Don't get Trapped in Pursuit of the Interview, Escape NOW!!

Hi, could you please tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I am the owner of Godlimations.com. I have been working with Armor Games for the last 3 years and it has been a lot of fun. My nationality is Half polish, half Wallisian, a small island in the pacific islands close to Fiji. I work at home and nobody I’ve met ever understood what it is that I do. It’s not a culturally normal job making website games for a company in America, whilst residing in Australia, especially since the title “godlimations” sounds nothing more than an enigma.

How did you get interested and involved in the world of Flash games and animations? What came first? games or animations?

My first influence began with Dragon Ball Z at the age of 5, following other popular anime cartoons as years progressed. The old traditional method of animating (Light box, scanner, computer) was an extremely long process, involving expenses, time and structure that was not affordable for me. Comic book drawing seemed like the way to substitute.

When Flash came into the picture, it offered me the solution to a quick and easy way to animate as an independent developer. It encouraged me to pursue this career path, at no knowledge or anticipation where it would lead me. Eventually, I was offered a job as a supervisor for an animation project, and later down the track, an editor for a church of roughly 2000.

My next move was to work full-time on my website by providing Armor Games with content. This was my ticket out of a socially miserable work life, and more-so the control of my own work, not being told what to do for other people and how to do it etc. The gaming market was, and still is statistically more popular than animation, which lead me to a compromise of continuing story telling/animations inside the realm of the flash gaming industry.

How did you come up with the ideas for and stories behind the Escape series of games? Are there any more sequels or prequels planned?

My first point and click adventure experience was “Broken Sword”, which amazed me. It never crossed my mind (though highly debatable) that a “Point and click” interaction can actually be considered a game. And then came the flash game crimson/viridian room produced by Fasco that also amazed me. The Escape series were produced from particles taken from these games. The idea from Broken Sword that a game can be a good game provided minimal interaction and a heck of a darn good story line. The Fasco games which provide the easy mechanics of a Flash game. Anyone can make a point and click adventure these days now… All it takes is a good story and the point and click genre will never die.

Often I am asked the question of STRANDED, the sequel to Escape, along with many other unsolved questions. Stranded is on stand-by, depending on my schedule. In the mean-time, there are plenty of stories around the bend waiting to be unmasked with my talents. I can make a story a lot better than the escape series. Besides, Escape series has a lot of plot holes, may I begin with the banana knife fishing rope rod?

Which of your games did you have the most fun making?

“Trapped”. Never again will I have the pleasure of revolutionizing the point and click genre, as I do believe “Trapped” was the first of many. It was also my first experience making a game based off one of the greatest games I’ve ever experienced, and succeeding enough in sharing that experience with the rest of the world.

What was your first Flash game?

Oh no… It was never made public. I made a trailer called “LOX” which is based on a fairy tale nightmare. It was turned into a shooter game, where you had to click on the enemy following an animation, since I could not make an enemy life bar due to my subpar code knowledge. I lost the game and wished I didn’t. Zombie Erik was my first public game.

There is a great deal of artwork within your games and animations. Typically, how long does it take for you to produce a game or an animation?

It takes roughly 1-3 months for each game and animation. I find animation a lot faster, since coding is not a requisite. Most of my time is spent on finding solutions to a code error rather than just slapping in code where it needs to be. My longest game in production was Wonderboy Legends. The game was scrambled up with mountains of unnecessary code. It was rather an unfinished experiment that crashed my computer every single time I tried to test it. My 2nd attempt at an RPG was Dragon Boy, which showed major improvements on all aspects, as a gesture to apologize for my previous monstrosity.

What are your future plans when it comes to Flash development?

I hope to commit myself to Flash development for a long time. It’s a good investment. Since the beginning, I’ve wanted to produce my own cartoon series. I love to entertain, tell stories and share the experience. I never really have any “Plans”, so I hope every day for the best to come.

When did your website go live?

It went live in 2004. The Alias known as Inglor was very helpful at the time.

Do you have any changes or further developments planned for your website?

The current look has a few bugs. I will be looking at changing it at the end of next year for introducing a new series which I will hope to achieve. Either that, or I’ll be forming an entirely new website for this cartoon series.

How’d you come up with the name Godlimations? What’s it mean?

I was sitting in my office desk back in 2004 drinking my coffee n biscuits for brekky. The name sparked into my head, godly animations… cut it down, you get godlimations. The context explains my initiation to Christianity, and what I believe in now.

A lot of your games have themes from the Bible. What role has the Bible and your faith played in shaping your games and your beliefs?

I look back at the word of God embedded in my games, some to which I make an irrelevant point about what I believe in. I realize now this wasn’t a good strategy for evangelism. I figure, if I want to convey the message of God in my games, the game needs to come with good morale. I’ve learnt from stories by CS Lewis that came biblically linear. The lions death and resurrection (Christ on the cross) in the Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis’ friend J.R Tolkien, also had a different point of view expressing biblical morals through Lord of the Rings, another great influence.

When you are not working with Flash, what are some things you enjoy doing?

Hanging out with friends, reading, watching movies, messing with my talk box n microKorg, road trips, working out at the gym, basketball, eating, bible studies….

Thanks Patrick for answering our questions. We look forward to seeing more Godlimation Games in the future.