Eric Kinkead

[Violet CLM]

Eric Kinkead of Game Titan (specifically, Project Manager and Art Director of JJA) has agreed to let me ask him some questions about Jazz Advance. Anyone want to contribute anything that they're curious about? I figure I'll wait a day for responses and then just ask stuff.

[Newspaz]

I'd like to know why they threatened to sue our behinds of.

But I don't think you'll ask him.

[LittleFreak]

Ask why they made Jazz so ugly. ;)

[JelZe GoldRabbit]

I've got a couple of questions:

1. Do they have any more Jazz Jackrabbit games planned and if yes, what can we expect?
2. Who's decision was it to make Jazz so different from his previous games right down to the setting, and why? I kinda like the new look, I'm just curious :)
3. Why were some of the levels so short? I mean, the very last level (the one before Dark Shell) was so short it was anticlimatic. I know budgeted time had something to do with it, but maybe you could explain some things?
4. Is it true that nature settings aren't your forte (read that on GameSpot)? I've seen ripped tiles from Jazz Jackrabbit 2 here and there, enlighten us :)

That's all the questions I have so far, maybe I'll add some later. I'd also like to compliment for making a nice game, especially because of the bosses (love the Saurian General), be sure to pass them :)

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

[Bobby aka Dizzy]

How well did the game sell? Did Game Titan or anyone else actually turn a profit from the game?

[cooba]

Why actually did Game Titan decide to make Jazz Jackrabbit on GBA?

[Tubz]

Would you want to see a JJ3 game made and why?

[n00b]

n00b's long question list.
How were the ideas for the characters created?
Was there ever an idea for more than just one playabe character in Single Player mode?
If you could, what would you change about the game?
I heard there will not be a sequel to Jazz Jackrabbit (on the GBA), is this true?
What would a sewuel to the game be about?
Would Dark and Devan team up to take down Jazz?
What is Margsly's personality(if he has one)?
In Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Jazz could do a super jump, this move is not present in Jazz Jackrabit GBA. Why were there no 'melee' moves(for lack of a better term) in Jazz Jackrabbit GBA, and were there plans for some?
How come the Puzzle solving aspect became less important in Jazz Jackrabbit GBA?
There are Death Match and CTF modes in Jazz Jackrabbit GBA. Did you plan to incorparete any other multiplayer modes?(A Treasure Hunt(JJ2) styled game where you tried to get the most money would be cool)
The game felt a bit short(I beat Very Hard in an hour or so), did you plan for more levels?
Was there ever an idea to have an episode slection screen like in JJ1 and JJ2?
How many designs did Jazz go through before you chose the final design(and if there were multiple desings do you have any concept art to show us what they looked like?)
How did you decide on the plotline?
Where there ever going to be any more Level NPCs other than the ones on the first level of Carrotopolis? Merchant Street seems boring without any, well, merchants.
What exactly was Jazz doing on the Chameleon Planet, and why was destorying the statue so important?

[Sonyk]

Sonyk's Question List like thing:

Exactly what right do they think they had in altering the whole story from JJ2-JJA? (You wouldn't have to ask it exactly like that)
Despite Dark Shell's very minor relationship to Devan, where exactly is Devan, boss of the reptiles?
Whatever happened to Lori?
Why was Jazz the only character?
If Jazz fought for the rabbits before, why does he now do so in a uniform?
How did Dark Shell get dinosaurs?

I really, really, really, want to know what they say for the first one.

[Hybrid]

1 why o why did they remove jazz's headband!
2 thank you for keeping spaz alive.
3 why did they alter devan and eva?
4 if they make a future jazz game, please revert it to jj2 style.

[Sonyk]

why did they alter devan and eva?That's not Devan or Eva. That's Dark Shell and some rabbit held hostage.

[n00b]

That's not Devan or Eva. That's Dark Shell and some rabbit held hostage.
Zoe Cottontail.
Dark is a spaceballs spoof relative to Devan.
If Jazz fought for the rabbits before, why does he now do so in a uniform?
How did Dark Shell get dinosaurs?

