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Up Close and Personal with
Donna
Some of you may be aware of the fact that the two creators of Neopets, Adam and
Donna, occasionally visit the PPT forums. I,
Alex, was lucky enough to score an
interview with one of the co-creators, Donna. Read on to find about office
pranks, the real origins of Neopets, and memorable encounters with fans... and
more!
1) What is it like to work for such a huge site?
Heh, well, it's certainly a lot different than when we started. There is a lot
more formality getting things done but on a whole it's good.
2) What are your current responsibilities on Neopets?
Well, I am mostly creative and ideas now. Gone are the days of me drawing (thank
goodness). I basically say what goes on New Features, write the stories (with
Adam), and oversee the magazine. I also Help Adam with the TCG, but that is
mostly his thing, and make sure the plots happen and aren't (too) late, as well
as the editorial that I enjoy doing but never seem to leave enough time for :/
3) So, what is a typical day in the office for you
like?
It really depends on the day. Making sure new features is good to go live is my
main concern in the morning, then if we have a plot going its script tweaks,
approving art that sort of thing. At different times we have different things
that are ringing alarm bells. If the magazine is due it's writing or approving
articles, checking art etc. Then in the evening, working on new plots, the next
week's New Features, that sort of thing really.
4) Why did you originally start Neopets with Adam, and
how did you go about it?
Well we weren't bored college students starting it for a laugh like every
article seems to say. Basically Adam had the idea a few years back but we had
been working on other things (long story, cant really go into that). Then we had
some free time and decided we wanted to start something we would enjoy that
would pay the bills basically. We basically just started thinking of ideas and
it was a bit of a mad time of me drawing constantly and Adam programming. We
just had ideas and went with them basically. There were times that we would have
games living on the site and we would be using player feedback to finish them
up.
5) What do you consider to be your finest achievement
on Neopets?
Ooh, that's a tough one. Certainly not the standard of my art, heh. What can I
say? I thought gradient fill was cool. It was 1999. I guess keeping the site
interesting and popular for this long, and keeping the British spellings :-)
6) How did you get the nickname 'Poptart'?
I don't really know. It wasn't something I had before Neopets. We needed names
for the cartoon versions of ourselves, and that sort of stuck. I don't eat
Poptarts a lot or anything.
7) Have you ever played a prank on anyone at the
office?
Heh yes, lots. The office is a pretty fun place to work. Hopefully you can now
see that as the Neocam has moved.
8) What's been your favourite prank you or someone else
has played?
I can't remember too many offhand, the remote controlled farting machine was
pretty fun. That went round the office a few times. Someone put Bertie Botts
beans in the office jellybeans too.
9) How do communities like PPT influence the site?
Adam and I always tried to listen to user feedback, even when it was negative.
We do try to visit lots of different fan sites and boards to try and see what
people are thinking. It's also a good way to find out if there is something
glaringly wrong that we may not notice ourselves. The editorial submissions and
fan sites are where I hear about a lot of tweaks, typos, that sort of thing.
Plus, I get to see everyone say how awful the plots are and how they could do
better :-)
10) Do you and Adam post on many fan sites?
Yes, but we try not to as it tends to look like favouritism.
11) Have you met any of the goals that you wanted to
complete with Neopets?
Yeah, back in the day when we first launched Adam and I used to aim for 1
million page views. Then it was 1 million players. We did those a while back :-)
I also got to meet some of my real life heroes at gen con and comicon which I
went to with Neopets.
12) What would you most like to work on now?
An MMO probably. Whatever it is, it would definitely be game related in some
way. (Massively Multiplayer Online Game)
13) Is there anything that's happened on Neopets that
you wish you could go back in time to fix?
The Sloth plot or lack thereof. Some of the earlier plots were a bit on the weak
side too.
14) The Sloth plot was all geared up and ready to go,
why did you guys decide to can it right at the end?
Ran out of time basically. We had a lot of other things going on at the same
time and just didn't have enough time to make the plot as good as it deserved to
be. We would rather cancel the whole thing than do an awful rushed job.
15) When getting everything for a plot, puzzle, war,
etc, how is the office like? Does it get hectic, or stay unusually calm?
To be completely honest hectic :-) Translating everything has added more time
into everything so it's a lot more complicated to get things started. It's not
like the old days where we could just code something and sync straight away.
16) What's the process involved in creating a puzzle or
plot? How does it go from an idea to what the users see on the site?
Well with a plot, Adam and I have the idea, then we do a lot of walking and
talking to flesh it out. We have a cool writer friend who is helping us with the
story boarding. Then the boards go to the artists, they sketch, we send
changes/approve, they colour, text gets added, text gets translated, and then it
goes live on the site. With a puzzle, it depends on the puzzle itself but it's
normally done in same way as a game. Adam usually runs the puzzles, he plans
everything, art is drawn in house, the clues are coded and we release a little
each day.
17) How much influence do you have in deciding what is
put on the site?
If it's totally Neopets content 100%. For sponsor stuff, it's a lot less.
18) Would you ever consider having another "Make Your
Own Neopet Contest" where people draw their own Neopet and send it in and the
winner's pet gets created, like you did with the Shoyru?
I would love to, but our legal department would have kittens :-) That's all I'm
saying there.
19) Where does your inspiration come from?
Everything! Seriously, whatever we see, wherever we go, things from school,
friends' habits, everything.
20) Have you ever thought about making an Oriental
themed world?
We have talked about that, but we have so much planned to coincide with the next
TCG expansions that it would be a long way off, if ever. The TCG sets are great,
they make Adam and I plan way ahead.
21) Have you had any memorable encounters with fans?
Always. Best I think was one guy who gave Adam a hand made Asparagus cook book!
One lady also drove halfway across the country to meet us and get her account
unfrozen. When we were in London for the Hamleys event a couple had stayed up
all night traveling from Amsterdam.
22) Where do you see the site going in 5 years time?
Goodness, five years, that's a long time. I honestly don't know. The next two
years I know, everything after that really depends. If the film does well and
the computer games I couldn't imagine where we would be.
23) What is your opinion of the upcoming Neopets movie?
It's exciting. From what we have heard, there is a lot of promise. I have big
hopes that it will be interesting and intelligent and true to the site.
24) Will speed ever have an affect on anything with our
pets such as helping them with defense, attack, or something outside of the
Battledome?
I think we will rewrite the Battledome eventually. There are a lot of things we
would like to implement but it will require a total rewrite, and that is a
really intensive task. As for speed outside, not sure really.
25) Have you ever considered having offices in Europe
or Asia, in addition to the current HQ?
We have an office in Singapore, it really depends on how big we get. All
translation is done in the USA at the mo, but there could be a time when that is
different.
26) Will we ever get the chance to have more than 4
pets?
Maybe... If I say anymore there will be hysteria.
27) The question everyone wants to know: What's
happening to Neoschools?
Nothing. We have it in hold for now. I did explain this in an editorial but I'll
say it again :-) Basically Adam and I originally wanted something simple and fun
but its sort of grown into a monster project with the desire to actually *gulp*
make it educational. So for the meantime it is on permanent hold.
28) Can you give us a sneak preview of what is coming
soon to the site?
Well, there is the much promised other side of the map, a lot of new things in
the Lost Desert, a plotline that doesn't feature Brucey B. Lots really, I just
don't know what I can say. Most I can, I said on the site already.
29) Right.. That's all the questions. Anything else
you'd like to add?
Thanks for asking and keep posting things so we know what you like and dislike
:-) And thanks for standing by us even when the site hasn't always been too
stable. |
