Regular text: Interviewee (Tetsuo Shima)
Tetsuo Shima! You've been at AOKH for just over two years, but in that time you've earned an array of awards including the best newcomer, best cinematic scenario and of course, your wings! What brought you here back in 2010?
The Rainman brought me here.
In all honesty I can't actually remember how I ended up here or whether I had been here before or not (back in the day). I just sort of turned up that was that - I've never really been one for sentimental memories of the reason for existance. Though I do remember being on a Mac when I first joined AOKH. It was most likely a google search for 'Why is Age of Empires 2 on Mac so lame?'You're well known in the SD&M forums not only as a helpful and friendly moderator, but also as the brains behind The Edorian Chronicles, Ronin and The Last Samurai. How are your projects going (and when will we be able to play them!)?
Well, Ronin would be my main project at the moment. Ronin is a playable sequal to The Last Samurai and follows the story of Tetsuo as he battles for his life across Feudal Japan. I'm doing a lot of mod work for it to really create a completely new environment not seen on AOK before; and really bring to the table an immersive experience, which is creative and fun.
I've also managed to team up with my current favourite designer, Night_Conqueror, to enhance the in game skills and storyline. So pretty fantastic really for me at the moment to have that honour of working along side of him.
I havn't shown much of it off lately, but I'm aiming to release it this summer and awe the world (i.e AOKH)!
At the moment I'm also doing some other random work for other designers to help them on their projects, some larger than others, but I can't reveal all just yet.
The Edorian Chronicles was actually in development as a complete sequal to my cinematic, 'The Spirit of Alessia'. It sort of spawned from a few civilisations and a main storyline into an epic tale of a completely new world. It seemed natural to do so at the time as it opened up so many new doors for the 'fantasy' elements I wanted to integrate. This is now a full conversion in the works, which, unfortunately I don't have as much time for anymore from when I first started it. But hey, that's not to say I won't ever release it. I'm more inspired by making it an offical 'fantasy' conversion for the Userpatch (upon completion) and have lined up some very talented people in helping me develop it the way I originally intended it to be (i.e more terrains, civs etc). I think part of the reason I stopped working on it was because of the restrictions the original game had (even after going deep into various modding elements), now we have things like AGE2, the UserPatch and others which can really expand what I create with it. I also ran into a major terrain blending bug after changing the games palette, but this is now solved thanks to ES_Matt and I can now quite happily move on.Many new designers look to people like you for inspiration and guidance with their projects, but who inspires you? Do you have a favourite scenario/campaign/game?
When I first joined everything amazed me and I had so many favourite designers. I started backwards from history when it was the old Tsunami Studios, the Wildfire Games team, and gradually moved to people like Berserker Jerker making awesome trigger tricks, or NewIdea with his inspiring design philosophy. I spent a great deal of time reading through various threads in the archive just to learn. There are so many great designers, but the ones who inspired me the most are probably people like NewIdea, Oliver and Night_Conqueror (amongst many others). It seemed more like an artform to them when designing, and that's really what drives me to this day. I do try to perfect my scenarios as much as I can and really turn it into a artistic form of personal expression; rather than just a scenario to play and then be forgotten about.
Tsubaba's Tale is probably my favourite scenario that I've played so far, I found it really entertaining and very creative. I also loved various work by the SWS team (which I am proud to now be a part of); from designers like Lord Basse, Mashek, Trisatya etc.
However, I hate just naming a few names though. I mean there are so many great scenarios and mods I've played, but the numbers of them means I've not got their names off the top of my head. I really feel we should credit a lot more different people these days, as we do tend to hear the same ones repeated quite often.Your files and forum profile suggest an affinity with Japan, but you yourself are, I believe, a Brit. How did you come to get involved with that distant land?
I am indeed a Brit, though, I've always loved Japan since I was about 14 years old I always wanted to live there one day Luckily for me, my course at college led me onto a degree which saw me spend my third year at Tokyo University. After I finished university I went back and I spent another year there teaching English, meeting great people and getting drunk. Naturally my passion will never go away, I'll continue to visit in future and basically see where it takes me. At the moment though I'm in the UK, working full time as a Consultant and being boring. You're into Muay Thai - what other (less violent?) hobbies do you enjoy in your spare time?
Well, Muay Thai is great and have been practising that for around 7/8 years now. I also do various martial arts, such as BJJ and Kickboxing. It's not really violence to me, more of a personal sort of achievement, constantly challenging your body and putting it through pain, only to grow stronger. It's much better than team sports because your only challenge is yourself against others. It's a test of endurance I guess.
Non-sports related I like to do all sorts really. I play darts every week, write/make music as well as modding and creating graphics.
---Quick-fire questions:---Know any good jokes?
What time does Sean Connery go to Wimbeldon?
Around about tennish.Where in the world would you most like to visit?
At the moment, Thailand - I've just booked a three week holiday there at a Muay Thai camp.What's your poison? (For the uneducated, I'm asking what his favourite drink is)
Southern Comfort and Coke.What's your favourite colour?
RedTo finish, are there any films/scenarios/games/songs/pizza toppings you'd recommend?
Film: Warrior King (which you might of heard of)
Game: Hawken (it's an Indiegame)
Song: Florence and the Machine - No Light, No Light
Pizza Topping: It's all about the Chicken and BBQ baby.