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Interview No. 47

Interview By: @The-Great-One

[ Part 1 | Part 2 ]

Q: poxpower - Your first flash would be entitled Newgrounds Museum. Why did you wish to create something entitled the Newgrounds Museum and why update it with the tutorial and Newgrounds Museum 2?

A: I was a big NG fan and wanted to make a Flash of my own. Since I didn't know dick about Flash or animating, I made something that was just a collection of fan drawings. Tom might have mentioned something about liking fan art too, I dunno.

The art tutorial was probably because I was really proud of knowing Photoshop back then.

Q: Mockery - Your first flash on Newgrounds is entitled Kill Old Man from Zelda!!. Being a person who has played "The Legend of Zelda" myself I can certainly understand why someone would want to do this, so there's the idea, but what were the steps you took, why did you choose these killing methods? Also were you inspired by Newgrounds famous Assassin section?

A: I was familiar with the Assassin section on Newgrounds, but I don't think that's what inspired this Flash project... I simply hated that old man and wanted to see him die. I was also just trying to learn the basics of Flash, so this was a good way for me to learn how to make an interactive movie back in the day. I considered killing the old man with weapons from other games like Doom 'n what have you, but I really wanted to kill him with items that already existed in the Legend of Zelda to keep a consistent 8-bit look throughout the whole thing. Playing that old flash now, it certainly feels very dated, but I still get some chuckles out of it. I still love seeing the old lady chase the old man off the screen cuz she wants some good lovin' haha. Making this flash was a good learning experience and I was really excited when I found out it got the daily #1 spot. If it hadn't been received so well, I may have never bothered to keep messing around with Flash, so in retrospect, I guess I owe a lot to this silly little Flash project.

Q: poxpower - The flash entitled The Bard's Song would be created by CharlieZero. You and Newgrounds member Magna would remake it and fine tune it with --The Bard's Song--. Why did you and Magna decide to make a remake for this flash and if CharlieZero knows about it what does he think of it?

A: I think I did ask Charlie about it before making it. He was fine with it. It was always one of my favorite animations from Newground's early days. I just knew I drew better than him so HAH. Don't know why I needed Magna to animate it for me. I was just lazy. Yeah.

Q: Mockery - Before collaborating with poxpower you would collaborate with another. You and @TomFulp would give us Squigly Fish Racer v1.0. What was the process you took into making this flash and how does it feel to work with Tom Fulp?

A: I don't know why, but Squigly Fish (or Trouter as some people know him from Super Mario Bros. 2) was always one of my favorite 8-bit characters, so I wanted to do a game about him. He just has this terrified, helpless look on his face... so how can you not love him? I had the idea of making a simple racing game and told Tom about it and he was happy to work on the game with me while he was working on some other projects. I was really happy with the final product and played the local 2-player version with a bunch of friends quite a bit when it first came out. That's honestly the best way to play it if you ask me... two friends, sitting side by side, mashing the hell out of the buttons on one keyboard to see who can win the race. Tom was a blast to work with and that's what led to our next project together.

Q: poxpower - Punch Tom Out would be the fighting game where you beat the shit out of Tom. Who would've thought that would be so much fun. Where did the idea for this come from and will we see a sequel where we can fight other staff members, moderators, and other members of Newgrounds?

A: I was working on Insanity Box and one of the mini-games is a punching game. I realized it was really easy to make so I decided to make an entire game about punching. I don't know why I picked Tom though. Well it worked out pretty well in the end because that's the most popular game I've ever made on my own even though most of the people playing it have no idea who Tom is : D

Q: You and Tom would get together once more to work on Domo-Kun Angry Smashfest!. Which one of you came up with this idea or were you both bouncing ideas off one another?

A: The two of us laughed more during the creation of this game than any two people should. I can't even begin to convey how much fun we had with it. I pitched the idea to Tom by creating that slow-rising title screen with the big music. I know it seems silly, but that rising title sequence is still one of my favorite things I've ever done. It's just such a huge build up before you actually get to start playing that it makes the player think they're about to play the greatest game in the history of man. Well, that was the idea behind it haha. Anyway, when Tom saw that sequence, he was sold on the idea.

The game was originally going to be just that first level where Domo-Kun is smashing the Powerpuff Girls as they pop out of the manholes, but as we were working on that first level, we just kept coming up with more and more ideas. What was originally supposed to be a small game, turned into a huge 4-month project where we were parodying loads of our favorite childhood games. We just kept coming up with so many ridiculous ideas to add into the game that it turned into one big story of revenge. The game is absolutely loaded with easter eggs too - my favorite of which is the extra special "magic stick" you get if you beat the game two times in a row.

We really had an amazing time during those 4 months of production, and while Tom is a super busy guy these days, I hope we can make another game together at some point, because it's rare to find somebody who's that easy and fun to work with.

Q: Mockery - You are one for April Fool's Day jokes. As of now you have three. They are Tetris: Charity Edition!, Pitfall 2010! and The Best Game Ever Made. What was the process you took into creating these flash games and how did you come up with the jokes?

A: Actually, you missed one. I made the "PickleMan Begins: Beta Test" game with Bomtoons. We had been promising a PickleMan game to people for a long time, so I wanted to make something that looked like we were finally making progress. The initial screen looks like it's going to be a real game, with a nice 16-bit PickleMan ready to beat up some bad guys, but when you click start, the program glitches out and it loads the worst game ever - E.T. for the Atari 2600. Only difference is, this time you're being chased by PickleMan who tries to eat E.T.'s head. We actually do have a lot of PickleMan graphics that Pox made for a fighting game, so maybe we'll get to see those put to use for a real demo sometime. Pox has even talked about coding it himself just so the graphic work doesn't go to waste.

