5 1/2 Questions with Greg Johnson of Toejam and Earl fame 1. So Greg how long have you been in the industry and what games had you started off creating? Besides the stellar Toe Jam & Earl of course. I’ve been in the industry since 1981 when I started working on Starflight for EA. What year is this?.....2010? YIKES! That makes me super old. Agh! Why did you have to ask me that question! OK – other games. There are some that were mine, and others that I just helped out on. The ones that were mine as primary designer were: Starflight1, Starflight 2, Caveman Ughlympics, Orlys-Draw-A-Story, Toejam and Earl 1,2, and 3 for the Xbox, Save The Dinos, and Kung Fu Panda World. Some other games that I’ve contributed to were: Star Control 2, Sims 2, Spore, and er….a few others a long time ago but I forget. I also created a series of kids music videos on Disney Playhouse called Choo Choo Soul, along with a few friends. 2. Were you ever approached to create any more Toe Jam and Earl games besides the Genesis, Xbox, and Downloadable Wi versions? Sega CD Perhaps ;)? No not really. By approached I assume you mean by someone with money, like some publisher, who wanted to pay for development. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get interest from publishers but haven’t had much luck. I have been approached by people who wanted to option the rights for feature films, but Hollywood is nothing you can count on. I’ve also been approached by Sega to put out the original games on new platforms and hopefully that will happen soon. That’s still in the works. 3. What are some of your favorite video games to play, currently and of years past? Hmmm. The two games that I spent the most time on were probably Dead or Alive 2, and Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, etc. I love any game that tries to do something new and different with story and character. Oh, I also looove Little Big Planet and have spent countless hours playing that with my family. We also play lots of Rock Band, and KungFu Panda World. Currently I’m playing White Knight with my son and I’m afraid to play StarCraft because I don’t want it to take over my life – which it might. 4. How does someone break into the industry who is looking to program or design video games? Its much harder these days than it used to be. Well getting a specialized degree in 3-D animation, or game programming from someplace like Fullsail or where-ever is a good way. There is LOTS of demand for people with specialized skills in the areas related to MMOs and Social gaming. Things like Metrics, or server-side programming, and stuff like that. It’s tough to break in as a designer, and super tough to get money from publishers for a first title. These days you really need to build something on your own first and iPhone/iPad or FaceBook Apps are probably the best bet for little fish to get started. You may want to create a massive shooter but doing a small social game as a demo is not a bad idea to get airborn. 5. Do we have any luck of seeing Toe Jam and Earl again in the near future in a title? Well I’m always looking for ways to make that happen. It’s just a matter of money. I have been talking to Sega about re-releasing TJ&E 1 and 2 on various platforms, and I’m hopeful that will happen before the end of the year. As far as new titles go – well hopefully but nothing is currently in the works so nothing on the horizon soon. If you know of anybody with a couple hundred k that they want to invest send em my way. 5 1/2. Anything else you would like to add? I don’t have any other info to add really. Check out KungFuPandaWorld.com. It has some awesome mini-games in large part thanks to a fellow named Ferry Halim who has a great site called Orisinal.com. I have a new project that is just getting started but I can’t talk about it just yet. Get back to me in a few months. Thank you so much for taking time out to do this quick question bombardment for Sega CD Universe. Best of luck to you, and please keep in touch! =) all rights reserved by Vampyre Mike of www.Segacduniverse.com & segacduniverse.cjb.net