Draft:Mike Philbin

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Mike Philbin
[[Image: File:Mike 1.gif |250px]]
Credits
MediEvil (1998)	Level Modelling Additional Character Animation
MediEvil 2	Character Animation

Interviews

MediEvil EU site

1998

• Education: Art at College
• Joined Millennium/Sony: 1996
• Favourite Drink: Anything not Alcoholic
• Previous Jobs: Freelancing for graphics publications.

EXHAUSTED

How exhausted are you? Or are you quite calm today?
No, I'm okay.

So what did you do before you worked here?
Same thing for another company.

Who was that? 
Software Creations up in Manchester.

What games did you work on when you were there? 
Nintendo games.

And before you did that?
I had another life.

What did you do? Something exciting?
Freelancing for graphics publications.

Did you do art at college? Drawing and that.
Yeah, drawing.

And then you did some freelance?
Yep.

And where did you start doing it?
In St Helens.

Is that where you're from?
Yeah.

And do you live in Cambridge?
Yep

How did you get into computer games, What happened to you?
I needed a change of life and I learned how to use computers.

So you suddenly thought "aha"
Yep

And you were away?
Yep

KINKY IDEAS

What did you do on MediEvil?
All the levels alongside Nina Chritiansen. I modelled all the characters with her. Animated several characters just for a laugh. Some kinky ideas. And that's it.

That's it. That's quite good. What do you mean that's it?! Did you find that your characters were very much your creations or did they come from the team? How did that work?
All the maps and character designs are done by Jason Wilson. And then we discussed how to do them as models.

Did you find that that kind of stopped your creativity?
It was fine for this game.

When you say that they were mapped by him, did he create them?
Oh yeah, he sketched them out. And then it's a simple case of working out how a big, curvy object can become a nice sharp triangular object.

Do you like doing this kind of stuff?
It's a challenge. It's like, how the hell can you make something look good if you have only got triangles to work with?

So do you enjoy this a lot, or is there another, more creative job in games that you might like?
I'd like to enjoy myself, just having fun a bit more. The mental level.

I think there is something bubbling under there that you are not telling us. What is the best bit of your contribution here? Something that you were involved in and you said 'yes'?
I just like enjoyed getting the best out of the few polygon-based, real-time stuff. It was fun

GAME PARTS

Do you think that that is a really good part of the game
Yeah, it looks really good.

And what parts did you sweat the most blood over?
Some of the levels that went into the game that were quite tricky to construct. And there are a couple of characters in there that were difficult to animate.

Were there some that weren't in the game?
Yeah, there were supposed to be thirty-odd levels in the game

How many levels are there?
Twenty. Or so. So there's all that work and there are some characters too. . .

So is that a negative
No, it's better in the sense that you could have thirty sprawling levels that make no sense or twenty nice, tight levels that will make a good game. So that didn't hurt me at all.

Are you sure?
Yeah. I just sound sarcastic all the time. Sorry.

Is it a natural sarcasm? 
Absolutely.

What software do you use? 
All the software we use are SGO.

And how do you get along with Unix? 
All right. I have a couple of commands up my sleeve.

NO MUCKING ABOUT

What time do you get up in the morning?
I'm in work for 9 o'clock. About half eight, 9 o'clock. I get home before 6. I like to be on time and on schedule basically.

So you just like to come in and do your work? 
No mucking about. . .

What time is your lunch break? 
Between 12 and half twelve. . .

Do you work weekends? 
If I have to, yeah.

Do you not like doing it?
It's not a case of liking doing it, it's just that it has to be done. That's cool. I've not had too many.

Is that because you're very disciplined?
I like to be disciplined. . . Sort of.

Do you find it frustrating because other people are not as disciplined?
Er. . . no comment.

All right, fair enough. Are you a nightmare to work with?
Jesus!!

Are you a nightmare to work with?
Not at all! I can't speak for myself, can I? Because I'd say no. Only joking.

Are you one of those people who come in at 9 and think 'Why isn't everyone else in at 9!'? Are you like that?
Yeah, if I need something done.

BOOZE WISE

Do you drink?
Do I drink?

Yeah, what's your favourite drink? 
Umm, booze wise? Well, I don't really drink.

No?? What's got into people? 
Is that worrying or what?

It always amazes me that people don't drink anything! 
Ermm. . . no, not really.

Not at all? Not on special occasions? 
I certainly drink on special occasions, yeah.

What do you drink? 
Erm, something that I'm not allergic to.

Oh really, have you got quite a lot of allergies? 
Possibly. Certain things set me off so I avoid them…

Like what? 
Like the classic lager. . . I think it's Kronenburg. . . does me in.

Really? I have a problem with Labbatts Ice. It makes me so ill. I can just drink like one of them and. . .
Yeah.

It's horrible - everyone thinks I'm hung over. Absolutely dreadful.
In the morning you're sort of going uhhhh.

Yeah, just from one. I mean it's not because I'm drunk. Obviously! But you know. You get that kind of reaction - where you think you might start sneezing and feel absolutely shit.
Yeah, all that

What sneezing?
It's just terrible. If you get the wrong drink it's like really bad.

ON THE RECORD

Do you feel pleased with MediEvil?
I'm pleased with my contribution towards it.

Yeah, that's what I mean 
. . . Oh that's good. . . You can put that on the record if you want.

No, we'll put that in. . . so you won't be like 'oh my god, I said that' but you haven't really said much so we won't be able to say anything about you anyway. 
Really? I thought I was going to be out of work today.

Were you hoping?
No

OK. All right then. . . Thanks very much.