Community Spotlight is a regular feature which highlights amazing fan projects in the Remedy community. In 2018 we've switched things up a little with each month having its own spotlighted fan and fan project. Today I'm excited to talk about a multi-talented fan and major pillar of the Control community, Holly.
For our final Community Spotlight of 2018, I wanted to talk about an amazing and multi-talented fan who has been helping to shape the Control community since its announcement back in June. Their name is Holly Nightmare (also known by the name tsunderekatsu) and not only are they the co-owner of the Control community Discord server, but also of the game's Wikia, and the community Reddit page. If that wasn't enough, they're also an active fan artist in the Remedy community. It's a pretty hefty list of accomplishments!
With the reveal of the Official Control Discord server earlier in the month, I wanted to spotlight Holly's work within the community as I didn't want the projects that they captain and the circles they maintain to be overlooked or overshadowed by the newer official projects. With each community hub, they have put a lot of time and passion into creating those supportive places in which fans can discuss and debate the upcoming game.
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| Holly's Control piece. |
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When I reached out to Holly about the Community Spotlight, something which I only discovered recently was that they had only started being active in the Remedy community this year, making their achievements even more impressive, especially as it can be a little daunting joining an online community.
While the Discord, Wikia, and Reddit pages were founded by jackkmart before they joined they online community, their role as co-owner and their passion to encourage the circles to thrive have led to some of the earliest-established Control community hubs with (at time of writing) twenty five members on Discord, 188 subscribers to the Reddit channel, and over thirty pages regularly maintained and updated on the Wikia. Holly also provides regular updates about Control news both official and community-based across all channels.
Away from their moderating responsibilities, they also create lovely artwork; something also picked up in recent months. Despite being a fairly new hobby, they have already has produced a series of beautiful artwork including a manga-style piece of Jesse Faden which has been retweeted by Remedy as well as Control's lead, Courtney Hope. Their style is delicate and expressive, and their latest Control-inspired piece pushes their abilities and skills further with more detail and more atmosphere.
A couple of weeks ago, Holly kindly agreed to talk to us about their experiences and work in the community. You can check out our conversation below:
Tell us a little about yourself?
Hi, I’m tsunderekatsu! I also go by the nickname Holly Nightmare in some communities. I live in the United States and I’m a loving fan of Alan Wake and Quantum Break. My main hobbies are writing (in every genre) and art (mostly in the manga style). Remedy and Alan Wake are a big influence on my creative side.
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| More examples of Holly's artwork. |
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How and when did you join the Remedy community?
I started getting involved in the Remedy community earlier this year, around the time that Control was first announced. I’m relatively new to the scene; my first Remedy game was Quantum Break, which I played in 2016. Shortly thereafter, I played Alan Wake, which I’d owned for years but never gotten around to playing. It quickly became one of my favorite video games of all time. I’ve also played the first two Max Payne games. My favorite Remedy game by far is Alan Wake, at least until Control comes out.
You’re incredibly active in so many Remedy projects including co-owner of the Control community Discord server, Reddit channel, and the Control Wiki. Can you tell us how you got involved in these communities?
I started to be active in the Control community around the time of E3 2018. I ended up discovering the new subreddit and Discord as a result, and invited some fans from the Alan Wake Discord to the new Control one. I began to correspond with the moderators at around the same time, and eventually, they decided to promote me to moderator as well, based on my involvement with the community and game.
As for the wiki, I discovered it by accident while attempting to make my own Control wiki, since I didn’t think there was one at the time. There was only one other person on the wiki, that being its founder, and there wasn’t much info there yet, so I decided to go ahead and start writing new articles with everything we know about the lore of Control so far. Eventually, I asked the wiki’s founder if I could be made an admin so I could exercise more control (no pun intended) over the wiki’s formatting, and they happily obliged.
What’s the best and most challenging aspects of running these sites?
It’s honestly a really enjoyable experience to be as involved with these sites as I am. It makes me feel like I’m right on the cutting edge of the Control world, and I like meeting people who share my love and excitement for Remedy’s games. I like the community that’s grown around the subreddit and Discord server, and I want it to be a place where anyone can feel welcome.
The wiki is also fun to manage, and by far the most difficult part is keeping up with all of the different trailers and interviews dropping hints and clues about Control’s lore. I really appreciate reliable sources of information about the lore of games and other media, so I’m trying my best to make sure that the wiki remains just that. I hope that once the game comes out, people will be able to rely on the wiki for rich and deep information about the game, and contribute their own discoveries as well.
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| Promotional image for Control. |
In addition to work in community hubs, you also create artwork! What made you decide to create artwork for the game?
I knew I would end up drawing Jesse sooner or later. My obsessions tend to reflect in my drawings, and I’ve been hyped for Control since back when it was still called "P7". I absolutely loved the character of Beth Wilder in Quantum Break, so seeing Courtney Hope return to Remedy for Control was really exciting for me, and I was admittedly a bit overjoyed when I saw that she liked my artwork. I don’t share my art too much, but it’s always nice to get that kind of positive reception. It’s encouraging, and makes me want to make more, and improve my skills.
Your artwork has a unique and iconic style, how did you develop it? Were there any artists that inspired you?
I began drawing in the manga art style about a year and a half ago, after years of drawing stick figures on the backs of notebook pages. A lot of my inspiration comes from my love of anime and other Japanese media. I also have a love for cuteness, so I like to make my drawings as kawaii as possible. I’m really happy with how far I’ve come, and I hope to improve my drawings a lot in the coming years, perhaps eventually to a professional level of manga art. I want to someday to be able to combine my love of storytelling with my love of drawing.
What are you most excited about with Control?
Everything! Remedy’s quality storytelling is always a treat to experience, and I can’t wait to explore the deep and dark halls of the Oldest House. I’d say one of the things I’m most excited about is the world – the strange, surreal universe that Jesse will explore. As I learned in Alan Wake, the depth of Remedy’s games goes beyond what you could ever imagine on the surface, and to me, Control feels like a spiritual successor to Alan Wake’s dark universe, diving ever deeper into the mysteries beyond our reality. There was a time when I loved hard science in fiction, but since Alan Wake, my heart has leapt beyond the firmament, into the realm of the weird and wild. I hope that Control will be an experience that feeds my addiction to the supernatural.
