Phantasy History
Phantasy is based on an obscure videogame called Fantasy put out by a company called Rock-ola. I first saw the game at the local Chuck E. Cheese, and also at Pier 39 in San Francisco. It was the first game that offered the ability to put another quarter in to continue where you left off, and since it was a story-based game, I put in quarter after quarter to see what would happen next.
The game started out with you and a girl on an island, when suddenly a pirate ship comes along and the girl is kidnapped, and you take control of the situation by flying a hot-air balloon over the ship in an attempt to land on the deck and then battle the pirates. Of course, it being a game that has to continue, when you defeat the pirates and are about to free the girl, a giant bird swoops down and snatches her from your grasp. And it goes on, with jungle natives, and swordfights, and I never made it through to the end. It wasn't the greatest game, but it stood out as a rarity since it was hard to find, and an oddity, since it didn't play like any other game around at the time.
Some years later, when I was taking an introductory Flash class, I remembered the game, and decided to try to recreate some of it as a way to learn Flash that much faster. I was so pleased with the result of the first cartoon, which took me a week to complete, that I immediately started work on a sequel. Some of the elements of the original game made it in, but it soon became obvious to me that I was departing from the original storyline (which wasn't very original) and what I was doing was creating an elaborate, baroque story that could go on for as long as I wanted. It was an entirely new medium for me, and the excitement of encountering logistical problems and then solving them creatively satisfied me deeply and encouraged me to continue.
As the series continues, I've decided that there will be a total of twelve Phantasy episodes, with some smaller spin-offs featuring peripheral characters and locations to fill out the storyline. I have no real idea how this series will end, and prefer it this way, as I've enjoyed making it all up as I go along. The best part has been for me to see how far I've come in terms of animation techniques and mastery of Flash, from the humble beginning onward to the humble conclusion. I hope you've enjoyed the series so far, and will see it through with me to the end. Feel free to send me your thoughts and observations on the cartoons, the characters, and anything that comes to mind, so I can continue to improve and bring to life the rushing inspirational whirlwind of that most ephemeral of realities, the fantasy.
