Journalism Interview: SuperSaiyanGokuX

SSGX: Back in October of 2001, a BYOND user (key name "Liushinkyu") joined my (long dead) DB/Z/GT Yahoo Club and made a post all about how cool this new "BYOND" thing he found was, and how you could play all kinds of DBZ games on it (in fact, I believe the rip problem had already taken hold even then, as he mentioned that many users were tired of seeing DBZ games)

The way the post was written made me think that it was his own site he was promoting, so I actually deleted the post as spam (we were very strict on spam on our board)

Fortunately, though, I went and checked it out anyways, just for kicks, and I fell in love immediately... I had been looking for a way to program a game idea I had floating around, and I knew right away that BYOND was the perfect tool for me... I bought the Blue Book within days, read it cover to cover, and dove in...

That original game idea was a DBZ roleplaying battle system (meant to be played via IM or message board posts, with some stats and formulas to keep score) that eventually became DBTC...

A somewhat interesting note is that due to the timing of my first arrival at BYOND, the front page of BYOND had a poem about the 9/11 tragedy that remained the first thing seen on the website for a few weeks... I forget the exact words now, but I'll never forget that image of the site...

SSGX: I think that it has definitely changed quite a bit during my time in it. For one, there are quite a few more users these days... It seemed "back in my day" that the community mostly consisted of a handful of core developers (people like Spuzzum, Zilal, Gazoot, Gughunter, SilkWizard, Lummox JR, Flick, etc.) and what felt like only a few "outside" users (though even then it was probably already in the thousands of players) These days, many of the older developers are gone or simply inactive, and there are many more "new" active voices in the community...

Another big change during my time is that the community has gone from only having the old developer forums (and pager) for communication, to the addition of the player forums and member blogs, which has considerably changed the speed of discussions and the topics covered...

Now, as for whether the changes to the community have made it better or worse, it's tough for me to say... On one hand, having so many more users means that there are more opportunities to bring out new good developers in addition to simply having more players for existing games... But on the other hand, having so many more people has sort of made it feel a little less close-knit and less like a "club" like it used to seem... It's also added quite a bit of extra drama...

So yeah, the community has changed a lot over the years, which I guess I'd say has both good and bad results (even though that sounds like a cop out)...

SSGX: Murder Mansion was inspired by a roleplaying game that was started by a member on the DragonballToys.com message board (which I used to visit quite regularly) That game was inspired by the board game Clue(do), and it basically had all of the players trying to solve crimes by exploring the mansion for clues and such (and sometimes committing their own crimes in the process)

By that time, I had already become fairly experienced with BYOND, and I saw that the idea had a lot of potential to be turned into a BYOND game, so I quickly set to work (with the blessings of the guy who started it on the message board, of course) At first, the focus was going to be on roleplaying, with the game mostly providing a graphical backdrop and some tools to carry out actions, and it slowly evolved into the more action-oriented game it is today...

My main inspiration to keep working on it comes mostly from a simple drive to create... I've mentioned this around BYOND a few times, but the truth is I honestly don't get much enjoyment out of the process of creating games (programming, making graphics, making maps, troubleshooting, etc.), but I really, really enjoy seeing a finished product... I tend to see all of the work as a necessary evil to get to the end... I get an idea into my head of something to add or improve, and it gives me the drive to keep working until I bring that idea into reality and show it off to the players (which is another source of inspiration... I'm a junkie for the praise that comes after an update)

As for the future, I actually do intend to keep updating it... In fact, I've got a list of things I want to add or improve, and have even begun work on much of it (adding more maps, mostly), but time for BYOND has been in very short supply for the past few years, and I'm not making much progress... Someday, though!

SSGX: Currently (and for the last 2 1/2 years) my most major time consumer is being a parent, followed closely by work...

I work overnight, and my wife works during the day, so when I get home in the morning, she's about to head out the door, and my son and I hang out until she gets home in the evening, when I go to bed...

