!) was able to generate? I definitely appreciated the ways in which P.T. recalled some of the non euclidian domestic stuff we did in our later 'nowhere' sequence, and just that sense of immersion in a domestic space.
What do you think the legacy for SM was? Any lasting effects you feel were left on the series or community, maybe even the horror genre as a whole?
TOMM: (kind of answered a bit above but we'll try). I hope SHSM takes some of the credit for expanding what a "horror" game can be. It was pretty strict beforehand, you had your RE-style actiony games, and your SH-style atmosphere games that that's how the genre was judged. Horror games these days have such a huge range now and it's wonderful. Weird text-driven meta things, or PS1 throwbacks like Signalis. It's great. Horror only works when it surprises you, so I'm glad it all doesn't fit into 2 rigid definitions anymore.
SAM: Clearly a lot of what we did in SH:SM ended up becoming quite standard -- the flight rather than fight gameplay; the sense of open, immersive spaces with no loading; the 'walking simulator' aspects of our storytelling, etc. I couldn't say whether any of that was directly because of SH:SM, or just in the water anyway! I have heard some developers call out SH:SM, so it does sometimes feel like we had an outsized reaction from particular press, or particular groups of developers -- rather than the world at large.
Sam, this is more out of my own curiosity than anything… but I read that you saw similarities in the chase sequences and an experience you had as a child. Apparently you were in Tanzania being chased by baboons around a swimming pool?! I need to know more!!
SAM: Yeah, when we were devving the first vertical slice, I was obsessed with the swimming pool area. The size of it, the dimensions, how the enemies out to flow around it. At the same time I was pushing the animators and artists to have the enemies on all fours, and hairy! This was a challenge as it made the camera very hard to program so it could see the enemy chasing you; and hair was a challenge on that level of tech. But I kept pushing. And everyone was like, 'why is Sam so set on these ideas??' Then one day I remembered and realized it all went back to this time when I lived in Tanzania and as a 5 year old was chased around a swimming pool by a pack of baboons. My memory is the adults just watched and laughed. It was very traumatic! I was trying to recreate that trauma for the players, but after that mini closure, I relented and let the enemies stand on two feet...
What were the best/most fun parts of development for you?
TOMM: The most fun part of development for me was sharing this weird new game with so many people. Climax developed it so that the first 20-30 minutes of the game were our "Vertical Slice" which would be used to sell the game internally. So I would present this to a room full of Konami folks and make a different person answer each opening therapy question, or make key choices along the way, and I had it all choreographed so I knew when to look at a scary image, when to call a random phone number, etc. This same section of game was then used as our demo at E3 and Gamescom, and watching all those new players giggle at "Have you cheated on a partner?" or realize their neighbor was having a different path through the demo than they did... it's just great seeing an idea come together so perfectly. Climax hit it out of the park and I was glad to be a part of it.
Anything else you’d like to share? I love hearing fun little stories or memories about game development so feel free to let loose!
TOMM: My most frustrating presentation was showing the game in its alpha state to the head of Marketing. I was showing him the Memento you get from the dart board in the bar, and how you could turn it around to view it using the Wii Remote. He got really fixated on the dart board and tried convincing me we should spend the rest of development making darts playable. People lose all kinds of time in GTA playing darts and stuff. He was relentless. I kept trying to explain the player's mindset in a horror game is different than in GTA but he kept pushing. Needless to say we did not make darts playable.
SAM: Ooh, I don't know... um.... how about that the clinic where Kaufmann works was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water building? I gave the artists a bunch of photos of this classic piece of architecture for how I wanted the lighthouse clinic to look. It was only when someone then pointed it out to me that I learned the other name for this famous building? "The Kaufmann house". Mind blown.
Apart from the playable darts, were there any other odd ideas put forward outside of the team during development? Or any other instances where you had to protect the vision for SM?
SAM: I guess we were always on the backfoot in terms of not having traditional combat (or wiimote waving crowbar action) so that was one we had to keep running defense on. Mostly we were so busy executing on all the ideas we did have that we didn't really have too much time to entertain additional ideas, so we just kept moving! Stuff like ensuring that every element of the environment was readable/made sense in the narrative/imagery, etc. was something that was a real and constant effort -- the kind of detail and involvement of the narrative team across the art that just wasn't something you normally did.
A HUGE thank you to them both for participating in the interview!! You can find them on twitter:
Tomm: https://twitter.com/Hypnocrite
Sam: https://twitter.com/mrsambarlow
#silenthill #interview
INTERVIEW WITH TAKAYUKI YANAGIHORI - DIRECTOR ON PHASE PARADOX PS2
As I was researching the Japan exclusive PS2 game Phase Paradox (sequel to Philosoma on the PS1), I quickly realised there's very little information available on this sci-fi horror game. Thankfully, the director of Phase Paradox responded to me and I was able to learn more about this obscure title which I'd like to share!
Takayuki: First, let me introduce myself. I started my career as a game developer at Sega, then at SCE (now SIE) and Microsoft. After that, I started my own small studio and am still making games. This time I developed PHASEPARADOX, which was originally a survival horror game for PS1, but changed to an adventure game for PS2.
You mentioned to me that the game was difficult work, what parts of development were challenging? How many years did development take?
The most important thing is that it was an early PS2 title. There was a lack of development equipment, and it was difficult to tell whether bugs were caused by the program or the development equipment, and PS2 development itself was difficult. We also had to handle a large amount of CG, which was very difficult because it was still the 1990s and the CG tools and techniques were not yet up to scratch.
As for the development period, I was in charge for 4 years, but I heard that it took about 2 years before that. (I heard that the game had already been playable on PS1.)
