T-Shirts with the Yamago logo on it, it's the only label I wear ;)

  Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

Ok ;) As a child, I was fond of video games. I spent my money in arcades.

At home I have had Pong, Atari 2600, Ti 99, Apple 2c, Amiga and PC. I loved to create traditional games (cards, boards etc.) and programming.

After studies, when I had to think about my career, I chose something totally different from my passions, very strange choice in fact ;)

After having experimented with different jobs, I chose to interest myself in the web.

Quickly, I discovered Flash and I fell in love with it, it was the fusion between my passion for creation, programming and games.

So I decided to create my own company with some friends and here it is Yamago Studio ;)

  What do you do for inspiration?

I just keep my notebook with me all the time and write all things I have in mind.

  Please list 3 of your favourite sites.

www.yamago.net

www.runnroll.com

www.yamago.net/games/xtremsnow

sorry ;)

  What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

Run n' roll is the biggest project we have made, and certainly the most achieved.

  What software couldn't you live without?

Flash, of course ;)

  What projects do you have in the pipeline?

A lot of projects. We have some casual games prototypes to develop and for big projects, a multiplayer dancing game.

  Who do you rate as being the top 3 design companies?

It's really something I couldn’t say.

  What effect on traffic do your new designs have?

We have appreciatively multiplied our visitors by two on the Yamago web site.

  Who is your target audience?

Yamago.net is a company's website so the target audience we look after is our customers.

That's the reason why we present all our games through videos, to help customers to see our creations and have an idea of each game without playing (frequently customers have no time to play or are really bad players ;)).

All our games are targeted for players of course, hardcore gamers as well as casual gamers.

  What area of web design lacks the most?

No idea ;)

  What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

It was a simple page with a grey background and the first Yamago logo in the middle, something looking like a fool orange spring-loaded kangaroo.

  Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

I've participated in « Flash MX » by Guylaine Monnier for Dunod Edition and also have been technical translator for O'Reilly France for books about Flash like those of Colin Moock or Joey Lott.

I was thinking about writing a book about JSFL but I have no time in fact and I forgot the idea.

  What was the toughest thing you ever did with Flash? How long did you spend on it? Is it still online?

I think the hardest thing I made with flash is the Yamzbrowser, my component used to allow upload before Flash 8.

It wasn't really difficult to develop in Flash, but the discussion between Flash and Javascript and the support of most of the browsers was really painful.

It was a hack and was really depending on Browser's support of DOM, so it needed a lot of tests and time to make it works properly.

  Do you think Flash is here to stay?

I don't know, with the Sparkle arrival everything could change. For Yamago that's not really a problem as Flash is still a tool. Our main skills are creativity and game creation, and not Flash usage even if we really love Flash.

  What are your views on design/graphic school. Do you think someone can get into the field without educational experience in a school environment?

Yes certainly. Some of us here at Yamago are self-taught for Game creation, graphics design, development etc. But school is always the best way to learn for most of us.

  When your company was just getting started, what did you find was most effective for getting new clients?

Yamago has been created without commercial staff. We were certainly idealists but we wanted our work to be the one and only thing that would generate business, without marketing.

It has been really hard but it has worked ! And we're really proud of that. Our own productions, like HypraSpeed, Xtrem Snow Board

, Run n' roll, etc. are our best marketing tools.

  How have you learned so many Flash/design skills and techniques and can you offer any advice for newbies?

Long hours behind my computer, sharing my knowledge with other flashers, reading books, making experiments in Flash, writing tutorials, creating sources files, teaching flash, moderating flash forums.

  What is the most expensive thing you've bought in the last week?

My Nintendo DS and Mario Kart ;)

  What type of overcoat do you wear when Flashing, basically are you a labels man?

T-Shirts with the Yamago logo on it, it's the only label I wear ;)

  Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

See you soon on Mario Kart Wifi ;)

  It's been a privilege, Mathieu, thanks very much.

Thank you too.

Just a last word, Yamago is a great team and I'm not alone behind our creations so I would like to introduce you to MagicFred, our Graphic Designer, our great Flash Developers Pierrick and Nico, Sandrine our international Project Manager, Olivier our Marketing Man and Virgile our Sound Designer.

Now you know all of us, bye ;)