ConfusedCartman
05-21-2010, 09:39 PM
http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/images/creator_spotlight.png
jump_button
The Softly Spoken Artist
Interview conducted by Teebonesy (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/member.php?3340-Teebonesy)
LittleBigPlanet is shelter to a matted wilderness of varied creators. So it only makes sense that somewhere out there you'd come across some fantastically individualistic creators with a wholly unique approach. Occasionally, you'd be right. Jump_button is the consummate quirky artist, a soldier in the ranks of unique and innovative creators devoted to originality in his work. He's soft-spoken, shy, he doesn't say or type much, and when he does it's often missing punctuation and any vestige of grammatical proofreading - But look beyond the sparse writing, and behold the concept sketches he does for his levels. They are as intricate and detailed and wonderful as you're likely to find in these talent-rich creatorlands. His artistry defines his levels, and despite his hesitancy to be an open book, his creations speak for him, and in the case of jump_button, they speak volumes more than any long-winded spotlight-introduction-writer ever could.
--------------------------
http://imgur.com/R1S36.png
In rusty Robot Town, where the wild robots graze...
http://imgur.com/fDthe.png
All right, this one isn’t really a question, but if you would be so kind, please list the levels you’ve published to date and any statistics you’d like to share with us, i.e. plays, hearts, how many rocket animals per level, etc. Whatever you feel like sharing.
Levels up now
Black & White Planet 1
Black & White Planet 2
Robot Town 2
Up & Away In Sky Town
Sky Town’s Rain Factory part 1
Sky Town’s Rain Factory part 2
Sackboy Tells a Bad Joke
The Nostalgia of the Infinite
The Forbidden Land: The Nostalgia of the Infinite
8 Bit shoot ‘em up
Tick Tock Woods
Levels no longer up
A Bridge too Far
Sky Dragon
Robot Town
Sackboy In Sky Town
Majora’s Mask Tribute
Metal Gear Solid Story Tribute
Now, tell me... of these levels, which is your favorite? And why?
It would have to be Up & Away In Sky Town. It was a level when everything came easy and just worked, and it's a nice relaxing level to play.
How long have you been playing LBP?
Well, I was lucky to get into the Beta and got the game the day it came out. (The delay over the song was a killer.)
What was the first full level you ever built? And what was it like?
A Bridge Too Far was the first level I built, it was a little like my Sky Town level. It was just a lot of broken bridges that you had to get over.
What creators and levels (if any) have inspired you to create?
There are a lot of good creators and levels that inspired me to do better and to keep going, a lot I wish I had the idea or the know how. But I don’t like looking into LBP for inspiration, I feel that they are [other creators'] levels and wouldn't want to take from them. Being inwards-looking is very limiting and do we really need more of the same? That's why we see fads like the sharks.
Aside from drawing inspiration from other creators and levels, is there anything in the world outside of LittleBigPlanet that inspires you? This could be a hobby, profession, or even a particular movie or type of music. Pretty much it can be anything in your personal life that has contributed to your experiences as well as inspired you as a creator.
Other Games, Anime, especially Studio Ghibli, Jing King of Bandits and FLCL are the big ones for me. And just everywhere. You never really know when or where you get inspiration from. Everyday there are things that could give you inspiration but it's up to you to see that.
What are some of your other favorite video games (excluding LBP) - new and old?
All Mario, Zelda, and Metal Gear Solid games, Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 9, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Chrono Trigger, Banjo-Kazooie, and Eternal Darkness
If you could list your favorite thing about LittleBigPlanet, what would it be?
Creating you own levels! Could it be anything other than that?
And your least favorite thing?
Being joined by slap-happy sackboys.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while creating?
Had a level fall apart on me and everything unglued, still no idea what it was.
On a sort of similar subject, have there ever been any great ideas you had that failed or for any other reason you never implemented?
In my Majora’s Mask Tribute remake trying make three days pass in game and if the player didn't get to the end when the three days passed, the moon would come falling. I still think it can be done, it's just a pain to get it right.
