Here's the first chapter in the SEGA Fans Chronicles. As you are well aware, today marks the 16th birthday of the Saturn classic NiGHTS into Dreams. So, I thought I'd bring you an exclusive interview with, probably, the biggest NiGHTS fan out there. Read on...
Welcome to the first edition of SEGA Fans Chronicles on RadioSEGA! This is a new weekly feature of our site, where we'll be spotlighting the most remarkable SEGA fans. And by now you're thinking we're only talking about the most well-known members of the SEGA community. If you are, you're wrong. The purpose of SFC is to highlight the biggest SEGA fans out there, wherever they are and whoever they are. If you think you've got what it takes to be featured on SFC or know of someone who does, just let me know. Read the conclusion of this post to find out how.
Before we start, I'd like to send out a big THANK YOU to Nemain of Sonic Wrecks fame for the awesome banner art she created at my request! We need to chat soon... ;)
As you are well aware, today marks the 16th birthday of the Saturn classic NiGHTS into Dreams. So, I thought I'd bring you an exclusive interview with, probably, the biggest NiGHTS fan out there.
CHAPTER I: TRiPPY
Who? Lynne Triplet aka TRiPPY
Where?
Web: www.NiGHTSintoDreams.com
E-Mail: admin[at]nightsintodreams[dot]com
Twitter: @imagni
Why? Artist, NiGHTS fan extraordinaire, NiGHTSintoDreams.com Admin, SEGA employee, and the list goes on...
SEGA Fan since… Seing Sonic 1 on the Mega Drive (Genesis) on her cousin's bedroom.
Favourite SEGA game: NiGHTS into Dreams
Favourite SEGA console: SEGA Saturn
RadioSEGA: Hello TRiPPY! We appreciate you took some time off your busy schedule to talk to us! For those out there who don't know who you are (the one person that's been living under a rock, that is!), can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
TRiPPY: I'm a Scottish crazy red haired old lady who likes to draw artwork of purple flying jesters and the occasional blue hedgehog. I own a fan website called NiGHTSintoDreams.com which I've had the pleasure of running since 1999. I first starting building the website on my Dreamcast browser, it was my first experience with the internet. Built on dreams!... and dodgy hand coded HTML. I'm a bit of a jack of all trades - Artist, designer, writer, admin, singer, gamer. But I try to focus mainly on my artwork these days. I live in London with my lovely boyfriend and co-admin DiGi. Together we try to cause as much trouble as possible in a completely constructive manner!
RS: We all know you're a NiGHTS fan, which makes you obviously a SEGA fan. When did your love for SEGA start and why?
T: Well when I was a kid I was going through some massively rough times. We were homeless for a few years, so I had plenty of reasons to give myself happy distractions. My first gaming 'system' was actually a C64 with the amazing tape deck... but one day I visited my cousin's house and she had a Mega Drive and Sonic 1 playing in the bedroom. I was instantly hooked on the sharp bright colors, the music and how everything appeared to be so sparkly. I associated SEGA with a lot of my happy memories and it kind of grew from there the older I got. My brother started to bring these Sonic comics home with him from school. I began to 'borrow' them and never return them. I started sending in my artwork and had nearly all of it printed. I think it was me and Jessica Padkin (who amusingly also works at SEGA too) who got the most fanart ever printed in the comics. I still get people recognizing my name from Speedlines which is really amazing. SEGA-wise though my absolute point of no return was when I first seen Knuckles in Sonic The Comic and on the box art for Sonic 3. After that I was a hardcore raging fangirl and drew nothing but Knuckles art for years, haha! What went wrong... ah yeah 1996 happened.
RS: What's your favourite SEGA console?
T: I know it will sound biased coming from me but Saturn all the way. For me it symbolizes pure creative talent. Imagination. Experimenting. So many amazing original IPs started on that system. I've had my Saturn since it was released and it's the one console that I still play the most to this day. I mean with games like Panzer Dragoon, Burning Rangers, Fighters Megamix, Parodius, Guardian Heroes, Sonic Jam and that one game with the flying thing, I was spoiled for choice. I love my Saturn. Games always felt so absorbing and exciting.
