One thing the Internet would offer is a chance for gamers to take a break from consoles with online games that are simpler and easier. Many game sites have an extensive game library for one to play on a webpage in 2D form and have a blast.  Likewise, people who have longed to be game makers would get their chance to make a game to their liking and throw it out for all.

Sean McGee is one of the ones who longed to create games and would make some of the most popular games on line.  While using simple graphics, he would gain fame for his infamous Thing-Thing series, which has grown in popularity with every entry.  He's also made games such as Stinky Bean, Captain Braidy, Fluffy McFluffenstein and his most recent Endless Zombie Rampage.  Most of these games have a B-Movie style to them and have more blood then the Saw and Hostel films combined.

So with that, let's get to know Mr. McGee and his fun style of games.

Drew:  What gave you the push to finally do it?
Sean:  Newgrounds was the biggest push to keep doing this sort of thing.  Having a community giving feedback and a place to submit my work kept me motivated to constantly do more.

Drew:  What Inspirations would you list for your games and stories in the games?
Sean:  The stories aren't terribly inspired.  For me, I think it's really just developing a proper scenario to accommodate massive violence!

Drew:  One constant theme in the games are…well, blood.  Is there any reason why Crimson is used a lot in your games, besides making it brutal?
Sean:  Art is an outlet, and games are escapism.  I could design games about romping through a flower field, or being polite to your neighbors, but that can be done in real life and isn't any fun in a game.  When I pick up a game, I want it to be a total departure from reality, and I think that being able to safely indulge in hyper violent fantasies is a great way to escape the drudge of reality.

Drew:  How did you come up with the name Diseased Productions?
Sean:  It was kind of a late night, "Well, what about 'this'?" discussion.  The name had to be short, memorable, and perhaps slightly self deprecating.  I think it was also inspired by the George Carlin bit, "You are All Diseased".  Indeed we are.

Drew:  I've heard you refuse to do multi-player options for your games, is that true and why?
Sean:  The short answer is yes.  The long answer is that I don't refuse to make such a game, it's just not viable.  You see, in order to make an online game, it pretty much would dedicate me to maintaining it 100% of the time, taking care of cheaters, patching it, etc.  If I were to get someone to maintain it after I had made it, it would actually probably cost me out of pocket to keep it running.  And this is all assuming that I could properly put together a server to run it all (something that I have no experience doing).  It's a convoluted problem, and one day I might have what I need to make something like that, but for now I wouldn't count on seeing any MP games from me.

Drew:  Before we continue, I'd just like to ask out of curiosity…where did the Weasel nick name come from?
Sean:  Someone way back in early school said that when I run around that I look like a weasel.  From then on it just sort of stuck and followed me.

Fuzzy McFluffenstein
What a cute kitty, even cuter in blood and guts…

Drew:  We'll start with this unique game trilogy.  How did you come about with this one?
Sean:  It was pretty much just like your description.  I wanted a super cute looking cat placed into a hyper violent situation.

Drew:  How did you come up with the design for the Fluffy and his rodent victims?
Sean:  I had a friend who had a pet mouse named Mr. Paranoid who was, as the name would suggest, terrified of everything.  I had sketched out a little drawing of it and a super buldgey-eyed cat to terrorize it.  Eventually I wrapped the two into a game.

Drew:  The first 2 had some sort of a story, as Fluffy was killing a growing infestation of rodents in a house, then a pet shop, but the third game is what appears to be at some sort of Cheese plant with the rats armed, was it an ambush or some sort on Fluffy?
Sean:  Heh, at some point in development there was some semblance of a story.  But, yes, Fuzzy is getting brave.  He's on their home turf now!

Drew:  Just curious, why is it Fluffy is always smiling, even when he's shot or exploded upon in game 3?
Sean:  He's drunk on bloodlust.

Drew:  Red screen can get pretty blood filled if you've killed enough, what's the bloodiest screen you've seen to date?
Sean:  I've seen the entire screen covered (corners and all).  Really crazy dedication to making a mess.

Drew:  Also, there are several pics of Steaks in games 1 and 2, what's the reason behind that?
Sean:  Haha.  I actually have a 48"x32" acryllic painting of a steak like that up in my house.  I have a strange fascination with meat.

Captain Braidy
Come one, come all!  See Captain Braidy dare his life with not a hint of happiness!

Drew:  Here we go from Cats to Clowns, and a not very happy one, how did this game and character come about?
Sean:  Captain Braidy is the antithesis of Fuzzy.  He's a clowd of misery and lives in a relatively blood-less universe.  Like so many of my game characters, he came about from a series of sketches to see how pitiful I could make a clown look.  Even from game to game, his misery progresses.

Drew:  How did you come up with Captain Braidy's Design and look?
Sean:  Ten parts sad, one part face makeup.

