Palace Staff Interview - December 1st

[lunaology 3387]

Hello everyone! I'm Sofie, more commonly known as Sofieology and welcome to our ninth round of Palace Staff Interviews! Just a heads up, I will be closing this interview on Friday, so make sure you get your votes in beforehand! After our last interview with @RRainbow_, we had an outpour of votes for our next interview candidate. Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing the incredibly talented @HootinglyOwl! Hoot is a Builder on Palace who is well known for his contributions to our Seasonal park! He is most well known for his construction of the Scooby Doo puzzle! He is an absolute sweetheart and a kind heart for all. Whooooo is it? It’s Hoot!

[Sofieology]: How are you doing, Hoot?

[HootinglyOwl]: I'm doing great! Especially with winter seasonal open and the guests enjoying it. If you don't know me I'm hoot! I've been a current staff member since last December, but i've been staff on this server a total of 8 years (with some breaks here or there, college is tough!) I've had multiple roles on this server, but mainly a builder and resource pack designer. I've built for the parks in my earlier years, but transitioned over to seasonal after getting burnt out of 1:1 building. I love working on seasonal cause it has a lot of creative freedom in what you can do. I also do most of the model making for seasonal, which is fun because I get to think up all these clothing and toy ideas and little details that i even surprise my fellow staff members with sometimes! If I had to pick a favorite ride on the parks servers it would have to be Haunted Mansion! 

[Sofieology]: You are a builder on palace! Can you tell us a bit about what it’s like to be a builder?

[HootinglyOwl]: Being a builder is really fun on Palace, especially on Seasonal! I love that what we build for the guests each season is complete surprise and love watching guests enjoy it so much. That being said, seasonal is kinda stressful, especially during the winter months, we only have 2 months to make a whole season map! the other seasons we get 3-4 months to build. Seasonal has a lot of creative freedom in it, which I try to take advantage of and want to bring stuff to it that we can't do on Parks servers. 

[Sofieology]: You work a lot on our seasonal builds! What has been the hardest build you have worked on? What are you looking forward to seeing in Winter seasonal?

[HootinglyOwl]: Oh gosh, there have been lots of hard builds i've had to do, for a number of reasons. I'd say this year, its Polar Express. Not because its a challenging build, but because i've built it about 4 times, and honestly a little burnt out on it! But thats part of the job, building things that are tedious or not entirely engaging for me, but that i know the guests will love them and thats why i do what i do! I'm really looking forward to Sledding and the post office. The post office is My Thing every year and every year i try to make it better than the last. Also theres one piece of clothing coming to winter shops that i am really hyped for and can't wait the to see the guests reactions to.

[Sofieology]: Now, you are well known for being the creator of the Scooby doo puzzle! Care to share what it was like to create that? (Mind giving me some tips on how to finish the door maze?)

[HootinglyOwl]: I'm so happy Scooby Doo was so well received. Escape the Colossian was a real passion project for me as i have been a Scooby Doo person since childhood, and i started early planning in June (before we had finished summer seasonal!) in anticipation of what i wanted to do. The idea came from an old flash game of the same name that came out when i was a kid. (you can still find it online) The game was more point and click then my map ended up being, but thats due to the limitations of 1.12 minecraft. The redstone was a real learning curve for me, but taking it one step at a time i managed to make it work. To be honest the cards really just kind of fell into place for Scooby Doo to be as good as it is. The music you hear in the area that is from the original 50's show i just happened to stumble upon on the internet the last few weeks before seasonal opened! Haha! I knew that door maze would be tricky, but I liked that it was a new kind of maze, and reminded me of the chase scenes in the old show. I've received a lot of feedback on Scooby Doo and have taken it all into consideration going forward, because i definitely want to build another map in the future! I have lots of ideas and love for the Scooby Doo franchise and i can't wait till next year to add more!

[Sofieology]: Let’s get to know Hoot outside of Palace! Tell us a bit about yourself!

[HootinglyOwl]: Well, I'm a college graduate with a degree in Graphic Design, and i design websites for a living. Outside of Minecraft I also play Stardew Valley, Sea of Thieves and watch a lot of DnD! I also have a very fluffy grey cat named Misa who enjoys stepping on my keyboard when I'm typing. My other hobbies include drawing, gardening, collecting vintage goods and reading. 

[Sofieology]: Since Winter seasonal is coming up, I have to ask: are you a fan of the Polar Express?

[HootinglyOwl]: Honestly it not one of my favorites. I didn't see it as a kid so it doesn't have that element of nostalgia for me. My favorite Christmas movie as a kid was the claymation Santa clause is coming to town. As an adult, it's National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Muppets Christmas Carol and The Santa Clause. I also have a very soft spot for the 40's film The Bishops Wife. 

[Sofieology]: So, I have to ask, are you a big fan of owls? How did you come up with your username?

[HootinglyOwl]: Oh I love owls! I also love penguins, actually a little more then owls, but PenguinlyPenguin was too long of a name haha! Its honestly been so long i don't remember where i got my name, it may have come to me in a dream. 

[Sofieology]: Here's a builder question: if you could create anything you wanted on Palace, what would you build and why?

[HootinglyOwl]: I actually have a lot of answers for this question. I always seem to have a few too many ideas rolling around in my head. But, One thing i think we haven't seen on palace that i'd love to do is a story entirely original and has nothing to do with Disney, universal or any other established characters. A couple years ago myself and some of the members of the current seasonal team came up with an idea about a archaeologist who discovered a magic stone that could be used as a portal to lost civilizations like Atlantis, Camelot and El Dorado. years later that idea still nags me in the back of my head and wants me to build it.

[Sofieology]: You have been a close member of Palace for a long time! What are some of your favorite memories?

[HootinglyOwl]: I have a lot of memories of palace, but i think my favorite this year was watching GreenieGirl and friends stream Fall Seasonal opening. It was really nice to watch someone go through seasonal as a guest and being able to watch them enjoy it. 

[Sofieology]: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

[HootinglyOwl]: I'd like to thank the other members of seasonal team for how much work they've put into winter seasonal , especially our Best Boss @Helopoh, for nagging us when we sometimes dragged our heels! I hope everyone enjoys Winter seasonal and returns to play there all month long!

[Sofieology]: Well, thank you again for talking with me today, Hoot! I hope you enjoy the holidays!

(Misa Helping Moderate Chat!)

Sofie here again! Thank you all for tuning into this week's edition of our Palace Network Staff Interview. If you have any changes or additions you think could help improve the Interview, let us know down below! And make sure you vote for who should be interviewed next! Tune in next week when we interview @Cubits! And remember, keep an eye out for a special interview with a mystery guest this week!

Until next time, have a magical Palace day!!

[baifelicia 4068]

loved the interview! i can't wait for the next one 

[Huxleigh 576]

Absolutely loved this! Keep up the good work!!

[Aewo 327]

Another great interview, loved it!