interviewing sudofox!!

hello, im bluepuffin! ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

there's a chance you're a sudomemer and not a puffin... so, welcome here! on wednesday, 3rd September, I interviewed sudofox (you'll know about that person soon!), over text on Discord, so i'll share the interview. he really put a lot of thought into each reply :) brace yourself for a looooong entry!!

but first, today's song recommendation is サヨナラマタイツカ by Pitcher56! chill. also ある喫茶  by mei ehara ഔ

the interview ₍ ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎˚୨୧

BLUEPUFFIN — Hello!

SUDOFOX — Hello Mike! I'm Sudofox and I'm the main person behind Sudomemo.

BLUEPUFFIN — Austin Burk, the person I'm interviewing right know - mostly known as Sudofox by Sudomemo likers - is the founder of Sudomemo, Sudomemo being a revival of Flipnote Hatena. For those forgetful, Flipnote Hatena was a sort of animations social media made for the Nintendo DSi, which was shut down abruptly in 2013. So, first things first, what prompted you to revive Flipnote Hatena specifically?

SUDOFOX — The story of how Sudomemo started goes way back to my high-school days. I was on Flipnote Hatena and had a lot of fun there; I also poked around even back in 2010 with the networking of Flipnote Hatena to see what was happening under the surface. It wasn't until 2013 that I came by a battered DSi at a yard sale, mended it, and thought to see what I'd missed in my absence. To my dismay, I found I had missed everything: Flipnote Hatena had closed down only months before!

Still, I set myself to see if I might coax the DSi into talking with the family computer, as I once had. After some weeks of tinkering, I was met with success! And after a few months of work more, Sudomemo (then, Sudofox's Flipnote Hatena Service, or Sudofox's Ugomemo) was born! It was always just a project to see if I could, but something was different from my previous contrivances in that a lot of people quickly took a fancy to it. That interest is what propelled me forward, and I'm glad it did.

BLUEPUFFIN — I'm glad to know that a project you were doing to see if you could, proved that you could, and now people who have Flipnote Studio are able to, once again, share their creations and interact with others. However, one thing which differentiates Sudomemo from its root, Flipnote Hatena, is its amount of features. Recently, many features have been being added. I particularly enjoy the new export feature, which allows me to export my flipnotes to .mp4, something I find convenient. 

Even though Sudomemo is already rich with features, are there any features you won't promise to implement, but would really love to see being implemented?

SUDOFOX — That's a fair question, and one I often find myself mulling over. There are, I reckon, two sorts of things that sit in the 'someday, perhaps' pile:

The first sort are features that would be lovely in theory, but are tangled up in the way Flipnote Studio itself was built. For example, proper accounts that follow you neatly across multiple DS or 3DS systems: that's something people often ask about, but the way Flipnote Studio stores and identifies data makes it a mighty tall order. I won't say 'never,' but right enough, it's the kind of thing that doesn't yield easily to tinkering.

The second sort are dreams that stretch beyond the usual site features. Sudomemo TV is one such dream: I'd dearly like to grow that into something more lively and regular, a place where Flipnotes aren't only shared, but celebrated in new ways. I want turning it on to feel like watching Cartoon Network on a Saturday over a plate of waffles. The original idea was to have it feel like you're a citizen of Sudo City and just watching your local TV station. I've also got hopes of creating more educational content to help our animators, and even those outside of our community, learn new skills and techniques. A lot of this comes down to our limited funding preventing us from stretching our wings fully.

As for site features: I come up with new ideas all the time, and I've been doing my best to get new ideas from other people to implement as well. I'd also like to take more time to polish our existing features, particularly those that were added years ago. We like to have fun, though, so you never really know what we might come up with!

BLUEPUFFIN — It's good to hear that you have freshly baked ideas come all the time! Whatever you come up with next, I hope it's something I and other people who love Sudomemo would enjoy. Anyways, moving to a probably clitché question, would Sudomemo being compatible with Flipnote Studio 3D be something impossible? Or, differently, have you ever though about starting Sudomemo 3D, for those who use Flipnote Studio 3D? Or do those ideas fall into the "lovely in theory, but complicated due to the way Flipnote Studio and Sudomemo itself was built" box?

SUDOFOX — When it comes to Flipnote Studio 3D, I actually started working on a new service for it all the way back in 2015. This was in the earliest days of 3DS homebrew. I modified an existing ROP-chain exploit in the Nintendo 3DS Browser to change Flipnote Studio 3D's memory so it would point to my own server, and from there I began working to see what I could make of it.

Of course, Flipnote Studio 3D was only being rationed out by Nintendo through 'My Nintendo' at the time, so there wasn't much activity going on with it. Meanwhile Sudomemo was still going strong, and I ended up setting the project aside so I could focus on building that up and keeping pace with all the interest it was getting. Later on, as 3DS homebrew gained traction, what was then known as Project Kaeru started up their own Flipnote Studio 3D service. By then we had built a fairly robust community around Flipnote Studio, and I was glad to let them take up the 3D side of things.

