(This interview was originally published at PlanetFreeplay and is reprinted with the permission of the author. Please visit PlanetFreeplay for more interviews!)

PlanetFreeplay: Well, hello Mr Fancy Pants!

Any Super Mario fan that takes notice of the independent gaming community is probably fully aware that many free remakes and clones of this much loved series exist. With the occasional exception, most are pale imitations of the original games. Brad Borne is responsible for developing The Fancy Pants Adventures and fortunately it fits into the ‘occasional exception’ category, except it isn’t exactly a remake and it isn’t exactly a clone. It features an original character doing Mario-esque things in a sketchy world. I had the chance to ask Brad Borne some questions. Sit down, shut up and read.

PlanetFreeplay: Introduce yourself to the readers.

Brad Borne: Hey there. I’m Brad Borne – the guy who made The Fancy Pants Adventures. I’m from Metairie, Louisiana and I’m a college student for the time being.

P.F.: When did you become interested in game development? Why did you choose flash? Is it something you take seriously and use all of your spare time on or more of a casual thing?

Brade Borne: Well, I’ve always enjoyed playing video games and I’m always trying to create something new so I guess I just sort of gravitated towards Flash as a medium. The first time I was ever able to use Flash to publish something was actually for stop motion animation. Once I actually had an excuse to use the program, though, I became interested in action script and really just kept playing around with it until I knew enough to make something that I thought was worth playing. Before Flash, though, I had played around with Ti-86 BASIC but that was about it. Nothing really complex but it gave me a taste of making something that other people were actually interested in playing around with.

After releasing Fancy Pants Adventures, I started freelancing – so those games I have to take seriously but the games that I make on my own – I don’t think I could ever consider it work. It’s just what I love to do. I don’t get as consumed by the process as much as I used to when I was still learning but I guess it takes up quite a bit more time than most peoples’ hobbies.

P.F.: Did you complete any projects before you started Fancy Pants? Anything of interest to the readers?

Brad Borne: Before FPA I made SnowBlitz with Mark Fleig Jr., who drew everything. I’m not much of an artist myself but after that I really wanted to try drawing everything myself, just to see if I could pull it off. I guess you could say that that’s why FPA has such a ‘sketchy’ style to it. The very first game I worked on was ‘Stande,’ also with Mark. As I figured out more about coding, the game got more complex but in the end we had to scale it back to a small arena shooter.

P.F.: What inspired Fancy Pants – it plays like a mixture of Super Mario and Sonic?

Brad Borne: It’s hard to say actually. I’ve always wanted to make a side scroller and I think the overall feel of the game came from whatever I had figured out I could do with the engine. There are definitely some nods to Mario games in there but the only part that was really influenced by Sonic was the moving walls in the first transitional level. I actually never really liked the overall feel of Sonic – how slow it took him to start running and all and how you could never see what was coming up once you hit full speed but I can definitely see why players make the comparison. I’m still trying to find an excuse to throw some loops into World 2 just for fun.

P.F.: Fancy Pants plays out a lot like a retro platformer but still has a new age feel. Are you a fan of both new and old videogames? How do you feel about the commercial gaming industry at the moment – innovative or not?

Brad Borne: My favorite video games are the ones that I can sit down with for a little while when I get a chance, then come back to later without needing to re-learn what I was doing or where I was going. I guess that leads me to favor the classics, handhelds and party games but I’ll play pretty much anything. Gears of War had been taking up my time but then, well, Zelda: Twilight Princess came out…

As for the industry, I’m going to have to agree with Nintendo and their party gaming philosophy. My 360 ‘red ring of doom’ed at me and I haven’t even bothered sending it back in yet. Maybe I’m just getting jaded because I’ve played all the main systems and then some.

I could never get into online gaming for very long at a time. Give me 4 guys in a room that I actually know yelling at each other any day. I don’t want to make friends with faceless screen names online and there will always be enough lag online to make the game worse than lan or even split screen. So yeah, I definitely don’t agree with the industries’ sudden obsession with online gaming.

P.F.: Fancy Pants is pretty popular in flash circles. Have you been happy with the response for the game?

Brad Borne: Definitely. I’m surprised every time someone tells me that they actually know the game. One of my younger sister’s friends asked her if she was related to ‘Brad Borne’ – I thought that was nuts. I’ll go and read through the reviews of it online whenever I need to muster up motivation to work on World 2 some more.

P.F.: From start to finish, how long did Fancy Pants take to develop? Was it a challenge to develop or a smooth ride?

Brad Borne: About 6 months I think… I really enjoyed making the game and I still enjoy playing it, oddly enough but the last stretch of debugging and bug fixes definitely started wearing me down though.

P.F.: Was there a lot of planning involved or did it just evolve naturally?

Brad Borne: I once made a little stick man in a circle and he stuck to the loop and just kept looping around. That was about the extent of the planning (haha).

P.F.: What’s in store for the future? How is the sequel coming along? Any new features to look forward to? Any other projects in the works?

Brad Borne: World 2! It’s still being worked on I promise! I’ve been busy with school lately which is no where near as fun but yeah… I think it’s already more fun to play than World 1 so that’s a good sign.

Hmm, well I don’t want to give too much away but there’s a ton more moves in World 2. Fancy Pants Man definitely becomes more athletic for the sequel.

I’ve got a few other games that I’m trying to finish up but they’re all being made with other people so I don’t know how much I can say about them. I should finally have some new games out soon, though. Finally!

P.F.: Top. 5 videogames – what are they and why?

Brad Borne: Arg! Too many! Hmm, lemme think…

5. Jet Grind Radio – Every time I play this game again, I think I like it even more. I usually don’t like cell shading but this was the first game to really use the style and I think it’s the game that uses it best. It just oozes with style and awesomeness.

4. Super Mario Bros. 3 – The absolute epitome of side scrolling goodness.

3. Resident Evil 4 – Quick, challenging, engaging, absolutely beautiful and I’ve played it through way more times than I should have.

2. Twilight Princess – Okay, I haven’t finished it but I’m crazy for small details in games and the attention to detail in this game continues to amaze me.

1. Super Smash Bros. Melee – Still play it – incredible game. Pretty much the epitome of ‘not online’ multiplayer. I have a feeling my friends and I won’t stop playing this game until Brawl comes out.

PlanetFreeplay: Thanks for your time Brad.

Don’t forget to checkout the demo of Fancy Pants Adventures World 2!

Update: Fancy Pants Adventure: World 2 is live!