So between the three (work, childcare, and sleep), my computer time isn't quite what it used to be... It's been especially difficult the last year or so, because work has been busy, and I've been working 6 days a week almost every week (which takes away much of any weekend free time I might have been able to squeeze out)

In addition to that, we've been homeowners for the last 2 or so years, which brings all kinds of new chores (lawncare, maintenance, light renovations, more space to keep clean, etc.) that I didn't have when we were only renting (or back even further when I was still living with my parents, which I was when I first started tinkering with BYOND)

My son is now at an age where he can spend more time by himself every now and then (watching TV, playing with his toys, taking a nap, etc.) so daddy gets to sneak onto the computer a bit more than before, but just as that has happened, we're now expecting our second child (baby #2 should be here by the end of this month, in fact!) which will probably cut me off almost completely for quite a while (two kids, especially when one is a newborn, is often 4 times the work...lol)

I was actually hoping to push out some more content for Murder Mansion before our next child is born, but the "deadline" is drawing very close, and I doubt I'll make it (especially since I tend to get distracted very easily, and wind up wasting the computer time I *do* have doing other things, like mindless web browsing... don't worry, though, this interview isn't causing a problem : ) )

Wow, I guess the original question only asked for *one* of my major time-consumers, but I do always tend to ramble...lol

SSGX: Well, it's not my dream job (and definitely not what I'd call a career), but it's alright (and certainly better than nothing!)

I work at a circuit board manufacturing plant, operating "Surface Mount Technology" (SMT) machines... The machines I run attach all of the components that are soldered flat onto the surface of a circuit board; mostly the little flat rectangular capacitors and resistors, but also things like LEDs and "integrated circuits" (the black rectangular parts with multiple legs, what some people think of as "chips") basically any kind of part that doesn't have legs that go through the board... Mostly the job consists of setting up the machines (loading the parts needed, running the proper programs, adjusting conveyors & tools, etc.) and then babysitting them while they do the work (monitoring the output for quality control, and troubleshooting/correcting errors)

I believe that most factory jobs tend to be dirty and/or hot (I'm not speaking from personal experience, though, as this is only the second job I've had in my life, and the first was at Wal*Mart), but with electronics, everything needs to be climate controlled and clean, so as far as manufacturing goes it's a good area to be in... Most manufacturing jobs also tend to be tedious/monotonous (including almost everything we do where I work) but my job is a bit less so because it involves multiple machines and tasks (as opposed to, for example, the poor souls who sit at a testing station all day)

All in all, it's not exactly something I want to do for the rest of my working life, but it pays the bills and isn't too much of a pain... Plus, with unemployment so high (especially in my area; north central Ohio) it's good to have such a stable job (in fact, while so many companies around here were closing their doors due to the economic implosion, we've actually been too busy, as I mentioned in my answer about where my time goes)

P.S. If any of my answers so far seem to be getting into "tl;dr" territory, feel free to edit them down before publishing this interview... As most BYONDers who are familiar with me already know, I tend to be pretty wordy, but not many people are willing to read through so much text... So I'll leave it in your hands to cut things down as you see fit...

SSGX: Part of my problem is that I'm still not sure what my dream job would be... I do know that it would probably have to involve computers and art of some kind, but even with those traits, the list of possibilities is still pretty long (web designer, graphic designer, animator, or of course, video game designer)

Currently, though, I don't have the education or training (or level of dedication/motivation) necessary to get any of those types of jobs... I may have some decent talent and skills (that's a matter of opinion, of course), but it's all self-taught, and that doesn't always look impressive on a resume...

Like I said before, though, I really don't want to be stuck working in a factory (or worse) until retirement, so sooner or later I'll probably have to get off my butt and decide what I really want to do "when I grow up" and actually go for it... I'm just not sure how long that will be from now...

