An Interview with naver | SCREAM SCENE
Today we are interviewing naver: game jammer and SCREAM ZONE moderator.
Hi! Firstly, thank you for all your work as a moderator in the SCREAM ZONE Discord. You’ve done a bit of everything, from engaging with the community to adding emoji and you’ve really improved the place! How do you feel about the Discord server’s role in the continued growth of our game jams?
Well it already serves as a great place for people to get help or feedback on their projects, and to assemble teams.
In my time in Scream Zone I’ve definitely found it to have a very positive and open atmosphere. Some people come through and say it’s their first time making a game, and the more experienced members respond with encouragement and don’t mind answering a lot of questions. I think that environment is a lot of what encourages people to stick around, by making the Scream Zone feel like not only a recurring jam, but also a community.
Apart from video games, what other mediums do you work with as an artist? Have you always been interested in creating art?
The first thing I ever wanted to be was a writer. I wrote a lot of short stories when I was little, and assumed I’d be a novelist one day. Then I tried and realized how much work it was. The height of my career was winning a $20 Amazon gift card. Once I got into drawing I wanted to do comics (well my middle-school weeb self would have phrased it as being a mangaka) but I’ve never actually pursued that. I still think about ideas for them from time to time, though.
You worked on Cat Cat Attack! for Ludum Dare 42 in 2018. Was this how you made your leap from being simply interested in game development to actually making games? Were the challenges and payoffs of game dev what you thought they would be?
I haven’t thought about that in a while! But not at all, no. My only first for that project was exploring pixel art. My first foray into game dev was when I was around nine. I got into Newgrounds and Albino Blacksheep at about the same time my father bought Macromedia Flash during a quickly abandoned dream (I take after him a good bit) of being a cartoonist. Once he lost interest, I took it over and started making crappy Flash games. I think ActionScript is still what I’m most versed in, honestly.
As far as the challenges being what I thought they would be, I definitely vastly underestimated how much work making games is. Which I think is easy to do, as a player. You see something you don’t like in a game and just think to yourself, I’d do this better by doing that. But then if you actually sit down to do that, you realize what a process that turns out to be.
I haven’t really had much payoff. Despite the time I’ve invested in the hobby and amount I’ve learned, I’ve yet to finish a real project that I’m proud of. But I’ve had fun along the way, so I wouldn’t say it’s been a waste of time. It’s also, going back to my previous point a bit, given me a better perspective as a gamer. I think even a casual interest in the development side of things gives you a better understanding of what you play, and leads you to appreciate what you might have taken for granted.
As someone who regularly streams on Twitch, what role do you perceive streamers and Let’s Players having in the game jamming process?
Of course there’s promotion. Coverage from a big content creator will generate a lot of interest not only for the jam, but also the participating developers. But what I’d like to see is more streams/videos covering development. Aside from generating interest, it provides another avenue to learn from or help each other. It can also be neat to be able to go back and see your old process and how you’ve improved if you’ve got a record of it. And it just makes the development process a lot more enjoyable.
Working on my entry for a vampire jam is one of my fondest dev memories. Not because of anything to do with the game, but because I was laughing and making jokes with the people watching my dev stream.
You’ve cited Cube (1997) as your favourite scary movie. Have it (and movies like it) influenced your creative process?
I definitely think about what I can apply or avoid in my own work based on films and books. I think my biggest takeaway is whatever the story is, it has to matter. I don’t know where I got this definition from because googling it gave me a different answer, but to me art means to evoke an emotional response. For a story to do that, you have to get them invested in the characters. If I don’t care about the protagonist, or the cast at large, because they’re boring, or not likeable, or what have you, I’m not going to feel anything when something happens to them. With Cube, I still would’ve liked it even if I weren’t rooting for Leaven and Worth, because it’s a cool giant machine of death traps, but it would be far from my favourite.
This is more of a personal thing, but I think to matter it also has to have happened. My biggest pet peeve in stories is when they get to the end and it turns out to be a dream, or time rewinds to the start of the movie. Whatever plot device they use to say just kidding, didn’t happen. What does that accomplish, beyond wasting my time?
