Comic creators spin pennies into gold

Tell me about the game. What made you think you could make a game?

Krahulik: I’m not sure we can! We haven’t proven that we can.

Holkins: Our responsibiliies on the game are largely art and writing-related, which is what we do in the course of an ordinary day. We consider that our area of expertise.

Krahulik: Jerry is writing every bit of dialogue. All the concept art … every character, everything you see, I drew at some point. We are totally, 100 percent hands-on.

Holkins: It isn’t so much that we thought that we could design a game, it’s just that someone who can design a game approached us about making one, and we felt very confident that we could write a story and communicate it visually.

Do you think your fans will go easy on you in terms of the game?

Krahulik: I think that our fans often go easy on us. But I think that we are delivering something that our fans will like.

Holkins: We’re making something that’s very Penny Arcade. As far as the group outside of our fans … I hope they like it. We’re trying very hard to make it something that appeals to people who don’t read the comic every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We’re still thinking so much about making it. ... I think very little about how people will react to it.

Holkins: I don’t think they’ll go easy on it ... but it doesn’t take a million years to play and it will be extremely affordable. And I think it is funny. I think it’s really neat. (To Krahulik) And you haven’t even read most of it.

Krahulik: No, and I won’t.

Holkins: Why wouldn’t you?

Krahulik: You wrote it.

What games are you most excited about?

Krahulik: Just thinking about PAX right now, I’m extremely excited to get my hands on "Eye of Judgment" again. I also plan on playing a lot of Pokemon at PAX.

Holkins: This list is going to be super-long.

Krahulik: Yeah, way too long. "Mass Effect" is going to be super-rad.

Holkins: This is the best/almost-worst gaming holiday ever … these are some big games coming out. People are finally going to get a chance to flex their PS3s with "Ratchet and Clank" and "Uncharted" ... and "Eye of Judgment," like Mike said?  That game is fantastic.

Krahulik: I was actually thinking of taking "Eternal Sonata" and saving it for, like May, or June.

Holkins: "BioShock" in the very near term. "Stuntman: Ignition" in the middle of next month … also "Super Smash Brawls," "Super Mario Galaxies," "Metroid Prime: Corruption," which drops in a week. It really is an incredible time to be an enthusiast for the medium.

That seems like a good place to wrap up.

Holkins: Oh, and also "Halo!" "Halo" is so big you have to stand away to see it. The multiplayer is pretty exquisite. ... The beta was pretty awesome, and that wasn’t even complete. The community features with the downloadable videos … I really can’t wait. I’m really excited.

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