RS: Should I ask what your favourite SEGA game is?
T: Yes, you should. It's NiGHTS into Dreams. Learn it well mortal! >:[
But Bayonetta, PSO and Shenmue come in after that. God I love PSO so hard! It's a game that makes my choice in shoes totally trendy.
RS: Your work on NiD.com is remarkable! And you've been able to raise awareness of NiGHTS. In fact, one of your campaigns managed to get SEGA's attention and got our favourite jester in All-Stars Racing. Want to tell us about that and how it felt to be a part of something so huge?
T: Thanks! Though to be fair I can get a bit lazy with it. That's what happens when you only have 2.5 games over 16 years. It becomes a lot more about the community than content based things. Though all this rumour mill stuff recently has got me working on the site again. The NiGHTS fandom goes through periods of hibernation then comes back out again and tends to create a lot of noise. This is what happened with All-Stars Racing a few years back. We were incredibly large trolls and caused a bit of a fuss involving kitkats and bonfires. The NiGHTS lot might seem a bit hardcore at times but we only ever try to be polite and useful about it. We love our community and NiGHTS very much so feel obligated to protect and promote it. Let's be honest here, campaigns normally start because DiGi gets angry about something. This is the catalyst for all mischief and ends up snowballing into huge huge things. With All-Stars Racing we really wanted NiGHTS to be represented in the game because we believed he was just as worthy as the other classic SEGA characters that had shown up. It upset us a bit. So we made a lot of noise about it and ended up getting the attentions of the people who matter. Magic was done and we had a happy outcome with NiGHTS being added to the game very very late on as the games official flag waver. Our site had an exclusive character reveal image with the Producer explaining why NiGHTS had been included in the game, directly because of the fans. It spread like wildfire online with all the main gaming news websites reporting on our successful campaign outcome. I felt very proud. We recognize that doing that for us was a huge task and a half (especially how I understand it these days working in the industry myself) so we are still massively grateful to everyone involved. We do so love us a bit of SUMO [Digital] and SEGA. In the rare instances when companies connect to the fans like that in such a personal way it always makes me love what I do more.
RS: NiGHTS turns 16 today! Are you celebrating in any special way?
T: By hopefully having the greatest sleep in a week tonight.
RS: I am also a big fan of your art. How long have you been drawing?
T:I've been drawing since around the age of six. Art has always been the thing I enjoy doing the most. I love giving life to little characters and creating universes for them to play in. Art i believe is down to practise and a decent imagination. You can draw anything if you can focus enough. The hardest part of art is forcing yourself to sit in one spot for hours on end. Get that out of the way and you're good to go.
RS: You're currently working on a comic entitled "NiGHTS: Descent into Dreams", and we've already posted a feature about it here on RadioSEGA. Can you tell us about the story?
T: Well, I won't give too much away yet, but what's been seen so far is only a small introduction based in reality. The main bulk of the comic to follow will be based on the official elements of the stories and characters. Both NiGHTS into Dreams and Journey of Dreams. I want to lace together the entire timeline and inject a lot of real fan experiences in there. But more about that later...
Essentially I want this NiGHTS comic to be my gift to every fan who ever cared in some shape or form for NiGHTS. I hope there will be something in there for everyone to enjoy.
RS: What made you think of, and start work on, this NiGHTS comic?
T: A little bit of inspiration, a pinch of frustration, the need to be able to explain myself and a big heap of encouragement. I felt it was time to finally properly do that one comic I'd always wanted to do. I wanted to show the people I look up to what my experience with NiGHTS was and why the fans mean so much to me. It's very much a labour of love.
RS: You are currently working for SEGA, if I'm not mistaken. How does it feel to work for the company you've admired for such a long time?
