GamePro Arcade

Interview: Homestar Runner's Matt Chapman

Aug. 14 12:23 PM by Terry Terrones

The first episode of "Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People" is out and recently GamePro had a brief conversation with Homestar Runner writer, animator and voice actor Matt Chapman.

GP: What about point and click games do you think makes them more conducive to humor?

Matt Chapman: I think inventory puzzles and especially dialog puzzles have way more opportunities for humor than, say, a kart game or a platformer or a FPS. Most games can only squeeze the funny in through cutscenes or the humor is just dressing over some other kind of game. But it's easier to make jokes when pretty much every thing or person you click on yields some kind of response. In a FPS there can just be funny billboards in the background.

GP: Are there any other gaming genres you'd like to adapt the Homestar Runner world into?

Matt: AGI text adventures, please. If we were going to do any other genre of game, we would just keep it in Flash on our website. I would feel gross making someone pay to play Super The Cheatkart or Marzipan's Frantic Vegan Cake Factory.

GP: Is this the first time that a third-party is writing official Homestarrunner content? How did you come to that decision?

Matt: Yeah it is. It's way easier if the Telltale guys take a first stab at things and we tweak it from there. Mike and I wouldn't know where to begin writing for a multi-limbed dialog tree puzzle anyway and those guys are pro's.

GP: Are there any parts of the Homestar Runner universe that are off-limits to be included in the game?

Matt: Not really. We're trying to get Telltale to cram as much as possible into these episodes but I'm sure there will be some casualties. But hopefully fans will be pleased with what we're able to include.

GP: Have there been other attempts to create a console or PC Homestar Runner games over the last 8 years? If not, why has it taken this long?

Matt: No serious attempts have been made for anything outside our website. Mainly because nobody cool asked us. If we tried to get a game made 5 years ago, it woulda been some sweet shovelware that we would have had no involvement in. Telltale happens to make the kinda games we wanna make and distributes them the way we would distribute them. They're also willing to let us be full collaborators on this which I really don't think we woulda found anywhere else.

GP: Did you ever consider keeping the game out of 3D and more like the flash cartoons?

Matt: Not for this game. We can make a 2D Flash game ourselves and put it on the website. If we're going to do a big game like this and make people pay for it, we want it to be able to do things we couldn't do ourselves. 3D is one of those things. You can do such cool stuff with camera and lighting that you can't do as well with 2D. I also think people will dig being able to explore the Homestar Runner universe in 3D as opposed to flat sweetness.

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