Hey everybody, I’m glad to see that you all enjoyed the first interview with Mechlus. Today we are happy to present the second interview with Garrett McKay, with questions asked by @ping69413 
. This was highly requested so I hope you enjoy it!
Before we begin, I’d like to thank Garrett for joining me today. I appreciate that he’s a very busy person so I’m very pleased that he was happy to do an interview. Let’s get into some questions.
Let’s start with your name. How did you come up with the name “Garrett Tube”? And when did you think of the clock avatar?
“"Garrett Tube" is a name I chose at about 9 years old for my YouTube channel. It's basically a shortened version of "Garrett's YouTube". The name shouldn't have been reused on my other socials (maybe there could've been a "Garrett Jolt" or "Garrett.io"). Somewhat recently I decided to just use my actual name. Tying into the clock avatar question I did use "GameTime Studios" as my name for a short while, but it didn't stick with me—though I did make the clock icon for it. This name is visible on some older Fredbear's Fright teasers.”
Some of the work you’ve done on POPGOES Evergreen looks phenomenal. When did you decide that you would specialize in environment design rather than character art?
“I actually didn't start out doing just doing environments for Evergreen. As the Fanverse began and the game expanded, my position changed from being the main developer (programming and 3D art) to main environmental artist. I wouldn't say that environmental art is my specialty, but it definitely has become a main skill. Character design is something I've really been getting into over the past 3-4 years. Of course there was a bit of character design going on in my fangames, but it was mostly design tweaks of already existing characters.”
Out of all the FNaF fan games that you’ve played, which one do you like the most?
“I can't say I've played very many fangames—I'm more of a letsplay watcher. Candy's is probably my favorite overall fangame series, but there are some unique one-off fangames I thought were interesting such as A Shadow Over Freddy's and FRDSPY. I know they weren't received very well by many in the community, but I was able to complete both of them in a couple tries with little to no problems.”
How would you reflect on the games in your Fredbear & Friends series?
“Fredbear's Fright seems to hold up alright today. I wouldn't say that for its original release, especially with the original box ending that Dawko described as "I would've been happier if William Afton pooed in a jar and put it in the box". The game's biggest flaw is that it doesn't stray very far from FNaF 1 in both visual and gameplay designs (many thought the office was an image edit of the FNaF 1 office rather than an actual model). It's a very "safe" fangame, where some original bits are sprinkled in here and there, but at its core is very similar to FNaF 1. In Left to Rot my goal was to respond to these criticisms by doing just the opposite through adding completely new mechanics in every single level and changing the environments. I guess it was successful at being more original/different, but was very confusing to players. Last summer I released a small improvements update, but at one point I realized the 2nd and 5th levels can't be entirely fixed without having some major redesigns. The other levels and especially custom night seem to be decently received, but those two levels have really thrown people off. The game was also rendered in Blender Internal rather than Cycles, which is a reason why the game is visually a lot different than Fredbear's Fright (I think Fredbear's Fright looks better in a lot of ways). I think it would be interesting to see what Left to Rot would look like with the lighting style of Fredbear's Fright.”
Can you ever see yourself returning to the Fredbear & Friends series for one last hoorah?
“It's not likely that the series would return without a good reason. The series was originally created so I could learn how to make games while working with a series I'm interested in. After making that Mr. Hugs joke game I went to work on original games. Unfortunately, the game I worked on had some major issues with the engine I used (missing features I needed for the its plan), so I spent a while trying to solve that and tried out other smaller projects in between. This stopped after I was brought on for Evergreen. The point is I had moved on from fangames, but since I'm involved with one now it's possible I could do another. So in the future if there's something specific I want to experiment with (like using a new game engine) it's likely that I would make another fangame—not necessarily something as big as a Fredbear series entry. I'd still be interested in working with the series, it's just a matter of it being worth the time.”
As an artist, which video game impresses you the most with its environments? And which game has inspired you the most.
“I'm most impressed by environments with a strong style. A game like The Desolate Hope (by none other than Scott Cawthon) is one I've looked to occasionally—it's Scott's style but on another level. If it wasn't obvious from my fangames, I'm a big fan of Scott's style and it's inspired what I make. I do have my own style nowadays that takes inspiration from other artists, but there's definitely an element of Scott's style mixed in there somewhere.”
