Just finished an interview via email. That took forever >_<

Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 12:12:10 -0500
To:
Subject: Sorry for being late on the interview :P

3 days late! unbelieveable! :p



Hello Reu, thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview you.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed by you :p

For starters, what did it feel like when you made your first character?
Woo... you mean starting off? Excited of course! Hehe, excited and happy. Everytime I put in something that I find fun, after balancing things out, I'd do it over and over again until its "more fun".

Why an Evil Ken and Ryu?
Well, I first got the idea to do Evil Ken from a local street fighter comic book series (not official capcom stuff). I figured, since capcom's never done Evil Ken before, I'd have more creative control over him and less capcom influence during development.

Do you think mugen is to play or create?
I guess this depends on what type of person you are. Some people love to listen to a certain genre of music, and some people love to play and listen to a certain genre of music. For me, its the latter. MUGEN can also simply be a vessel which people may want to channel their creativity into. Everytime I think: "Wouldn't it be cool if...", while playing MUGEN, or any game, I ask myself how it could be done in MUGEN.

So how did it feel to get Fighter of the Year at The Mugen Guild not once but two years straight and to be one of the most respected creators around?
Oh, Kingtigre and I were suprised, and flattered. He even took a screenshot of the poll page, hahaha. As for such a title, I don't think much about it. Placing one's ego in a high place is a dangerous place to go, not only will it limit how much higher you can go, I believe that socially, its not ethical. Any respect that people give is appreciated and reciprocated :)

What was Kingtigre like?
You say that like He's dead :p. A couple of weeks after I posted about Evil Ken back on the mugen development forum, I got an email from an rabi... avid street fighter fan. Kingtigre came to me with many new ideas and concepts for Evil Ken, which I appreciated, because both our ideas vary vastly, yet come together to complement each other perfectly. He can be pretty wacky at times, always open-minded and really fun to work with. I remember the time we were posting on a nonsensical thread at MugenShank, and he did an picture of supersaiyan9999 Kingtigre, which is Kingtigre with extremely long yellow hair. His description was something like the character being so super that his hair wrapped around the earth multiple times.

When/if you play Mugen who do you usually pick and by whom?
Hrm... I usually rotate around a large amount of characters. There are alot of well done characters which I enjoy.

What made you decide to want to start creating for mugen?
I can't remember.... I guess at that time it seemed fun to alter a part of what I enjoyed playing.

There is rumor that when you first came into the mugen community you had a habit of posting in the wrong forum and such as this, was that so? And How did the community appear to you when you first discovered it?
Hahaha, I don't think that I was that blur :p. The community seemed like an interested place to frequent. Many people expressed opinions which I could understand and relate to, and some wacky stuff went on, like silent storm and the big nasty's feuds.

How does it appear to you now?
It still feels the same to me actually. Even in new forums. I guess I don't keep track of stuff that happens too much. Come to think of it, some people are alot less nice nowadays, saying stuff like "please die" or, "just die". I can never agree with talking down to people or slamming people for their lack of foresight.

You are currently looking for new talented sprite editors to help you update Evil Ken and Ryu... What plans do you have for these chars now?
Hehehe, that's a secret :p. Well if you've been following their progress, you'd find that I always talk about team supers, but never actually get them in. That's what's next, along with some other stuff. The system itself is complicated... more complicated than the MSSM system, but so worth it.

Do you plan on making any new chars?
Ack. I would love to. But, school life is very demanding. I'll have to wait and see if I will be able to manage working on MUGEN in the future.

I don't want to take up too much of your time there are just so many questions I could ask, so I will begin closing this for you. How do you view yourself in the community?
Same as every other person in the community, I'm just one member.

What do you do outside of Mugen?
I'm currently studying for a diploma in digital media design, specializing in games design at a local college. Most of my time after school is occupied by co-curricular activites nowadays - I'm on the school dragonboat team and canoeing team aiming for the upcoming division races and nationals, and am presidenting the school's piano ensemble.

Do you have any parting tips for up and coming creators?
Just advice I constantly give myself:
Whenever you want to do something original, or express yourself, don't just aim for someone else's work or someone else's standard. Find your own unique way to express yourself as well, combine your favourite elements, and put in something that you've never seen or felt before. This way, you won't just hit the mark that someone has set before, who knows, you may go even higher ;)

Is there anything else you would like to add to this?
Don't think in an overly complicated manner. Its the simple things that work, that lead to the complicated whole which you can enjoy. While working in MUGEN also, consider making things hard for yourself or your character so you can actually feel like you've accomplished something when you've won.

I thank you once more for this chance to "speak" with you. I myself am a huge fan of your work as well and enjoy your positive attitude as a creator. Until next time.
Thank you too, its been a pleasure :)





Come to think of it, how I act and how I type out thoughts is vastly different.

I really respect people who get interviewed and actually make sense, took forever to think of intelligent answers to some of this questions.