In regards to how I come up with these April Fool's Day jokes, I guess it's the same way I come up with any of the jokes on I-Mockery. I've been writing for most of my life, and while some jokes come from a very weird place that I can't explain (such as Mr. Dinosaur walking around the office in The Best Game Ever Made), others seem pretty obvious to me (such as changing the "B-Type" mode of Tetris to "R-Type" in order to make a reference to one of my favorite old shooting games). The Human Centipede game was another one that seemed completely obvious to me at the time, but nobody else had thought of it somehow. Centipede is one of the most famous arcade games ever made, so why not make a Human Centipede parody where you replace the insect with people who've been sewn together ass-to-mouth, right? The ideas don't always come immediately, but if I give myself enough time, something good usually comes along.

After working in comedy for so many years, I guess the best lesson I've learned is that you need to allow yourself to be ridiculous. If you don't worry about how absurd something may seem, you can come up with some truly memorable material. Not all of it will connect well with audiences, but if you keep at it, you're gonna create some stuff that does. I often come up with my best ideas when I step away from the computer and just start jotting down ideas on paper. I have a little notebook with a ton of game ideas that I haven't even had a chance to make yet, but it's always nice to know that I have a boatload of material on the backburner if I'm ever running low on ideas.

Q: What can we expect from poxpower in the future?

A: I'm working on a ton of big projects that may or may not ever be finished. For the longest time, this one: http://abobosbigadventure.com/ looked like it was dead. But now it seems it'll come out this year!

And I want to make more quick Flash games about stuff in the news. Maybe I can make that my specialty, I love working with a tight deadline, keeps me from expanding endlessly on some stupid project.

I also have 2 games fully complete and sitting on my computer right now, just waiting for a sponsor. So that should come out decently soon. Hope 2011 is a good year for me...

Q: What can we expect from Mockery within the near future?

A: Before I made Domo-Kun's Angry Smashfest with Tom, I had been working on a game parody called Abobo's Big Adventure. The game got completely sidetracked when I started working on the Domo-Kun game and the programmer at the time starting working on some other stuff of his own. Of all the unsung characters in video games, Abobo is my absolute favorite one, so I really wanted to make a game that not only paid tribute to him, but to all NES games in general. Cut to 2006 and I started talking with Pox and Bom about it and they agreed to go on this long journey with me to make Abobo's Big Adventure the most insane Flash game the Internet has ever seen. If they knew how far we were really going to take this, I'm not sure they would've signed on (guess you can ask them yourself0, but I'm glad they did, because I wouldn't want to work with any other people on this game than the two of them. They get me and my style of humor and we've always worked really well together.

When the three of us began working on Abobo's Big Adventure together, we literally started from scratch. The original demo was thrown out and Bom started working on a completely new system, Pox got to work on creating some new graphics for the first level along with the big intro I had always dreamed of (inspired by the cover of an old 80s action movie, Remo Williams), and I wrote an entirely new story for Abobo where he sets out to save his lost son, Aboboy. To build up hype for the game, we had a a real arcade cabinet built to house it in (thanks to some of Bom's talented pals) so we could showcase a demo at the San Diego Comic-Con and SC3 Arcade Party. The crowds really seemed to love it and it's provided us with some great feedback too, seeing what parts they had trouble with. It was like conducting a live in-person beta test. Just seeing how frequently people were laughing at all of the jokes in the game put some big smiles on our faces. Nothing feels better than seeing people really enjoying something you've worked extremely hard on.

This game has been the biggest project of my life so far and it's a total labor of love that we're giving to the Internet to play for free. We're paying homage to the Nintendo Entertainment System by cramming more beloved 8-bit references into Abobo's Big Adventure than any other Flash game before. I'd say more work has gone into this game than all of our previous Flash games combined. It's really pushing the limits of what Flash is capable of and I can't even begin to explain how excited I am for everybody to see the finished product. This isn't just a typical ripped NES sprites parody... there's a ton of custom graphics in the game, big cutscenes, countless sight gags, ridiculous "rage" moves on each level, massive boss fights and more. Plus, not to toot our own horn or anything, but I think Abobo's Big Adventure has one of the most memorable endings in the history of games. Considering all the games and enemies that Abobo has to punch his way through, I wanted to make sure the ending of the game left you feeling extremely satisfied. I think we've accomplished just that and then some.

Ten years in the making, Abobo's Big Adventure is the culmination of everything I've ever wanted to put in a Flash game and I couldn't be happier with how it's turning out. I also consider myself extremely lucky to have found two guys like Pox and Bom who were willing to work on this game with me and take it as far as I wanted and beyond. We still have some levels to complete, but for the first time, we're finally starting to see the end of the game on the horizon. We're shooting to have this ultimate tribute to the Nintendo Entertainment System released this summer, hopefully in time for Comic-Con. We've also created a web site for the game that people can check out at http://www.abobosbigadventure.com so you can follow the game's progress.

If you like NES games at all, I promise Abobo's Big Adventure will feel like a wet dream come true.

These two are not only one of the greatest duos on Newgrounds, I would go as far as to say that they can triumph even that of The-Super-Flash-Bros. They have worked with Tom Fulp, BoMToons, and RainbowCemetery just to name a few. Who knows if they'll work together again and if all five of them were together it would be amazing. Despite it all with these two creative minds together the impossible does indeed become possible, even if poxpower is a man of very few words.

[ Part 1 | Part 2 ]