In contrast, what parts of development were the most enjoyable for you?
Game development is always fun. Creating assets using 3DCG, which was the state-of-the-art at that time, building a worldview in accordance with science fiction research, setting scenarios and characters, etc., all of it was both painful and enjoyable.
I was inspired to try new things.
Were there any movies or video games that were a big influence for Phase Paradox? For example, Massimo's character reminded me a lot of Ron Perlman and Arnold Schwarzenegger!
The original idea was to create a "Resident Evil" game based on the world of the "ALIEN" movie. I incorporated a lot of my knowledge of game design and movies into the project.
As you said, the character of Massimo is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jude Sutcliffe is Michael Pare. All the other characters have Hollywood star models. I think it was allowed because it was then, but it is not now, lol. The game part was based on Movie Adventure.
The cast for the game is very impressive! Since the voices are in English, was the game planned for worldwide release?
Yes, it was supposed to be a big seller all over the world. However, it was cancelled due to the short playing time and the lack of gameplay. The voice recording was done in L.A.
The presidential election was taking place at the time of recording, and I remember the staff saying to me, "You are in the U.S. on a historic day”.
I love the design of the environments. There are many rooms (like the arcade) that have a very unique and detailed appearance. Did a lot of work go into creating the interior of the Gallant? What were some of the inspirations behind the designs?
The artwork was done by Matsushima-san, continuing from Philosoma. This person has experience working on costumes for the Ultraman series at Bandai, and he drew the foundation of the world, the art settings, and all the original drawings.
Phase Paradox is a sequel to Philosoma. Was it difficult to make a game with a fictional world and characters that were already established? Or did this make work easier?
As I mentioned in 5, it was not difficult for me to continue with Mr. Matsushima. Rather, I enjoyed it very much because I was allowed to add my favorite SF essence to Philosoma.
Do you remember any features that you and the team wanted to include in the game, but maybe couldn't because of time or cost?
Action game elements, mini-games, more options. I am very disappointed. But I think if we had included these elements, we would still be making them, lol. How many more years would have been needed?
At the time, we abandoned the idea of calculating or thinking about that number. We concentrated only on completing it.
What did you and the team want to achieve with Phase Paradox? It feels like a very "cinematic" game, was this rare with games at the time?
The result was a common movie game, but rather than a cinematic part of the game, we were aiming for an innovative adventure game where the situation changes depending on the choices you make.
I was aiming for something like "Detroit: Become Human", if I may say so now in the 21st century. Every time I play that game, I feel strongly about it.
As a final product, what are your personal thoughts on Phase Paradox?
It was a lousy performance, is all I can say. I have always regretted that it was worth it to spend so much money and market value to bring a game with only graphics to the world.
Is there anything else you'd like to share about working on the game? Any strong memories or interesting facts?
As I wrote in #8, I was aiming for a groundbreaking, new game, but I have nothing but regrets about developing on new hardware, not being able to devote the effort to gameplay due to my focus on graphics, and being buried and truncated in various ways by a large amount of work.
More than 20 years have passed and I have sealed my memory, but when I recall it like this, I feel more proud than ashamed, feeling that I was young and ambitious.
Thank you very much.
What are you working on currently?
I am currently making a soccer game at GADE inc.
One is a blockchain game. The other is a 3D action soccer game. I am working on both of them to get rid of my dissatisfaction and regret of the action soccer game I made in Sega.
I am proud to say that I still have new initiatives and high aspirations, so please look forward to them. Both are for the whole world. However, we are having a hard time because we don't have the money for promotion. We would be very happy if someone could help us. We are also planning to launch a new innovative adventure game service on the Web and an action game with an elaborate world view.
If anyone is interested or willing to support us, please contact us.
Thank you to Takayuki for taking the time to provide his insight into Phase Paradox's development! I've made a video on the game which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/bTSFY5M08BU
INTERVIEW WITH SHIGENOBU MATSUYAMA - PRODUCER ON SILENT HILL THE ARCADE
I had the pleasure of interviewing Matsuyama-san, one of the producers on Silent Hill the Arcade! Here's what he had to say :)
Q - How did the idea for Silent Hill The Arcade come to be?
A - During the arcade boom of the 1990s and the 2000s, a desire was born to combine the unique worldview of the Silent Hill series - which was already a very strong IP console game-wise – with the haunted houses one might find in an amusement part. We wanted something that could provide an easy and pleasurable experience to an extremely varied range of customers… as in, the casual users. This is the idea that brought Silent Hill Arcade (SHA in short) to life. However, since our goal was to create a new kind of experience that could not be replicated anywhere else, we designed a game that could make the most effective use of the 5.1ch surround sound system, which was something that arcade games hadn’t adopted until that point, with a type of cabinet that could be somewhat isolated from the rest of the arcade via the use of curtains.
Q - Roughly how long did development for the game take?
A - At the time, the development cycle of an arcade game was so short it would be unimaginable today. The shortest one was around six months, the longest about one year and a half. I think SHA took us around one year and two months.
Q - What parts of development were most enjoyable for you?
A – Usually, arcade games are tested a certain number of times, both during development and just before launch in each and every country where their release has been scheduled (which, for SHA, meant Japan, the US, the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Hong Kong and Singapore). In order to keep the development budget for SHA as low as possible, however, I personally traveled alone to the US for the market testing, assembled the cabinet all by myself, repaired it when it was out of order, and stood next to it for days on end, pen and paper in my hand, ready to collect the players’ data. Game development, nearly 20 years ago, was very much an analog experience. It was also hard work, but when I look back, I have so many good memories of that time.
Q - Do you remember any kinds of ideas that you and the team wanted to include in the game, but didn’t in the end?
