Interview with moonbean

Here at Ultimate Howrse we work hard to bring you all the best hints and tips as well as the latest news on your favourite game. So we're delighted that one of the games' most delightful players and creator of three of the most loved Golden Apple coats on Howrse, took time out to speak to us. moonbean has been playing on Howrse for over three and a half years and in that time she has produced a trio of memorable GA coats. We wanted to find out about the two adorable 'Humphrey' coats and the wonderful 'Tim-Tom' coat, so who better to ask than the person who made them?

Ultimate Howrse (UH): Where did the idea for these fabulous coats come from?

moonbean (MB): Not sure about the word 'fabulous' (lol) but Humphrey came about when I decided to try and make a Black Pearl (BP) coat and, being totally useless at drawing, I kept it simple and blobby looking. The idea for Tim-Tom just popped into my head and I used the basic Humphrey design with some tweaking here and there.

UH: All your coats are now retired. How many Humphrey, Winged Humphrey and Tim-Tom coats are there in the game.

MB: There are 31 Humphrey's, 3 Here's Humphrey's (the winged version) and 200 Tim-Tom's out there.

UH: Does that make the Winged Humphrey the rarest coat in the game?

MB: No, there are other coats with just 1 or 2 uses

UH: How do you create the coats? Are they hand drawn or produced on a computer?

MB: I use Paint Shop Pro but if you Google 'Gimp' you can download a similar program for free.

UH: Which is your favourite?

MB: Humphrey

UH: And have you had many coats rejected for use? How many have you submitted?

MB: When the last BP came out I submitted 8 coats and 7 were rejected with only Tim-Tom making it through. The rejected coats included Humphrey's girlfriend Gertrude; I've posted the rejected coats in my forum.

UH: The big question - are you planning more GA coats?

MB: I've lots of other ideas for coats but they are just ideas at the moment as its the drawing that I have trouble with lol

UH: Do you get 'paid' for each use of a GA coat?

MB: You are given 1 pass every time 5 players use your coat with a limit of 40 passes per coat.

UH: Any advice for players who want to try and create/submit their own coats?

MB: Yes, go for it! Its fun to do and you will learn new skills along the way; if I can create a coat anyone can.

UH: Your page is truly hilarious and wonderful - were the 'photo boards' something you created yourself or do you just know some clever people?

MB: Thanks. I created them myself using Paint Shop Pro; I'm been planning to do a Humphrey & Gertrude board but don't seem to have the time.

UH: Finally, are you surprised at how popular your coats have been?

MB: Yes!

UH: Thank you moonbean

And there you have it. A great insight into he world of Humphrey, Tim-Tom and the creation of GA coats. So a huge thank you to moonbean for talking to us. We really recommend you visit moonbean's page on Howrse so you can see the wonderful photo boards. And we hope you'll feel inspired to create your own GA masterpiece the next time the Black Pearl is open.

Have fun!

Patsy