Kumba: Judging by the union jack next to your name we know you hail from the United Kingdom. Also thanks to you being one of my facebook friends I know your 23 years old. What is your life like in the UK and do you go to university or work?

Turtle: Life is pretty good here! I am indeed 23 (24 tomorrow!), and live on the south coast outside a town called Bournemouth. I went to Loughborough University until 2008, and got a degree in Sports Science, which I haven't used at all... I train full time for trampolining, training 3 times a day most days. I also coach gymnastics and trampolining for some income, although not a lot. I spend my free time surfing when there's some swell and generally chilling out!

Away from RCT it seems to be a well known fact that you’re into trampolining and gymnastics. How did you come about these hobbies that one might never associate with a game about theme parks and what are some of your athletic accomplishments?

I started both trampoline and gymnastics at the age of three, and just got better at them over the years.. When I got to 14 years old, I was a south west level gymnast, but an international trampolinist, and I decided to stick all my eggs in the one basket and increase my training for trampolining. I've been very lucky over the years and have traveled to some amazing places with my sport, picking up a few trophies along the way! My best achievement is probably 6th at the junior world championships, and 1st in the junior world synchronized championships.

Kumba: When was it you first came across RCT and did you play RCT1 anywhere near as much as you played RCT2? Also why did you first take your talents to online sites like RCT Station, where you were a popular parkmaker back in RCT2’s early days and were you active anywhere else online before RCT Station?

Turtle: I honestly can't remember when I first got RCT, although it was definitely before CF and LL came out, because I remember being excited to buy them.. I played LL a lot, and even released a few parks online, although there was nothing artistic in them at all. My friend Chris (Fox) was active at RCTUK and RCTInc., and encouraged me to join the community, and I've stayed ever since!

Kumba: Sadly RCT Station shutdown at its peak and when it did New Element (NE) became the clear #1 site for RCT parkmaking. Was it at that point you decided to re-locate to NE, or had you already been an active member and why do you use the name “Turtle” as your username?

Turtle: I actually came to NE pretty late on, being far more active at RCTInc., and pretty much missing the mass exodus from Danimation, having never really been there.. NE was pretty much set up when I arrived, with big names like Nevis and Fatha already producing work. I'm really not sure where "Turtle" came from.. Probably felt I needed an animal seeing as my friend was "Fox".... Turtle just got lucky I guess!

Kumba: Your first release at NE was pretty impressive when a somewhat undersized Tula City won Runner-Up. About a year later your next solo project, Bijou Magique, won an NE Spotlight. At the time I recall their being some debates between site admins iris and Corkscrewed over whether it should be a Spotlight and that argument lead to the park sitting around for a while. While you must be happy with the end result what do you remember feeling at the time when your park was in limbo and do you think it was a worthy Spotlight?

Turtle: Yeah I never expected Tula City to win anything to be honest, but I guess it just hit a chord with Iris, and he chose to give it a runner up spot. I think it might be one of the smallest runners up ever? It's basically just a large design anyway.

From what I remember at that time (Bijou Magique's release), there was a bit of a rift between a club I had become involved with (RCT Fusion) and NE, and Iris had said that no member of this club would ever win a spotlight. I think this led to the park sitting around for a bit while Iris and Corkscrewed argued it out.. The site hierarchy was totally different back then, and there was no transparency, so I was kept pretty much totally in the dark during this whole months-long saga. When it was finally released I felt a massive sense of relief and achievement; I had suspected that it was good enough to win, and getting your first spotlight is a pretty big deal.

Kumba: The list of parkmakers to win two spotlights in the time-span of one year with solo parks is very small, but you’re on it thanks to Isole Calabria. What sparked you to build another solo so quickly and where did you get the inspiration to create what many RCT historians consider to be some of the best themed areas ever made?

Turtle: I think with the three month gap between submission and release for Bijou Magique, I was ready to dive into another park straight away. With BM being so large, a lot of the areas were old, and by the time of release I knew I could do a lot better. Isole Calabria started as an exercise in recreating traditional themes, but executing them slightly differently.. I think as the park went on I totally lost that focus, and just basically built what I wanted, a technique that has served me well ever since!

I'm very proud of the Chinese area, which was massively inspired by Spirited Away, a Miyazaki film which I loved at the time. It was the first real anime film I had seen, and it just struck such a chord with me.. the unbelievable scenes, but still rooted in a realistic setting. I think that sense of scale is something I strive for in most of my work now.

