Bobby Blackwolf Interview - 5 Sep 2005
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Transcript
{Peasant's Quest Theme plays}
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: Bobby Blackwolf here with the Bobby Blackwolf show. We're still at DragonCon 2005 and I actually got the chance— I'm here with the minds behind Homestar Runner, the Brothers Chaps. How are you guys are enjoying DragonCon so far?
MATT CHAPMAN: It's been— it's been awesome. Very interesting.
MIKE CHAPMAN: I'm having a good time as well.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: Is this— is this your first time at DragonCon or have you been to other TrogdorCons or whatever?
MATT CHAPMAN: This is our first— uh, yeah, we've lived in Atlanta all our lives pretty much, but this is our first DragonCon. Um, it's not too different from the times we've gone to visit colleges, just more— more costumes obviously.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: I wanted to really focus on the video games that are on the site. All of them are programmed in Flash and they all had a kind of a classic feel to it. Is that— what's your big inspiration for making the games?
MATT CHAPMAN: Uh, regular Nintendo and— and below obviously in terms of the uh, the technology. Um, huge 2600 fans. We've got, in our office— we've got like an Intellivision and a Colecovision and a 2600 and NES and Super NES and all that stuff. We're— we're supposedly getting a Vectrex from some guy soon which is awesome so that's— uh, that's definitely, for us, was sort of the golden age of gaming. We, you know, we've got X-Boxes and Gamecubes now, but— but we find ourselves more and more playing old emulator games from that era.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: One of the questions I want to ask— um, another Flash gaming site, Newgrounds, they recently we able to have success in the current gen market with Alien Hominid. Are you guys interested in possibly doing something on the current gen consoles based on your Flash games?
MATT CHAPMAN: Uh, I don't know. It seems like— it just seems like it wouldn't really be making good use of all that hardware. We were just thinking— the fact that we— we've— we've got a guy that we've been trying to get us to make a 2600 game is sort of more along the lines of what we'd wanna do.
'MIKE CHAPMAN: Yeah, most of the games we wanna make wouldn't take advantage of the technology that would be available anyway. So if we can put 'em on our site, we'll just do 'em there, and if we have an idea of something, you know, that requires more power, we'll maybe do that.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: I actually did wanna touch on that. Paul Slocum, who's a wonderful homebrew programmer— he's been working on a Homestar Runner RPG for the Atari 2600 game. I've both of the ROMs of the demos and when is it coming out? Do you guys know? I thought it was supposed to come out last year or the year before.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah, he, uh— I think it's— it's sort of in limbo. I mean he— know he's talking— I think it was really pushing the limits of what the 2600 could do, especially with an RPG. So uh, I think he was getting a little overwhelmed. He realized that all the work he had done, which was, you know, hours and hours and hours, amounted to like 2% of what the game would finally be. And so he just kinda— I think he kinda freaked out. So he kinda— he was on hold on that for awhile, but he did say that he— he's— he's willing to look into some uh, other 2600 projects that are a little more, you know, within the normal 2600 realm. Not necessarily trying to, uh— I think that's gonna be his opus. The Homestar Runner was sort of just being applied to it. He could make an RPG that really didn't have to be Homestar Runner or not. So uh, so uh, I hope he makes it someday cause— cause I would love to play an RPG on the 2600 for sure.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: One of the other RPGs I've been— I was a big seer of— a big adventure fan was Peasant's Quest.
MATT CHAPMAN: Right.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: How long did it take you to do design and come up with all the different things to do in that?
MIKE CHAPMAN: We started that in, what, February of last year? I think writing in 2004 and uh, then I think it came out in August so, what's that, like 6, 7 months from inception to having it done and uh, most of the time our game programmer was living in Boston so it was kind of a long distance thing. We would just do a lot of the writing and all the graphics and stuff and he would do all the programming. So, if he was in the same place as us it may have been a little bit less, but still several months.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: Now the current game goin' on on your site, Stinkoman 20X6 game. That's continually having new levels updated to it, or what's the deal with that cause I keep seeing like 'Level 9 just added'. So it's—
MIKE CHAPMAN: Right.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah, the original idea was that we, uh— cause Jonathan, our programmer, made this editor, this really slick editor where we can make our own levels and the point was supposed to be that it was a game that he didn't always need to be involved with. Just Mike and I would sit there and be able to make our own levels, but then as we went we just ended up making each level bigger and more, you know, more of a big deal and have—
MIKE CHAPMAN: Each level is essentially its own game—
MATT CHAPMAN: Right.
MIKE CHAPMAN: cause they have different mechanics and stuff.
MATT CHAPMAN: So, uh, this'll go— we just decided after we got to like level 5 or 6 that we would just go to 10 and then stop and that'll be the end of the game and we'll move on to another project. So, we put up 9 today and uh, 10 will probably be within the next month or so. And then— and then, you know, whatever the next big project we wanna focus on.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: And I am happy to report that it is— it seems just as hard as the original Mega Man.
MATT CHAPMAN: {laughs} Nice. That's good to hear. That's what we— we always wanted the uh, frustrating factor to be—
MIKE CHAPMAN: The thing about Peasant's Quest and it's like we gotta keep it frustrating. You know, you type 'get rocks.' No, you gotta type 'get pebbles.'
MATT CHAPMAN: That's the nature of those games. That's— that's the whole point so we're uh— it was nice to hear that we uh, we nailed that in terms of how much a pain in the ass they are to play. {laughs}
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: Everybody in our chat room— we still discuss where the obvious exits are north, south, and Dennis. So, it's safe to say that Homestar Runner really has had an impact on a lot of the internet communities probably that you guys don't even know about. You know, just closet fans, so uh, are you able to talk about any future Flash games on your site that's not up there yet or—
MATT CHAPMAN: I definitely wanna do another Peasant's Quest type game. We— we've thought about maybe going the LucusArts route with the early like point and click where you've got your commands at the bottom or the uh, the later Sierra point and click interface. Um, but definitely, you know, it'll stay fairly old school. Um, it's sorta— it's funny cause the— the— the closer you get to that age of like Super VGA and VGA, the harder it gets to sort of emulate that. When you get out of low res, it's still sort of like— it's bad graphics, but it's harder to— to create bad graphics. So uh, but yeah, we wanna do something else big for sure. Uh, there might be a couple other smaller Videlectix, more arcade—y, like Atari 2600 type games in the mean time, but yeah, we'll uh— I don't know, some Cheat— a Cheat Commandos game of some kind—
MIKE CHAPMAN: Yeah.
MATT CHAPMAN: we've talked about. Or a Peasant's Quest type game that's all the— it's like the Homestar Runner characters as apposed to being the— you know, in the— in the Trogdor universe. It would just be— like you'd be Homestar or Strong Bad walkin' around saying get pebbles instead of get rocks.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: Well, thank you for taking the time out to talk to the Bobby Blackwolf show. Um, I'll try— if I ever see Paul Slocum, I'll get on him to see the game {The Brothers Chaps laugh} cause I have an Atari 2600. It works—
MATT CHAPMAN: Right.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: and I'd buy the game—
MATT CHAPMAN: Exactly.
BOBBY BLACKWOLF: from AtariAge. You know I'm— I'm on AtariAge and I'm— I'm friends with them. So thank you for taking the time out.
MATT CHAPMAN: Yeah, thanks so much for talking to us.
MIKE CHAPMAN: Thanks Blackwolf.
External Links
The Bobby Blackwolf Show Listen to the interview (H*R segment begins at 11:55)
