Interview with the competition’s winner

[?] Could you please introduce yourself? Who you are, what do you do...
My name is Karel Rouč and I work as an IT administrator in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. I have to introduce my brother too, because he helped me a lot in the second part of the game. His name is Michael and he’s a college student.

[?] What types of games do you usually play? How often? Are you an intense player?
In the last five years, there have not been many games that captured me, making me spend as much time on them as Fish Fillets 2 did. My favorite genres are strategy and PRG, but the time of LAN parties is long gone; chasing Diablo for the whole week or fighting each other on Red Alert. Now, the only game I play is an online game, called Travian, which does not consume so much time.

[?] How intensively did you play FF2? Was it difficult for you?
I didn’t have much time for other activities, furthermore I was scheduled to go abroad which really pushed me. Also because of the competition’s quick pace, it was not possible to rely on organizers waiting for the winner so long, as in FF1. So we had to do it in two weeks after the publishing of the game. In the end it took only two days of my vacation. I carried the Fish in my head everywhere – sometimes even drawn on paper.

[?] What was the motivation to complete the FF2? Was it the prize for quickest completion – a Nintendo Wii console – or something else?
The decision to try to win the FF2 competition came, when the first speculations on the publishing of FF2 appeared on the Internet. It was a question of revenge for FF1, where I just missed placing first. To be honest, I was hoping for something like a computer as a prize, since that’s what it was in FF1. Well, even this prize succeeded in motivating me and that’s why we won it.

[?] What mission was the most interesting for you and why?
"Get the Aliens" undoubtedly, there is no room for error in that room. If you push out an Alien, later you discover that you need it somewhere else, to push another one. And also, you have to move a one square item throughout the room.

[?] There is a lot of new characters in the second installment. How did you accept them? Did you like some of them more than others?
All new characters are great. However, as somebody pointed out in the discussion forum – there is a character missing in the game, one that is the size of the Seahorse and the has abilities of Agent T :-). I liked the snails – when they first showed up, I knew, I was half way done. Some of their jokes even made me lose concentration due to laughter.

[?] What did you like in FF2? Was there something that disappointed you?
The bonus system is definitely a plus. I liked it a lot. A little bit ambiguous was the possibility to save the game and to step backward that makes the game a lot faster, but it lacks experiences as in FF1. You had to be real sure as when to use your only saving position. I remember the rooms like “The Real Propulsion” or “Outraged Greenpeace” to this day. I played the “Outraged Greenpeace” for 4 days and made about 10000 steps. Just loading at the end (viewing all the previous steps up to a saved position) took 15 minutes.

[?] Is there something you would change or improve in possibly the next installment?
I would not change anything on the game itself. However, more motivational competitions or official expansion would be very nice.

[?] We already know, that in similar competition concerning FF1, you did not win by just a few points. How did you feel about it?
I finished FF1 on a Friday afternoon. By that time the line to report the finish of the game was picked up by an answering machine. I only had access to the Internet in school and the fact, that I placed second and the computer was won by someone else, reached me on Monday. I also bought the game one week later. But it was not a huge disappointment for me, quite the contrary. I felt a great relief, because after two long months I was able to do something else, besides the fish that I was starting to be sick of by that time. Furthermore, being the runner up, I won the Commandos game – that was a hit of that time.

[?] Would you like to send some message to Fish Fillets developers?
Thanks for a great title. After a long time, someone finally delivered a game in which I wanted to look into one more mission after midnight – and half past ten in the morning, I could finally go to sleep. I’m looking forward to FF3 and OW2.

[?] And some message for other players, who did not finish the game yet?
To other players I’d like to say: no mission has technical errors and they can all be completed. Many times I said to myself, "This is just impossible". Concerning the competition on best solution, we probably aren’t going to be involved. Since finishing the FF2, I played it approximately twice. I finished a few images, checked some missions, I’d like to improve – and turned it off again quickly. Maybe later.

Thanks for the interview and good luck in other games.