If you worked for Media Molecule, what would your first order of business be? This could be anything from adding materials or tools to eradicating H4H.
Well I’ve always wanted a long black and white striped scarf for my sackboy, so scarfs DLC, lol.
--------------------------
http://imgur.com/13HS3.png
The fantastic netherworld of "Black and White Planet"
http://imgur.com/TwHzS.png
Your level "Nostaglia of the Infinite," referencing the Giorgio de Chirico painting itself inspiring Fumito Ueda's original cover art for ICO, wears its inspiration on its sleeve - You're clearly a big fan of the work of Ueda and Team ICO. But something tells me we're not likely to see a level by you with "ICO" in the title. Could you talk about why originality is so important to you when you create, and how do you define the difference between doing a tribute level and simply drawing inspiration from a level?
Yeah, you’re right, I am a big fan of Team ICO, and you can’t call yourself a gamer if you have never played ICO or Shadow of the Colossus. The difference between doing a tribute level and drawing inspiration for a level is that it does not directly copy or build upon the storyline or game play of the source material as most traditional tributes would. Nevertheless, it features many of the same elements, themes, and styles as the source material. Ueda and Team ICO make they games in the same way; they don’t slap you in the face with links and ties to past games.
You might be considered a "strong-willed" creator - you don't let criticism get you down, and you tend to put a lot of effort into your levels, and you don't give up on an idea just because someone may not like it. When it comes to level ideas - How do you know you're going to do one and commit to it, and how important is that commitment?
I’ve been called a lot of things but never that. Hmmm... When I have clear ideas, I'll make some rough mock-ups to see if they can be done. But there's no point where I say “This is it!” and commit to it. It just happens slowly and everything falls into the level bit by bit. Criticism is never a bad thing, but if you give it, then you have to be ready to get some back.
You're clearly a very talented artist, the sketches you've published are amazing and have little bits of Steampunk, Anime, and something unique that's all yours. How big a role does your art play in your life, and how does it inform your level creation?
I just love drawing. It's nothing more than just a hobby and something to relax and do in my free time. I did fail my Art GNVQ - Mostly it has to be said, thanks to Barbie being the project we were given that year. Wish I was joking but I’m not. The artist side of LBP for me is a big part and so it plays a big part in level creation.
For a while you were working on a cool-looking Majora's Mask level that never came to be finished. I'd love to hear the detailed behind-the-scenes story of what you went through and what happened there.
It's still on my moon, I was trying to work out how to make three days pass in game, and items. Then I got hit by the failed to load level bug. Lost a lot of work and just have not been back on it. It was like falling off a horse: The longer you wait to try get back on, the harder it is to get back on.
Your levels have a very distinctive art style. You're one of the few creators out there that has a real signature to the overall look - You can look at any of your creations and say "that's a jump_button." How did you arrive at the look of Sky Town, Robot Town, Watermill Valley, etc?
I would say my style is a weird blend of fantasy and technology with a little Surrealism (meaning bizarre or dreamlike). The result is a quirky, colourful, odd-angles-looking level.
I’ve never been that good at defining my art style. Way I think about it is like every town got its own look and theme but exist in the same world. If that makes sense, I wish all towns were really like that!
What happened to Robot Town 1? Did you delete it from your published levels?
Taking down a level is never an easy thing to do. There were a lot of holes and stuff that needed fixing. It was an old level, one of my first lot of levels. When I find the time I hope to clean it up and put it back up.
You were chosen by Mm to create a level for the "Game of the Year" edition. You created Watermill Valley, a level that seems to be very comfortable living in the same world as "Sky Town". The process involved having to turn your level into Mm, them coming to your house, and shooting an interview with you. This seems like a terrifying prospect for the introverted artist you seem to be. Could you tell us all about that experience?
