Interview: Makeii

Opening
Magnum2k: In this interview I will be interviewing Makeii. The topics are mainly concering his project Edreoll, his BYOND experience, and some personal questions.

Magnum2k: When did you originally join BYOND?
Makeii: I joined BYOND in 2004, back when I was around 15. I've been a game-design-enthusiast for a lot of my life, and I was looking for tools to help express my creativity. BYOND looked like a very expansive and flexible tool.

Magnum2k: Interesting. How did you come across BYOND?
Makeii: I don't remember how I came across it. I'm assuming that I looked it up on this site: "http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html" and saw BYOND as one of the links.

Magnum2k: What was your impression about BYOND when you first encountered it?
Makeii: Back then, there were more original games that were fun to play around with, most notably Mystic Journey, Hurrcane, and Celestial Chaos 2. However, DreamMaker was hard to learn because of how the code was handled upon compiling. It was different from a traditional top-to-bottom language like C++ and Java. This made it difficult for me to learn.

Magnum2k: So, with that said, before you joined BYOND you had knowledge with other programming languages?
Makeii: I had some experience with other engines at the time, but no other languages. After trying and failing the first time, I picked up on other programming languages such as Play Basic.

Magnum2k: What do you like most about the DM language?
Makeii: I had some experience with other engines at the time, but no other languages. After trying and failing the first time, I picked up on other programming languages such as Play Basic.

Magnum2k: Was it a hard process learning it? Did someone help you or was it self-taught? Also, did you ever find "use" of the DM Guide?
Makeii: The tutorials were not easy to understand because users left out a lot of details that were questionable, such as why some procedures included some random arbitrary parameter called "M." And then there was this deal with using "usr" and "src" that didn't make any sense to me. I checked the DM Guide, which did seem to help a bit, but after I understood the basics, I used the reference only.
I was self-taught as well.

Magnum2k: Can you give the BYOND community a feedback on the current progress of Edreoll?
Makeii: I'm currently working on it right now, actually. The demo release should include Novice Island and Novice Dungeon, as well as the ability to choose your class before you depart in said dungeon. Saving is not implemented yet. Right now, I'm currently working on making the game pause when the host presses the P key, so that players can sit and think before making brash moves.

Magnum2k: What genre is it in?
Makeii: The hub doesn't have a public listing yet. But it will most likely be under RPG.

Magnum2k: Will there be any features in it that has been yet to see in a BYOND game?
Makeii: I'm not sure, but the game SHOULD have a feel for the old SNES games and the 16-bit era, but with friends. You have the choice of playing alone, of course. The unique feature of Edreoll is that the map does not scroll. This may being back features of older games such as Super Hydlide and Willow.

Magnum2k: Sounds nice. What expectations do you have for it in the future? Do you think it will become mainstream like how NEStalgia has?
Makeii: Edreoll is not meant to be an MMORPG or ORPG like NEStalgia is, but rather downloadable to play with friends much like how it is with classic BYOND games. I hope that it will become popular enough to make revenue, as it is not fully free. Perhaps it will be like the Minecraft of BYOND? (I don't mean the game's genre but rather its success).

Magnum2k: How long has Edreoll been in development?
Makeii: The project has been in development for over two years. I've adapted many of its concepts from earllier works in order to make it fit in the Magus Aora Universe. The game has been through several iterations, one of which actually has a character creation menu on Youtube.

Magnum2k: Interesting. Can you provide us with a link to the character menu?
Makeii: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H695yJwjjLk -- it was my first personal voiced video ever. I'm really nervous in that video too. It will most likely get deleted or archived in my hard drive somewhere.

Magnum2k: What motivated you to make Edreoll?
Makeii: I've been a game design enthusiast forever, as I may have mentioned before. I want to create the worlds in my mind, and express these worlds in this specific medium.

