RC: We're not really a company. We're more like a garage band bashing away. I met Iikka in 1997, and we met Bill [Phosphorous] in 2001. We kind of congealed together over time. Disgusting, isn't it? We all have similar interests so making games for fun together was the natural thing to do.

Phos: As soon as I realized that Iikka and Rich were as twisted as I was. I had no choice in the matter. Sucked in from the future.

SG: What do you see the benefits of being an independent are? And those annoying, inescapable downsides that some nasty creator of the universe insists must always accompany the good stuff - what are they like?

RC: As actor Mel Gibson, playing William Wallace, said in his final scene in the Braveheart, "Freedom!" The downside is that there is a trade off to be decided upon. The more money you want to make as an indie, the more freedom you're going to have to give up to other parties' suggestions and demands. There's no ultimate good or bad here, it just depends on what your goals are.

Phos: Creative control but not enough piles of cash!

IK: We could sell our IP to corporate overlords for $30 million, but what's the fun in that?

SG: Test Question 2: Amiga or ST?

RC: Well, I'd have to go with Star Trek.

IK: Amiga forever! I still have one, I bought it from Ebay. Unfortunately the US (NTSC) monitor doesn't display my old PAL games quite properly...

Phos: Neither.

SG: Your games all include a healthy dose of humour. Unusually for games, it's not cloyed or crap. Why do you think the as a whole does such a terrible job of employing humour in their games?

IK: Because industry people try too hard to entertain some nebulous target audience rather than themselves.

Phos: Because they're soulless stooges. (Goes into a babbling rant...)

RC: Because folks who write these games aren't funny. But thanks for the compliment. We don't think about it or anything. If the stuff we're talking about is making us laugh, we put it in.

SG: Are there any particular inspirations for the team, or are your brains too much of a clutter of cultural and sub-cultural references to be able to point any accusatory fingers?

Phos: The original Outer Limits.

RC: My brain is like a vortex of fuzz. Maybe we're like the Three Stooges of game design. Larry, Moe and Phosphorous. Actually, I think we're very Zappa. We do everything wrong yet we make what I think is terrific stuff. I wouldn't have it any other way.

IK: Almost everything I do is inspired either by the early 90's Finnish demoscene or Master of Orion. Sometimes both.

SG: Of all your games, which was the most fun, liberating experience, and which came closest to being the opposite?

RC: I enjoyed working on Strange Adventures in Infinite Space the most because it's more the kind of game I like to play than the other games we have made. Dr. Blob's Organism was fun because it went from silly idea to game so fast.

IK: Making Dr. Blob's Organism was a ton of fun, it's a totally off-the-wall idea that we turned into a game almost on a whim (and really fast). Sometimes when you're working on a project in your spare time things will drag on and on until you lose your interest. That sort of happened to the old, big Infinite Space 4X game. (Never published.)

SG: Test Question 3: Diet or Regular?

Phos: I consume only photons.

IK: Gimme some sugar, baby.

RC: I prefer 11th dimensional soft drinks that are so advanced they drink you.

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