Interview BakeSale: Ponch

Tonight with us we feature one of the key factors to the AGS Bake Sale. A man whose games are masterpieces only to the lucky devils that gave them that chance. No, it's not Ron Gilbert. It's a bigger man. PONCH. Famous for his fantastic series, Barn Runner, now brings a new installment under the wings of the bake sale. This time is for the kids.

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1) Why and how did you join the AGS Bake Sale ?

I joined up when I asked myself "Ponch, do you think it would be a good idea to have a bake sale? You should totally do that." It found it hard to disagree with such a well-reasoned argument and thus I joined the bake sale.

2) Talk a bit about your game (what is it about, how you came up with it).

I've made over a dozen Barn Runner games. So I asked myself "What harm could come from one more?" As before, I couldn't say no to such a pretty face.

The Rich Dame Who Cut The Cheese is a standard whodunnit which was originally going to take place after the events of The Forever Friday. But since that story is still ongoing, I tweaked it a bit to take place shortly after Christmas Soup instead. This gave me the opportunity to work Mayor DuChamp into a game again. She's one of those characters I like to write for, but rarely find a place for when I make a new game. Also, I was able to introduce several new characters into the Barn Runner world, as well as showing established characters in new ways. I hope people like playing it even half as much as I enjoyed making it.

3) Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got yourself into game making in the first place.

I'm just a goofball living in Texas who wanted a forum that didn't crash every time CJ forgot to turn the hand crank that powers the server. When that idea didn't work out, I spend several days pulling my hair out and getting a head start on an early grave until we decided that Child's Play was the way to go.

I've been making games since I learned how to in the pages of RUN magazine. I have a tiny replica of Micheal Keaton's Batmobile on top of my DVD player and my favorite cheese is cheddar. I'm still not over the heartbreak that was Galactica: 1980. Chris Eccleston is my favorite Doctor. I made an omelet for breakfast. It had mushrooms in it. I like cows.