Kumba: You have taken part in the last three H2H contests. In H2H3 you were picked at 16th and in H2H4 and 5 you were a top 5 pick. Still even with such a high average pick, you have seemed to fall somewhat short of expectations and only had one release in each season. Do you think you could be a great H2H player and what do you think the reason is that you have been somewhat quite in three seasons?

Turtle: I know! In H2H4 and 5 I felt like saying "guys! don't you realize? I'm no good at H2H!". But the captains wanted me, so hey. I honestly think I could have been a great H2H player, I've shown that I have no trouble meeting tight deadlines, and I have built some of my best work in a tiny amount of time (Les Trois Mousquetaires = 5 days, Toy Story = 3 days).

In the first season, I was just unbelievably busy with real life, and was placed with a partner (muuuh) that just proved un-contactable. With a bit more experience, I would have taken charge of the planning more, but it just didn't happen for me.

H2H4, I was busy again... Although RCTFAN and myself managed to put out a bloody good park in Kukuana. There was a chance I was going to build a finals park with Corky as well (which was looking fantastic by the way, I'd love to finish it...) but time constraints got in the way.

H2H5, I really enjoyed. chapelz was a great captain, and I really enjoyed working with him and Dimi for our week 4 park (Red River Delta). I think I put some of my best work into that park, and it squeezed out a 14-12 win over a great LL park (Assault on Earth Base Gamma Gamma (2287)). I was obviously meant to build a park for the semi finals as well, although we never made it there unfortunately. However I finished it, and made Myst, probably my favorite park.

Kumba: Since IC you have seemed to drift in and out of the community. We all seem to think Turtle has finally retired and then bomb, Silver Star… quite again and then Starflight… “No more Turtle? Oh wait check out Myst!” Is this just your nature or has RCT always been a game you like to come back to?

Turtle: I think as I've got older, I've developed other interests, and have less spare time... However I've never 'retired', purely because I always know that I'll come back to RCT someday. Maybe a week, a month, three months, but I'll open up the game again when inspiration hits me. Plus I've grown to quite like lurking in the shadows... :D

Kumba: With awesome recent releases like Los Trois Mousquetaires and Myst it seems your fully active again. You also posted some screens in an Advertising District topic called “A little something” with a couple of words over the screens “New park!” What more can you tell us about this and what the future may hold for Turtle and RCT? (screen please?)

Turtle: I don't think I'll ever be fully active again, I just don't have the time any more. However, I am building on a new park, slowly. I want this to be my third spotlight, and it's something I've always wanted to build but never had the skill level to pull it off. Having been to Disneyland Paris four times now, I think I have a pretty good idea of the atmosphere of a Disney park (or that one, at least..). That's what I'm really trying to get with this park, the atmosphere and immersion of a Disney park, while also creating versions of some of my favorite rides (Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad).

I can tell you that there will be six large themed areas, each with at least one defining ride, as well as the main street and castle. Two of the areas don't feature at Disneyland Paris, but I'm putting them in because I want to and I like the films. At the moment, I've started on four of the areas, but none of them are past the 50% mark I'm afraid. And I'm already on year 132! This one could take most of 2011.

Kumba: The atmosphere and settings in some of your themes is just mind boggling. How much have other parkmakers influenced your style and these days who are the guys that build the parks you enjoy the most?

Turtle: I think anyone who says they haven't been influenced by other people is lying, or they just don't appreciate how much RCT they've seen. We're so lucky to be in a vibrant community with such a high collective skill level that people are innovating and building beautiful things every week. It's hard not to be inspired by those parks..

Traditionally, I think Scheussler and Natelox were big influences as I started building artistically in LL and RCT2. I know everyone says this, but Rivers of Babylon by SACF is such a good park that it has to be an influence, and I've sometimes tried to emulate the styles of Posix, and later on, Steve.

There are people whose work I don't directly try to emulate, but I appreciate massively. Chief among those has to be Xcoaster, he just executes concepts on another level to anything that's been put out since. In a similar vein, geewhzz and disneylhand. It's a real shame those three haven't made more stuff, i'd love to see more.

More recently, I've been very impressed with the way nin and robbie92 are making parks. They both have such an easy way with artistic flair, it looks as if it just comes naturally; pure inspiration. It's a special thing, and only a select few have it. chapelz had it, also.

I could wax lyrical for hours about the parks I admire, and parkmakers who have inspired me, but the list would be so long it would lose its meaning. I just love seeing innovation and artistic work!