Who is your favourite Planescape: Torment character and why is it Morte?
It’s really hard to pick one, because they have so much depth. Like I initially assumed I would hate Fall-From-Grace, because I tend to hate pretty girl types. Or presumed to be pretty, when the graphics are limited. But once you talk to her she turns out to be super interesting and complicated. Then there’s Dak’kon who’s about as fun as a stack of bricks, but learning his religion is fascinating.
I do think Morte is probably the most fully fleshed character — probably could’ve phrased that better — once you learn about his history and relationship with the Nameless One. But ultimately, it’s Annah. Show me a sassy red head and I’ll show you my favourite character.
Are the kinds of games and media that you enjoy playing and consuming necessarily the same kinds of games and media that you would like to create?
It was very aligned for a time. I made and consumed Flash games and cartoons. Then I made and consumed visual novels. But it’s definitely gotten less so with time. It’s hard to nail down specifics because I’ve got pretty varied tastes, and if we’re only talking about things I’d like to create and not realistically could create, there’s a lot there, too. I think the biggest distinction is that I really enjoy cooperative games. Whether in video, board, or TTRPG form, games are the main way I spend time with friends and socialize. But I’ve only ever worked on or thought about single player projects when it comes to development.
Along the same lines, do you have any game ideas which are beyond your current scope that you’d like to be able to make eventually?
Pff, all of them. Tons. I have boxes full of binders full of ideas stacked against the wall of my office. A friend once suggested I scan them into my computer, but honestly that might take as much time as actually making one. I guess if I were to pick one to talk about, just because I came across some old sketches for it recently, it’s Dungeons and Zombies. It could probably use a more clever name. It was originally a concept for a comic, but I eventually thought about how I’d execute it as a game.
Anyway, the game is centred around a group of friends, and a couple new additions, that start a D&D campaign right as a zombie apocalypse hits. It’s split into three parts. There is a survival aspect, where they scavenge for supplies. I picture this a side scrolling point and click number. Then a VN aspect, where they talk in their base(ment) and build relationships. Lastly the fantasy aspect, where they pass the time by playing their campaign, executed as a turn based RPG. It might work better as an ordinary apocalypse rather than a zombie one, especially with the emphasis on using the campaign to occupy themselves. But I really like zombies.
Do you find it easier to get your creative vision across by working as part of a team during a jam or by working on your own?
They both have their pros and cons. The full control of solo work is great, you don’t have to compromise any ideas, or struggle to communicate exactly what you’re envisioning in your head to your collaborators. But it’s also just so much work. And there are your shortcomings to consider, unless you’re Superman. For example, despite playing several instruments, I have no talent for composition. So my only real options there are getting help or finding pre-made musical assets.
Teams I think have the potential to be the best and the worst option. There are the creative struggles I mentioned above, but also each member’s personal issues to be concerned with. Maybe that one keeps saying they’ll do it tomorrow, that one has a temper. This one seemed perfect… until they just stopped answering messages. I’ve been in a lot of teams that inevitably fall apart because it’s not the right people. But when you do have the right people, who can get along, who can each pull their own weight, who can communicate like healthy adults… I’d much rather have that than work on my own.
Having made the signature “favourite scary movie” final question obsolete, I’ll instead ask you a very important and burning question: what is your favourite type of pasta?
That’s a challenging question because pasta is my favourite food group. I would say spaghetti, but with alfredo. No one said it’s only for fettuccine. Add chicken, broccoli, onion, and some crispety bacon. This is getting close to carbonara but I’m still calling it spaghetti.
SCREAM SCENE is a series dedicated to interviewing members of the SCREAM ZONE Discord and team. If you have participated in multiple SCREAM ZONE game jams and would like to be interviewed by us, please contact us on Discord, Twitter, or via email.
This interview was conducted by Caveware Digital and includes questions from Josef Frank. Thank you for reading!