I was close to deleting the E-mail thinking it was that week's "Sack it to Me". Watermill Valley started with it being a Sky Town level, but I wanted to do the water element. It looks really dated now with water out, doing some of the same things but looks better. There were three stages: Beta, Alpha and Final. Mm did give us a lot of freedom to do what we wanted to. I did feel like I needed to really push myself more with the Watermill Valley. I hope that shows for back then. I was unsure about doing the intro, but sometimes you have to just say, "What the hell". I wish I didn’t now, thanks to the hate spam from random people. The guy that showed up to do the interview didn’t have an idea what he was doing ^^; In fact, he didn’t even know what LBP was and had never seen it! So, yeah, it was awkward.
And now... a lighthearted question: Man, you're a talker. Can I get a word in edgewise here?
Yeah, never been much of a talker!
Finally, is there anything you, as a creator, would like to add to this? Or any other experiences you’d like to share? If not, I’d like to ask one more question of you: If you could give any bit of advice to new creators out there who are thinking about entering the wonderful world of creating, what would it be?
Create for yourself and not for others. At the end of the day we all have the same tools. Anyone can easily create anything they can think of!
--------------------
http://imgur.com/h5h8L.png
HELP! Where's jwwphotos? Is that his balloon?! Sweet mercy!
http://imgur.com/5psMP.png
On this episode of Rewind, ScoutsBoo, Teebonesy, xkappax and jwwphotos visit the jump_button exhibit at the local art museum. Will they be able to behave themselves and not cause egregious damage to the precious artwork? Will we somehow manage to show off a ton of cool behind-the-scenes peeks at jump_button's classic levels? WILL WE?!?
...probably not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhfM4KiKanI
http://imgur.com/7NigL.png
Jump_Button's the quintessential LittleBigPlanet creator - He's a one-of-a-kind figure, absolutely unique and filled to bursting with quirk, talent, and imagination. Jump's known around the boards for his frequent pranks, early news-breaking, and rogue grammatical style. He's got strong opinions on originality and level creation, and at the same time his most-wanted DLC is some sweet scarfs. His eye for mood and visuals is peerless - You say "direct control seat", and he sees an aerial view of patchwork farms through a haze of drifting clouds. His levels are elegant, rewarding, relaxing, and visually stunning. If you haven't played a jump_button, or it's been a while, the wild worlds of Steven Foreman await.
jump_button
The Softly Spoken Artist
Interview conducted by Teebonesy (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/member.php?3340-Teebonesy)
LittleBigPlanet is shelter to a matted wilderness of varied creators. So it only makes sense that somewhere out there you'd come across some fantastically individualistic creators with a wholly unique approach. Occasionally, you'd be right. Jump_button is the consummate quirky artist, a soldier in the ranks of unique and innovative creators devoted to originality in his work. He's soft-spoken, shy, he doesn't say or type much, and when he does it's often missing punctuation and any vestige of grammatical proofreading - But look beyond the sparse writing, and behold the concept sketches he does for his levels. They are as intricate and detailed and wonderful as you're likely to find in these talent-rich creatorlands. His artistry defines his levels, and despite his hesitancy to be an open book, his creations speak for him, and in the case of jump_button, they speak volumes more than any long-winded spotlight-introduction-writer ever could.
--------------------------
http://imgur.com/R1S36.png
In rusty Robot Town, where the wild robots graze...
http://imgur.com/fDthe.png
All right, this one isn’t really a question, but if you would be so kind, please list the levels you’ve published to date and any statistics you’d like to share with us, i.e. plays, hearts, how many rocket animals per level, etc. Whatever you feel like sharing.
Levels up now
Black & White Planet 1
Black & White Planet 2
Robot Town 2
Up & Away In Sky Town
Sky Town’s Rain Factory part 1
Sky Town’s Rain Factory part 2
Sackboy Tells a Bad Joke
The Nostalgia of the Infinite
The Forbidden Land: The Nostalgia of the Infinite
8 Bit shoot ‘em up
Tick Tock Woods
Levels no longer up
A Bridge too Far
Sky Dragon
Robot Town
Sackboy In Sky Town
Majora’s Mask Tribute
Metal Gear Solid Story Tribute
Now, tell me... of these levels, which is your favorite? And why?
It would have to be Up & Away In Sky Town. It was a level when everything came easy and just worked, and it's a nice relaxing level to play.
