pouët.net

Wade & the Fearmoths rumours…

category: residue [glöplog]
I see I’ve been ousted as a former Fearmoth. Well, I had written an article on my involvement with Shane when I quit my scene activities which I was going to send to a scene mag, but never got round to it. For those who care, here’s the article I wrote:


Wade/Fearmoths?
By Wade

There have been rumours floating around the scene that I am somehow involved with The Fearmoths, so let’s get down to the facts before some ill-informed lunatics starts trying to bomb my email address with viruses and hate mail.

There is truth to the rumour. In fact, I became friends with Shane some years ago and when he asked if he could use some of my unused graphics and designs I figured it would do no harm, just as long as he didn’t credit me for them. At this time I was not a member of Fearmoths – merely a fan and anonymous donor of graphics and design ideas. Eventually, Shane managed to convince more anonymous sceners to join the Fearmoths under false handles, and so I decided to do the same and my alter ego, Regicide, was born.

I knew most the scene hated Shane, but he won me over with his creative and fun scene philosophy. The entire time I was a member of established groups, abiding by scene rules and trying to gain a reputation as a legitimate scener felt like a chore. The rules of the scene, the critics, the accusations of scanning, the deadlines, lack of appreciation, cancelled projects and all the rest of this hassle drained every hint of enjoyment from the scene! The Fearmoths, on the other hand, were focused on creatively expressing themselves and having fun, which is all I wanted from the scene ever since watching Budbrain Megademo in the early 90s. Sure, their demos have low production quality and are technically poor, but that’s why they were so fun to make! It was good that we could forget the technical considerations and concentrate on things like plots, philosophies, humour and atmosphere. What’s more, these productions were unpredictable and entertaining to watch, which is a rare quality in demos.

For the record, these are the Fearmoths prods I worked on and what I contributed:

TRSI is Dead – Supplied some anims.
Showtime promo – Design.
Bombfire Night – Opening credits.
Ban the Orphan – Various 2d gfx, including some overlays, text and photo manipulations.
The Little Things – The original poem.
Alter Ego – Most 2d gfx/design, some 3d, the plot and storyboard (with input from Jeremy – aka Ultimate Gas).
The Ear Brothers – All gfx, sprites and design.
The Chair – I came up with the idea of an ironic minimalist demo intended to mock armchair art critics and Jeremy gave life to the idea. (Incidentally, it is ironic how this went over the heads of most wannabe art experts).

As individuals, Shane and I both shared a joy of provoking reactions from the scene, albeit via opposite extremes. Wade was also very much a persona or character - a harsh critic and upholder of oldschool values, who got reactions by dramatising the seriousness and importance of the scene. Shane, however, took the opposite route in breaking the rules, undermining oldschool values and poking fun at sceners like “Wade” and anybody else who dedicated valuable years of their life towards the scene. It was so easy to hate Shane for this after all the work I’d put into my scene life, yet so hard not to appreciate his satirical humour and laugh at all the reactions he was getting. Then, of course, there was the bizarre and unfathomable side to Shane’s character that went beyond the scene and varied from hilarious to quite disturbing.

It has taken me until now to reveal my connection because A) I had friends on the scene who hate Shane, B) I was trying to uphold a reputation as a serious scener, C) The Amiga virus incident, which Shane knows I was not happy about. However, my scene ambitions are long behind me now so it doesn’t matter who knows or what they think. I won’t rule out working on another Fearmoths production someday, but right now I am inactive as a scener and prefer to avoid using my computer as much as possible (as covered in another article).

I have a lot of admiration for the members of The Fearmoths not only as sceners, but as people -particularly Shane, Rahman and Ultimate Gas who I wish great success with their ideas and talents.
added on the 2005-01-28 04:03:07 by Wade Wade
how dare you submit graphics for ear brothers? bunny family deserve to live! you will forever burn in hell for your sins!
added on the 2005-01-28 05:02:53 by psenough psenough
dan, lost your email address. if you could give me a shout.. *if you see this*.
added on the 2005-01-28 07:43:45 by darkus darkus
Ok, i admit it, I made the visualize demos, but let me explain.