A – I’m sure this will sound obvious, since SHA was based on a pre-existing IP, but since the framework was pretty much already set when it came to characters and plot, we had to be extremely careful not to deviate from it so that we wouldn’t create inconsistencies. Personally, I would have loved to take the story in slightly wilder directions and include new and fresh ideas.
Q - I loved seeing so many locations from Silent Hill 3 and 4 make an appearance in the game! Was the team who worked on those two games involved in making any decisions for Silent Hill The Arcade?
A - We of course personally consulted select staff members of Konami, like for example Producer Yamaoka, with whom I had been acquainted with since before SHA. However, most development teams had a mix of internal and external members that changed pretty fluidly with each and every year, so there was no real collaboration between the various teams.
Q - What level of freedom were you given for creating this original story within the Silent Hill universe? Were you given any specific directives on what you could or could not integrate/use in the story?
A - If I have to express my personal point of view on the matter, however, should you compare the storyline for SHA with the timeline of the other games, you would indeed notice a few minor inconsistencies that we were not able to completely solve. That’s something I still have regrets about.
Q - Tell me about translating a traditional survival horror experience into the rail shooter genre and control style. What kind of considerations did you have to make for this?
A - The biggest challenge was by far to design a game system that could be as simple as possible, and to regulate the level of challenge in a way that felt balanced, because we didn't want to force complicated controls or an exceedingly high difficulty level on the casual arcade players. Moreover, there was another balance we had to strike perfectly: more specifically, the one between the aforementioned "haunted house" element - the one that was unique to SHA, with its sequences of terrifying events - and the thrilling playstyle that a rail shooter should provide to the player.
Q - As a final product, what are your personal thoughts on the game?
A - I think it had a state-of-the-art sound system, that the design of the cabinet, with its creepy-looking curtains, made people want to take a peek inside, and that the rail shooting system was simple and could be enjoyed by virtually everyone. I think we managed to combine these various elements with a one-of-a-kind worldview of Silent Hill in a way that was in my opinion pretty good! Of course, each and every member of the staff did their part, and I thank all of them wholeheartedly.
Q - Are you working on anything currently that you’d like me to mention?
A - Feel free to write whatever you prefer! If anything, I should thank you, since you allowed me to walk down the nostalgia lane and recall memories from almost 20 years ago that had been dimmed down by the passage of time. Thank you very much!
Shigenobu Matsuyama's site: shig.jp
INTERVIEW WITH TOMM HULETT - SENIOR ASSOCIATE PRODUCER ON SILENT HILL DOWNPOUR
As part of my video on Silent Hill Downpour, Tomm kindly agreed to be interviewed! A big thank you to him for providing insight on the making of this title :)
Q1 - What led to deciding that open world aspects would be included in Downpour? Was it the trend of games at the time or was there something else that influenced this?
I had several aspects of the original SH games that I kept championing for the new ones, and one aspect was how much of SH1 was exploring the town itself. It was (relatively) huge! SH2 had a smaller more focused set of “town” areas, and then SH3 reused those. Origins brought it back to a degree but there wasn’t very much to do beyond the main quest.
Another thing I loved was how the notes in the original games would often mention characters or side stories that were not part of the main quest but definitely contributed to the atmosphere and creepiness. Lastly, as you said, open world games like GTA3 were cropping up all over. So these three factors all coalesced to become Downpour’s big explorable town filled with optional side quests that told little mini stories. But to be clear – we were not asked “can you put in something modern like Open World?” It’s more like what we wanted to accomplish with the town and sidequests made sense in an open world context, and then that created an exciting bullet point for marketing organically.
Q2 - Was there ever supposed to be a UFO ending? If yes, was there a rough outline for it?
We were not planning a specific “UFO” ending and I don’t actually recall why. We did plan for a joke ending, which turned into the happy birthday surprise. Or, it’s possible we planned for a UFO ending but someone came up with that instead and we just went with it, due to the nice escaping prison aspect of it.
I do know we wanted a wide variety of ending types, like the original games had, which is how we ended up with cool twists like the Anne/Murphy prison swap, etc.
Q3 - How did you get Korn on board for the theme?
When we got the unfortunate news we could not involve Akira Yamaoka, we knew that finding a worthy replacement for the game’s score was job # 1, and we were fortunate enough to be connected with Daniel Licht who did an amazing job matching the mood of Silent Hill with his own style.
But another big aspect of the SH music is the attract mode video, along with a rock song. Of course Yamaoka-san had always handled this as well, along with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Since this was kind of up in the air, our licensing department wanted to find a good licensing partner that might extend the awareness of Silent Hill beyond its core audience, but still sounded brand-appropriate.
A lot of different artists were discussed, but in the end, Korn made the most sense due to a variety of factors I can’t really get into. However one key factor was tailoring the lyrics to Silent Hill Downpour, rather than just being given an unreleased B-side as-is.
Q4 - The architecture (more so interior) style in Downpour feels very unique compared to the other SH games. Slightly gothic, almost like fancy buildings in New York - especially those apartments and office buildings! Although once I learned that the development team was based in the Czech Republic, I felt like maybe that was a big influence. What was the thought process behind going for this different style of environment?
I think a lot of this is, as you said, the Czech influence. Western Europe and North America have enough common threads I think it’s probably more similar than we realize if that is our whole sphere of reference. And obviously game players are familiar with Japan through games (Yakuza and Persona of course, among others) but Eastern Europe is far less represented. I think that Vatra “making what they know” had a positive effect on the games visuals and ambiance. It is the most unique and interesting of the Western SH games.
