arastoph
Jezrhen-king: What is your favorite creation that you have made?
Arastoph:Hmm a tricky one to start with! I would have to say my favorite creation is Blizzaro. He was the first creation i ever made which got me a lot of attention and subscribers!! His general design came from a lot of experimentation with parts (the weapon parts mostly) and thanks to what i learnt making him i developed the style you guys know and love (?) today! His paint job is also rather awesome and glows!
Jezrhen-king: When you make a creature/vehicle/building, what do you do? (do you make it up as you go, or do you have some sort of plan?)
Jezrhen-king: What is your favorite creation that you have made?
Arastoph:Hmm a tricky one to start with! I would have to say my favorite creation is Blizzaro. He was the first creation i ever made which got me a lot of attention and subscribers!! His general design came from a lot of experimentation with parts (the weapon parts mostly) and thanks to what i learnt making him i developed the style you guys know and love (?) today! His paint job is also rather awesome and glows!
Jezrhen-king: When you make a creature/vehicle/building, what do you do? (do you make it up as you go, or do you have some sort of plan?)
Arastoph: I have a pretty big imagination. When i was only 8 years old i started making a video game (drawn out on paper) It was 937 pages thick when i finished it at the age of 10. The whole time i was making it i was not taking my ideas from anything i had watched or played they were all original thoughts i was drawing straight from my mind. So when it comes to Spore i tend not to look anywhere for inspiration i just close my eyes and imagine something that would fit a purpose and my style! I often have dreams as well which make me get up the next day and make something on here... usually the creators do not allow me to make it exactly as i wanted but i get pretty close!!
So the short answer is i pretty much never have a plan/plot/design i just go for it head first... almost literally!
Jezrhen-king: Do you play Spore as a game, or use it for creating awesome stuff like your Spectromis? Arastoph: I stopped playing the original game after one play through! unlike the actual stages in spore the creators provide the flexibility and freedom i love from a game rather than the senseless progression forward found within the actual game. I would say that the creature creator is my favorite just because of the extra outfits you can make once you have made the creature i love making body armour with big spikes and cannons! or the odd full body mech suit!
So the short answer is i pretty much never have a plan/plot/design i just go for it head first... almost literally!
Jezrhen-king: Do you play Spore as a game, or use it for creating awesome stuff like your Spectromis? Arastoph: I stopped playing the original game after one play through! unlike the actual stages in spore the creators provide the flexibility and freedom i love from a game rather than the senseless progression forward found within the actual game. I would say that the creature creator is my favorite just because of the extra outfits you can make once you have made the creature i love making body armour with big spikes and cannons! or the odd full body mech suit!
Jezrhen-king: What do you have to say to creators who are desperately trying to get featured? Arastoph: Getting featured is like winning the lottery but just like the lottery the more tickets you enter into it the more chance you have to win
Entering the contests within the sporum is the best way to get featured as long as you can beat the competition. The chances of winning a contest are still a lot higher than being picked from the millions of creations out there though. Though heavy advertising it frowned upon in the forums a small amount will help get you noticed by more people which means more possible subscribers in the future and more fame!
It is difficult to get noticed though i must admit it has taken me since the very beginning of spore to get anywhere near the glory such creators as Fotosynthesis, G3nji and Doomnova have
Never give up though your times will come!
Jezrhen-king: You have a lot of talent, and a lot of people love your creations. How do you handle your popularity?
Arastoph: NOT VERY WELL! like most people with over 2500 subscribers you get quite a few comments and i shamefully tend to only answer those who write more than just 3 words and expect feedback In the past a lot of people have said i dont look after my subs but they dont realise what i actually do for them! Outside of the sporums i hold daily meetings with a group of members who i have known for a very long time and we chose 4 creators who deserve a time in the spotlight and rate them up on the MPN. Ever since September last year we have been doing this anonymously not telling the people with have helped so they never know it was us. I also rate up 100 new creations a day but tend not to comment... im kinda like an all year round ninja Santa Claus!
Jezrhen-king: Last question, who do you think should be featured in the next interview? Arastoph: I would like CopperLou to have a chance to speak out!! They may be new to the sporums but they have amazing talent and their finished creations are flawless. I have much respect for them.
AapBurger
Jezrhen-king: How did you get interested in Spore?
AapBurger: I once read an article about Spore in a Game-magazine, I was immediately interested in the game cause it promised the player to create his own world and inhabitants. But the thing which intrigued me most was the option to create your own Spaceship, go to space and conquer worlds which other players had made in their own universe. After finished reading I just knew I had to buy this game.
Jezrhen-king: What do you like/dislike about Spore?
