Interview
Red Maverick Zero vs James Paige

	Red Maverick Zero: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gerbils and hamsters. Today, we will be, errr... I guess I will be interviewing James Paige. You might be wondering, "who the hell is this James Paige?" Well, for those who don't know, he's the dude responsible for the OHR engine we all use. Through this interview, we'll find out a little more about the man behind the engine. So how are you today James?
	James Paige: Very good! Sneezing slightly.
	RMZ: That's never a good thing. I suppose we should start this interview at the beginning of it all. Can you tell us a little bit about when you first created the OHR, and what yourmotivation for doing so was?
	James Paige: It was the summer of 1996, shortly after graduating high-school when I first really started. The idea of a game editor was something that myself and Brian Fisher had been kicking around for years, ever since we played with Adventure Construction Set, and we had been tinkering on game-data editors for other games, some of which formed the basis of some of the OHR'seditors.
	RMZ: '96, wow, that means the OHR is 13 years old this summer. Do you still have a copy of the '96 version, for nostalgia sake?
	James Paige: I knew nothing of version-control back then, and I experienced a few hard drive crashes, so although I might have a few backup copies from before we first put the code into subversion, I do not have any copies of the really old code, like say the 4-map version (although you never know, I might discover adusty old floppy some day and surprise myself.) Backup copies are so important!
	RMZ: You're telling me, the guy who got me into OHR constantly had hard drive crashes and lost all of his stuff.
	James Paige: Well, usually it was my old hard drive failing after I moved to a new computer, but it was kinda dumb of me to count on old hard drives as a backup medium. But yes. I am a verteran of hard-drive crashes. I love the ones where it goes klunka-kluna-SccSCRRRRRAPE! Scrape scrape scrape scrape *tik*scrape scrape...
	RMZ: I joined back in 2003, so I have no idea what my version I had, besides having to use BAM. Back then, OHR updates were few and far between each other. Nowadays there's one every other month. Are we just lucky these past couple of years, or did you get motivated to really push the engine as far as itcan go?
	James Paige:  I got motivated. Releasing the source code as GPL was very motivating. Simon's FreeBasic port was very motivating. The other OHR devs like TMC and Mike are very motivating. I have recently discovered that participation in game-making contests is very motivating :)
	RMZ: Is that because it gives you ideas of what else you want to implement?
	James Paige: I don't know quite how it works. I just know that action breeds action. I think I also work better knowing I am being watched.
	RMZ: So you made the OHR in 1996, when on the timeline would you say our favorite furry friend, Bob the Hamster, came into the picture?
	James Paige: Bob was born.... somewhere around 1992, I think. He had already been in most of the games that Brian and I made before then, and when I first sat down and started working on the OHRRPGCE, I was calling it "Wandering Hamster". It wasn't until a few weeks into it that I decided that Wandering Hamster was a better name for the game, and that I should call the engine the OHRRPGCE.
	RMZ: Okay, I'll get right to it, because this is the question everyone wants to know the answer to. What is the REAL reason we haven't had an update to Wandering Hamster in forever? When will we find out the fate of Bob after being swallowed by that treacherous snake?
	James Paige: I think if I knew the real reason that I have neglected Wandering Hamster so long, then it would be done already. Somehow I got demotivated-- we'll call it writer's block, even though it is a game. As for what happens next, well, you can always read the spoilers on the Wandering Hamster page on the wiki, but I'll say that I decided to myself that I would make another official release as soon as I work far enough to get Gisly the Drunken Berzerker Viking! You might find it odd that both Wandering Hamster and Vikings of Midgard feature drunken viking berzerkers, but I assure you this is not any kind of nefarious collusion between Fenrir and I, its simply the way Vikings are. Blame the mead-sellers.
	RMZ: Nice, I was always wondering who that guy was with the penguins in the intro of the game.
	James Paige:  That's him!
	RMZ: Will any of the stuff you've been putting out, like the engine in Baconthulu, be incorporated into Wandering Hamster?