I think it’s generally accepted that as a whole, western gamers prefer the original SH games, made in Japan. And it turns out, there are a lot of Japanese fans who love the Western games most (going so far as to import Homecoming!), which was an interesting thing to discover. It tells me that an important part of Silent Hill’s creepiness is that sense that something is just OFF that you can’t put your finger on, and maybe it’s a result of unconscious cultural influences creeping into the design of the town itself, then being perceived through a different cultural lens.
Q5 - What were some of the most difficult parts of developing Downpour?
A minor challenge was the fact that fear is so subjective. Between two people sure, but let alone 2 teams in different cultures. So at times there was a lot of heated discussion about what the important parts of a scare or intense moment were, and what the audience would respond to.
The biggest difficulty though was external, just knowing the feelings and expectations of the fanbase at the time. The other Western Silent Hills had their fans of course, but nothing had made a huge splash like Silent Hill 2 (which itself wasn’t popular immediately but that’s a different story entirely!) We were very proud of Shattered Memories, but that was an unconventional entry and we just really wanted Downpour to be the “HD Silent Hill” that fans deserved. We all put a lot of pressure on ourselves. However even taking a quick peek at any forum there was so much cynicism it made the work challenging. And then at some point during the final year or so of development, an infamous series of videos released and sucked up a lot of air in the room as it were.
It also ended a lot of the spirited debate that Silent Hill fans enjoyed, as there were a lot of declarations of the “true” canon or “here’s what the game is REALLY about”. Those debates were always what kept the fanbase alive and vibrant, and it was rough seeing that go away. I don’t really feel like Downpour was given its fair shake in the indepth analysis department, which I was really looking forward to seeing, during development!
Q6 - What were some of the reasons behind the enemy designs of the game? Are their appearances all stemming from Murphy’s mind and experiences? Or Anne’s too? The prisoner types felt like they could be both, but the Dolls in particular made me wonder since they feel more related to her backstory!
It is kept purposefully vague. Obviously at first you’re supposed to assume this is Murphy’s Silent Hill, and the enemies need to support that. But then when you realize this is perhaps Anne’s story that Murphy is caught up in, they can’t betray that idea either. Fortunately the two characters have a lot in common. Murphy is a father willing to do anything to avenge his child. Anne is a child willing to do anything to avenge her father. Both have failed marriages because of their trauma, and so on.
Honestly this is one of the things I was hoping to see more debate about among the fanbase!
Q7 - For the Anne’s Story comics, was that originally supposed to be the basis for DLC for the game? I saw a mention of this online but wasn’t sure how true it was! Were there plans for other DLCs too?
In the very beginning, Anne and Murphy were conceived to be a 2-player experience, so each player could see situations from a different perspective, and we could play with that idea a lot. However after a very short time we realized that idea was a bit ahead of its time, and we focused on making a solid single-player horror game, but the overall story themes remained – but obviously you see less of what Anne is actually doing moment to moment.
As we were wrapping up the game for release, there were conversations about DLC and what form that might take, and Devin and I knew instantly it would be Anne’s side of the story. I wrote up a general structure of it for internal discussions. DJ Ricks had also had a more detailed story originally, so I tried to get some of those details back in as well (when this DLC fell through, I added his story in the Book of Memories DLC – if anybody still has a Vita and wants to delve into that!)
Right around the time I was leaving Konami, there were early discussions with IDW to release a companion comic to Downpour, since Tom Waltz was their SH guy (and has gone on to write their TMNT books and many other great things. Congrats Tom!) and had also written Downpour for us. I gave him a breakdown of my ideas for key moments in Anne’s story; things like Murphy and Anne operating in different chronologies (Murphy sees Anne in the clocktower otherworld BEFORE seeing Ricks, but Anne traverses that otherworld AFTERWARD), or a drowning Anne desperately reaching out for Ricks’s hand, only to find it’s a severed hand tied to his boat.
It took a few years for that deal to come together with the right artist, but thankfully it did! It’s a great companion piece to the game – there are some new details in there that weren’t in my treatment, but it was no longer my story to tell – I experienced it as a fan.
Q8 - What is something you’ve seen players rarely notice in the game which you think is a cool detail? Can be found in the world, story, gameplay or anything!
A tangible detail might be the road signs. I spent a long time figuring out where the other districts of Silent Hill would be, as well as Ashfield, and made sure they were properly charted on the large road signs. I made a map and measured distance and everything.
Story wise, I think Murphy’s role in the story is a bit misunderstood. Many players see it as a standard tale of the town punishing our protagonist but it’s a lot more nuanced than that. Anne, I feel, is being punished, because she is out for revenge right now. Murphy already got his revenge, and dealt with the consequences, and “did his time” as it were. Yes, he has to deal with the consequences of his actions – but those are consequences caused by Sewell, and they were already in motion outside of Silent Hill.
Murphy’s journey is more akin to “Born from a Wish”, or even Eileen’s role in SH4. While most of Walter’s victims did something wrong, Eileen was marked because she was kind to him. It’s basically circumstantial. The Orphanage level is meant to be something different from a standard Silent Hill construct. The town is almost rewarding Murphy for passing a test. It gives him a key that says “Freedom" and everything we weren’t being subtle. And if you watch during the boat scene, there are clear skies ahead of Murphy (and dark storm behind Anne).
And then of course the Silent Hill ambiguity – we all know the only thing on the other side of Toluca Lake is more Silent Hill, so that’s up for debate. Again I was really excited to see how the fans dissected our story and there was never a big discourse about it.
Q9 - There’s a big stretched face with a monocle at the end of the rollercoaster section in Devil’s Pit, I couldn’t wrap my head around it (ha) but who is that/what’s their backstory? I saw somewhere mention it was supposed to be a boss which appeared in a trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSSoIWJPL-4) but wanted to confirm what the deal was!
