The Warp Zone :
When/why did you start working at Color Dreams?

Nina Stanley :
I started working at Color Dreams in 1989, part time as a contractor. I met the chief engineer while working at a coffee bar (back before they were trendy) and he used to come in at the crack of dawn after a long night's work and we would talk about stuff. When he found out I was an artist (at the time i was finishing up my bachelor's degree at Cal State Fullerton in art) he offered me a job. At first I didn't like it as the technology was extremely primative and I swore I 'd never get involved with computers, so I quit after a couple of weeks and went back to making cappuccinos. We remained friends and a few months later he came around and said they were expanding their operations and had some new software that made the graphics easier to create so I gave it a try again. By this time I was going through a divorce and starting on my masters degree in art and had a young child to support - Color Dreams paid better and had more flexible hours than the coffee bar so it seemed like a good thing to do. Plus the guys were pretty fun to work with.

The Warp Zone :
I saw you did graphics for a lot of the games. They all look pretty well, better than anything I drew up on my PC. I know you did the graphics for Bible Adventures, Exodus, King Neptune’s Adventure, Menace Beach, Secret Scout, and Spiritual Warfare. Was there any others that I missed?

Nina Stanley :
There was a sequel to Bible Adventures called King of Kings, plus I did a couple monsters for Crystal Mines on the Lynx. There were 3 versions of Exodus I think - PC, Nintendo, and Game boy.

The Warp Zone :
What was it like making the graphics? Was it hard/easy, and what program did you use?

Nina Stanley :
At first we used a very primative program, you had to use the control pad from the game machine to cycle through the colors and to move the pixels around - it was awful. Then they created a tool called NinDraw. the palettes were extremely limited, and we had only 256 character spaces (a character being an 8x8 pixel square) for background and another equal space for all the sprites, for each level. It was certainly challenging, but since I didn't know any other computer graphics programs to "spoil" me, I didn't know any different. It was kind of like a puzzle, to fit in as much as I could, and to use it most efficiently.

The Warp Zone :
Did you work on any of the label art or was it just in games graphics?

Nina Stanley :
I did the cover art for King Neptune, reworked the cover art for King of Kings, and usually did the little manual drawings. Sometimes I did the whole manual.

The Warp Zone :
Roger DeForest told me that he originally did all the graphics for Secret Scout yet you decided to change them. He said that his graphics weren't all that great and he liked yours better. What all graphics did you change?

Nina Stanley :
As I recall I reworked the entire game. It wasn't my decision, btw : ) the boss decided.

The Warp Zone :
What was your favorite Color Dreams game? I liked Captain Comic and Spiritual Warfare best. Exodus and Joshua were pretty good too.

Nina Stanley :
I liked Menace Beach best, it was the most fun to make. The graphics were whimsical and funny. A lot of the characters I based on the guys that worked there.

The Warp Zone :
Were you involved in Spiritual Warfare for Gameboy? I saw where you could by it online before and I though about getting myself a copy. If you did work on it, was it an exact port in black and white or was it changed a lot?

Nina Stanley :
I don't remember working on Spiritual Warfare for gameboy.

The Warp Zone :
Is there any other interesting things you can tell me about Color Dreams?

Nina Stanley :
We had a lot of fun making the games - "those were the days", when you could really make a game in 3 to 6 months with only a couple of programmers and an artist or two. Things are totally different now! The last game I worked on we had about a dozen artists and nearly as many programmers, plus a design team and the usual support staff of producer/director/aps/testers etc.

The Warp Zone :
Okay well thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. I really appreciate it.

Nina Stanley :
No problem. Like I said, sorry it took so long - it's been very hectic lately, I just had a baby a few weeks ago and have just started back to work, so needless to say I don't have a lot of time on my hands!

-Nina