I'm not strictly opposed to creating a 'Sudomemo 3D' — if I could put together something good and worthwhile without it cannibalizing Sudomemo itself, I'd likely give it a try. But judging by the activity levels on Kaeru Gallery, there just doesn't seem to be the same level of interest (it may also be an accessibility issue) in Flipnote 3D to make it sustainable. So I'm content to stay in my lane, and keep building support for the DSi Flipnote Studio.

BLUEPUFFIN — I'm glad to have an answer on this, and, to be honest, it does make sense. 

As of today, your persistency led Sudomemo to live 11 years, if I recall correctly, and that's amazing! Shout out to all the patrons, merch buyers, and anyone who helps Sudomemo stay alive. Therefore, Sudomemo is your legacy, that’s obvious. However, there will unavoidably come a far day where you will not be able to manage it anymore - loss of memory, old age, death, an inevitable car crash… Do you have anything planned for when the day happens where you, for some reason, can’t mantain it anymore?

SUDOFOX — That's something I've thought about now and again. Sudomemo has grown well beyond what it was at the start; it's become a place people love and rely on, and I don't take that lightly.

I do have a rough continuity plan in place, one that I've been refining over the past year or so. The code, the infrastructure, and the know-how of how things run are being documented and shared bit by bit, so that others could carry it on if need be. We've already got a strong community of volunteers, translators, moderators, and contributors who help keep the wheels turning, so I'm confident that Sudomemo, and thus Flipnote, will keep going on.

BLUEPUFFIN — I'm relieved to know there's a continuity plan in place, thank you, again. Now, a question I’ve particularly had for a bit, how does the creator ranking system work? Is it purely based on how active someone is? Or is it too hard to even explain?

SUDOFOX — While I can't go into the deep specifics of Creator Ranking, I can share the broad strokes. It starts by gathering signals from all sorts of recent activity: things like interactions, views, uploads, comments, and the like. Those get rolled together into a kind of 'score,' which is then sorted to see how creators stack up. It's not purely about how active someone is; it's more a balance of different signals that reflect both activity and engagement. The exact mix shifts now and again as we tune it, but that's the heart of it.

BLUEPUFFIN — Thank you for enlightening us! Also, do you have any advice for those joining Sudomemo? May it be on animation, or just mindset, got any advice?

SUDOFOX — I've often maintained that the internet was a better place before it became so centralized in the hands of big corporations who put monetization above people. Back then, smaller communities flourished, and it was easier to make friends and find your footing. Once any space grows too large, it reaches a sort of critical mass where connection becomes harder, and success starts to feel like a struggle.

Sudomemo is one of those places that has managed to stick around despite the odds. These days, many have taken in the idea that success as an artist must mean going viral or making heaps of money from their work. And while we do offer tools to bring your creations into the wider world, I would urge people to reframe their pursuits toward the joy of creating for its own sake.

BLUEPUFFIN — Thank you. As someone who until the day before yesterday cared too much about rank and stars, what you said means a lot to me and surely to many. As the last question before the last question, what would be your favourite chain or trend to ever happen on Sudomemo? Personally, I love them, because it brings people together.

SUDOFOX — I've seen a lot of chains come and go, but one that's stuck around since the Hatena days is the Sudomemo ID chain. Funny enough, it's never been updated, even after all the spin-offs. It still has the old command code section and everything. I'm pretty sure it got its start in Japan, since there are some L's where you'd expect R's (like 'Lank').

Chains are one of those things you don't really see on other sites, but you do on Sudomemo, and I think that's part of what makes it great. One I've been enjoying lately is the CITY chain by CerealBowlby, where you animate a little scene and a vehicle passing through the streets of Sudo City. That's been a really fun one!

BLUEPUFFIN — LOL, that's an interesting answer! I answered your answer without knowing it, LOL. [disclaimer: i indeed sent this message before getting a reply lol]

Well, to end it here, what do you have to say to whoever is reading this? They might or might not use Sudomemo, so just imagine they're a stranger who willfully stood by and read this interview until here. You can say something quotable or just be random, it’s your choice!

SUDOFOX — I want to stress how important it is to support the things that you value.  Not everything worthwhile translates to making money. There are still things out there that exist because someone cares enough to prop it up, nurture it, and take care of it. For me, it's the Flipnote community. For others, it's a beautiful garden or a fledgeling church or an organization that supports something they feel is important. If you truly value something, take ownership of that and contribute to it in some way. You could be the difference between something not only staying alive, but being able to grow and thrive.

BLUEPUFFIN — That was beautiful to read. Wow. Thank you for sharing your answers and for participating in this interview! BluePuffin (Mike) is out. See ya!

and that was it! i hope you enjoyed reading it! each reply took a bit of time, but it was well worth it. this is my sudomemo account: this

as always, you can help people for free here: arab.org/click-to-help. check it out!

ty for reading! love yall!

P.S.: here is a flipnote of the Sudo City Chain ^^