Originally there was a boss encounter with JP Sater which took the form of this hideous train man creature. The goal was to have characters such as Howard and Sater, who have both accepted their places in Silent Hill, but with drastically different results. This would be something for players to ponder and explore.
For various reasons we needed to cut this encounter, and it isn’t exactly key to the story, but we didn’t want to waste the creepy model. So we extended the mine train sequence so it could end with the reveal and taunting by Sater. I guess Murphy can be thankful that he wasn’t part of Sater’s story, so he didn’t have to overcome an enormous steamengine behemoth.
Q10 - Always love hearing about any strong memories you have working on the game, feel free to share anything that comes to mind!
Devin and I both spent a lot of time in the Czech Republic during development, both together and alone. I think a lot "clicked" for both of us early on, when Andy Pang (Producer) took us on a trip to some of the sights around Brno, which included the Punkva Caverns – the inspiration behind the Devil’s Pit.
At the bottom of the caves is a river, and your group of maybe 20 tourists board a small boat and a guide navigates you through these dimly-lit caverns. The guide was discussing that this journey changes based on rainfall, as the water level in the caves may be too high to be safe, and as he said this, we noticed the ceiling was coming AWFULLY low. Especially on the left side of the boat, where we were. In fact, we had to lean over on our neighbors to avoid it. In fact, we scraped our shoulders a bit on the rock.
Afterward we both noted that in America, they would NEVER have sailed at that water level. In fact, there would be signs and barriers preventing you from touching the rock, and the boat might even be on a track or guide of some kind, to ensure maximum safety.
We understood a lot more about Downpour’s Silent Hill after that excursion.
PIGLET'S BIG GAME - INTERVIEW WITH PASCAL CAMMISOTTO
Earlier this week I interviewed Pascal (game designer on Piglet's Big Game 2003) about the making of the title that has received a whirlwind of attention online recently. You can find more information in my video that's going up today on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@eurothug4000/videos
How did the project come into existence?
At that time, Doki Denki studio was already working with Disney.
We had released three PlayStation 1 games with them. Disney was working on the film Piglet's Big Movie and was looking for a studio to develop the video game alongside it.
I don’t want to say anything inaccurate, but I believe it was, officially, our first PlayStation 2 game released on the market.
If the information I found online is correct, Piglet's Big Movie was released after Piglet's Big Game came out! Were you given any direction by Disney on what the game should be like and if it should be similar to the movie in any way? Or did you have complete freedom in designing the game (story, gameplay etc.) as you wish?
I’m not too sure anymore how everything came together, but I believe Disney didn’t give us access to the film's content.
They were very secretive (and I think that was quite common at the time). They just wanted a ‘product’ to accompany the movie release.
All we knew was that it revolved around Piglet. So the game’s story was developed by us (the game design team), as narrative designers didn’t exist back then.
We had a lot of freedom, both in writing and game design, and I think that was partly thanks to Disney's producer, Risa Cohen. She really supported our decisions in the interest of quality.
What do you specifically remember working on for the game? (Certain levels, overall gameplay loop etc.?)
I remember several things: the horror gameplay, which was completely new for this target audience; the hour of real-time cinematics that I directed with the animation team; the cameras in each room that I placed as best as I could to follow the action; and finally, the overly difficult combat (which I wanted to tone down, but wasn’t allowed to. ^^).
The atmosphere in the studio was fantastic, and I genuinely recall a sense of pride in what we were doing.
Yes, it was a kids’ game, and yes, sometimes it was cheesy, but we still had so much fun making it, as if we were making it for ourselves. It was truly a great project.
Do you remember what the reception was to the game at the time of its release?
Yes, the game was very well received. It was considered by reviewers to be a very good children’s game. At that time, many licensed games (especially those for kids) were rushed and uninspired.
That wasn’t our philosophy at the studio. We wanted to make a good game, even if the target audience was very young.
I think that’s why the game surprised people with its strong approach and quality.
Have you seen some of the posts about Piglet's Big Game recently? What was your reaction to seeing them if so?
Absolutely not. I just found out, and of course, I’m thrilled that it’s being talked about again!
People online are talking about the "horror" aspects of the game, were these intentional? Was the aim to have a game that had elements of the horror genre?
When Disney spoke with the studio about this game, Marc Albinet (the head of game design, my boss) immediately wanted to make ‘a Resident Evil for kids.’
I believe he even went to Disney to pitch the idea, and he must have been convincing because they said yes.
Since we didn’t have access to the movie’s script, we created a story centered around Piglet. It focused on his lack of self-confidence and the courage he would need to help his friends, who were asleep and trapped in a nightmare.
The horror element was tied to these nightmares that the player would need to resolve.
Are there any links or anything that you'd like me to mention so people can find you online, or any projects you're working on?
You can find me on X (@KaMiZoTo), but I rarely tweet. Since my time at Doki Denki, I've gained quite a bit of experience, and now I have my own studio:
http://drawmeapixel.com
We released in 2020 "There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension", which I recommend everyone try without watching any let’s plays to avoid spoilers! (The experience relies on surprise.)
We’re also working on a new secret project with the same meta spirit!
A big thank you to Pascal for taking the time to talk about the game!
INTERVIEWS WITH OLEANDER GARDEN, CRISPPYBOAT AND ADAM PYPE
For my current video on fictional dead MMO/servers in games (https://youtu.be/AXSJ27bTRzw), I interviewed some developers with experience creating such settings. Oleander Garden (Autogeny), Crisppyboat (NetEscape) and Adam Pype (No Players Online) kindly took the time to discuss the creation of their respective games, with their answers compiled here:
What gave you the inspiration to use an empty MMO setting?
