Jonny Smeby is a cult klik developer that loves to spend his time drawing (he writes and draws comics). While he is known within klik circles, outside of this community he remains relatively unknown. Sometimes there is a long wait inbetween sometimes incomplete releases but they have steadily increased in quality.

Age?

26!

Location?

I have lived in Martinez, California all my life in the east-bay area (about 30 minutes from San Francisco).

Development tool(s) of choice?

Multimedia Fusion 2, mainly because it’s so amazing. I never wanted to learn to code, so this is the best visual-based game maker I’ve ever used.

What do you do?

I’ve worked at a sign shop for the last 2 or more years. My main work, I don’t get paid for though: I’m a voluntary minister / teacher of the bible. Other than that, I draw, and will always draw! If I can fill one entire sketchbook a year, then thasscool.

How did you get into game development?

OH! Yeah! First of all, I always loved games. Atari to Nintendo and all that, and who wouldn’t want to make their own after playing Super Mario Bros 2 at any chance they could. Okay, so my dad had a friend during the nineties who did some work for some company, which lead to us getting a copy of a certain game making program called “Klik N Play”. I WAS AMAZED! And terrible at making anything with it! But the very idea that I had the ability to make my own game, as awful as they were, was incredible to me. So I began making tons of these cruddy clip-art-filled games containing all manner of random midis of tv show theme songs and what not. I have most of them still. Over a decade went by and here I am today!

You primarily seem to be a comic book creator. How does game development currently fit into your life and what does it mean to you?

Very, very precariously! I’ve been giving serious thought to just quiting the whole business of it. If I’ll actually do that is to be decided. We’ll see. In general I love being creative. It’s the BEST! But it gets out of hand. I have new ideas for some new comic or some new game, or movie, or whatever entirely too much each day. More than for my own good. So I could never get to actually making and finishing all of the things I come up with ideas for. I don’t care to either. In truth, what good did another movie or another game or comic ever do for us in this world which is falling apart? More distractions is not what we need. But we’re born to create, so I don’t stop. I love it! I just try to keep in its place. I’m currently working on… a good two handfuls of games I probably won’t finish.

You feel that media such as videogames or movies are distractions from what exactly? More important issues that we should be dealing with?

Yeah sure, of course! Games don’t create world peace, stop the ruining of the earth, cure disease or get to the bottom of much of anything really important. I try not to let entertainment (or the prospect of making it) distract me from the good I can do. It’s not always easy.

If you did quit, do you think you would regret it?

I dunno. There’s a lot of things I’d really rather not HAVE to quit (one being skateboarding). But I’ll always be making some sort of creative works, whether it’s comics, drawings, or whatever. Whatever fits I guess. CREATIVITY IS WHAT I AM!

What are your goals and aspirations as a game developer?

Ha, nothing really. Currently I just make games when I really can’t hold it back any more and I just HAVE to. My favorite part used to be to make the art for the games, but now that I have a pretty decent knowledge of putting them together, I mostly enjoy “coding” them now. It really exercises your brain, that’s for sure.

You make some pretty cool little games and although you seem to have a small, strong cult following, I don’t think I’ve seen you gather much exposure outside of The Daily Click (they always fly under the radar of major sites such as Indie Games: The Weblog or TIGSource). Would exposure drive (or encourage) you to do more stuff, videogame-development-wise?

NO WAY. I never want to be famous! If a few people enjoy whatever I make then that’s fine. Again, what good would it do me or anyone? Those sites can save it for the people who WANT to put all their time into game design. No thanks.

You draw and sketch a lot of game ideas. What places do your ideas come from?

I dunno, probably a lot other games. You know how it is. You play a really good game and the next thing you know, you’re making your own game that you inevitably realize was inspired by that game you were playing. That’s not how it always is. But if you look at the last few games I’ve worked on or finished, you’ll realize they were probably inspired by some other game I really liked (Super Mario Bros 3, Portal, Wario Ware, etc).

Is there any particular era of gaming you feel that you are inspired by most?

YEAH, the one I grew up in! The era of 8 and 16-bit gaming more specifically. The majority of games I play now are STILL for the nes, snes, and gameboy. Heck, the majority of music I listen to nowadays is made using an nes or gameboy! It’s got a pretty strong hold on me obviously.

Do you play other klik or indie games and are there any indie developers that you have a lot of respect for in particular or are you not big into that scene?

I used to waste a lot of time “in the scene” to a certain degree and now I entirely regret it. But there are some pretty nice guys out there making games, and just downright talented ones. I’ll occasionally check out TIGSource or The Daily Click and see some pretty amazing stuff and just be like “Auugh! Now I wanna make more games!”.I forget the names of a lot of games I used to have and play over and over, but I know for sure I’ve quite enjoyed the works of Nifflas (Knytt Stories, FiNCK), Studio Pixel (Guxt, Cave Story), and an extremely weird group under the name of Famicon who don’t even make games anymore. One thing I love about indie games is that most of them are 2D, which I love. You don’t get that as much on consoles (though you do a lot more nowadays) and most are free, which is pretty great too.

You release games sparodically and not always complete. What obstacles get in the way of finishing projects and releasing games on a more regular basis?

Pretty much what I said already. Although I would like to have finished some of my game projects already, I know that if I put in the time and focus they need, I’d regret it.

Which games that you have made so far do you feel are your most accomplished (or that you are proudest of)?

Uuuh… I fluctuate quite often in feelings about things I’ve made. I used to think one of my games (Jonny RPG) was my best game, but after recently playing it, I’m entirely embarrassed by it. I think I’d like to unmake quite a lot of my games honestly. I was a pretty big fool for a long time years back. I’d say I’m currently most proud of The World As a Fishbowl remake. It’s not finished, but it basically involved taking the exact ideas I put together into a game about ten years earlier (when I was still a silly boy) and making an actually good game out of it. Was fun making!

I feel that The World as a Fishbowl and Run or be Mechanically Seperated are definitely two of your strongest. Speaking of ROBMS, I noticed you posted a vid on youtube of what looked like the second half of the game back in late 2009. Is it ever going to be released or isn’t it actually finished to your standards?

It’s not finished. I have the general outline of it sketched out already, but I probably won’t actually get around to doing it. But it’s still kind of one of my games that I haven’t admitted to actually abandoning yet because I would like to see it finished. The end is especially good. If some day you see it up for download or whatever, then you’ll know I finally decided to finish it! Actually, I just opened it up (ROBMS2) for the first time in years and was surprised to see more finished in it than I remembered. Blast!

What exactly about Jonny RPG that you are embarrassed by?

It just reminds me of who I was in 2004, thinking I knew what I was doing in life and what things I thought were cool. Plus I wasted waaaaay too much time on various projects. I look back and realize I had a long way to go and was into really stupid stuff. Oh well. I’ll just insist that someone else made that game if someone asks. It was an imposter!

In what ways do you think you were a fool? I did notice you took many of your games down from your website. Were you embarrassed about them as well?