Member of the Month
December 2013
Narokh
A certain Canadian overlooked this member... Tsk, tsk. What would DWaM have to say about that?
December 2013
Narokh
A certain Canadian overlooked this member... Tsk, tsk. What would DWaM have to say about that?
This is the Member of the Month; an interview that I do at the end of each month. It's a fun way of finding out about respected members of the community.
I personally select each month's Member of the Month. People are picked based on their contributions to the community, whether they are: making excellent trials, providing comic relief or just being a brilliant person. The next Member of the Month could be you!
If you have any questions about the Member of the Month system, please PM me.
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2013 has been yet another exciting year for the community with the release of Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies and the proud accomplishment of numerous competitions won by DWaM. Although I'd like to say more, it's now Boxing Day, and I'm terribly, terrible tired, so without further ado: I'd like to present 2013's final Member of the Month: Narokh...!▬▬▬▬▬▬
Tap: Hello, and welcome to the forty-second Member of the Month interview.Narokh: Hello Tap. I'm flattered to be here. I certainly didn't expect to be nominated as member of the month.
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Tap: Tell us about how you found AAO, and what made you want to join.Narokh: That was shortly after first playing the Ace Attorney games in early 2009. I got really fascinated and had lots of fun playing them. If I remember correctly, I heard of fan-made trials even before I actually played the games myself, which I found very interesting. And thus, after searching for trial makers my google-fu lead me here! :p
I think I actually found Py-Wright first, but AAO turned out to be much more comfortable to handle.
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Tap: And how did that lead to you creating what is nearly a four-case series, Matt Silver, a series that is already equally as long as Justice for All?Narokh: Well, by the time I joined AAO I already had the (rough) first draft ideas for what would become Turnabout Deception. And while creating this first case, more ideas quickly rushed to my mind that would be used for future trials.
Originally, Deception was intended as a standalone case. But by the time I started on the third part for that, I already had so many ideas and thought, why not a series instead? Calling it "equally as long as Justice for All" would be a bit far fetched though, I think.
Tap: How did the ideas for the characters Matt Silver, the excellent Nathan Valon and James Tyron come into shape?
Narokh: Phew, good question. Matt and James were originally created as foils to each other. Matt as the young, nervous fresh lawyer with a slightly less formal attitude than your average lawyer vs. James as the seasoned, cool and levelheaded professional. And of course Valon as the sly and deceptive villain. I basically started them as these archetypes and tried to add some unique traits and quirks to them here and there - hopefully more or less successful. But that's for those who play the trials to decide.
As a little bit of random info on coming up with characters, I'd like to elaborate on my personal favorite side-character from my series - Sam Spicious. Spicious' role started as "Witness who may or may not be the culprit of the case". Originally, said role was to be occupied by a female character called "Sue Spicious" (if puns could hurt, huh?) but I changed it to a male. I settled on the "enjoy star observing" character quirk, but originally was going to use Richard Wellington's sprite. Only when I was at the part of the trial where he would first appear, I found the animations were lacking for what I wanted, and decided to change it to Gant's sprites. I came up with his quirky, lively old man personality on the spot, and I think it fit the character well.
And since the character was so well liked (by myself as much as by the other players) I decided it was a waste to have him just as a one-time throw away witness, and ever since incorporated him into the thicker plot of the series. But I'm gonna stop here, or else I might give away too much of a spoiler for the future. :-p Guess what I'm trying to say is, that sometimes spontaneous, add-libbed characters work out just as well as planned ones.
Tap: Are there any fangame developers in AAO that you like or inspire you to develop?
Narokh: I have to admit, I never dug too deep into the AAO community, as I've always had very limited time to spend on the site - and I prefered to use it to work on my own trials. So, no really big inspirations to be honest, but most of the people here make a decent and likable impression on me.
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Tap: What's your favourite fan trial on AAO?Narokh: Oof, it's been so long since I actually got to play others people's trials here. I remember playing a lot of really, really good ones, but I honestly don't think I could name a single one that I would consider my favorite. The one that stood out most though would be the New Year's Turnabout.
Let me just say that there were quite a few trials that made me doubt the quality of my own trials, haha.
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Tap: Now let's talk about your personal life. What was your childhood like?Narokh: Not my favorite topic to be honest. I tend to not think about my childhood too much. Let's just say a few things went awry and left me socially awkward even to this day. I mostly got over it, but some of it still lingers. On the other hand, it helps to have a very personal reference to write characters with a troubled past. :-p
Yes, I based some of Matt's background on my own and exaggerated it (emphasis on that part - I never had an imaginary friend, I swear! XD )
Tap: Suuure.
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Tap: That brings me to my next question. What is your average day like?Narokh: On weekdays: Get up, go to work, spend rest of the day either gaming, doing hobby stuff or being lazy. Weekends: My usual after-work activities, with some more emphasis on being lazy. XD Meeting up with friends too.
Tap: When you're not around the forums, is there another website that you're cheating on AAO with? League of Legends, perhaps?
Narokh: Oh wow, I actually haven't played League of Legends forever. I took a big break some time ago, and due to the pretty bad community never found back into it again. And, I don't think there's a single website that I would name as "cheating AAO with".
Tap: I'm sure Unas must be very relieved to hear that.
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Tap: What are your plans for the future?Narokh: Try to advance / improve my life situation. It's not bad, but it's kind of deadlocked right now and I'd like to try get it moving forward again.
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Tap: Which is your favourite Ace Attorney game?Narokh: That would be Trials & Tribulations, with the first Ace Attorney and Apollo Justice sharing a close second place. I recently finished dual destinies, and have to say it was a lot of fun too.
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Tap: What other games do you really like?Narokh: I'm a long time (since release) World of Warcraft player and still can enjoy it. I recently got into Borderlands 2 too, which I found quite enjoyable too. Also, aside from videogames, there's Pen&Paper Roleplaying (D&D and such) as well as Warhammer 40k that I like to play often.
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Tap: What was the first video game you ever played?Narokh: Tetris on Gameboy... I think? I'm not entirely sure though, it's been so long. Either way, most of my gaming in younger years was done on Nintendo Consoles. I think I got my first PC back in 1998.
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Tap: Do you have any other interests?Narokh: Does "coming up with a whole lot of stories for all kinds of scenarios, with most of them never being written down or anything" count? XD There are always so many ideas and stories running through my head, and sadly I only get to write down / realize so few of them.
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Tap: It's Christmas! Merry Christmas! What are your plans for today?Narokh: We (and by that I mean my family) have never really been big into Christmas. So it's probably going to be a relaxing day spent with the family. But of course, Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it!
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Tap:[/b] Before we conclude this interview, do you have anything else you'd like to say?Narokh: Thank you everyone for the incredible feedback on my cases. It's so much more than I would have ever expected when signing up here. The Matt Silver Series is not dead yet. The ideas and plot for the big conclusion are still in my head, and WILL be turned into a case once I find the time and motivation again! I actually started looking for a few helpers with that, so check out my series post for details! [/shameless plug]
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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all AAO members!