Oleander Garden (Autogeny):
The post-vaporwave / hauntology / Dan Bell deadmall universe was at its apex when I started working on Autogeny in 2018; mostly I wanted to play with that sense of longing for lost futures, & put it in conversation with the ideas the Pagan games had been orbiting around (i.e. contemporary technological mythology, poetic-making, degraded game forms). The dead y2k MMO format was a fun solution that had a little tie in to everything I wanted the game to think about.
Crisppyboat (NetEscape):
The idea came to me when watching Redlyne's video series on dead mmos, and theories about cults within them. Just the atmosphere that brings with it, a seemingly derelict digital landscape, rich in history from past users, now occupied by some malevolent force (or one that’s always been around) really fascinated me! Especially with the popularity of liminal spaces, I really connected with the idea of exploring the online equivalent of that. For this game jam version it was on a fairly small scale (only about 4 areas) but we’d love to explore that idea with a more believable expansive online space, that was really the heart of the idea for me. Sitting alone at night and logging into an abandoned online game, shifting through the past memories of long forgotten players in a vast digital space. It has this sort of unnerving feeling to it, why's this still up after all this time and who knows what could still be around.
Adam Pype (No Players Online):
I was actually doing an exchange at the time when I was making the original version of the game (from 2019) at a game design school in the netherlands. i reallyy hated this class because it was super designed focus without much practical work, and im really more of a design-by-doing person. anyways, one of the assignments was making a map for Unreal Tournament, and it was this tedious process of having to block out the level and then write endless documentation about the design process. i guess the class was super triple-A focused or something. since halloween was coming up and i was still doing game-a-month at the time, i really wanted to give a go at making something super scary. and as i was doing this assignment i really enjoyed just walking around the little map without any bots, and just taking in the vibes. i did a little extra flair to my map by adding ambient sounds to it (i have a video of that actually, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_22Q_oNwk0) and it really did a lot for the atmosphere. then i remember that as a kid i used to play GMOD a lot with my friend, and because I was always hosting the server and our computers were very slow, it would always take like 10 minutes at least for my friend to join. adding that ambient sound really reminded me of that, because gmod maps always have this ambient sound in them that's a bit unsettling. i remember being so scared to wander around on my own because these maps were always known to have jump scares, so i would just wait at spawn for my friend. so i realised that this would make for a cool horror game. i originally planned to just port the map into unity, but then i decided against it because it wouldve been more work than it was worth. so i really quickly made a map that didnt make a lot of sense and made it somewhat symmetrical. ironically, not thinking about it too much made it so good, because the map is a bit disorienting, which is perfect for a horror game. it's a little bit funny that i found the most success by making a multiplayer map that was badly designed instead of what this class was trying to teach me. :-)
Did you initially have specific themes you wanted to explore or did the idea of having an empty mmo setting come first?
Oleander Garden (Autogeny):
Ideas came first, setting later! A month before the game came out I still wasn't 100% sure I was going to commit to that framing device actually - otherwise it would have been a straightforward haunted-EXE type of deal, like luna game (2011) or those 2010s haunted video game creepypastas. I'm glad I went with it; 'digital space you inhabited' is a much cooler ('weightier?') frame for this sort of story.
Crisppyboat (NetEscape):
I think the setting had developed first before any specific themes came to mind, but to me NetEscape in a lot of ways represents the melancholy that comes from the loss of fun, safe virtual spaces. Like many people I grew up in these spaces and to see them shuttered in favour of a handful of social media platforms really fills me with a sort of nostalgic sadness, as genuinely I felt that these spaces were really important for kids and young adults. The term "dead internet" comes up a lot nowadays and I feel in part it can be attributed to the sort of forced migration towards a handful of social media platforms devoid of the liberties and expression niche online spaces provided for people. Other than that, existentialism as a theme kind of just fell into place when attempting to craft a story for the concept.
What was it about the empty server/MMO concept that helped you explore the game's themes?
Oleander Garden (Autogeny):
I think the multiplayer and especially persistent-multiplayer character of an MMO makes that kind of game world feel a lot more like /a space/ and less like a strictly authored object; that helped make things feel 'lived in', 'decayed', 'lost', &c. in a way that really worked with the whole 'self-making out of techno-mythic-rubble' thing the game was going for. Likewise, I suspect the 1995-2004ish era of MMO design in particular - which was much less authored, much more sandboxy, much more scattershot and weird - is (A) /especially/ good at producing that impression, and (B) developed out of a very specific mythical-ideological project which has now been abandoned: the prevailing y2k notion that one might live a 'second life' in a 'digital world', which seems almost quaint or pastoral today. I figured this would produce a certain feeling of dislocation, of 'living in the ruins'.
Crisppyboat (NetEscape):
We use the internet as an escape from reality, and now with the progression of time a lot of these places no longer exist or stand dormant. The empty mmo, to me, represents a sort of time capsule for people you’ve never met. A public space where people put so much of themselves into it, you get to learn so much just through the fragments they’ve left behind. It’s this sort of melancholy nostalgia that I hope we can really channel in the game’s full release.