1) He now works for RABT, which requires him to 'dress for protocol'. Before he was just doing it as a one(or two if you count spaz)man band, like an indie game deveopler of sorts.
2)Dark Shell hired the Saurians(AKA the dinosaurs) by paying them with money. The ones in his castle were probally leftovers(better trained I presume) from the assualt on Carrotoplis.

Fun Fact, Real Life Lizards are called Suarians due to some special tempreture condition or something(I forgot by the time I'm posting this). Also, lizard men from fantasies are called Saurians(evolving from the Land Dragon according to one source) Therefore, it's safe to assume, the Saurians might be related to the Lizards from JJ2.

[Violet CLM]

Think I'll answer a few of your questions before actually asking him anything...


"Ask why they made Jazz so ugly."
R.A.B.T. requires its agents to "dress for protocol". (Lapin also has the red/blue outfit on.)

"Do they have any more Jazz Jackrabbit games planned and if yes, what can we expect?"
Eric has previously told me that they have no plans for another Jazz game. He also doubts that Epic does, a statement confirmed by Mark Rein.

"How well did the game sell? Did Game Titan or anyone else actually turn a profit from the game?"
Eric has previously implied that Jaleco's random publicities prevented anyone from making money, but I'll ask anyway.

"Would you want to see a JJ3 game made and why?"
Yes, he would.

"How many designs did Jazz go through before you chose the final design(and if there were multiple desings do you have any concept art to show us what they looked like?)"
Jazz was originally a different shade of green... beyond that, I don't know, interesting question.

"herefore, it's safe to assume, the Saurians might be related to the Lizards from JJ2."
Unlikely... the JJ2 lizards are almost identical to the JJ1 lizards (except for color scheme), but the Saurians are huge things with different body shape and lots of armor.

[White Rabbit]

I got just one question:
Why did you decide to not follow up JJ2 with a sequel and instead just make up a totally new storyline, set after JJ2 but has nto actually much to do with it?

[Violet CLM]

Oh, sorry, should have specified. The questions have been sent now. There was something similar in there anyway.

[DoubleGJ]

I wanted to ask him to story-tell the defeat of Dark Shell from past (the one that is just barely mentioned in game).

[Tubz]

"Would you want to see a JJ3 game made and why?"
Yes, he would.

Erm, I wanted an answer from him. And still why isn't answered.

[Violet CLM]

Status update... I sent all the questions a while ago, plus a few more I came up with. Eric responded with the same stuff he's said before in interviews and whatnot - we're cool for continuing Jazz, we get to decide everything, if you complain about it you're being unpatriotic, a bunch of europeans obsessed with JJ2 ruined the game sales, etc. He did not really answer any of the questions I was interested in. That was a while ago, and he didn't respond to my prod, so I'm assuming we're going to get anything out of him.

[n00b]

Bah. Oh well could we see his answers anyhow? Might give a laugh or two(obsessed europeans messing up sales is always comedy), and if it doesn't it's still something to pass the time.

[Violet CLM]

Ok, here's the response I missed before because I didn't notice I wasn't logged in. No, most of the fun questions (who IS Zoe Cottontail?) don't get answered, but there is some interesting stuff talked about here.

1st off..

I dont have time to answer every question as to 'why was the menu interface changed.' and then 'why where some graphics from JJ2 re-rendered for JJGBA'. Hopefully my answers where enough to let you know that we where introducing new design elements, but also wanted to keep a lot of the feel and flavor of the old windows PC title, but only in a GBA sidescrolling adventure format.

2nd,

I never said I was going to sue anyone in my interview. I do give warnings to anyone who immaturely spams my servers which is what happened before release. That is normal business protection that any company would do. I'm pretty sure our legal didnt even serve any papers although we did isolate many ISPs incase it escalated. Constructive criticism is cool but recieving threats will in no way be tolerated.

and finally...

There where plans for more Jazz games. A lot more. We planned on making JJ3, a complete follow up to JJ2 featuring less ingame story, modifiable maps, modifiable outfits, all characters from ALL jazz games, double multiplay etc.(xbox live, ps2online) And it was to tie into the storylines of our JJGBA title and humorously explain what he had to go through in his rocky transition into adulthood (something many of us face), and the formation of R.A.B.T. That would already be out right now had things gone to plan.

