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Interview with Yarhalla • Interview with ijjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
On the 21st of January, 2021 a person called hosma uploaded a video talking about Soup 0.9 and various things around it.
In the video (about 11 minutes in), hosma has featured an Interview and Q&A with Soup 0.9's lead developer Yarhalla.
Below are Yarhalla's statements and responses in text form.
Note: LSD refers to the PS1 game LSD Dream Emulator.
"I'm very surprised that people still play SOUP. I'm really enjoying the speedruns."
"There was a community of game authors in Tokyo at the time, and we would get together periodically to play each other's games. People who had LSD would hook PlayStation up to a cafe TV and watch us play together."
"LSD was at a huge premium at the time and had a niche popularity."
"I was intrigued by the idea of a walkthrough game. But I just don't like to walk. It's tiring and I feel like I'm forced to explore everywhere. I like to just sit in my comfort zone and look around. That's why I've downsized it and made it a game that's mainly about just looking around. You won't even be able to walk around without pressing SHIFT."
"I felt like it wouldn't be fair if I didn't say that it was influenced by LSD, so I used a Gabba kick as the selection SE, just like LSD. I thought that if people heard that, they would know that it was a tribute."
"So I created the SOUP framework, made some sample rooms myself, and then asked some artists I knew (game artists, painters, and even my sister) to rewrite the textures and play with them. That's why the room folders are named after the people who created them."
"There are very few things you can do with SOUP. I do chiptunes, so I like the ingenuity that comes out of strong restrictions. I think the participants were also experimenting with filters and other methods to see what kind of expression they could create within the constraints."
"This trial and error is probably the most fun part of SOUP. For me, it was a question of what is the structure of the LSD that was cut down to the limit, and for the participants, it was a sandbox."
"So I was very happy to find out today that there are people making mods. This is the most correct way to enjoy SOUP. There is no distinction between the creator and the player, LSD can't do that."
A: "At the time, I think I was using "soup" as a metaphor for various things that had been melted into a vague mixture. In particular, the boundary between self and others is blurred."
"I don't remember why I chose that as a title, but maybe because it was a collaborative project."
A: "I didn't think anyone was playing it anymore. I didn't even list boidtrancer until recently, and then I found someone on twitter who wanted to play it after a while, so I listed it."
"To be honest, I didn't think that soup had a good reputation at all until I got the email. It didn't have a good reputation when it was released. Especially from LSD players, it looked like a half-baked knockoff."
"Of course I believe that LSD and soup are two different things, and I'm sure the participants have never seen LSD before."
A: "Even in Japanese the text on the textures is pretty weird. I don't remember much about the time I wrote this poem, but I think I was pretty reckless to do a word puzzle."
"Now I think I would have preferred to improve the quality of the poem itself instead of doing the word puzzle. Each sentence is independent of each other, not connected. I think it's more apprpriate to say that the mood is expressed in fragments rather than that there is a deep story there."
"In the poem, it says that there is music and singing in the room, but the actual background music in the room is noise. From the rest of the poem it implied loneliness, denial and strong dependence on a specific other person."
"To give you some background on myself at the time, I was majoring in psychology in college at the time. I probably got the idea from Borderline Personality Disorder."
"I'm sure you can imagine anything you want."
"It could be a yandere girl telling you that she hears singing in a silent room. Or maybe you're alone in your room, trying to wash awaybad memories by remembering the melody of your favorite song."
"The room just shows you the composition, and you can superimpose your own situation in it."
A: "I haven't heard anything about the room that taro made. He was the only graphic designer among the participants, so he might have had the idea to take away all the elements and present only one message."
"I don't have any way to contact taro anymore."
A: "At that time, I could only use HSP and GameMaker."
"I upgraded soup [to 0.91] the day before yesterday, and it took me a while to remember the HSP syntax."
A: "I don't develop games anymore because I don't have enough time."
In November of 2023, a person called AcceleratingWind commented on the souqqqqqq Soundtrack asking multiple questions related to both Soup 0.9 and soupq.
Below are ijjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj's statements and responses in text form.
A: "I don't remember much about those days, but I had not yet created much music or illustrations, so I managed to create them using the tool software that the author, Don(丼), had introduced. I was just trying my best just to make it. However, I was very interested in the game "SOUP". I thought at the time that I wanted more people to play it, so I am glad that more people are interested in it now."
A: "I personally don't think it's a continuation. I wrote "rua〇〇" in the room folder name, but that was just naming them in the order they were created."
"I think "SOUP 0.9" could only have been made by Don(丼) and others at that time, and even if someone made a "continuation" now, I personally would not consider it a sequel."
"I think it's a different way of thinking, but I think of it as a conceptual thing, like a music genre or style, rather than a "continuation" order."
A: "First of all, how it became "SOUP 0.91" is that I tweeted on (old)twitter that an error may occur when exiting the game with the close button, and it seems that Don responded to that and fixed it."
"I would like to update if there is a request. I might do it soon."
"I'm not sure what you mean by "content", but I don't plan on adding or changing rooms for "soupq" and "souqqqqqq". I would like to keep it as it was back then as much as possible."
A: "Yes, I know it. In addition to "Soap Soup" I also enjoy tweets from people who post videos using "SOUP" on (old)Twitter."
A: "I have been in contact with Don(丼) several times even now. I don't know much about the current situation of other members."
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