Interview: Mike Huguenor (Jeff Rosenstock) talks 'Surfing the Web With the Alien' video game

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When he's not playing guitar in Jeff Rosenstock's band, Mike Huguenor is busy with various other projects. A year after unveiling his sophomore studio album Surfing the Web With the Alien, the San Jose native is doing something very few musicians dare to do: release their own video game. Dropping on August 20, Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game is a retro side-scrolling title set for release on Steam. We had the chance to speak to Huguenor about the development of this title and if any more games are in the works.

MP3s and NPCs: What inspired you to create a video game for Surfing the Web With the Alien?

Mike Huguenor: Initially, the idea was to make something unique for my previous album, which was also called Surfing the Web With the Alien. The first idea was to make a floppy disc with midi files, but when I described it to my friend who ran the label I realized he didn’t even know what floppy discs were. So we switched to GameBoy instead. I was thinking maybe it would be a visual jukebox on a GameBoy cartridge. But once I started really working on it, it quickly became a narrative and a statement on its own.

I’ve always felt that stories about musicians—particularly stories about musicians on tour—miss some of the important details. I wanted to make a game about the reality of touring: equipment malfunctions, difficult dinners, short time frames, sudden bouts of jaywalking, long hallways and internal struggles. And then, at the end of it all, you have to perform to the best of your ability for the show.

MP3s and NPCs: You dove into this without any prior experience in game development. Did you get any advice from other video game developers about crafting a new title?

Huguenor: I have one friend who teaches game development, Christopher Butcher, who I was able to text or email at times when I bumped my head against a wall that I couldn’t figure out. I tried not to bug him unless I was really stuck. Other times, I’d throw a question out to the GB Studio Discord channel. But there was a lot of self-teaching through YouTube, forums, and trial and error involved.

MP3s and NPCs: Aside from PC, the game will also make its way to the Game Boy (pre-orders can be made here). What's it like knowing something you created will be available to play on such an iconic handheld game console?

Huguenor: This was the real idea originally: to make cartridges that would be playable on a physical handheld. Honestly, the online play was sort of incidental. What I really wanted was to make something cool and unique that would be exciting for people to hold and experience.

For me, testing the game out on a physical GameBoy feels like the real culmination of all the work. Sure, it runs (maybe even runs better) on a computer, but seeing the sprites that I drew pixel by pixel moving around on a real GameBoy is the magic I was looking for in this project. I think people playing it on a physical handheld will get the real experience of the game’s DIY punk spirit.

MP3s and NPCs: With a busy touring schedule, do you have any time to play video games?

Huguenor: Almost everyone in the Rosenstock band has a Switch so there’s something to do on the night drives. At home, I’ve got a PS5. Recently, I’ve loved Death Stranding 2 and Blue Prince. Both of them are really bold, original games that leave you feeling like you’ve been somewhere new. That’s always what I’m looking for. Whether it’s an album, movie, book, or game, I’m always hoping to experience something new. By setting my own game entirely in a single day in a touring musician’s life, I hope people who play it also get to experience something new to them. Plus, there’s a little surprise at the end for people who play it all the way through.

MP3s and NPCs: A couple of Jeff Rosenstock songs from Hellmode landed in Fortnite and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4. Have you run into fans who got into the music because of video game placement?

Huguenor: I haven’t personally heard it yet, but I know so many people who discovered so much music through the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater games, I’m sure they’re out there. It makes me really happy to think about someone hearing one of those songs while playing a skating game at home!

MP3s and NPCs: If you could create music for any video game, what game would it be?

Huguenor: I would love to work with Akira Yamaoka on a song for a Silent Hill game. Despite being known for its atmospherics, there’s a lot of really huge tunes in the SH soundtracks. Yamaoka has a great ear and some really cool reference points in his music. That Sabrina Carpenter song “Taste” sounds like it could have been played in the mall sequences in Silent Hill 3.

MP3s and NPCs: Outside of learning about game development, what did you discover about yourself while creating the game?

Huguenor: Making something like this from scratch with very little training outside of YouTube videos confirms a feeling I’ve had for a long time, which is that everyone should make the thing they are dreaming of making. You can teach yourself to make a game, just like you can teach yourself to record music, or write a book, or anything else. Just start somewhere and forgive yourself for making mistakes along the way. The process is the art.

MP3s and NPCs: Would you ever want to work on another indie game?

Huguenor: I already have an idea for another! Something totally unrelated to music. Now that I’ve made a game that had to fit on a single MB, it would be fun to make something that could expand all the way out to, say, 2MBs.