How long have you been playing LBP?
Well, I was lucky to get into the Beta and got the game the day it came out. (The delay over the song was a killer.)
What was the first full level you ever built? And what was it like?
A Bridge Too Far was the first level I built, it was a little like my Sky Town level. It was just a lot of broken bridges that you had to get over.
What creators and levels (if any) have inspired you to create?
There are a lot of good creators and levels that inspired me to do better and to keep going, a lot I wish I had the idea or the know how. But I don’t like looking into LBP for inspiration, I feel that they are [other creators'] levels and wouldn't want to take from them. Being inwards-looking is very limiting and do we really need more of the same? That's why we see fads like the sharks.
Aside from drawing inspiration from other creators and levels, is there anything in the world outside of LittleBigPlanet that inspires you? This could be a hobby, profession, or even a particular movie or type of music. Pretty much it can be anything in your personal life that has contributed to your experiences as well as inspired you as a creator.
Other Games, Anime, especially Studio Ghibli, Jing King of Bandits and FLCL are the big ones for me. And just everywhere. You never really know when or where you get inspiration from. Everyday there are things that could give you inspiration but it's up to you to see that.
What are some of your other favorite video games (excluding LBP) - new and old?
All Mario, Zelda, and Metal Gear Solid games, Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 9, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Chrono Trigger, Banjo-Kazooie, and Eternal Darkness
If you could list your favorite thing about LittleBigPlanet, what would it be?
Creating you own levels! Could it be anything other than that?
And your least favorite thing?
Being joined by slap-happy sackboys.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened while creating?
Had a level fall apart on me and everything unglued, still no idea what it was.
On a sort of similar subject, have there ever been any great ideas you had that failed or for any other reason you never implemented?
In my Majora’s Mask Tribute remake trying make three days pass in game and if the player didn't get to the end when the three days passed, the moon would come falling. I still think it can be done, it's just a pain to get it right.
If you worked for Media Molecule, what would your first order of business be? This could be anything from adding materials or tools to eradicating H4H.
Well I’ve always wanted a long black and white striped scarf for my sackboy, so scarfs DLC, lol.
--------------------------
http://imgur.com/13HS3.png
The fantastic netherworld of "Black and White Planet"
http://imgur.com/TwHzS.png
Your level "Nostaglia of the Infinite," referencing the Giorgio de Chirico painting itself inspiring Fumito Ueda's original cover art for ICO, wears its inspiration on its sleeve - You're clearly a big fan of the work of Ueda and Team ICO. But something tells me we're not likely to see a level by you with "ICO" in the title. Could you talk about why originality is so important to you when you create, and how do you define the difference between doing a tribute level and simply drawing inspiration from a level?
Yeah, you’re right, I am a big fan of Team ICO, and you can’t call yourself a gamer if you have never played ICO or Shadow of the Colossus. The difference between doing a tribute level and drawing inspiration for a level is that it does not directly copy or build upon the storyline or game play of the source material as most traditional tributes would. Nevertheless, it features many of the same elements, themes, and styles as the source material. Ueda and Team ICO make they games in the same way; they don’t slap you in the face with links and ties to past games.
You might be considered a "strong-willed" creator - you don't let criticism get you down, and you tend to put a lot of effort into your levels, and you don't give up on an idea just because someone may not like it. When it comes to level ideas - How do you know you're going to do one and commit to it, and how important is that commitment?
I’ve been called a lot of things but never that. Hmmm... When I have clear ideas, I'll make some rough mock-ups to see if they can be done. But there's no point where I say “This is it!” and commit to it. It just happens slowly and everything falls into the level bit by bit. Criticism is never a bad thing, but if you give it, then you have to be ready to get some back.
You're clearly a very talented artist, the sketches you've published are amazing and have little bits of Steampunk, Anime, and something unique that's all yours. How big a role does your art play in your life, and how does it inform your level creation?
