After sending him the answers we waited with anticipation (ED: like a 3 year old) to hear his answers, and here they are for you to read. Enjoy!
Here is a description of the game:
"Nelly Cootalot" is a classic style point'n click adventure in the tradition of the old LucasArts games.
Here's what the developer wrote about the story:
"Nelly Cootalot is a young pirate captain who meets her destiny when she comes face-to-face with the visage of the long-dead buccaneer William Bloodbeard. Bloodbeard, once the scourge of the South Seas had a sideline in protecting cute and endangered birds. He tells Nelly that the Spoonbeaks (a species of birds) of the Barony of Meeth have vanished. Nelly must investigate and uncover nefarious goings-on in the small island community.
The game offers you the opportunity to:
- Rescue endangered and unusually named wildfowl
- Acquire morally dubious items on behalf of minor aristocrats
- Intercept the private correspondences of a daredevil pilot
- Come to the aid of downtrodden supernatural beings
- Be confused by Nelly's County Durham colloquialisms
- Borrow facial hair from long-dead pirates
- Wantonly misuse the word 'borrow'."
"Nelly Cootalot" is incredible cute and funny! The graphics are beautiful drawn, the music by Mark Lovegrove fits the atmosphere and (most important for an adventure) all the puzzles are hard but well made and there are always hints, so you can solve them if you use your brain.
You can find Nelly Cootalot here. The game developers site is here.
Chroelle:
Tell us more about yourself - how old are you, where do you live, what do you do for a living? (one of these basic interview questions)
Ali:
I’m twenty-four. I usually say twenty-three by mistake and then get depressed. It’s going to be even more depressing next year. I live in York, England at the moment but am planning to move somewhere else... don’t know where though. I do freelance media work to support the making of short films.
Chroelle:
Nelly Cootalot was made for your girlfriend’s birthday, we learned, so how did you come up with that?
Ali:
“What will cost me nothing and be really easy and fun to do?” I thought. More fool me. It did cost me nothing, but it took a year longer than I expected and was quite hard work. The simple fact that Nelly’s wearing an eyepatch doubled the walkcycles, dagnabit.
Chroelle:
How did she react to that – I think everyone would love to know that.
Ali:
She liked it, I think. I hope! I’m so unsubtle that she not only guessed that I was making her a game, but that it was about rescuing Spoonbeaks! I gave her the demo on her birthday, but she waited until Christmas for the finished game. I made her some stickers of the characters which she has put up around our flat. We have El Mono on our knackered old TV! The ‘real’ El Mono, a crappy tourist novelty from South Africa, is on our living room mirror.
Chroelle:
Will we ever see a sequel to Nelly Cootalot?
Ali:
Maybe, but not soon. The sequel will be in a somewhat different style and should be significantly longer, so it will take me longer to make. I’m working on a tech demo at the moment, which I will post on the AGS forums for criticism of the style when it’s ready.
Chroelle:
What exactly is it with Nelly and spoonbeaks?
Ali:
What? She just likes them. She also likes ptarmigans and wrens. Maybe they will appear in the sequel.
Chroelle:
The game is about pirates – is that just because pirates where THE THING to do, or is there a deeper reasoning for this?
Ali:
I really didn’t want to make ANOTHER pirate game. But I wanted to make a game featuring my girlfriend, and I knew she’d love to appear as a pirate. Because I knew the game was thematically unoriginal, I tried to make the game stylistically as different from Monkey Island, and different in terms of puzzles. It was only after the game was released when I realised that there were many similarities I’d missed. I’m replaying the MI series while I plot Nelly II, to avoid copying puzzles without realising.
Chroelle:
What other games did you work on, and are you still involved in game creation?
Ali:
None that were released, but my parallax module was used in the expressionistic Jackyard game.
Chroelle:
When did you start playing games? Do you have any fond memories of those times and did you decide to make a game of your own because of some of them?
Ali:
I spent most of my childhood watching films, reading books and using computers. I had a ZX spectrum, then a BBC Microcomputer (B model), a NES and then a SNES. Now I have a GBA and two SNESes! I’m a king! I don’t play amateur games for the nostalgia value, though I guess many people played Nelly for that reason. I play them because I love storytelling in all media. In the future I might work on a game that was a genuine artistic endeavour. For now, Nelly is an excuse to do silly drawings and make up jokes that no one in the real world will laugh at.
Chroelle:
Did more people work on the game, and if so was it difficult leading the progress with volunteers/paid workers working for you.
Ali:
Mark ‘m0ds’ Lovegrove wrote a very long and lovely soundtrack for free. I didn’t have any trouble working with him at all; the hard thing was finding time for ME to do my job. When the game was finished Peder Johnsen, one of the beta testers kindly uploaded the manual and mirror.
Chroelle:
How do people react to the game when they talk to you about it?