JJGBA was never meant to be a Jazz3, but instead a side scrolling adventure, one of many that was quick and easy to play and make. It would update the character with cool weapons & RPG elements, simple deathmatch multiplay to turn friends onto Jazz who didnt have the game, and would be at a low price point. We wanted it to be short and easy to win, so new and younger players could feel a sense of accomplishment and unlock the cheat codes on the different difficulty settings.

This way we would be able to release many of these titles onto the public (1 every 6 months was the plan) and start to stoke the flames for the major JJ3 release.

things didnt work out, and we just didnt have the support other underground GBA games get. Shante got buzz and fansites. We recieved too many flames and not nearly enough advertising from Epic and Jaleco as promised. So sales where so, so. But whatever. Time to move on. While Game Titan did make money for development of JJGBA, it no longer fit the mold of our rule...have fun making it first, money second.

Again, I hope some developer comes along and pleases your community, and makes a JJ3. We did our best with it, and to this day, regardless of what some think, we are very proud of the campaign we started to get Jazz back into the conscious of game players.(fact-most people outside jj2online have no idea who he is and didnt even notice that he started wearing pants) But hey, just like elections, you can come close, but you cant win'em all. And every vote definately counted...and like the losers of presidential polls, Jazz very well might not get another chance.

take care,
eric

[Fawriel]

...am I the only one who's suddenly feeling really, really bad?

[Nielsje]

Uhm, where are all the questions and answers?
I guess you're not the only one feeling bad, Faw :(

[Marine1969]

I didn't even know about Jazz advance until now, then I saw some screens, I wish I hadn't.

Jazz is supposed to look good......... (I hope my seeing his new image doesn't ruin my 'special' jazz jackrabbit dreams)

Also, I assume you have to reload your weapon in the advance version, the flash hider on the muzzle indicates his weapon is now bullet based and a magazine is visable. Unlike his old weapon, this one would not be able to support infinate ammunition. If it does seem to support infinate ammunition can someone please explain.

[n00b]

No, his blaster is infinite(Hey, people can't explain other things about the Jazz universe either), everything else takes ammo(he switches out guns and such)
Awww, reading what Eric said makes me sad, now knowing that they had planned, if they had told us the plans earlier, maybe, just maybe, there would have been less flaming and more Jazz games today.
Oh, and Marine the game(oddly enough) looks much better on the GBA(at least to me)

[Olsen]

Omg, this IS sad. <strike>Hey, time to kill some flamers. Now, line up you flamers!</strike>

[Fawriel]

Jazz is supposed to look good......... (I hope my seeing his new image doesn't ruin my 'special' jazz jackrabbit dreams)
...uh-huuuh?

[Ðx]

=( This is bad :(

[Stijn]

Maybe we wouldn't have "flamed" him if Jazz wasn't suddenly wearing light blue tights and no bandana. Come on, you wouldn't shave Mario's moustache off either, would you?

And oh, most people not visiting this site don't know his old look? Well, they do. Ask any serious dutch gamer about Jazz Jackrabbit and I'm pretty sure (s)he knows.

[DoubleGJ]

Sad and all, but my question is, why did they have to make such a chronologic mess? Why couldn't they put the storyline between JJ2 and JJ3? Because that's more like Star Wars? The point is, one thing that does suck in SW episodes 1-3 is that we all know how this will end anyway. And besides, if we're talking about stoking the flames, why I have never seen any JJGBA commercials or merchandising? Maybe there was just too little players to NOTICE the new Jazz game. I'm pretty sure players completely new to Jazz would be less sceptic than so-called veterans.

[n00b]

things didnt work out, and we just didnt have the support other underground GBA games get. Shante got buzz and fansites. We recieved too many flames and not nearly enough advertising from Epic and Jaleco as promised.
I think that answers a part of Jazz's question. And JJGBA wasn't meant to stoke the flames(at least by itself) they were going to release a slew of Jazz titles(one every 6 months according to Eric)

[White Rabbit]

'And it was to tie into the storylines of our JJGBA title and humorously explain what he had to go through in his rocky transition into adulthood (something many of us face)...'