I was just bored of the scene progressing and making new cool stuff wich the finns couldnt compete with.

So i decided that i would trick the scene to believe the future was in tesselation and extruding, wich was rather successfull!

This "visualize" character was just a joke and then i had stefan/lator who played the other way around, making amazing fresh stuff, heck it even went so far i hired a bum to play my visualize character at demoparties :-)

I guess we all have our secrets!
added on the 2005-01-28 07:45:20 by Hatikvah Hatikvah
ps: they deserve to live... but they died.
added on the 2005-01-28 09:14:33 by Gargaj Gargaj
It's interesting (although not too surprising) that people who have the reputation of being very serious often have a second identity under which they publish very unserious stuff. Probably this happens more often than one knows, as they usually hide this identity at least for some time.
added on the 2005-01-28 09:25:07 by Adok Adok
No worries Wade. Artists live to be utilized in whatever way they can for the sake of art. I appreciate the humor and satire as much as you do.
adok, who's YOUR second identity??
added on the 2005-01-28 10:32:04 by skrebbel skrebbel
ep
added on the 2005-01-28 12:38:17 by xeNusion xeNusion
Hey wade - if you ever have spare time drop into #ukscene. I'd love to ask you some more questions about this! This Fearmoths conspiracy fascinates me. I even predicted what you've just told us. Yesterday I opened the Alter Ego demo.dmo and unsucessfully inspected the artwork to see if I could find any pictures signed "wade". I didn't, however :)

"It's interesting (although not too surprising) that people who have the reputation of being very serious often have a second identity under which they publish very unserious stuff."

Am I the only person who doesn't consider Fearmoths stuff unserious? It's satire for christ's sake!
but which one of ep and adok is the serious identity?
added on the 2005-01-28 12:56:53 by hollowman hollowman
=)
added on the 2005-01-28 13:12:03 by Optimus Optimus
i have no words about this ... (i kinda guessed it tho)
added on the 2005-01-28 13:12:31 by uns3en_ uns3en_
wade thumb upping fms prods etc ...
added on the 2005-01-28 13:12:58 by uns3en_ uns3en_
Quote:
wade thumb upping fms prods etc ...

Selfvoting sucks! :)
added on the 2005-01-28 14:12:28 by grip grip
Wade: i couldn`t agree with you more, relating to your comments in your article!

I guess the scene moved in ways we didn`t agree with anymore. Either way, all the best for the future and I really do hope to see more Fearmoths productions sooner rather than later. Moreover, I still intend to drive by your way some day! :)
added on the 2005-01-28 18:25:09 by darkus darkus
I have several identities under which I publish strange stuff.
I guess this would also be a good time to come forward and introduce my alter-ego... Rahman.

I should point out any Rahman user account on Pouet was infact some faker. I never intended to anything other than work on Fearmoths productions with the name. For the same reasons as Wade.
added on the 2005-01-28 18:28:07 by darkus darkus
the veil has been lifted, the seal has been broken

and on that note, let's get back to the program (ing)
I like Soy. And there needs to be another Fearmoths demo. But I still am gonna keep shane quiet for now, best to take him in small doses (:

but yeah I don't hold him in the same category as sceneisdeadclone180954801580.
darkus : Are you behind the "Rahman's Paradise" website then? That thing's a masterpiece.
Rahman and Regicide - you are welcome to do more!
added on the 2005-01-28 19:11:14 by Beef Beef
wtf.. so Shane hasn't got any imaginary friends.. shocking. :)
added on the 2005-01-28 19:36:04 by ekoli ekoli
parapete: do you have the address? i lost it... glad u liked it :)
added on the 2005-01-28 19:43:52 by darkus darkus

login