We saw that you recruited Vince DiCola and Kenny Meriedeth for the game’s score – that is too freakin’ cool! Did you just cold call them out of the blue, or did the team have some lucky connections?
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have gotten Vince and Kenny to work with us. We contacted Vince’s manager completely out of the blue with the mindset of “What’s the worst he could say?” We honestly didn’t think we had any chance to get him to work with us, and we thought that at best we’d be able to get him to do one song for us. It turned out, much to our surprise, that Vince was willing to work with us (along with Kenny) and that he’d like to do the entire score. I’ve personally been a fan of Vince since I first heard his Transformers soundtrack as a child. I’m probably one of the few people who keep the original release of the Transformers Animated Movie DVD around solely for the interview it contains with Vince. I’m truly a big fan of his! When I got the email from him about Saturday Morning RPG, I was incredibly overwhelmed with excitement. The work he has provided us with is some truly excellent music – and the theme song he and Kenny wrote for Saturday Morning RPG is absolutely phenomenal.
And finally, the all-important question: what’s your favorite Saturday morning cartoon you would have watched back in the 80s? Are there a handful that have especially influenced the team’s approach to Saturday Morning RPG?
I’m a huge fan of The Transformers — I’ve actually collected the toys for the past twelve years now and have a collection that spans around 200 figures. It’s pretty nerdy, but I’m a nerd so I don’t mind (and my wife is OK with it so far!). When I got into the collecting scene I also went back and re-watched all of the Transformers: Generation 1 series. This turned me into a big fan of Sunbow cartoons from that time period — Transformers, GI Joe, Visionaries, Jem, etc. I think because I’ve been the lead designer, my own preference for Sunbow stuff has led to that being the most influential on Saturday Morning RPG. That doesn’t mean we haven’t drawn inspiration from elsewhere. We had a one-week period where we watched pretty much every 80s cartoon we could dig up to get inspired — so we’ve got references that span from Turbo Teen to TMNT.
Big thanks to Josh Fairhurst for taking the time to answer our bevy of questions, and to Ben Moore for facilitating. The video above was prepared for the Saturday Morning RPG Kickstarter campaign. Keep an eye on Mighty Rabbit Studios’ website, Facebook page and Twitter account for the latest news about Saturday Morning RPG!