Since when did Jazz grow up? :) I thought he was more of less an adult what with the marriages, turtle-killings and gun-shooting. :)

I wasn't particularly interested in GBA until JJA came out and then I couldn't play it and didn't want to buy a hand-held console JUST for one game. I've never seen all the attacks and flames Eric described so I wonder...why would anyone want to do such a thing when clearly Titan Games are the only known game company in the whole world that is working on something remotely to do with Jazz? I'm sure ppl have discussed the 'mistake' of expressing opinions too strongly about JJA although I can't help feeling that we have put off Titan Games from making more Jazz titles. :(

[Stijn]

I think you're doing something wrong as a game developer if you're influenced by the "flames" of a 50-people big community.

[White Rabbit]

Maybe it's because their forums are really inactive and we changed that. :p

[Newspaz]

What a moron.

[Olsen]

Indeed. What a moron.

[EDIT] I haven't heard of a Jazz Jackrabbit for the GBA before I went to this place. So it's not like it's our fault.

[EDIT2] I just found this on their MB.

vivIsel
" I don't think GT would actually shut down J2O like that, would they *cough*?"

The NEW Spaz
"Well, I think they would. Their email says so. And if I may believe this Eric guy. He's serious.

They could have also just told us that they can't handle it when we give our opinion about what they did to the game we love. And have loved for several years.

I actually think they should have hired someone to tell them what's apropiate in a Jazz game, and what isn't however. This is just an opinion though. :P"

[White Rabbit]

Who's a moron, NS? :p

[Olsen]

Nah :P Eric Kinkhead ;p

[R3ptile]

50-people big community.
No, not 50. Maybe 500. :o

[Nielsje]

No, not 50. Maybe 500. :o

Name 500 :p

[Marine1969]

http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/memberlist.php?

[DoubleGJ]

You can never tell how many of these people just forgot about JJ.

[Marine1969]

That poor little cute and hot bunny.

He still has dedicated people to love him however.

[Stijn]

No, not 50. Maybe 500. :o

Name me 500 really active members :H

And hey, don't call him a moron.

[R3ptile]

Name me 500 really active members :H

And hey, don't call him a moron.
I already got around 150 active players (yes, players, discounting retired community members) in my MSN contact list. And I have better things to do than listing 500 nicknames.

[Violet CLM]

Judging by poll results, it's going to be somewhere around 200.

[White Rabbit]

@Marine: the JCF has like 1000 members, but only a fraction are active/alive/un-eaten. I'd estimate the core of our community to be around 100+ strong. The rest are just our loyal followers. ;)

[Marine1969]

I can recruit people from 3rd if you want.

[n00b]

NO! Don't you'll give me so much bad memories of the time someone wanted to release a slew of Counter Strike players over here(and when my freind who is an avid CS player and somewhat interested in Jazz 2 heard about that from me, he said "That's a great idea, get lots of people who'll diss the forums for playing a rabbit game to join, brilliant! I should have told you to do that a long time ago!" and then he gave me some fruit punch, but it was really grape kool aid).. wait what kind of community is 3rd composed of?(That was a rant without enough information to really have much of a point, and I'm not in the mood to erase after typing)

[Trafton]

Actually, new players would be great as long as they're decent people and all. :)

[DoubleGJ]

And if they can speak at least low-medium English.

[Stijn]

Still, 200 people is nothing compared to the market they were aiming for.

[EvilMike]

I'm not really sure what market they were aiming for. I saw almost no publicity for that game, and when it comes to video games, they rarely succeed on word of mouth alone. If they were counting on the fans to spread the word, well, I lost all intrest after they threatened j2o.

Top that off with the short length and lack of replayability, the game was not really posessing any of the aspects of a successful game. I guess it had multiplayer, but only so much can be done on the GBA. This is more of a personal preference though, and I am sure many people do not mind games like this. I just happen to be very picky.

Regardless, even if the makers of JJA were being threatened, this site had nothing to do with it. The worst threats I can remember on these forums were threats to not buy the game. Maybe there were a few kids having temper tantrums and producing real threats, but it's not like anyone listens to those people.

