Interview Adam Tea (AND MORE SURPRISES)

Noah: Well Adam I am glad to have you here at Doux! How are you?

Adam: I’m well :).

Noah: That is really good! So you’re the man behind it all- you’re the man who brought us Puzzleworth?!

Adam: Yes I am- Apologies to the world :P.

Noah: Why apologize? You created the best thing ever, and I am so honored for your missions that you have made.

Adam: Thank you for saying that, I appreciate it. It was really heartwarming back then to see the hugely positive recepetion to it- and to see it still be fondly remembered today.

Noah: No problem Adam :). Yes, I will forever remember Puzzleworth, and the master behind it all! What is the story behind the Puzzleworth?

Adam: Well, let me ask you; what did you take from it? What do *you* think is the story?

Noah: Well I know that his parents went missing, and that he is very angry over that! But what happened to his parents?

Adam: Yes, indeed they went missing. The Puzzleworth Mystery was meant to resolve the where and the why, but as the community well knows, the story was never completed. The general idea was that Puzzleworth's parents went missing, and so he wanted to locate them and discover why they left him. There's a whole backstory there that was only hinted at in the two missions. I think many people picked up on bits and pieces, but were still eager to see how things played out.

Noah: Yes, we all knew that his parents went missing, and we are all wondering if there will be another mission, or when? We want to know the rest of the mission. I know I didn’t pick up the backside haha, or did I?

Adam: Unfortunately, there won't be. I left the Smallworlds team before I could finish it. Since the story and missions were completely my own creation, I don't think anybody else can really complete it. However, years later, I'm willing to share what I think would have been the conclusion to the mystery

Noah: Ooh, do you think you could tell me so I can share with the Doux Community, and Smallworlds Community?

Adam: I think the statute of limitations has well expired, and it's only fair to the community, and yes!

Noah: How’d did the Puzzleworth inspire you? Where’d he come from?

Adam: He was the combination of several game characters that I felt were interesting at the time. The main inspiration came from: The Riddler in the Batman series. He was a crazy riddle lunatic who always baited Batman into solving his riddles. He's a very juvenile character that I wanted to play on - that obsession. Then there's GLADOS from the Portal series. I really liked how you'd have a disconnected voice that's always taunting you and making false promises. The cake was a direct reference to Portal - I think many gamers picked that up easily. And finally, there's a lesser known character known as Fawful from the Super Mario RPG series. He's a hilariously over the top character who speaks broken English. He's both lovable and psychotic. I wanted Puzzleworth to be a little over the top, a little crazy, a little obsessed, a little juvenile, but most of all; to be relatable. So, I wanted a backstory that could justify all of those traits he had. Also, all of his emotes were based off of internet memes - to make him even more relatable and funny.

Noah: Wow! That is a lot of characters, and I don’t know them all that well lol. Smallworlds has seen a lot of interesting things, but it seems to me that the Smallworlds Community enjoys the Puzzleworth missions, and the boxes Smallworlds releases every so often. Were the mystery boxes an idea of yours before you left?

Adam: No, I think that was Smallworlds' way of keeping the Puzzleworth legacy going, but I had no involvement with it.

Noah: Oh interesting. I, and maybe some more would’ve thought that was your idea?! Adam, have you read my story that I released into Smallworlds about the Puzzleworth? I basically thought of things that could’ve happened, but it was just a fiction- made up story. It isn’t done yet, but it is almost finished lol.

Adam: Cool, I didn’t know about it :). I’ll definitely give it a read later.

Noah: Well I think I’ve asked plenty of good questions on the Puzzleworth, and your success with him! Do you have any questions for us citizens on Smallworlds, or the readers of Doux?

Adam: Perhaps I can talk about how Puzzleworth came to be, since it's quite different to anything else available in Smallworlds.

Noah: Okay, go ahead :).