Ali:
Real world or internet? A few of my friends have played it but not many. Most people seem quite positive, and all of the criticism I’ve received has been well justified.
Chroelle:
Have you thought about making it into a series, since you gotta love the characters in the game?
Ali:
Did I play the sequel card too early? Ahem… sequel… unsubstantiated rumour… what’s your source….?
Chroelle:
Do you remember any ideas you had for the game that didn’t make it?
Ali:
Fully animated cutscenes, voice acting, a plastic surgeon for some reason. There are more, but I’m probably just going to try to crowbar the remainder into the sequel. Plastic surgeons ahoy!
Chroelle:
Was the game ever in danger of not being published? Why? And at what state?
Ali:
Not really. Because it was mostly just me, I could take my time and finished it when it was ready.
Chroelle:
Did you ever make similar games to Nelly Cootalot later or before?
Ali:
No, it’s the only game I’ve released.
Chroelle:
Which freeware games do you remember playing that made you take on freeware game development?
Ali:
Actually I started fiddling with Adventure Game Studio long before I played any freeware games. I imagined that free games wouldn’t be much good. The ones that got me hooked to freeware games were Pleurghburg and the Apprentice games. I’ve played many more since, and there are some great freeware/independent games available that really rival mainstream games for story and involvement (if not action, resolution and frame rate).
Chroelle:
Were there any games that inspired you for Nelly Cootalot? Maybe something other than games?
Ali:
No I invented the whole thing out of my head. I’ve never even played another adventure game. None by Ron Gilbert anyway. In truth I wanted to make a game that was loveable, rather than atmospheric. I think the focus on current commercial adventures (S&M excepted) is on atmosphere. Which would be fine except ‘atmosphere’ often means stale, limp environments and characterless mannequin-like heroes.
Chroelle:
What part of Nelly Cootalot was the hardest part getting done?
Ali:
The piragyphyics/code puzzle. Which everyone (apart from me and my gal) hates. I don’t care, I love codes. I should put a code in the sequel… and more machines and conversation mazes…
Chroelle:
What kind of game would you love to make if you had the resources needed and open boundaries?
Ali:
A game following the philosophy of the Siberia and Myst series, which seeks to rival other media in terms of art and narrative. That is to say, something TOTALLY different to Nelly Cootalot!
Chroelle:
What do you think was the coolest feature in the game?
Ali:
I think some of the best/oddest jokes in the game are hard to find. When I play I always read the notice board and use objects on characters, then laugh at my own jokes.
Chroelle:
Where do you see yourself 5 years from now regarding game making?
Ali:
Half way through making Nelly II? I don’t want to make a career of game making as my artistic aspirations lie elsewhere. I do it because I want to contribute to keeping adventures alive (and fun).
Chroelle:
Do you have any favourite games from the freeware scene?
Ali:
Yes, but it’s hard to choose. Most are adventures and the majority are AGS. There are also many I haven’t had time to play yet. Here are the first ones I thought of:
Apprentice 2
Ben Jordan 3 and 4
Spooks
Pleurghburg
Cedric & The Revolution
A Game With a Kitty
What Makes You Tick?
Rorschach (demo)
Duty and Beyond
Trilby’s Notes
1213 (mainly for the bonus ending)
Jessica Plunkenstien
The Shivah
Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die! (Is it still free?)
(ED: Yes and on our site.)
Lure of the Temptress
Chroelle:
Any other freeware games you think we should know about for our site?
Ali:
Make sure you have all of the above!
ED: We inserted the links to make it easier for people to find them on our site
)Chroelle:
Which leads up to the next question.
If you were to mention a GOD of freeware, who would that be?
Ali:
I’m a freeware polytheist, so the GODS would include all those thoughtful developers who’ve made previously commercial games free. Also those who have released engines and development tools for free, like Chris Jones.
Chroelle:
What are your views on giving away commercial games as freeware when they have been commercial for some amount (you decide) of years?
Ali:
Ooh, I promise I didn’t read ahead when I was answering the last one. I think it’s a great idea. I wish LucasArts would either sell Loom or give it away. What’s the point of doing neither? I want to play it!
Chroelle:
If you could choose to do a freeware game with any game developer or publisher(freeware or commercial) who would it be?
Ali:
There are lots of AGSers (I don’t know anyone outside of AGS) who I’d like to work with, but Vince Twelve’s recent design articles have reminded me of what a skilled and inventive coder he is. I also admire the integrity and the storytelling of Dave Gilbert’s games. I also love the work of Marina ”MashPotato” Siu-Chong and Erin ”The Ivy” Robinson.
Chroelle:
Ok. To finish off the interview. The classic question:
Any words for enthusiastic independent game developers?
Ali:
What are you waiting for? Make a game and give it to me for free! Or sell it to me in dollars, so it’s virtually free!