Where did you first discover the MOTHER games and how did you feel during your first experience with them?

I first discovered EarthBound (MOTHER 2) with no awareness that there was even a game that came before it, probably the same way a lot of 90s kids did. I couldn’t get my own copy at the time, so I remember first playing it on an emulator, downloaded in a mad search for other popular RPGs after falling in love with Chrono Trigger. I was really young at the time, I remember enjoying it but I didn’t realize right away that it had left a strong impression on me. Years later I revisited it, and it yanked me back to the days I had first played it – my own memories resonating with the nostalgic overtones of the game itself. It messed me up a little, but in a good way. It was healing, almost. Tim Rogers once said “Mother 2’s voodoo curse is that it reflects something back at you if you put enough into it.”

I soon discovered the original MOTHER and that added to the effect in its own way, especially how emotional I found Giegue’s story despite hardware limits and such few lines of dialogue. It shares that unique ability, if you let it!

And of course, the third game was on its way… it arrived midway through production of CogDis, and its impact as I first played it (with a translation guide, carefully printed {a few pages a day on school library printers} – it’d be a long while before there was a translation patch!) was a key part of propelling it to get finished.

Do you have a favorite game in the MOTHER series, and why? Do you have any favorite characters, songs, locations, or moments you want to share?

I love all three for different reasons, so that’s really tough! The first game is a master class in “doing a lot with a little” and getting across some pretty powerful and memorable themes of compassion and curiosity within its limitations. MOTHER 2 is, to me, more zany and entertaining while also being a deep dive into nostalgia and childhood and the glimmers of light we should never forget to carry with us as we get older and confront evil. MOTHER 3 not only elaborates further on that, but gives it a dark side along with calling out some of the most disturbing parts of the society we’re stuck in. But I suppose that doesn’t really answer the question so I’m just going to name certain moments…

1: First visiting Magicant and everything involving it. The big reveal with the last melody and Queen Mary. The Mt. Itoi dance scene (interrupted by giant robot). The vocal soundtrack, listen to it if you haven’t!

2: Everything to do with the Runaway Five, Saturn Valley, and the whole finale sequence. The music in Twoson and Fourside and Ness’s house. The strange, undefined wistful feeling that lurks beyond the edges of the screen.

3: The whole Tazmily social commentary thing. Tanetane Island. The Chimera Labs section. Flint’s meltdown and the last battle still get to me a little too. The incredible use of leitmotifs like the Love Theme and Pig March.

What were the most memorable experiences you had in the MOTHER community?

Outside of CogDis itself – Radio PSI was very exciting and fun, and even influential to development. A lot of first drafts and area building was done while listening to fine folks like Jami, MansionManiac, DJMon, Ozwalled, and everyone else who was active at the time. It definitely snuck its way into the humor too. Fobbies shall always be Borange, and I still listen to some of the bands I heard through the streams. In the ancient years of 200X, there wasn’t really a community anywhere other than Starmen yet. Unfortunately, my creations never really seemed to click with the site leadership, so I’m happy to see things have branched out from there.

How did you come up with the idea of Mother: Cognitive Dissonance? What were the first steps you took after you started thinking about it?

It was a very gradual process, and the game started as a much much smaller project than it became! Originally I set out to make a short little side-game that was going to stay confined on Saturn except at the end, and the story was much more centered on Zarbol and where the journey takes that character towards the end of the final result. Col. Saturn and Larice didn’t exist as party members yet either, but there was going to be a cheesy retro-style robot character. Like something out of Lost in Space. Larice ended up replacing that character once the Mars idea started to develop!

How did the idea for CogDis evolve as the game was developed?

The big turning point was Niiue, who didn’t exist in the original plan, and anyone who has played CogDis will know how important that is. In the early untitled project, Giegue was a background evil that would blast through the world of Alin and Zarbol, leaving chaos behind in the wake that formed pretty much the whole (short) adventure. But then my fascination with duality and psychology found its way towards the concept of everyone having their own personal Magicant just like Ness (and perhaps Dr. Andonuts?), and… well, to say more would be pouring out a big hot cup of spoilers wouldn’t it? Maybe I’ve drifted too close to the (coffee cup) sun already.

Version 2.0 further evolved through the feedback from players and teammates, and through our shared enthusiasm it was able to grow further, to the point where not only was almost the entire game renovated in some way, but it was given extra content equivalent to an entire “expansion” such as several new planets, characters, and side quests. It’s practically twice as big as the janky old version.

There was also a strong desire for a different type of ending, and together we found a way to make one happen. Truly it is all of you that made sure █████ was able to use ███████ ████████ at the right moment. You’re why ███████ got not only peace but a second chance, and I’m thankful for it too!