AapBurger: I like (almost) all editors in spore, and the cell-stage. So far that's the only stage which hasn't disappointed me yet. As for things which I dislike, I'm disappointed in all the stages except the one I mentioned before. Maxis managed to turn a fantastic idea into an extremely boring game. That's why I've not played this game since last year Januar. But lets not stay negative, on the the things I like, not everything is bad you know!
Far from it in fact. The editors are fantastic pieces of equipment. When I create (using the building- and vehicle editor) I can create so many different thing. It's almost like making a drawing, only ten times easier. And that's what I enjoy about these editors so much, with little effort and time (alomost) anyone can make something worth looking at. The building editor is somewhat harder to use then the vehicle editor, but once you get the hang of it, you can make much prettier creations in there then in the vehicle editor. My advice to people who are somewhat affraid of making buildings but really want to know how to use that editor, start using the vehicle-editors. Once you've got the hang of that, it's relatively easy to switch to the building editor. Apart from symmetry and the base-parts floating around in the vehicle-editor, they're quite alike.
Jezrhen-king: How do you go about making your creations?
AapBurger: I sometimes start with an idea I have, or base the creation on a drawing I once made. But there's never a moment I open the editors without having at least a clue about what I want to make. I once tried, but the only things which get created at those times are horrible misshapen lumps of... crap. Talking about lumps of. (something not worth mentioning again.): That's exactly the reason I prefer to not use the creature editor. I dislike the method of creating creatures, putting parts on a blob is something I'm not really interested in.
Jezrhen-king: What is your favorite creation and why?
AapBurger: This creation is one of my favorites, I have much creations I like, therefore it's hard for me to pick one. I've chosen this one, because it features a character I like a lot. And the expression in his face is quite excellent if you ask me. I also tried to make a nice story which fits the creation quite nicely, but you need to look this creation up to read it, cause I don't want to post it here. It's quite bad actually. xD
(Jezrhen's edit: I'll post the link!)
Jezrhen-king: What would you want most in a future expansion?
AapBurger: I would prefer to see a patch which would fix GA first.
Jezrhen-king: Who would you like to see in the next interview?
AapBurger: I honestly haven't got a clue.
Oh look, it's me....
Vektrix
Jezrhen-king: You've made some awesome creations. Which one is your favorite, and why?
Vektrix: That is very difficult, none of my creations really stand out as head and shoulders above the rest. I personally like my Medal of Honour, an experimental artwork that techno605 featured on his thread a few weeks ago. However, I will always have a soft spot for my two main empires, the Ergonians and The Krayven. As creations they are not spectacular, but as ideas and investment in time and effort, they have taken up a lot of my time.
Jezrhen-king: How do you tend to make creatures? (exp. what kind of parts do you use? do plan it out or just go for it?) Vektrix: I experiment. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to achieve, and other times I just load up the editor and go for it. If what coms out is great, then that is good, if not, so what? At least I've learned something. The only exception to this is my raptors, that I dedicate to various creators, I try to "mimic" that creator's style, and look at their stuff to see what parts they use a lot. They are highgly planned creations.
Jezrhen-king: What are some things you like/dislike about Spore?
Vektrix: I love the creativity it allows players to show-off, and because it also a game, it means it can attract both gamers and creators to it's family. However, I personally find space stage very repetitive, and don't like the lack of a sensible fleet or defensive options irritating. I must though state that the inventive ways you are forced to make certain shapes and effects in all editors is very rewarding - especially if you find them indepently or manage to master them.
Jezrhen-king: What is your favorite editor and why?
Vektrix: I have no real favourite, but I don't really like the vehicle editors (except space). I find myself stuck in trying to recreate vehicles in a style that would not be amiss on Earth - I think that is more a psychological barrier on my part rather than the limitations of the editor. I can get a bit OCD in what I create in each editor, I really would prefer all my creations to be functional. I probably spend most of my time in the creature editor though, and recently have become quite a fan of the building editors because of Sakiara and techno605's encouragement.
Jezrhen-king: What would you like to see in future exansion packs?
Vektrix: Like almost everyone, I'd like to see the aquatic stage. However, simple things would interest me more, such as tackling the many glitches in GA gameplay. I would also like to see more parts for the creature editor, such as purely carnivorous avian mouths, venom that is purely defensive (i.e. you automatically secrete when attacked, so no matter what a predator does to you, they incur damage) and a probscis set of mouths in the creature editor that isn't just the early one.
Jezrhen-king: Last question, who would you like to see in the next interview?
Vektrix: Two people spring immediately to mind. I have always been a fan of Sakiara, she is an amazing creator, and very nice person to boot. I am also a big fan of techno605, his artwork is awesome, and I have learnt a lot from him by ripping his creations
