Interview No. 11
Interview By: @The-Great-One
Today we're looking at a group of people who have won over twenty Daily Feature awards for their flash work. They're known for bringing popular series to Newgrounds such as Another Day, Decline of Video Gaming, and James the Zebra. They have worked together with very-well known member LegendaryFrog to create FF7: About Random Battles which won a Daily Feature award and a Weekly Users' Choice award. This and much more has been accomplished by none other than @The-Super-Flash-Bros.
Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?
A: I got linked to it from a forum I used to go to. Someone was linking to LegendaryFrog's cartoon: Chocobo Mix. I showed it to Tom and we decided we could make our own cartoons similar to that.
Q: Your first flash submission to Newgrounds would be Metal Gear Mayhem. Where did the ideas for this flash come from and what was the process of creating it?
A: I hesitantly drew the characters in Flash, having not used the program before. We were using Flash 4, at the time, and Tom animated it using a strange combination of early actionscript and actual keyframes. I wanted to draw backgrounds but we were so concerned about filesize we didn't dare!
Q: The beginning of what is now a regular series on Newgrounds is the creation of Another Day. What can you tell me about the first part of this series as well as the whole series?
A: The first part? I made it for fun, I was trying out a Wacom tablet that my Dad had bought. The wobbling was borrowed from LegendaryFrog's "Kerrigan and the Frog". The series in general has been about me getting to grips with animation and storytelling. I've still a long way to go!
Q: Your first collaboration was with a flash called The Matrik Has You.. How did it feel working with these different flash artists? Was the experience fun?
A: That was a big moment for us. We'd made friends with LegendaryFrog after getting noticed for making the platformer game, Nightmare. The Matrix Has You was our big break, really. And it lead onto the Decline series. It was very liberating writing our own script, recording the lines and doing whatever we felt like. We also got to work alongside John and Richie Zirbes :)
Q: A second series would be started by you Double-Helix and that would be Decline of Video Gaming. What all can you tell me about this series?
A: I'd been trying to make a Devil May Cry parody for ages but not having much luck and one day I got talking to my friend Dan and we decided it'd be fun to write a cartoon which featured lots of parodies of different games. So we set it in a game store. The whole thing ended up being very popular. We owe a lot to the voice talents of Egoraptor, especially in later installments.
Q: While we're on the subject of series, I want you to tell me about James The Zebra and his series ranging from a winter wonderland, outer space, and even a pirate ship. What is the story behind James?
A: James happened pretty much as the intros would have you believe. We wanted to make a Christmas game, but we wanted a unique character that people wouldn't expect. He was so fun to work with we kept him going :) We've kept that exact same image of James we used in the first game, we just dress him up in different outfits. Its really great fun designing simple platformy arcade games. I like how people of all ages and gender seem to enjoy James.
Q: The year is 2007 and you give us all your newest character Detective Grimoire. What can you tell me about this game and is there a sequel in the works?
A: I have a lot of affection for Detective Grimoire, I can't wait to get back to working on the sequel. I think he has a lot more to offer (the sequel has full voice acting and much more interesting puzzles). Overall though its me and Tom indulging our love of point-and-click games. We wouldn't be the same without Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
Q: Your flash From Player to Playa is an interesting flash about Desktop Icons and their programs. What can you tell us about it and will you be making another flash in this kind of form in the future?
A: I made two silly trailers in a row, I guess I was just in that sort of mood. I didn't want to overdo it, so I didn't make any more. If I have a really solid idea, I'll do more I suppose. Player to Playa was made in about 3 or 4 nights. I love the feel and pace of trailers, its a good excercise to try and recreate that feeling as closely as possible, while including jokes and whatnot.
Q: What can we expect from The-Super-Flash-Bros in the future?
A: Currently working on "James the Super Zebra" which is on a scale like no other James game before it. People who are fans of the intros will be pleased by the format of this one :) Then after that we'll officially get back to Grimoire 2. Although I've done a lot of art for that game, its still in its early stages and needs a lot more scripting to get the story just perfect. I'll probbaly release some of the animations I've been doing at University, too. Not sure how well they'll go down on Newgrounds though!
The-Super-Flash-Bros are an interesting team of animators. Hearing these different stories I'm sure is enough to inspire anyone in animation. From there story telling of Another Day to there games James The Zebra and Detective Grimoire, I see storytellers at their finest.