What are your thoughts on FNaF Security Breach? Did you end up playing it?
“Security Breach hasn't interested me enough to play it. I've kept up to date with all FNaF news, but nothing of the promotional work got me to that interest level. FNaF has been going in a different direction for a while now and doesn't seem like it will change back to the darker/uncanny feel that I liked any time soon. I'd say I'm still a fan of the series though, just nowhere near as much as I used to be.”
As a fanverse developer, which other announced fanverse project are you most excited for?
“FNaF Plus 100%. It's nice to see a new project attempting to recreate the original FNaF atmosphere and possibly enhance it. I have some gripes about the character designs, but that's about it. As for the other Fanverse projects I don't really have any idea what they're about except for Evergreen.”
You are known for working in 3DS Max in the past. What was the transition to Blender like? Do you prefer Blender or 3DS max?
“Around 2018 I began messing around in 3DS Max to both achieve higher FNaF modelling accuracy and see if I liked the engine enough to use in future projects. As practice I created the Mr. Hugs joke game in 3DS Max and made some models I would consider my most FNaF-accurate in style. The renders always felt clean on first try compared to Blender, but I disliked the UI and couldn't do any post-processing effects. As my trial ran out I had to decide on either purchasing the full version or moving back to Blender. Blender 2.8 had just released alongside the new Eevee rendering engine, so I moved back to Blender and have been messing around with Eevee ever since.”
How are you liking studying at college? And if you don't mind sharing what are you studying?
“The past 2 years I've had to get through some general courses, though I've been able to do some I've really enjoyed—such as game development. In the game dev class I've designed and developed small games under short deadlines, which kind of feels like doing game jams. One of the games I made was a Sneaky Guy game where you went on a secret mission with him down a sewer system. The course has really helped me figure out some good "dos and don'ts" when planning out a game. I'm in a Computer Studies program, which basically is a Computer Science program that has a focus on design. Although I do like 3D art and programming, design is the core topic I'm interested in.”
Let’s say that instead of Kane Carter you were approached by another fanverse developer. What other fanverse project would you most want to work on?
“If FNaF Plus was started as a team project, I think it would be really cool to work on. I'd be most interested in handling the design/modelling of the environment and characters. I'm less familiar with the universes and history of the other Fanverse projects, so I'd be less interested in working on those.”
What is the best mainline FNaF game?
“I like the first three FNaF games almost equally. Each one balanced out in some level of story, atmosphere, gameplay, and release hype. FNaF 4-6 had some good parts too, but had almost equal bad parts. The other FNaF games I'm not as interested in.”
Out of making 3d art and programming, which do you prefer?
“3D art is much more fun for me to work on. I enjoy that point in modelling where you can really feel the model coming together. Other times it can get frustrating when what's in your head or drawn on paper isn't looking how it's supposed to, but given enough time it usually works out. Programming is also enjoyable when what you have in mind actually functions properly. The downside is that you have to think through it a lot more than art, which is more mindless to me.”
Do you have any interesting hobbies outside of art and programming?
“Honestly, I don't do a whole lot outside of art and programming. During big breaks I'll usually experiment with different game dev-related aspects I'm not as familiar with such as sound design and music. Art and programming are still my main hobbies though since there is always something different to learn and experiment with in each.”
What is the most frustrating thing about making 3d art? Do you have any objects which you dread modeling?
“In addition to what I mentioned earlier about ideas not translating well to 3D, there's also having the lack of ideas in general. Sometimes I feel more creative in designing models, other times I'll have to scour through a bunch of related designs to what I want and make some sort of hybrid of them. Usually it leads to original ideas spinning off from it, so it isn't all bad. Any model requiring hard-surface or complex (often mechanical) design is what I dread. Especially endoskeletons (see: the rushed Prototype model from Left to Rot). I much prefer modelling things with strong but simple shapes, so I usually have that in mind while coming up with model designs.”
I hope you all enjoyed the interview, let me know who you’d like to see next time.
DOWNLOAD 'FREDBEAR'S FRIGHT'
https://gamejolt.com/games/fredbears-fright/163672
DOWNLOAD 'FREDBEAR AND FRIENDS: LEFT TO ROT'
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