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Interview with Doug TenNapel It’s perhaps unfair that Doug TenNapel isn’t better known in the game industry, considering he’s responsible for creating one of the few game characters that’s translated into other mass media. As the original creator of the Earthworm Jim character at Shiny, which went from a hit series of games to an award-winning cartoon series, TenNapel has always kept a relatively low profile, despite the fact he’s now signed to Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks Interactive games division with his company, The Neverhood (http://www.neverhood.com). I recently chatted with Doug about the continued success of EWJ, his cult hits The Neverhood and Skullmonkeys, and his forthcoming projects, both on the PlayStation and in other media.
How did you first get into computer games? Was it something you’d always wanted to be part of, or was the move into this industry more like an accident? I have always loved computer games. Mind you, I liked ‘em when times were a lot simpler, but I’ve always been addicted to them. Initially, I got into games for economic reasons rather than artistic. It paid well and I couldn’t get a job as an animator in the real animation industry. It wasn’t until I had made a few games that I realized I was good at designing gameplay. What kind of formal art training do you have? Do you think having such training pays off for working on games? I was a fine arts major in college. I thought I was going to be a painter. Actually, I was a painter for a few years, but then I got married in 1990 – meaning I had to get a job. I know about 50% of my success and ideas come from my experiences in college. Not just art classes, but writing, science, philosophy...everything! I get really frustrated working with artists who have no higher education. Before your readers get their panties in an uproar though, let me qualify that by saying that there are always special cases – folks who drop out of high school and are brilliant. I just think someone who goes through the trouble of solving problems to finish college has a good chance of being made of the kind of stuff to solve problems and finish a game. An earthworm called Jim? Explain how your brain came up with that one, if you can? That’s simple. My big brother’s name is Jim. When I created the hero, I wanted to give him an all-American name. Dave Perry thought Jim wasn’t heroic enough. He suggested "Lance". Can you imagine that? "Earthworm Lance"? This must be what Dave Perry means when he takes credit for creating EWJ!
It genuinely hurts me that I still get this question from journalists. Before I was ever hired at Shiny, I had an independent comic featuring Evil the Cat. I had created Earthworm Jim (who lives in Turlock, CA, my home town), Peter Puppy, Snott, and Psychro before Shiny even existed. After I joined Shiny, I created Prof. Monkey for a Head, Doc Duodenum, the Queen, Princess What’s her Name, and the Pocket Rocket. I came up with all of Jim’s sayings (e.g., "Grooovy", "Woaaah Nelly") and provided his voice. I drew the "head-whip" concept and the Robo-chicken, Fifi the Junkyard dog and Chuck. My Shiny contract says that I will get credit for creating Earthworm Jim. After all of this, Interplay/Shiny have the nerve to run a Wild 9 national advertisement saying that Wild 9 is "from the creators of Earthworm Jim". If my involvement in the creation of EWJ is still shrouded in a mystery I don’t know what else to say. When EWJ crossed over into other media (such as its run on the WB television network as a cartoon series a couple of years ago), did it surprise to you? No, I made him to be in any one of many media, he just happened to arrive in games first.
Because it’s much more expensive to make a toy line, TV show, or movie than it is to make a game. It is a huge risk. There’s also a marketing problem. Most games are made for 12-20 year olds. Most children’s programming is made for 5-9 year olds. If you make a game that boasts "torture" as one of its most prominent features would you want to invest ten million dollars into a TV show trying to sell Happy Meals to six-year olds? Is it upsetting to you that Shiny is continuing the Earthworm Jim series of games without you? It isn’t upsetting that they are continuing the series, but rather, that I’m the only one who can make the real Earthworm Jim. Those who see Jim appear in Clayfighter and Jim3D feel like they’re seeing a different character. They’re right. That’s not Jim. That’s what upsets me. Do you have much input or own any of the intellectual property to the EWJ franchise? I have a small level of approval and creative control which I contractually have to share with Dave "Earthworm Lance" Perry. They’re supposed to pay me a minimum royalty on every Jim thing sold but Interplay’s lawyers have loop-holed their way around having to pay me a cent. The Neverhood as a company is signed to Dreamworks. How did you manage to get such a big name to back you? Spielberg likes Earthworm Jim. He knew who really made the character, so he funded my company. Have you any advice for developers starting out on their own and looking to land publishing deals? Get a great lawyer, do the best work in the industry and you will get a publishing deal. Most developers don’t pay attention to the "best work in the industry" part so I’ll repeat it: if you don’t do the best work in the industry, nobody will or should take a chance on you. The PC adventure game The Neverhood (http://www.dreamworksgames.com/Games/Neverhood/) was a sizable cult hit. What do you think went right about its development and which parts do you think you could have improved on, with hindsight? What went right is that Dreamworks backed us. We needed some serious firepower to pull that game off, and we got it from them. In hindsight, I wish we’d shot the movies in a higher resolution, and we should’ve made two of the puzzles more intuitive to solve. Otherwise, Neverhood is the best game I’ve ever made. I know we left a lot of hardcore gamers at the altar, but we picked up a lot of casual gamers.