What were the biggest challenges you faced during the development of CogDis?

By far the biggest issue I faced was the inherently ephemeral, unreliable nature of fan projects as a whole. It’s no coincidence that so many years passed and there still aren’t really many more large-scale MOTHER fan games released. It’s not for lack of talent and ideas, I see that around in the community all the time! It’s not that good help was hard to find, either – it’s that good help tended to vanish overnight, and there was a long period where everyone I brought on board ended up ghosting on the project. Nothing drags production down faster than waiting for a missing piece that’s not coming, instead of moving on in another way.

This was a bigger issue in the initial work on the game, while the development of 2.0 became healthier thanks to the handful of awesome contributors who stuck it out and helped make CogDis way better polished and more original than I ever could’ve on my own. Tricimir in particular deserves a mention, and is responsible for not only a lot of polish and graphical cleanup, but even some systems like certain spaceship upgrades and the look of entire areas like Neptune, and keeping my momentum high throughout a lot of the production!

Were there any particularly memorable parts of CogDis’s development that stand out to you?

Midway through production, there was a night I had gotten very discouraged with the 2.0 project – but this mood was turned around in an instant, because “Ghosts in Flight” showed up in my inbox. This is the song that plays in the ending, written and performed by the talented Bill Eager, whose music is not only present in the game but had a lot of influence on its tone as well. (Bill, if you’re reading this, make a Bandcamp or something… people would totally buy your old stuff. At least I would.)

Of course, that is not to understate the amazing contributions of other musicians and artists that rallied behind CogDis at its peak! The tunes composed by Maximus in particular come to mind too… highly memorable, authentic, and very alien when they needed to be. I wonder where he is now. After release, there was a soundtrack compilation that contains higher quality versions of the music along with dozens of pieces of unique art by fans and friends, which I love to this day. (It’s intended to be free, but Bandcamp at some point forced pricing onto it, maybe due to its size… so use the free link on the game’s site unless you really want to have it saved on their app.)

Unrelated to music, I named the character “Boson” after a family member’s dog. He’s no longer with us, but now he gets to live on in the stars.

When it came to CogDis’s script, how faithful to the MOTHER series did you feel the story of this game had to be? Did the ideas for the story and characters come about naturally as the rest of the game’s ideas began to form?

“All these particles we’re made up of are not exactly new. Quite the contrary. The atoms making up the water falling around us are over nine billion years old. The atoms that make up you and me, the same. We are all of us used parts. Our newness lies only in parts rearranged.” – Mark Z. Danielewski

While intended to be its own thing in some ways, making CogDis was at times like making a collage of ideas from the series that have been turned sideways and upside down and filtered through the lens of “what would that be like to someone from another planet entirely?”

Many sections were built to be as authentic as possible, and lots of tiny details were considered right down to soundfonts, dialogue style, story elements, and even color palettes (thanks again Trici).

More than once I’ve seen people claim it’s a real part of the series to them, and there’s no bigger compliment than that.

How do you feel about CogDis after all this time? Was it nice to think about all these things again?

Peace and contentful. (Boing!)

It’s got a lot of flaws, but it makes me happy seeing people doing playthroughs and taking interest in the game still. It feels simultaneously “forever ago” and “just yesterday.” I’m more satisfied with it now than I was before, even though it didn’t create the future I hoped it would.

A regret I’ve often had is that I should’ve added more prominent female-identified characters. Being aliens, I didn’t even think about it most of the time and pretty much thought of most of them as nonbinary or genderless, but they don’t seem to come across that way to most players.

It’s a weird little project, but I dumped years of creative soul into it, so every time it pops back up somewhere it brings with it a spark of cheer. I didn’t think very highly of it after the release of 1.0, but now I can happily say I’m glad it was polished and completed into something so much better than it was, something worth all that energy.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Is there anything you’d like to say as a closing statement?

Thank you to everyone who has ever played/shared/enjoyed CogDis, and kept its strange little dream alive even now, 8 years later. It makes me happy to know that it is still reaching out and finding new faces to meet, like the many tentacled monster that it always was – yet harmless despite its appearance.

I wish I had enough of a new project to show here, but all I’ve successfully thrown together in the time between then and now is an obscure little mod here and there…

And now a message today from the Applechasers…

Don’t be afraid to relax sometimes, ok…?

GO GET ‘EM, YOU’RE UNSTOPPABLE! DING!

Labels are like the color of your armor. Irrelevant. Be who you want to be.

I’d have never made it without my friends, I hope you find yours too!

I know things have been scary in the world lately, but they’ll get better. I know because of time travel, can ya believe that?

Get that mike out of my face.