February :: 2007

Greetings and welcome to my artist-of-the-month feature, if you've read any of the past features then you'll know that the first question is the cookie-cutter one. Who are you and what planet are you from? Try and make yourself appealing so people read the rest of this interview okay?? no pressure!

I'm Nick Pasto A.K.A BoMToons. I'm 26 and picked up the trial version of flash about 3.5 years ago. The most notable part of me, that most people don't ever realize, is that I'm a Mormon and most of my games and movies (to-date) revolve around quirky things from the Mormon cannon of scripture and Mormon culture in-general. At this point you're probably considering NOT finishing this article since my plan is obviously to convert you to Mormonism, but I guarantee my motives are not underhanded in any way, I just find find a lot of inspiration from my religion. By the way, BoM stands for "Book of Mormon".

Hmm.. that's strange. I suddendly have an urge to be a Mormon... ANYWAY, that's a pretty unique angle to approach Flash with.
I notice you wander in and out from movies and games, which do you enjoy more?

Definitely games. It's been one of my dreams to make video-games since I was a kid playing the original N.E.S. I feel a much larger (and faster) sense of accomplishment when I can make something work coding-wise compared with the tediousness of animation where you have to wait, sometimes, hours to see your efforts pay off. Plus, I NEVER thought of myself as having a mathematical/logical mind until I started dabbling with actionscript (I was always an "artist") so I still get really pumped to explore that part of my skill-set.

I actually find more reward from animation because im a control freak and it drives me nuts when actionscripters dont do things exactly how I see it in my vision. Anyway, this is cliche but it's still early in the year and I can get away with asking it: what are your resolutions this year, flash-wise?

I've got a ton of unfinished projects floating out there some of which I'm really excited about finishing. One in particular has been in development on and off for almost a year and I would really like to release it this year. It's the sequel to my point and click game Nephi's Adventure. I'm working with a friend on it (me art, him coding) which is good in some respects because he's extemely talented at coding and bad in other respects because he's busy and our project has taken a backburner.
My largest project though, is a multi-player game for elementary-school kids to help teach them internet safety. It's called "Wiggi-world" and follows a similar style as the popular "Club Penguin" MMORPG. Wiggi World is my first multi-player game and is therefore really exciting to work on. Luckilly I'm just in charge of the art and not the coding because I wouldn't even know where to start. It'll be deployed to about 15 elementary schools mid-February for beta-testing and will hopefully skyrocket in popularity from there. I got involved because I feel like it's a worthwhile project with a good purpose and I've always wanted to be paid to make video-games. :)

What do you like to do when you are not slaving away at the next flash movie/game? Or are you like me and you just spend most of your time just sitting behind a computer updating websites and giving users bullshit excuses for not releasing a movie?

I'm a partner in a start-up company that makes web-based software for home builders. That's actually my full-time job and my flash work is an after-hours activity. We've dumped a ton of cash into a huge booth at the International Builders' Show in Orlando that begins in February and I'll be flying out there to install graphics on our booth this Saturday. I also do freelance web-design with my partner who handles all the heavy coding and database stuff. More on the "fun" side of things, I tinker with, drive, and occasionally drag race my 1968 Ford Mustang. I also like snow-boarding and moonlit walks on the beach.(see photo) :P

What do you think your biggest strength and weakness is? I know that from every completed movie or project theres always something learned but is there a particular project or even a movie/game of someone elses that you've witnessed that has significantly sparked a particular change in your approach?

My biggest flash inspiration was, honestly, Domo-kun's Angry Smashfest...when I first saw it I literally said out-loud, "I didn't know you could do THAT in flash!" This was before I got in on the Newgrounds scene and it was a serious milestone for me recently to work with one of the creators of Domo-Kun's ASF (-Rog- from i-mockery) on Ivan Drago which was also sponsored by the other creator of DKASF, Tom Fulp!
As for my biggest strength, I'd say it's development time. Because I have talent in both art and coding I can take something from idea to fruition fairly fast. I'm also getting pretty good at having the vision to plan things out correctly at the beginning of a project. For example, check out my last Pico Day submission... I created a destroyable terrain engine with a bunch of levels, unlockable characters, and various modes of gameplay in a grueling 20-day sprint. One of my biggest weaknesses is thinking I can do more projects than I actually have time for...then I get stressed with all my deadlines and enter berserker mode where I go on murderous killing sprees...


Ok so I'm going back to the religion thing because I think its sort of a unique and refreshing quirk in your flash work. With the majority of the newgrounds public being a violence-happy contraversy-hungry brood of teens/preteens, do you ever receive backlash for the religiously concious subject matters that you incorporate in your movies? It seems all the rage to be rebelious and ditch religion and embrace sex drugs and violence on the site, I figure that must put you in a unique position. When you first visited NG and were about to submit your movies to the site did you ever worry that people wouldn't 'get it' or bash you for it?


It's been pretty surprising actually. I was really scared that the community would reject me off-hand when first submitting stuff to NG, but most people don't even realize that there's a religious theme. Given, I'm not super-overt about it, but a lot of the reviews I've received where people DO realize what the inspiration of a game or movie came from are pretty accepting. It really forces me to rely on originality in gameplay and style to try to compete with all the "Naruto, Super Mario Bros, Sonic" fans out there so that people can enjoy subject matter they are probably not familiar with.

Well that about wraps it up! Go in peace my child.

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