Drew:  Clowns are with out a doubt one of the most hated creations on this planet, rivaled only by Spiders and Celebrities named Hilton.  Was Captain Braidy meant to be for or against the hate, or neither?
Sean:  Captain Braidy was just supposed to be the culmination of all of the bad cards dealt in life.  He has no money, no friends, lives in a broke down (and most likely smashed to bits now) VW Beetle, and works as a circus performer doing only the most dangerous jobs.  I don't even think anyone goes to see him perform...

Drew:  How did you get the name Captain Braidy?
Sean:  Pulled it completely out of the air.  Sounded like the name of an early 1900's circus performer.

Stinky Bean
Raised with an almighty stench, he shall fulfill his master's request.

Drew:  Easily one of the most…bizarre games you've made to date, how did you come up with it?
Sean:  This is a game that I collaborated in large part with a friend with the art and concepts.  Like so many others, Stinky Bean was a tiny sketch in the corner of a sheet of paper that I decided to scan and trace in Flash.  It grew from there, animating his little waddle and whatnot.

Drew:  How did you come up with the design for Scatmonkey, Stinky Bean, the enemies and woodlands in which he fights through?
Sean:  Scatmonkey actually comes from some of my really early animations where I had a monkey head singing along with Scatman John.  All of the creatures and enviornments were designed with me and a friend.  The goal was to make everything living, and stupid.

Drew:  Most likely you're most cartoonish and comedic games to date; did you intend them to be so over the top and funny?
Sean:  It wasn't what I had set out to do, but just with the way that everything looked it was unavoidable.

Endless Zombie Rampage
Kill some undead, reload, and kill some more, another night shift.

Drew:  This game is obvious just by the title, but unique in its game play that you've created.  How did you come up with it?
Sean:  I was trying to get in on the "defend your base" craze, and that's pretty much what I came up with.  I was really surprised that the first game did as well as it did.  I really expected that one to flop.

Drew:  Have you wanted to do a zombie related game before?
Sean:  Oh yeah.  I've got so many unfinished Alphas of various zombie games that just never came to be.  I'm just glad EZR ended up being the winner.

Drew:  The first game is very basic in its formula, but the sequel has a more storyline influenced game formula, was it more fan's request for more of a story or your own wanting?
Sean:  I didn't want to simply rehash the first game.  There were lots of fan requests for various features which I tried to include.  On top of that, I think that having a bit of a story was something that I wanted to get in there in particular.

Drew:  Your games have a wide range of weapons one could buy, which is your personal favorite?
Sean:  That's a tough one, but I'm a shotgun nut, so I'd take the Benelli M4.

Thing-Thing
They trained him to kill…did they think he wouldn't kill them?

Drew:  And now we get to what is un-questionably your most successful and famous game series to date.  How did this game series come to creation?
Sean:  It was really just putting together a couple games that I really liked.  Vectorman and Abuse.  I really liked Abuse's control scheme, and I really liked Vectorman's art.  I had made a game or two before the first Thing-Thing game with that control setup, but nothing really stuck until I got to TT1.

Drew:  One feature through out the whole series is the player's ability to design Project #154's look to there own liking.  What made you come up with this unique feature?
Sean:  It was actually a matter of convineance.  Having the character's body parts all separated into distinct bits, it's actually incredibly easy to put in character creation.  I always found games to be more enjoyable, as well, to be able to customize your character, so I figured that I'd go for it.

Drew:  How did you come about the design of Poseidon, Zeus, Hades Prototype and Hades?
Sean:  I've long been into mechs, robots, cyborgs, that type of thing.  I just went through some armor designs until something looked right.

Drew:  Like the last games, there are a large number of weapons, which is your personal favorite?
Sean:  I really like the weapons that have unique features.  Gauss guns that pierce through multiple enemies, flechette guns that stick needles into enemies, that type of thing.

Drew:  The success of the each proceeding game has led to a spin off of sorts, Thing-Thing Arena games which are more focused on high scores and body counts, when did you think up a spin off series?
Sean:  The first TTA game was really the result of a lot of comments on TT2 saying that they wanted me to do away with all of the levels and just have a big survival based game.  I built it up in about 6 days, using a lot of stuff from TT2 directly.  It turned out to be a hit, so I've just been releasing a TTA game based on every story driven game that I release.

Drew:  There are a wide range of enemies in the games, mercenaries, cyborgs, super soldiers and zombies, was it your intent from the start to give gamers a wide range of targets to kill or did you add them as you went?
Sean:  I think the TTA games are actually responsible for that as well.  When doing a survival game, it's hard to keep it interesting, so I tried to add different enemy types.  Eventually they were just folded into the main games as well, and built upon.

Drew:  Did you ever imagine when you made the first game that the series would grow to what it's become?
Sean:  I had no idea.  I was actually never even going to release the first game, but a friend forced me to.