Adam Pype (No Players Online):
the first version of the game had no story at all. i just did the whole setup of being alone in a multiplayer game, and then a ghost showing up and it ended with a jumpscare. i showed this off at an event on the last day of the month and was planning to publish the game the day after. people really liked the setup but they were dissapointed it just ended on a jumpscare and had no point to it. so on the walk home i thought about adding a story to it. at the time i was really kind of against (or uninterested even) in adding a narrative to my games. looking back on it it's a bit stupid, but i figured it would be a good opportunity to try out adding a story to one of my games. so that same night i quickly added in a story by having the developer join just before the end and explaining that the ghost was his dead wife and that capturing the last flag would undo all of his work. it was a bit rushed, and most of the critique i got was that it was a bit cliché. but without it the game would have been super uninteresting and nobody would have liked it as much. really goes to show that people really like a story :) lesson learned! now many years later we're doing this big version of the game because the original was such a success (mostly thanks to the ARG i think). since i'm now much more of a matured developer I wanted to really focus in on the story and work it into something that is actually interesting, has depth, cool characters, and not just a story about a dead wife stuck in a game (which is a bit of an overplayed trope maybe). but, i had to work with what I had, since it is a successor. i think the direction we're going in now is much much more interesting, making it about old tech more broadly as a vehicle for horror and also telling the story about the relationship between john and sarah, and giving sarah more agency. for the full game we are kind of purposefully doing the opposite of what the original did. by not letting john say anything until the very end, and making sarah more of the main character. in the end I think the game is also much more about grief and using the concept of a dead person stuck in a game and the obsession of the developer to revive her as a kind of allegory about creative work and obsession over your work preventing you from finishing it. this is something i personally quite strongly believe in, that it's important not to let a project take control of your life, and making it so important that it never gets done. the unfinished fps game prototype is so much about this, here is this game that had so much potential and interest, but the developers were so busy trying to make it into this impossible thing that people just lost interest and it never becomes something real or alive. the dead server is literally a testament to a dead idea, a dead person, an unfulfilled potential and a constant reminder of not being able to let go.
What is it about this setting that lends itself well to the horror genre? What kinds of things in the empty server/MMO space did you specifically think about including and/or subverting to make the experience scarier?
Oleander Garden (Autogeny):
Living in the shadowed ruins of a gestalt social project which has fallen away and left monoliths behind - this is the essential characteristic of the 19th century European gothic novel, and the 20th century southern gothic that followed. Maybe we could say that 'living in the ruins of an MMO' works as a sort of '21st century gothic', i.e., that the dead server spooks us for the same reason dead castles spooked Bram Stoker, and dead plantations spooked Faulkner. It's not the space, precisely: it's the social field that created that sort of space, and the way its influence still lingers. Playing too much Everquest will probably destroy your life, but there's something fantastical and romantic about early Everquest stories - people waking up at 3AM to go kill a dragon with 70-odd strangers in their shared digital space. There's nothing romantic about Meta or AI-girlfriends: only the life obliterating part survived. In the home stretch of development I tried to give Autogeny lots of little details that would scream 'early MMO' in particular. Open world dungeons with bosses to farm, impossible zone transitions: this sort of thing. I don't know if it would have worked if it felt like Final Fantasy XIV, you know? It had to be an old MMO.
Crisppyboat (NetEscape):
We tried to play with sound and limitation to generate horror. Sound played a huge role, (masterfully provided by louceph) stuff like repeating footsteps and ambient noise really added a lot to the overall experience of wandering alone. Taking inspiration from Iron lung, I really pushed for the on screen navigation system to give a bit more anxiety in the moment, having it be limited, and a bit harder to quickly turn or walk if you catch something in the corner of your eye. We sort of quickly realized that there were a lot of pitfalls in presenting the game in a totally accurate, realistic way without confusing the player, we actually had to patch in a notification sound for the file system just cause a lot of people would never bother actually checking the photos they took during the game. In the games full version we’re going to try and add stuff like working text chat/emotes, and other core staples to really give it that believable feeling, the jam version turned out nice but I’m really excited to go extra hard on hammering down what makes a game feel like a real abandoned mmo.
Adam Pype (No Players Online):
I think old tech, limitations of old tech and just old design standards or quirks or imperfections are all things that make something feel a bit uncanny and scary. games nowadays are so juicy and smooth and responsive you are constantly at ease because you're being taken care of, there is no friction. all those small things, those small barriers make the game feel like an ominous force, or like a big heavy lid on a tomb that you have to tear off. there's something powerful with horror when you have to make a player do something tedious with the anticipation of the scare. going through that old server list menu really feels like you're undusting something. you also can't jump, you cant look very far ahead. it makes it all feel so evil... then there is also the subversion of it, adding things for authenticity that have no point. you have a gun but there is nothing to shoot, you have a player list but nobody is online, you have a match timer but the match never ends, even delivering the flags doesnt have a point because there is no game because nobody is on the other team. it makes the whole environment feel like you're not welcome, like it's just this graveyard and all you're doing is trampling the flowers. another thing is that everything in the game is "in-story". the game's story is about someone being on this mysterious computer and discovering old and scary things. it's cool because everything from pressing buttons or opening applications, none of it is OOC, it's all supposed to be the experience of discovering this thing that wasn't meant for you, this invasion of privacy and literally uncovering some old skeletons. this is kind of the core design principle for the game, if one of the games in the forum is a bit badly made that's like part of the story cause it's a hobby gamedev. everything is supposed to be authentic and part of the narrative. the full game will have no open ends, every single file and link or application has a point or some subtext.
Has there been any interesting feedback from players that made you think about the empty server/MMO setting in a new way?
Oleander Garden (Autogeny):
Yeah! It especially makes me smile when I find some cool new dead-mmo game, and it turns out the developer liked Autogeny, and figured they could do the idea better, or in a different way. I wasn't sure if the conceit was too particular, but it seems like it really resonated with people - it's like I got to contribute a little formalism to the tapestry of weirdo indie-game culture, you know? It's cute and it's probably the main thing that keeps me feeling positive about the game. Now I get to play different games, by different people, with their own ideas about the gothic digital-plaza.
