Where did you first discover the MOTHER series, and how did you feel during your first experience with it?

I had heard about Earthbound and the Mother series quoted around the internet growing up and found it was a game with a pretty big cult following even back then. It wasn’t until I stumbled onto Starmen.net and the fan games there that I started to fall in love with the series and the material it inspired. I specifically remember being on a road trip to Canada at the time, and with not much to do except use my phone, I subsequently fell down the rabbit hole of Mother-inspired fangames and admired their pixel art and often offbeat gamefeel.

Do you have a favorite game in the series and why?

Earthbound was the first game I learned about, mostly in creepy gaming rumors and theories, and that always piqued my interest whenever it was being discussed on the internet. But I was able to experience Mother 3 a little more directly watching a Let’s Play and found it incredibly endearing both mechanically and graphically. It’s definitely easy to see the Mother 3 inspiration with my pixel art as well.

What are some of your favorite characters, songs, locations, and moments from the series?

Pollyanna (I Believe in You) is a really great track, and I remember watching the Animated Earthbound Tribute and was surprised that song came from a video game, instead of a movie or musical. That was pretty wild to me. A thing mechanically I remember, is Poo being on a special diet, and him recovering differently when eating Western foods. I remember feeling somewhat the same when I was younger, when I’d bring lunch to school and it’d be culturally different/distinct from what everyone else had or what they served in the cafeteria. It was a small detail they chose to convey through the language of video games and that was pretty neat.

Which aspects of the MOTHER series were the most inspiring for you?

It’s definitely the great amount of fangames, I remember going through the rabbit hole the first time and seeing the wide, wide variety of games out there, but still under the same umbrella.

Did you ever interact much with the community on Starmen.net? If you did, what was your first impression of that community?

Starmen.net is where I found most of the fangame community and their projects. Eventually when I started game development, the fangames forum was where I wanted to first post my projects; and still do.

What were your favorite experiences you’ve had with the MOTHER community?

Aside from experiencing all the fan-made content and watching videos revolving around the Mother series, I hadn’t been involved with the community as much. But I do remember posting my first commercial project on Starmen.net and getting a lot of encouragement and feedback at the time.

Our website and members of its community have been discovering many previously lost pictures and information about the N64 version of MOTHER 3 recently. Do you have any strong opinions or other thoughts on that version of the game?

It’s interesting to think that Mother 3 could’ve been a 3D game and N64 title and it’s great that that development history is being unearthed now. Would love to see more details when it surfaces!

Did you deliberately decide to include any particular MOTHER tropes in any of your games, including Sorry We’re Open?

Aside from visual and style inspirations, I’ve always loved the way the combat screen looked aesthetically, in all the games. Although inspiration may have transcended the series at this point and there may be things I included naturally that were the result of the Mother series’ impact on games’ today.

Are there many times where it’s difficult for you to get motivated to make things, and is there anything you tend to do to get yourself motivated when you need to work on something?

I’m finding a lot of inspiration from TV, animation, and movies all the time, and when it does get difficult to commit to finishing a project, it does help to top off on inspiration fuel; step back and do other things that may or may not revolve around your work. It never hurts to pull from a wider variety of places.

What were your expectations at the beginning of your work on Sorry We’re Open, especially after having worked on your other games, and how does the game differ from those expectations now that it’s done?

I actually went into Sorry, We’re Open with a much smaller scope focusing on just the text-based adventure aspect. Previous games have had both exploration and text-based segments, but I wanted to experiment more with roguelite mechanics, and the text-based segments made an easier use for that. Eventually it grew into a similar RPG hybrid, just like previous entries, with exploration and text-based segments and all. By the end of development, it did feel like I was designing 2 different games that occupied the same space; though I can imagine the change of pace would help during longer play times.