Adam: So, when I first joined the team, I was really impressed with the game and its potential for user generated content. I was, however, most impressed with the Missions and the interaction system. The systems were incredibly deep, but I didn't feel like any of the missions that were being published by the team were very interesting, or they didn't utilize the system to its fullest potential. So I had my turn at making some missions. The first I made was the Easter mission of 2012. You would have to solve some puzzles at Dr. Halloween's lair to save Easter - something like that. I then made Jet ski: A Day in the Life. That was an opportunity to explore non-linear missions while trying to integrate a unique story throughout a large and open space. You could ride anywhere across the sea and visit the various islands in the space. Then I proposed the idea of Puzzleworth. It was to be a story driven mission where you would solve puzzles. It got approved immediately, and so I coded the puzzle widgets you see in the missions and wrote the story and the character. I wanted the missions to be about Puzzleworth. No other mission in SW focuses on an actual main character, so I felt players were missing out on connecting with somebody and with a story-line. I wanted the space to be PACKED with secrets. So it wasn't just about beating the mission, it was about finding every single nook and cranny in the space. That's where I came up with the idea of the side quests and how solving them all would give you access to a secret space where you could sign an exclusive guestbook. There are plenty of small LOL stuff in the space, too, if you keep your eyes peeled. Lastly, to go along with all this secret and puzzling stuff, I wanted the mission itself to be a secret. As in, you had to stumble upon it in the game. So, for the first weekend the mission was released, it wasn't published to the missions tab. It was actually a secret in the Town Centre. There was a parchment on the wall in the Town Centre that invited everybody to Puzzleworth's home. It was basically Puzzleworth saying "we want YOU to solve our puzzles." When players discovered this random secret, they went nuts on the forums and they were sharing it with everybody. It was a huge success. And, that's how it all began! There were even a few who found the secret guestbook and signed it. It was amazing to see so many eager players get that far without any official announcements or anything. That’s the end of my long story :).

Noah: This is mind-blowing to me! I totally would’ve have never known about the “secrets” of the Puzzleworth! I am so glad that you could come here today, and clarify that to I, and all of the others who would love to know these things!

Adam: I’m glad to finally be able to share it all!

Noah: Lol, you had to hold it in forever I bet. It was just about time.

Adam: :)

Noah: Thank You Adam for taking your time to do this exclusive interview with I, and the Community.

Adam: Your Welcome :).

*NOTE* This was the actual Adam Tea- as you can see below *NOTE*

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Here are some cool things Adam showed in the Manor of Puzzleworth

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Here is what we all have been waiting for

Story Line of Mister Puzzleworth:

So, in the first mission, Puzzleworth invites you to his *mansion*. He has an expensive space and spent lots of money and making puzzles and secrets for you to find. At the end of the mission, you discover that maybe he had a troubled upbringing. Maybe he just wanted some friends.

In the second mission, you go to this childhood home. This is a much more modest home, not as extravagant as the mansion. In this mission, Puzzleworth speaks through a recording. He went missing after the first mission, in search of his parents.

So, here's the BIG SECRET

*GET EXCITED*

Puzzleworth is a character who never grew up. Everybody in SW is an Avatar, a skinny and tall grown up. But not Puzzleworth, he’s actually still just a child. The reason he appears as a human is because he's standing on top of an Avadroid's legs, like stilts. The reason he does this is so that he can "fit in" with everybody else in SW. He felt different, the only one who was still a child. His parents always gave him puzzles to solve when he was young, because he seemed to enjoy them. He never really played with anybody else in this world, so his parents kept him busy that way. That's why at the end of the first mission, you see a family portrait of Puzzleworth. Have you noticed that every picture you see of him - he's a child? And the reward you get is the puzzle box.

He invites people to his mansion because he wants people to interact with him. He asks you to call him MISTER Puzzleworth because he wants to be treated like a grown up, like everybody else. He tries to prove that he can be smarter than others, which is why he challenges them to his puzzles. After all that, all he really wanted was to find his parents and go home. So, the legs thing; that's why you see the Avadroid in a wheelchair in the second mission.

The third mission was meant to be inside of an inverted Castle inspired by the works of M.C. Escher. In it you would always be one step behind Puzzleworth, who was looking for his parents. All of this was to be revealed to the player in the end, after Puzzleworth is reunited with his family. The last task you had to do to solve the mission was to add Puzzleworth as a friend. So he would be a real character in the game you had to add to your friends list. The game wouldn't tell you to do that, you had to figure it out on your own. It was to "accept" Puzzleworth for who he was and allow him to be as he is in this world.

There's probably so much more, but I think that mostly wraps up the Puzzleworth *mystery*. This is all from memory, mind you, so apologies if I missed something!

Also! People can Find Adam Tea on Facebook, and twitter.

Fb.com/emotiontheory

Twitter.com/emotiontheory

If you want to keep up with him, and new and exciting games that Adam is making. He’ll be on forums as well!