Crisppyboat (NetEscape):
Well, one thing that I sort of regret for the demo version was implementing the text chat and emotes as fun visual dressing rather then actually functional, a lot of people kept interacting with it like they’d be able to have full conversions in the game, it’s something we’d like to do for the full release but it wasn’t possible on this jam version. A lot of feedback was also related to the overall story and how it was presented. We plan on focusing way more on the actual exploration of the abandoned space, as that seems to be what people were mostly interested in (as am I haha). Of course the actual way in which the story was presented (taking photos to get files) was not realistic to a mmo at all but I think there's a lot of potential towards the connectivity between actions in the game and the desktop itself. Hypnospace comes to mind as a huge inspiration, doing something similar to that but in 3D would be great. It makes me really excited to explore mmo staples like photography, mini games and other realistic features, turning them into puzzles throughout the full game. We also found a lot of people were annoyed by the slow movement, but I felt that element would be super important for the kind of slow burn anxiety that we went for with this jam version, plus you’d move pretty slow in those old games haha.
There's a pretty big amount of interest in dead MMOs/game servers these days! What is it about them that you personally think is intriguing? Is it mainly just nostalgic elements or are there less prominent aspects that you think make them so interesting?
Oleander Garden (Autogeny):
I don't think it can just be nostalgia, in the empty sense of 'consumer fantasy'. If that was the case, you would expect consumer activity to follow a similar pattern to e.g. console game nostalgia (buying lots of knick knacks and status signifiers, attaching cultural value to a particular major corporation, &c.) Instead, we got this cool thriving scene of DIY horror, and illegal pirate revival servers! Critically, the dead mmo genre is not /just/ pro-forma nostalgic-horror (e.g. afraid of a terrible, romantic past) but also, as Mark Fisher might have said, essentially 'Hauntological' - it's oriented towards a speculative /lost future/. There's a certain longing for a separate digital world, and a new realm of human activity Online - which seemed totally possible, until the real world got digitized, and the digital world died an unceremonious death. From this the dead-mmo form can draw all the drama and emotional weight of a failed revolution, in our deeply repressed cultural milieu, where emerging revolutions fail before they get started.
Crisppyboat (NetEscape):
Honestly I think it’s just the generation that had been raised on mmos like this having grown up with nostalgia for these spaces. Online chat games have basically come and gone, contained in a specific generation of kids, and I think it’s pretty profound how impactful it still is on us. For me just the idea of an online games player legacy really fascinates me. In a way it's almost like exploring an abandoned home or school, where you get the opportunity to catch glimpses of lives and relationships etched into the environment. Like any abandoned or “liminal space” I think people find it intriguing based on the mystery of discovery, finding something clearly human made, and stopping to think how or why they did it. It's an extremely fresh and untapped market, because it is so relatively new, there’s a lot of potential. We see it a lot in internet horror, stuff that at this point has been around for decades, where we can start collectively referring to it in media.
Adam Pype (No Players Online):
everyone keeps telling me this but i haven't really looked into it! it doesnt surprise me though, i think this fear of being alone in a multiplayer game is a pretty shared experience and everyone who's had it is now old enough to make games about it. i wasn't really inspired by any game in particular, i would say the main inspiration i had was Petscop, which is also about an abandoned unfinished game that has a whole layer under it revealing some ulterior use for the game. this whole idea of a game being a facade hiding some grand conspiracy under it is soo interesting to me. it's like easter eggs or 4th wall breaking stuff, or little out of bounds areas. it makes you think about what's hidden underneath all of this stuff you were meant to see. i've always as a kid thought so much about "what if there is a whole other level behind this wall" or like these creepypastas like Ben Drowned or even the luigi stuff in Super Mario 64. the idea that this thing you know and love has something sinister and it was always there you just never noticed will always play well into people's fears.
A huge thank you to Oleander Garden, Crisppyboat and Adam Pype for taking the time to be interviewed.
Oleander Garden: https://x.com/void_hyacinth
Autogeny: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1165750/PAGAN_Autogeny/
Crisppyboat: https://x.com/CrisppyBoat
NetEscape: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3344890/NetEscape/
Adam Pype: https://x.com/adampi
No Players Online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2701800/No_Players_Online/
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Nome: Tiziana Loiacono
Blog: @tittiloi
Primo post: luglio 2013
Questo mese abbiamo intervistata un’utente attiva che da anni posta sul suo blog Tumblr @tittiloi le sue bellissime foto artistiche. Buona lettura a tutti.
Tiziana, benvenuta! Raccontaci qualcosa di te. Grazie per aver scelto il mio blog. Sono siciliana e vivo a Roma, due realtà che essendo ricche artisticamente e naturalisticamente, hanno fortemente stimolato e nutrito la mia costante curiosità. Amo l’arte in tutte le sue espressioni, da sempre.
Vediamo che da molti anni sei attiva su Tumblr. Cosa attira di più i tuoi follower? Ho iniziato con questo blog per gioco, poi, dopo due anni di scuola di fotografia, ha preso forma ed è cresciuto questo spazio, in cui posto i miei scatti. Credo semplicemente che molti guardino le cose con sguardo simile al mio e spero di emozionarli, quanto meno…di non annoiarli.
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Alcune delle tue fotografie sono composte da immagini sovrapposte. Vuoi parlarci un po’ di questa tecnica? Non è una tecnica è una sovrapposizione casuale data da alcuni riflessi, non è frutto di post-produzione; cerco di rappresentare le tante facce della realtà che ci circondano e che coesistono in noi.
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