Maybe if the J2O news had something like "I will burn down your house and kill you, Jaleco" they could have threatened legal action for a good reason. That would have been more of a problem.

I should say, I like that they tried to make a game and I don't hate anyone for it, unlike some people here. I just think they did a bad job when it came to promoting the game and selling it, and their resentful attitude doesn't help much either.

With that said, I think some people in the jj2 community were real idiots about JJA and made problems out of things that didn't even matter.

[Stijn]

I'm not really sure what market they were aiming forWell, when you aim for a market to sell your videogame it's usually larger than 200 people :P

[White Rabbit]

And since it's a Jazz game, it's probably for 3-13 year olds, which most of us are not. :/

[DoubleGJ]

Jazz games always had this two-layered sense of humour, where a tiny bit of jokes was more funny for older players. Besides, just because a game is colorful it doesn't mean older players should stay away.

[Marine1969]

what kind of community is 3rd composed of?
The 3rd Royal Marines are quite friendly, good with weaponry, like pizza, play games like house fo the dead on arcade machines in the rec room.

Just general nice community.

[Fawriel]

I'm not really sure what market they were aiming for. I saw almost no publicity for that game, and when it comes to video games, they rarely succeed on word of mouth alone. If they were counting on the fans to spread the word, well, I lost all intrest after they threatened j2o.
They did? When?

[EvilMike]

It happened a long time ago and isn't such a big deal any more. It's not like they actually did anything.

[Marine1969]

Well, you must remember what happened to www.pixelstudios.net.tc

The people that made the Bubble Tea animation http://newgrounds.com/portal/view/183389

I got them shut down by accident through their forums. I never actually did anything

[n00b]

The 3rd Royal Marines are quite friendly, good with weaponry, like pizza, play games like house fo the dead on arcade machines in the rec room.

Just general nice community.
Ooooooh Arcade machines! Perfect! Reminds me of plenty of other people I would turn over to the game if it wasn't the hard to find factor-ness, and my constant forgetfulness of the Chip N Bits link.
Maybe, see if some of them like it, and slowly dispense until it is popular it, like what drug dealers do with a drug combo only it's a rabbit game.

[Melissa0]

When you look at all of the people who actually play online... I doubt there is more then 30 unique users or 35 per week :(

[n00b]

I was about to ask you to explain unique, but the Seph Clone thread reminded me of what that would mean. Yay.

[DoubleGJ]

There are still some people who don't come out of miscellanious stuff and some people that don't post on JCF at all but still are good at JJ2.

[Tubz]

That poor little cute and hot bunny.

He still has dedicated people to love him however.
Heh, that's the first time that I heard someone call Jazz hot. I usually hear "Lori is hot" all the time.

[FQuist]

Not that illogical seeing the majority of this community is male. :P

[Marine1969]

Come on, there's females here.

I think.

At least there arn't any males here that are stronger than me physically.

I think.

At least the rest of the British military will stop using the lame SA80 soon.

I pray to god, allah, the sprits, and to a lesser extent, ra.

The SA80 sucks, it gets people killed.

[FQuist]

I said majority, not everyone. But a big amount of the people here are male.

[Fawriel]

At least there arn't any males here that are stronger than me physically.

I think.
Bring it on, short stuff!
..
*gets up on his toes and raises his head*

[Marine1969]

I'm a little over 6ft and can carry two people easily.

I gave Red a piggy back ride and was running all around town once.

[Fawriel]

Mrr.. you English people and your need for alternate length units..

Well, according to this size converter I'm around 5'6'', I'm pretty strong as well, though... but I don't think I can carry two people at once for a very long time. Besides that I have no idea how to get two people underneath my arms anyway.

[Violet CLM]

You are spamming my topic which I kind of care about. Go away, please.

[Fawriel]

Oh. I'm sorry. Really. *ceases*

[Marine1969]

But you already did the interview and everything and faw is awesome.

[DarkJazz23]

I can lend the game at any time, so no sorry.
Jazz PC is fairly better, at least that's what I think!