Other Games

Drew:  You’ve created a few games that are at current stand alone, such as Eternal Red, Rocket Weasel, Nibbles and Hover Bot Arena, where they all made to be one timers or could we see possible sequels in the future?
Sean:  I think that there's a possibility of a sequel for any of those.  It just depends which way my development mood swings, and the demand for a sequel for one of those games.

Drew:  Suppose you make a game, how do you tell if it's a success like Captain Braidy and Thing-Thing and will have more entries, or it is destined to be a stand alone, weather it's by reaction or game play or your personal liking?
Sean:  Player feedback is a big indicator.  If it gets good reviews, or constructive stuff is said, it can inspire me to go, "Oh, yeah, that would be an awesome feature for that game."

Future of Diseased Productions

Drew:  First thing I would like to ask above all else, is what does the future hold for the Thing-Thing Series, with the cliff hanger at game 4; will we see Thing-Thing 5?  And if so, when?
Sean:  Well, all that I can say is that the 154 story arc is over.  There's been a lot of speculation that he'll come back, but he's actually dead.

Drew:  What about any other future projects that you could elaborate on?
Sean:  I'm always making more games.  I can't really go into it and say what specifically, because quite frankly, a week from now it could be vastly different.  For example, when I was developing Stinky Bean Fling, it was originally a full blown, massive platformer.  It eventually seemed too ambitious and I toned it down to fit into something more managable.

Drew:  Have you ever had the chance for some more commercial options?
Sean:  I have, and I've taken them up.  I'm glad that I can afford to keep my games free, and that anyone is free to host and play them.  An ad based business model works well enough for this type of thing, and as far as I can tell, isn't going to change any time soon.

Drew:  What are your long term goals?
Sean:  I'd like to expand where I'm developing.  I've played around with the iPhone, and I've been in and out of talks on Console games.  I'd like to do something really big some day.  A game that's going to sit next to Halo, and Gears of War, and someone would go "That was awesome!" without consideration of the previous two.

And per usual for my interviews, I end with a simple Q&A.

Drew:  Favorite Drink?  Alcoholic or not doesn’t matter.
Sean:  Somewhere between Rockstar and Hoegaarden.

Drew:  Favorite genre of film and film in it?
Sean:  Sci-fi, and The Fifth Element.

Drew:  What food could you live off of till you die?
Sean:  Buffalo wings.  And I'd likely be dead about a week into that venture.  But it'd be a spicy, delicious death.

Drew:  Where would you love to visit before you die?
Sean:  I want to fly to Italy, rent a Lamborghini, drive through France (and swipe a few baguettes), make my way up to Germany and hit the Autobahn up to the Nurburgring, make my back into Belgium and get lost in a Trappist monestaray for a week or so.  When conciousness is regained, I'll blast through Denmark and ferry over to Sweden and see some random metal show in Stockholm.  And then crash the Lambo.  Perfect vacation!

Drew:  Your favorite TV series?
Sean:  Firefly.  Curse you, Fox!  CURSE YOU!

Drew:  Favorite Game Counsel and game on it?
Sean:  The 360 seems to have the most on it.  I play a lot of games, so I couldn't really pick one as a favorite.

Drew:  Your favorite book?  Fiction or non, it doesn’t matter.
Sean:  Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Drew:  Who where your childhood hero(s)?
Sean:  Yuji Naka, but I didn't know it at the time.

Drew:  What is your religious standing?
Sean:  Raptor Jesus is our one true Lord.  And he's a raptor, so he'll bite your head off!

Drew:  Favorite Music Genre and Artist in it?
Sean:  I guess I have slightly more electronic music than anything.  Angelspit and Unter Null are keeping me interested at the moment.

Drew:  What is your favorite/least favorite thing about what you do?
Sean:  It's hard to be self employed.  It may sound like a dream to be able to set your own hours, but it's actually one of the largest challenges that I think I face.  It's very hard to motivate yourself into working 8 hours a day (or more) when you don't necessarially have to.  You can't get into the cycle of "I'll do it tomorrow", because inevitably nothing gets done that way.  And a few weeks down the road, you're out of cash, rent is coming up, and you've only got a walk cycle done on the game. >_<

Drew:  And finally, what would you like to say to your old and new fans?
Sean:  Thanks for playing my games, and for the constant feedback.  I always want to know what you think might have made a game better, or what you liked about it so that I keep it up.

That was Sean McGee, founder of Diseased Productions and on-line video game maker.  If you are interested in any of his games, check them out at http://www.diseasedproductions.net/ and go under games where you can find the full listings.

You can try out the games we've talked about, see what's new from Sean and visit Forum to talk about his games with other fans.  Whatever it is you play…there's a good chance you'll see Bloodshed.