Hey everybody, apologies for the inactivity on this account. Today I'm pleased to announce that in order to spice things up, we have recruited a good friend of mine to run the show with some interviews with notable creators in the community. @ping69413 
will be in charge of handling it, and he decided that his first guest should be @Mechlus 
.
You may have heard of Mechlus from the 'Project Readjusted' series and his original game 'Helmstache'.
For now, the interviews will be presented in text format with questions from Ping, in the future we are welcome to add some community questions if there is interest for that. Ping has requested for you all to suggest anybody you want interviewed for next time. We can't wait to get the interviews started, stay tuned.
Firstly, I'd like to thank Mechlus today for the interview, let’s get into some questions.
How did you come up with the name Mechlus? Moreso, where did 'Helmstache' originate from?
“The core piece of my username "mech" has been a part of my persona online for a long time. It's nothing more than a reference to Mecha Bowser from Super Mario Galaxy, my favorite video-game of all time. I struggled to come up with a good ending to the word however, which resulted in many weird username combinations until I landed at Mechlus!”
What is the scariest FNaF fangame?
“No FNaF project has been scary. Sure, some may be creepy albeit rarely, but no fan-game or official product has put me in a state of fear. I hope that changes eventually.”
Out of all of the announced fanverse projects, which catches your eye the most?
“It's tough to say which of the projects are on the top of my radar as not much is shown from all of them, but I will go with FNaF Plus purely because there is still an unknown there worth mentioning. I'm skeptical as to how the game will compare to the original FNaF, but it's something I am looking forward to seeing. I'm sure Phil is working very hard at making the game great so I'm intrigued to see how well it fairs against other fan-games sometime soon.”
What's your favourite FNaF fangame? and what's your favourite video game?
“Other than Tyke and Sons, which isn't really a FNaF fan-game (? debatable really), I don't really have a favorite traditional FNaF fan-game. It's not that I don't like any, but none stood out among the rest as a true testament to what FNaF and horror are. As for general video-games, my top favorites are: Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Resident Evil 7 & 8, and Minecraft. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 were my childhood and still hold up to this day, providing endless fun with its challenging and intuitive level design. Resident Evil 7 and 8 however offer a completely different experience and are extremely high quality games. I am still debating on which one I like more out of the two, but lately I have been leaning towards Village. Minecraft made up a lot of my childhood alongside the Galaxy games and I still get on randomly to this day.”
Which fangame/official fnaf game have you taken the most inspiration from?
“I would have to say JOLLY purely because IvanG has pushed his levels of polish above all others for the last several years and it was very motivating to get my own projects up to snuff earlier on. Nowadays, I just go with the flow. I don't really have a fan-game that I think about being a solid source of inspiration as I don't like to recycle what others have done - at least, not in the same way.”
Without any spoilers, what is PR4 gonna be like?
“ "Project Readjusted 4" is still in the planning phases so the gameplay is still all over the place. That doesn't mean other aspects aren't made already, but the core fundamentals are being worked on extensively. While in the planning phase, I'm not tethering the game down to not be inspired by FNaF, and it very well could shift back into fan-game territory if an idea is good enough, but I wouldn't count on it being anything typical at all. A lot is up in the air, I'll say that much. It is nowhere near close to completion or a proper announcement.”
Do you have any regrets with PR3? Or are you happy with the game.
“Project Readjusted 3 is a fine enough game in my eyes, but some flaws with the task make the game feel off for me. I know others have enjoyed the game - those who played it - so that's satisfying enough. I don't have any regrets with the game other than it taking so long to get a proper idea down due to the game not being properly planned much at all in the beginning of development.”
When can we expect to see the sequel to Helmstache release?
“A new Helmstache game is in the works, however it is on a hiatus as I work on other projects. It'll definitely come out as, so far, 100% an objective upgrade to the first game. I've developed as a programmer as well, so begone the old sloppy code and methods from two or so years ago. It'll be some time before Helmstache "2" is thrown about again, but it definitely will not sit in the shadows forever!”
What inspired you to start developing Chipper & Sons Lumber Island?
“Tyke and Sons primarily kickstarted my motivation for this game again, but I was actually creating a fully-fledged Chipper remake all the way back in 2020. I have grown as a programmer since then however, so the code in the old version was very inefficient. This led me to restart it with a new vision!”
What is the most underrated FNaF fangame?
“Tyke and Sons, easily. That game is my favorite FNaF (?) fan-game purely because of the amount of content, intuitive gameplay, and a great reimagining to Chipper and Sons. Mixlas is also a great friend of mine, but me praising the game for its many ups is not from bias. I played the game from start to finish in one session, which was ten hours, and I enjoyed it all. I highly recommend playing it as it definitely did not get enough love.”
Who do you think is the most talented person in the FNaF community?
“I don't think there is a "most talented" person in the community, but there are definitely some great people in different professions. For example, MrNobo and Garrett McKay in graphic design, Emil Macko with his smarts in programming, and many more (those come to mind no the spot). There are a LOT of talented individuals and new people join every day so it's always cool to see how the community grows in quality and quantity.”
Would you like to make a career out of professional game development?
“I'm not sure. I am definitely into Computer Science, but there are many fields that I want to look into within CS to figure out which one is for me. Sure, I could find myself working at a studio thanks to my abilities but I don't think I'd weigh all my chips on the game development side of Computer Science.”
What's an unpopular fangame opinion that you hold?
“I'm sure I've had my fair share of unpopular FNaF opinions in the past, but I can't think of any as of now other than FNaF2 being the best FNaF experience. Let that sink in! The panic and speed of the game is unmatched in any official and fan-made product and that is what primarily made me really enjoy it.”
Lastly, what's the best FNaF game in the series, and what's the worst?
“Like I said in my previous answer, FNaF2 is my favorite for the panic and speed. However, my least favorite is obviously FNaF4 or UCN. Both games are absolutely miserable to play through. I would never purchase or play those games again. They are not my cup of tea whatsoever and have some game mechanics (or a lot for UCN) that are big turn-offs like primarily audio mechanics in FNaF4 or pure luck later in UCN.”
I hope you all enjoyed the interview, let me know who you’d like to see next time.
DOWNLOAD 'PROJECT READJUSTED 3'
https://gamejolt.com/games/readjusted3game/523997
CHECK OUT 'CHIPPER AND SONS: LUMBER ISLANDS'
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