T: The greatest feeling you will ever know if you're a diehard like me. It means the world to me. I mean when I first started it was great, but over time it became even better because of the people. The strength, humour and dedication I've seen in the company, I've never seen anywhere else before. It really is a dream come true. The day you get your name tag is the best day. Your next best day is when you first see your name scroll down a credits screen for a Sonic game. The third is something you'd have to figure out for yourself :)
KC Edit: And now I have figured it out. See conclusion of the article.
RS: As you know, RadioSEGA is, above all, about the music, so... If you we’re going to a desert island and could only take one soundtrack to any SEGA game with you, what would it be and why?
T: Phantasy Star Online. It has so many different moods to it. Soaring beautiful melodies and ambience that can get stuck in your head very easily. I'd take it so I could play it when EVIL SHARKS attack. My island life would be 12% less miserable then.
RS: Apart from being a SEGA/NiGHTS fan, are there any other hobbies or interests you'd like to share with us?
T: Well me and DiGi have our own self published comic book called Engelbaum (www.imagni.com) which is the other main project that I work on behind the scenes. My life pretty much revolves around art and computers lately with very little time for anything else. I keep getting ideas for more costumes that I'd love to make but never have the time to do. I once spent 3 years making a NiGHTS cosplay. Yeah... I did however end up on BBC1 Childrens Newsround thanks to SEGA and that costume. Which was awesome. I'm a massive SEGA nerd so most of my life revolves around the company I work for. Not ashamed to say it, lol.
RS: Again, thank you so much for being a part of the first edition of the SEGA Fans Chronicles! Much success to all your current and future projects! We hope to keep hearing from you in the future, which I know we will because you won't let us forget NiGHTS!
T: Damn straight!
Thanks for listening to my rambles.
Keep on dreaming guys~
And little did I know that on the day this interview was to be published, SEGA would announce the release of NiGHTS into Dreams HD! Indeed, TRiPPY didn't let us forget NiGHTS. The NiD15 campaign, started by TRiPPY and DiGi last year to promote the release of an HD port of the first NiGHTS game, has finally paid off as SEGA announced said port is coming out on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC Digital Download this fall.
As TRiPPY herself has posted on NiGHTSintoDreams.com:
We at RadioSEGA, would like to extend our congratulations to TRiPPY, DiGi Valentine and the whole community of awesome NiGHTS fans!
This was the first edition of the SEGA Fans Chronicles, celebrating NiGHTS' 16th birthday and the release of NiGHTS into Dreams HD. Remember, we'll be coming back weekly to the RadioSEGA front page with an exclusive interview with a remarkable SEGA fan. You can help us by letting us know how you or someone you know is one of those fans and deserve to be featured in SFC. You can send an e-mail to kc[dot]radiosega[at]gmail[dot]com, tweet me @DJLuis_KC or send me a private message on the RadioSEGA forums. As an alternative, you can post in the official SFC thread in our forums. I'll be keeping an eye on that and on any comments made in each week's blog posts. Please share your thoughts on this interview and the SEGA Fans Chronicles feature, and feel free to send me your suggestions.
Until next week when we write a new chapter in the SEGA Fans Chronicles!
SEGA listened to us.
SEGA have been directly working with the fans on this one.
How do I know?
We've been working on the game. This is the real deal.
This was the one title that caused me to chase my dreams for years to work at SEGA. It's with a great sense of pride I can say I achieved that dream years later. The day I sat down in front of this project at my desk I just couldn't stop smiling. I knew this entire community was perched up on my shoulder. This has been a real dream come true. For all of us.
Thank you so much to EVERYONE who worked so hard to make this happen. The years of campaigning and promoting, causing mischief and creating the best kinds of memories. You should all feel very proud of yourselves and thankful to everyone behind the scenes. If you believe in something enough, face your fears and never give up – it can happen.
Happy birthday NiGHTS. We didn't forget you."
Requests between 19th May and 25th May