v Interactive Fantasies

 
(ƒ) does a happy lil' dance

 
 


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Hercules:

It has been a long time since you left Software Visions. The good ol' time... Are you still looking back at that time, when you were in a big company?

Matt Williams:

I look back to my days in Software Visions occasionally. It was a great time for me. I was very proud and happy to be the first Software Visions member other than Greg. If Greg were still around and still with the community, I think that I would be happy to still be a part of Software Visions. He was the center of the entire company, and when he left, I just couldn't keep it together. I do enjoy my freedom now, however.

Hercules:

Did you ever find out why Greg Janson stopped with his work in MegaZeux? I mean, you were in SV, too, at that time.

Matt Williams:

It's common public knowledge that he left because he was no longer interested in continuing his work with MegaZeux. He had other things in his life, such as a job, college, and other various obligations. MegaZeux came after all of those, and thus the work had to be stopped.

Coolness screenshot
Hercules:

Okay, enough about Software Visions now; they're not even making MegaZeux games anymore. Now, I think, mWorld is *very* successful. Why do you think this is? What does it have that many (not all) other ZZT/MZX-related sites don't have?

Matt Williams:

mWorld, IMHO, is successful because of the constant updates. There are many informative MegaZeux pages, but few of them remain current. I also think that mWorld is successful because of its simple style and approach (most pages only have one graphic). The only other reason I can think of is the fact that it covers a wide assortment of things. I have a MegaZeux design section, online Robotic reference, a news archive, updates on my personal projects, IRC section, a large collection of links, special features, and I'm the central distribution point of just about anything MegaZeux source code related.

Hercules:

Your current projects are Coolness ][ and Escape From The Farm. Can you tell me something about those games. I mean, about the plot, and how they will work.

Matt Williams:

Work on Coolness ][ has been haulted (due to myself not being interested in it at this time). Work on Escape from the Farm is sparse, but still coming along well. In Escape from the Farm, you play a chicken named Lily, who sees one of her friends violently murdered by the farmer. She sets out to leave the farm with her life, and join the circus. Along the way, she meets many animals and people. EFTF is a 3/4 overhead game (RPG perspective, and the usual MegaZeux style). You control Lily, and you talk to animals in the usual way. The talk system is quite unique, in that word balloons are used, just like in a comic book. They are even positioned above the talking characters head! The inventory system is on a second screen, and features a neat comical interface. HUGE characters will also be spread throughout EFTF. Mainly in talk scenes, you will be able to see a large animal talk (as big as 10 tall and several more wide) in full animation. A large character Lily is also fully animated on the inventory screen. Also, there will be several special games that require complex programming.

Hercules:

Are the rumors about MegaZeux v2.52 true? If so, who's programming it?

Matt Williams:

I'm unaware of such rumors. ^_^ It seems like Zixyer was doing something like that (but don't quote me on it).

Hercules:

Anything you still want to say to the readers?

Matt Williams:

Yeah - have fun with your MegaZeux games! Whenever I work on EFTF, I totally let my creative juices flow; especially the silly ones! =)