I don’t believe many people in America and Europe realize that The Neverhood was released on the PlayStation only in Japan. Why didn’t the game come out on the PlayStation in the U.S. or Europe? Ask Phil Harrison [Sony’s Vice President in charge of third-party relations and R&D] about the lack of Neverhood on the PlayStation in America. Were you surprised with the relative success of the title in Japan, given that not many Western titles ‘cross over’ successfully? If Sony had let us release Neverhood here in America on the PlayStation, you’d see a lot of success over here too. Mr. Shimomoto – a big cheese at Sony Japan – and I had dinner in Japan, and he said he wished there were more games like Neverhood on the PlayStation. I was blown away! He co-funded prime time television ads for Neverhood in Japan to support our release. I admire the sophistication of the Japanese market and would love to do more games for them in the future. The strange thing is that our game was generated in America, and this was the first game in which the Japanese saw its American flavor as a good thing. Skull Monkeys easily wins the award for craziest game of last year in my book. Why did you decide to go back to platform games after The Neverhood’s success in the adventure arena? We like trying different things. After doing a puzzle game, we wanted to go back to our gaming roots – the platform game! Our newest game is Boombots and it’s completely different than anything else we’ve made. Does it upset you than games that are playable and 2D sometimes get worse marks than games that are less than playable but in 3D? Yes, it upsets me because the unconditional admiration for 3D games is just illogical. If you get an adrenaline rush from playing a 2D game, then it should stand on its own merits. Regarding Skullmonkeys, Gamepro’s negative review started with the writer saying that side-scrolling games were a dead genre! Why in Sam Hill would you have that guy review a side-scrolling game?! A mention for the amazing music in your titles is in order. Who did the crazed psycho-country rockabilly-lounge tunes in The Neverhood and Skullmonkeys, and are they available separately on CD? Those songs were made by Terry Taylor. They were available on our website, but they are now sold out. We haven’t released the soundtrack to Skullmonkeys yet, and I’m hoping a fan does a bootleg soon! Terry will also be doing the music on Boombots. His music is cool because he doesn’t try to be cool. Most music in games is just penis extensions of posers trying to make something cool. They don’t consider the world or context of the game. I know you have interests outside of games, both in comic and film media. Would you care to tell us what you’re currently working on in those fields? I have a comic out called "Gear". It is published by Fireman Press, the company behind "SCUD". It’s about four cats that hijack a giant robot. Gear is on its fourth issue out of a six-book series. Your comic retailer probably doesn’t carry it, but he’ll be able to order it.
My other big project is an indie film called Mothman (http://www.mothmanmovie.com). I wrote it, directed it and funded it with my EWJ money! It’s a live-action story about an artist in West Virginia who sees an urban legend and begins having visions as he tries to leave town. Mothman has tons of EWJ and Neverhood people involved. Doug Langdale is the main bad guy and he wrote all of the EWJ TV episodes. Ed Schofield did a bunch of the original animation in EWJ and he is the lead actor in Mothman. Finally, tell us a little about the game project you’re currently working on. Boombots is our most unique game to date. It’s a two-player arena-combat game featuring comedic robots. Here’s your scoop: "It kicks ass all around the block"! Simon Carless is a game designer/team leader at a UK games developer. He has previously contributed to a number of UK computer magazines, and was the co-editor of www.videogamedesign.com. His game credits include design on PC and Playstation titles for (amongst others) Eidos and GT Interactive. In his spare time he runs the virtual music label mono211, and he can be contacted at h0l@mono211.com. |
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Features
How
much of the original Earthworm Jim design did you ‘create’? This
is somewhat shrouded in mystery.
Why
do you think such crossovers still happen relatively seldom in the games
industry?