I just love drawing. It's nothing more than just a hobby and something to relax and do in my free time. I did fail my Art GNVQ - Mostly it has to be said, thanks to Barbie being the project we were given that year. Wish I was joking but I’m not. The artist side of LBP for me is a big part and so it plays a big part in level creation.
For a while you were working on a cool-looking Majora's Mask level that never came to be finished. I'd love to hear the detailed behind-the-scenes story of what you went through and what happened there.
It's still on my moon, I was trying to work out how to make three days pass in game, and items. Then I got hit by the failed to load level bug. Lost a lot of work and just have not been back on it. It was like falling off a horse: The longer you wait to try get back on, the harder it is to get back on.
Your levels have a very distinctive art style. You're one of the few creators out there that has a real signature to the overall look - You can look at any of your creations and say "that's a jump_button." How did you arrive at the look of Sky Town, Robot Town, Watermill Valley, etc?
I would say my style is a weird blend of fantasy and technology with a little Surrealism (meaning bizarre or dreamlike). The result is a quirky, colourful, odd-angles-looking level.
I’ve never been that good at defining my art style. Way I think about it is like every town got its own look and theme but exist in the same world. If that makes sense, I wish all towns were really like that!
What happened to Robot Town 1? Did you delete it from your published levels?
Taking down a level is never an easy thing to do. There were a lot of holes and stuff that needed fixing. It was an old level, one of my first lot of levels. When I find the time I hope to clean it up and put it back up.
You were chosen by Mm to create a level for the "Game of the Year" edition. You created Watermill Valley, a level that seems to be very comfortable living in the same world as "Sky Town". The process involved having to turn your level into Mm, them coming to your house, and shooting an interview with you. This seems like a terrifying prospect for the introverted artist you seem to be. Could you tell us all about that experience?
I was close to deleting the E-mail thinking it was that week's "Sack it to Me". Watermill Valley started with it being a Sky Town level, but I wanted to do the water element. It looks really dated now with water out, doing some of the same things but looks better. There were three stages: Beta, Alpha and Final. Mm did give us a lot of freedom to do what we wanted to. I did feel like I needed to really push myself more with the Watermill Valley. I hope that shows for back then. I was unsure about doing the intro, but sometimes you have to just say, "What the hell". I wish I didn’t now, thanks to the hate spam from random people. The guy that showed up to do the interview didn’t have an idea what he was doing ^^; In fact, he didn’t even know what LBP was and had never seen it! So, yeah, it was awkward.
And now... a lighthearted question: Man, you're a talker. Can I get a word in edgewise here?
Yeah, never been much of a talker!
Finally, is there anything you, as a creator, would like to add to this? Or any other experiences you’d like to share? If not, I’d like to ask one more question of you: If you could give any bit of advice to new creators out there who are thinking about entering the wonderful world of creating, what would it be?
Create for yourself and not for others. At the end of the day we all have the same tools. Anyone can easily create anything they can think of!
--------------------
http://imgur.com/h5h8L.png
HELP! Where's jwwphotos? Is that his balloon?! Sweet mercy!
http://imgur.com/5psMP.png
On this episode of Rewind, ScoutsBoo, Teebonesy, xkappax and jwwphotos visit the jump_button exhibit at the local art museum. Will they be able to behave themselves and not cause egregious damage to the precious artwork? Will we somehow manage to show off a ton of cool behind-the-scenes peeks at jump_button's classic levels? WILL WE?!?
...probably not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhfM4KiKanI
http://imgur.com/7NigL.png
Jump_Button's the quintessential LittleBigPlanet creator - He's a one-of-a-kind figure, absolutely unique and filled to bursting with quirk, talent, and imagination. Jump's known around the boards for his frequent pranks, early news-breaking, and rogue grammatical style. He's got strong opinions on originality and level creation, and at the same time his most-wanted DLC is some sweet scarfs. His eye for mood and visuals is peerless - You say "direct control seat", and he sees an aerial view of patchwork farms through a haze of drifting clouds. His levels are elegant, rewarding, relaxing, and visually stunning. If you haven't played a jump_button, or it's been a while, the wild worlds of Steven Foreman await.