Trailblazing at supersonic speed.
A few weeks back we whipped up a blog entry on The Tyrant's level-by-level SLASO tutorial project. Well, it turns out that one of the pioneers of the process, and the progenitor of the term SLASO itself, posts right here on our own fancy forums. For those not in the know, SLASO is an acronym: Solo Legendary All Skulls On. It's for crazy people.
Angry messages from a bevy of SonicJohn's fans clued us in that we had been derelict in our duty. We left John and his amazing trailblazing out of our coverage. We're sorry. This week, we're making amends by way of a brief interview with the man himself.
Q. What's up SonicJohn? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. Hey there, I’m SonicJohn. I’m 17 years old and live in Dundee, “The City of Discovery,” Scotland. I’ve been involved with the Bungie Community since August 2004. You may remember me as the guy who started “Project L.A.S.O.,” The Mystery of the Gate/The Search For The Ultimate Egg (TUE), and you might have seen me posting around the forum with my “Webcam MVP” title, which I and six others were awarded for winning a Webcam Game.
I’m currently a college student studying “Apprenticeship into Computer Games Development," which sounds fancy, but is basically an introductory course into what game developers will expect out of applicants.
Q. An apprenticeship? That does sound fancy. So what's with the tag, "SonicJohn?"
A: “SonicJohn” is simple really. When I was nine, my family finally got the internet and my parents asked what I wanted to have for a username. My mom suggested that I combine something I loved with my name. I’d grown up on the retro Sonic games—the better ones like Sonic 1 on the Mega Drive, err…Genesis—so my favourite thing at the time was definitely Sonic. Thus, “SonicJohn” was born.
Q. Now that you're all grown up, and no doubt an expert at the Internet, where do you spend the majority of your e-time?
A: Oh I’ve haunted a few forums, but by far it has to be here on Bungie.net in the Septagon. I’d love to throw out thousands of reasons for it, but it’s pretty self-evident once you pop in and look around. It’s the quietest board of the lot, and has topics that are the most relevant to my interests.
Q: And those interests are?
A: I’ve always gamed. Since the age of three, I’ve always been amazed by the music, the artistic design, and the story lines of great games. Those are the only three things about games that really matter to me. I play a lot of games with my dad and little brother. My dad’s important to me being here on Bungie.net.
Q. What was the first Bungie title you and your dad tackled together?
A. Halo: Combat Evolved was the very first Bungie game I had ever come across. Totally clichéd, but that’s to be expected when it is more than certainly one of greatest games for music, art, and storyline. Like I said earlier, my dad was important for me being here on Bungie.net; it was him who introduced me to Halo. Whilst I forgive him for spoiling the appearance of “jumping popcorn” when we were still only on the third level, I really wish I could have had that surprise of encountering the Flood myself.
Q. Fathers often feel compelled to protect their offspring. It's been that way since the Dawn of Time. Fast-forwarding to the modern day, are you surprised by your present level of community involvement?
A. I’m not surprised that people know my name here on Bungie.net, but it’s amazing to see that people know me on other Halo forums. I guess it’s because I put myself out there, and try my best to only do projects that can be appreciated by the masses. TUE, SLASO, Community Carnages, the Bungie Community Podcast , and Custom Campaign are just a few of the projects I’ve created and continue to create for the Community’s benefit.
Q. We're glad to have you aboard. Final thoughts? Wanna recognize some of your peeps?
A. I’d like to make a shout-out to some of my closest friends here in the community. They’re the ones who make me who I am. They’re not in any real order; they’ve all inspired me in some way:
CAVX – my bestest friend, who is also known as my Bnet-Twin. He’s a really creative and interesting individual. Ultimately, he's a pretty cool guy and doesn't afraid of anything. Additionally, one time he accidentally his armpit, it was win.
Cortana 5 – Bright, breezy girl, with her head in the clouds (and loving it). She keeps me sane in knowing that there are individuals out there who are much crazier than I. Interesting trivia: Cortana 5’s mum has hugged Marty O’Donnell and Shishka.
Brand220 – Brandon’s one of the original guys who helped me out with TUE. He writes a lot of really interesting fan-fiction, mostly involving me dying…but not dying, and coming back to die again. It’s pretty confusing actually…WHY DON’T I JUST DIE ALREADY?
MightyDuckK – As mighty as the name implies. Duck was one of my closest amigos during Project LASO; I also continue to use his epic voice for machinima and podcasts. Give him a call if you need a narrator, or announcer, or voice actor. He’s good for all of that.
Well, that’s that really. Thank you anyone who was interested enough to read about me and how I fit in, and of course, thank you Bungie for giving me the opportunity to feature here on the Blog.
For some reason I feel like saying something really intelligent and thought-provoking, but that wouldn’t be like me at all. Catch you all on the forums!
Well, that was verbose. The man has many peeps deserving of shout outs and a talent for excess. We should be thankful.
And there was much, much more SonicJohn wanted to relay, but in the interest in maintaining some level of succinctness, we had to reign him in. If you feel compelled to pick the man's brain, click the discussion link and have at it. Something tells me he'll be more than happy to entertain you. If you've got the guts (and the skills, patience, and wherewithal), why not go ahead and give a SLASO run a try? If you get stuck, I think SonicJohn might be willing to give you some pointers.