	James Paige: Hmmm... Maybe. I might re-cycle the dungeon generator from Baconthulhu at some point in Wandering Hamster, but I definitely won't over-use it. A dungeon like that combined with RPG random encounters would be as unpleasant as a Master System Phantasy Star dungeon. I might also work in Misa the Hamster, but I haven't decided for sure.
	RMZ: Misa the Hamster? Did Bob the Hamster finally find true love?
	James Paige: Did you get the "good" ending to Baconthulhu?
	RMZ: I never finished it, sadly.
	James Paige: Actually, I don't have a single Bob canon. The events that affect him in one story may not apply in another story.
	RMZ: Well, can you tell us a little about this Misa the Hamster, for those of us who don't know who she is?
	James Paige: Misa the Hamster-- er actually, I'm probably renaming her Misa DuHamstre-- is a love interest for Bob the Hamster that I created for Crypt of Baconthulhu. She was unfortunately a somewhat underdeveloped character there. I ran out of time to make her participate more once she joins you. (But maybe I'll get back to that later). The name Misa is pronounced "Misha", and it is my girlfriend Genny's middle name. Misa will also appear in the 8-bit contest game I am working on right now.
	RMZ: Ah, I have special interest for wanting to know about it. Anything you can tell our readers about your 8-bit game?
	James Paige: It's an educational game!
	RMZ: Educational?!
	James Paige: You'll see.
	RMZ: Well, we've talked a bit about your games, both old and new, but do you have any games from other authors that you are lookingforward to, or particularily enjoy?
	James Paige: Hmmm. I always feel like I don't play enough OHR games. There are a lot of good and interesting looking games that I simply haven't played through for lack of time. For example, I have only played the first 45 minutes of Sword of Jade, the first 20 minutes of Boundless Ocean, and I have only done bugtest-playing of Powerstick Man. I think Powerstick Man is at the top of my list of games that I really want to sit down and play beginning to end. What I really dream about is if TMC's fb2cpp project works out, trying to make a Mac OS X port, and from that trying to make an iPhone port, and with that, I would be ableto play OHR games in the bathroom!
	RMZ: That's delightfully disgusting...
	James Paige: Not just the bathroom, the car!
	RMZ: ...and that's dangerous! But I'd be pretty excited if I saw someone actually driving around and playing an OHR game.
	James Paige: I can hear the news now: Local San Pedro man killed in a head-on collision. Is this just an accident, or another incident of what people are calling GWD "Gaming While Driving?" We'll be back with details at 7:00, including why YOUR CHILDRENAREN'T SAFE!
	RMZ:  How does it make you feel, knowing that so many people are as faithful to this little indy game engine to the point where they refuse to make their games on any other engine?
	James Paige: I am honored that so many people stick with the OHR, although I would encourage people to branch out and try other engines too. We have a lot of people in the community who are sogood at scripting that they should be pure-programming.
	RMZ: With updates for the OHR sporadically appearing, and each with more impressive and surprising updates, what would you say is the future for the OHR?
	James Paige: Well, as I mentioned before, I think that TMC's fb2cpp could be the path to the future of the OHR. FreeBasic can only be compiled for Windows and Linux, and only for intel-compatible processors. Being able to convert to C++ for complilation on other platforms could open up the way to handhelds. Not just iPhone, but Pandora, PSP, maybe Android, maybe DS homebrew, who knows? I'm not saying that ports to such platforms are a certainty, but they could stop being impossible.
	RMZ: Well, damn, that's exciting. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gerbils and hamsters, this concludes our interview. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks again for stopping by for this interview, James. Do you have any final words for our viewers before we say goodbye?
	James Paige: You are welcome! Thank you for having me! Hmmm... I think, to all the OHR'ers out there, I want to say thank you. I am having a lot of fun with this ol' program, and I don't think I would still be doing it without all of you.
	RMZ: James Paige everyone! See you all next time!