Magnum2k: What are your favorite game outside of BYOND(Console or PC) and within BYOND?
Makeii: My favorite game would have to be Duke Nukem 3D, and its level editor made with the BUILD engine made by Ken Silverman. There were a lot of creative things I did with it. My favorite game on BYOND is Casual Quest.
Also Deep Dungeon is a great game, created by fellow BYONDer Gooseheaded. He deserves much more credit for that game. : )

Magnum2k: What are you usaully doing when you're not on the computer, in other words, what hobbies are you into?
Makeii: Hobbies that are not partained to the computer are: Drawing, Biking, Gaming, and being creative with stuff like LEgos, Knex, and stuff you usually like playing with when you're a kid.

Magnum2k: What profession do you have planned for in the future? If you currently have one, what is it?
Makeii: I'm officially unemployed, but I am unofficially a game designer, and that is what I always wanted to be.

Magnum2k: Do you think you're heading down the right path as to being a game designer? Any obstacles overwhelming you?
Makeii: There are plenty of obstacles that are going to be hard to overcome. For instance, finances are going to be risky if you don't have successful sales. A community can also turn against you if you make the wrong move.
And yes I do think I am going in the right direction to follow my dream.

Magnum2k: Do you think that the BYOND community, or BYOND in general has given you more motivation into your pursue of being a game designer?
Makeii: I think so. It's my starting point. I won't be aiming for just the BYOND community though. Through outsourcing, I'll want to make myself known for my work in many places. But I'd like to give credit to those whom helped me here, in my "hometown"

Magnum2k: Did BYOND prepare or mature you(game-designer wise) in any way for this goal?
Makeii: BYOND helped me find a way to communicate with others with similar interests without having to fuss about all of the deeper technicalities. BYOND's VM and engine allows you to create content without worrying about the client/server network.

Magnum2k: As joined back in 2004, what has kept you active on BYOND?
Makeii: I actually took a very long six year hiatus and later came back one day because I was looking for an engine to make games with. I started to fiddle more with BYOND and I found out how it worked. I eventually become comfortable working with it.

Magnum2k: Are you community-oriented? In other words, do you enjoy reading blog posts, events, updates, up coming events, and game development progress reports by the community?
Makeii: I'm probably not as oriented as some others, but I think that this is just a matter of taste. I am usually in The Saloon with a lot of really intricate developers, and I share a lot of ideas with them all the time.

Magnum2k: Can the BYOND community expect more projects from you in the future?
Makeii: I'll be doing a lot of stuff with BYOND, and if they aren't made in BYOND, I'll be sure to post the link with tumblr or other means. Tumblr is eventually going to be my main blog poster.

Magnum2k: If you can list one developer on BYOND that you have admired for their hard work and accomplishments, who would that be?
Makeii: Although he and I are usually not on the same page at times, I'd have to say Mikau knows what he's doing. He built his own mini-community within BYOND, and now everyone knows each other. A lot of developers I met through Chatters and The Saloon are really good programmers, but there wouldn't be a place to congregate to if Mikau wasn't hosting.

(Closing with questions)

Magnum2k: Thank you for your time, Makeii. Good luck with everything and I hope to see Edreoll fully released pretty soon!
Makeii: Well, I've got a question. Since you've tested the game so far, what do you think of it?
Magnum2k: It's great. The game-play is just extraordinary, to be honest. Although I'm not quite used to playing games with the zone-in maps(maps that don't scroll) like in Edreoll, I think I can get used to it by playing Edreoll, though. However, I do have counterfalls that I don't naturally like for a game like that, such as: the output chat, as you mentioned it could be like the "Mine
craft of BYOND", unique features such as on-screen chat and everything being screen-objective would be nice.
Makeii: Maybe in later releases I'll merge everything into one screen. That was my first intent. The downside of using everything in the map controls is that the server always needs to take time to do this, and you also need to hard code everything so that it works seamlessly. Also, I meant Minecraft's success, not its funtionality.

Magnum2k: Ah, I see. Once again, thank you for your time, Makeii!