What's your favorite piece of content that you have worked on?Hrmm tricky one. I really enjoyed Nomad's Elegy, so I'd probably say that? I also really enjoyed One of a Kind though... a quest basically.
Was it your most passionate? If not, what was?
I'd probably say I put the most passion and effort into Endgame. It's a HUGE piece of content (particularly under the hood) that tried to tie together and enormous amount of stuff. There's a novel's worth of dialogue (using the nanowrimo reference of a novel word count) and has lots of variation based on how you play both that quest and the quests before.
Sure, the maze was a mistake which massively damaged it. But in terms of the raw passion that went into it, I'd say Endgame is definitely it.
What piece of content have you worked on that you weren't passionate about?I try and be passionate about each content piece I work on. But I've done a couple of simple maintenance things that were less than exciting.
What's your favorite piece of content that other developers have made?Hrmmm. It's gonna be a quest, obviously, but I'm not sure I could pick just one. I'll be cliche and say One Piercing Note, because I loved the use of sound.
What's your favorite piece of content that you have worked on that was suggested by players?The Light Within. It was a lot of work (trying to do a huge quest AND a new set of prayers AND a new set of spells was a bit much) but I really enjoyed some of the stories we got to tell with it.
What's your *least favorite piece of content that you've worked on that was suggested by players?For me it would be waterfall fishing. I'm personally not a fan of AFK design as I feel we could be doing more active and engaging gameplay, but enough people enjoy it that I'm ok with it.
Has there been content you've felt should not have been released when it did, or at all?There have been times when I'd have liked more time to get a piece of content perfect. I won't name the content, but an extra month or so would have been nice to get it perfect. I think there's a habit of saying everything should have been delayed recently, which I'm not convinced by, realistically nothing is ever perfect for everyone and the nature of our game is that more content can always be added later if it would enhance the game. Better to get 99% out than delay it several months for the niche stuff.
Has there been content you've felt should have been released sooner?As a developer I'm always going to want more time to work on something so... no...
Are there any changes in game you'd like to make?Lots.
Has there been anything you've wanted to change, but didn't get permission for?Permission makes it sound like it was prevented for negative reasons. I've had some change plans shot down because they weren't best for the game and that's exactly how it should be.
What do you like the most about what you do?Getting a chance to tell stories that people can interact with rather than just read. It's really satisfying.
What do you dislike the most about what you do?Acknowledging that we're human. Sometimes we make mistakes, we come up with ideas that seem fine in concept, but just don't play out right and that's hard to see. As a creative person there's nothing more soul destroying to see people hating something you've put time and effort into. Worse still when you can accept that that hatred is justified.
How do you feel about the current state of RS, and what do you >think should be done?I do think there's work to be done, but I don't think it's the end of the world (as some people have made it out to be). We've made some missteps, sure, but we are learning and we're reaching out to the community to try and make it better.
But there is a realism to development. Things take time and they're not always possible within the limitation of our game. I'm not even talking about spaghetti code here (a term I despise) but just about how something fits into a game that has been updated almost every week for 16 years.
Honestly I think we need to work closer with our community to find the updates that they want. But I also think we need to get better at communication so that our community can appreciate what is reasonable to expect in a time frame. To be clear, not a single "lazy" developer exists, everyone gives everything to this game and we all want to do what's best for the players and the game.
Bonus points:Are you losing passion for working on RS due to the consistent >flood of negative player feedback?Honesty time. I did for a while after Endgame. This was partially due to stuff happening IRL at the same time. But the negativity and vitriol (multiple death threats and calling for me to be fired etc) some people were throwing my way was a step too far and it made me reconsider the effort and dedication that I was giving the game. I did a LOT of overtime for Endgame (unpaid, note Jagex discouraged me from doing so, I did it myself because I wanted to) and I genuinely found myself wondering why I bothered.
But I've recovered since then. I'm back to myself again and I am reminded regularly why I care so much about the game and the community. So I'd say I'm back on track and looking forward to RuneFest and my future content.
Do you think players are too picky about what to expect from Jagex?Not really. Everyone has different opinions and it's impossible to please everyone. Besides if we don't know what's wrong with something we can't improve next time.
We'll never be able to create the "perfect" piece of content, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be constantly trying to.
Hope this answers your questions.