SSGX: Back in the day, I could make some nifty little programs using the form of BASIC that is used on TI Scientific Calculators (and even most of that I'm sure I've forgotten), but that's all I know other than DM...

I suppose that if I ever want to get into actual professional programming (not really likely, as I actually don't really enjoy the programming aspect of creating games, so I'm not likely to enjoy doing it for a living, especially on potentially boring projects) or if I ever simply want to create something outside of BYOND (perhaps a stand-alone version of Murder Mansion or something like that) then I'll have to learn one or more of the professional languages (some of which I hear are fairly easy to make the leap to after having a good understanding of DM)

So I guess I could say that I currently don't have any plans to learn any other languages, but it's one of those "maybe some day" kinds of things...

SSGX: I guess I'd have to say that my greatest accomplishment on BYOND is simply the fact that I've actually created and "finished"* some games... I say that because it honestly doesn't seem to be very common, especially among the more experienced developers and those that create original games... Many BYOND developers appear to be mainly tinkerers, who get grand ideas, rush off to work on the next big project, make a lot of noise about it, and then nothing ever really comes of it... Either they simply run out of steam, or they get distracted with another idea, or life intervenes...

Granted, I succumb to these faults myself (in fact, it's really amazing to me that I have managed to get a couple of rather large projects "completed"*, along with a couple of smaller ones), so I'm not trying to insult anyone... It just seems like such a waste to me sometimes, though, that there's a handful of people on the site that I know have the capability to put out some amazing games, yet always seem to just be spinning their wheels...

In particular, I'm proud of DBTC the most (though it's in bad need of a major overhaul, in virtually every aspect, and it's not quite as publically beloved as Murder Mansion) Not many people are aware of just how much time has gone into that particular game... Not just in the actual creation (as in graphics, programming, etc.), but in honest to goodness research... I've gone to great lengths to be as thorough as possible in including elements from the DB/Z/GT universe, in whatever form I possibly could... Nearly every character (excluding the most minor ones) makes an appearance somewhere in the game (even if it's only someplace in the background), and I've tried to recreate most of the major locations, items, and battles (even though most of the content based directly off of existing battles is very simple) For many of the elements in the game, time was spent looking through images from the series, or even rewatching particular episodes or movies to ensure that the details are as accurate as I could make them... It was really a lot of work that I doubt I'd have ever put into it if I weren't such a fan...

*I put the words "finished" and "completed" in quotes because, as most of us know, our projects are never really finished or completed...lol They might make it to a fully playable state, and contain enough content to seem like a complete game, but there's always something more to be done, even if that's just hammering out bugs...

SSGX: I've never been a fan of the pager... I generally avoid it like the plague, and I honestly don't like having to log in through it and leave it running whenever I'm testing my projects... I try to keep it as far out of the way as possible, including setting it to "Always Hide" in the taskbar, turning off sound notifications, and setting myself to hidden/invisible (when I remember to)...

That's nothing against the BYOND pager (or community), it's just my own personal preference... I also very rarely ever use other instant messenging programs (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) and I never even carry my cell phone in real life (in fact, I only ever use prepaid phones, and my current one is sitting somewhere around the house with a dead battery and hasn't had any minutes purchased for it in over a year) I just don't like being in constant contact with everyone...lol

But aside from my aversion to the pager, my initial reaction to the BYOND setup process was one of confusion... It's a bit different than the "normal" account setup process... For one, I don't think any other site/program/forum/whatever I've ever registered for handled new account registration through the software, instead of directly through the site itself... Secondly, I had never (and still haven't) seen a username referred to as a "key" anywhere but BYOND... So that term threw me off for a moment or two (to this day, it still strikes me as a bit odd)

As for the software itself, the download and installation process was pretty self-explanatory, but it was quite a while before I ever realized the point of the Daemon (I've personally never seen any reason to simply host a server for others... if I'm going to be hosting, I'm going to be playing, so all I need is the Seeker) I've still never used the thing...