Yeti Knight Adventures: A Look into the Strange Mind of Ben Ross

Ben Ross has one silly, strange sense of humor. He likes to get his kicks by sending an 8-bit yeti on a series of point-and-click adventures, from tangling with the lord of trendy mechanical gadgets to facing off with a fairly renowned plumber of Italian ancestry.

Ross is the creator of Yeti Knight Adventures. It’s a series of short Flash games starring an armless yeti who finds himself wrestling with big moral decisions, like whether he should listen to the sparkly disembodied head of President Lincoln and destroy a village that’s really a dandelion. OK, so maybe these choices aren’t "big moral decisions," but each choice leads you to a zany ending. Yeti Knight Adventures stands out because it’s not just a point-and-click adventure, but it’s also a blog of sorts. 

We asked Ross what drove him to develop a series of Flash adventures, and if he really does hate Steve Jobs and the iPhone.

Bitmob: Yeti Knight Adventures seems to have a subversive sense of humor. What are you saying with the game?

Ben Ross: I’m not sure. The main point of the game was just to make people laugh. I like doing that.

Bitmob: Why did you choose to design a game around a yeti?

BR: Yetis are really, really cool. And an 8-bit yeti with no arms is really easy to draw.

Bitmob: Why doesn’t the yeti rip things apart with his arms instead of kicking things?

BR: He doesn’t have any arms. Kicking seems to be his best bet.

Bitmob: Is it just me, or does the yeti look like Homestar Runner?

BR: Hmmm…now that you say that…yeah, it’s just you.

Bitmob: What bad Facebook experience led you to the Abe Lincoln joke?

BR: Aren’t all Facebook experiences bad?

Bitmob: How long does it take to produce an episode of Yeti Knight Adventures?

BR: Once I figured out the action scripting — I’m horrible when it comes to all that coding stuff. Even the simple stuff — it takes only a couple of hours.

Bitmob: Readers may be interested in making games but may not know where to start. How did you get started making games?

BR: I have always loved point-and-click adventures, from those old Sierra titles to the classic LucasArts games. So I wanted to make my own.

Bitmob: Why are Steve Jobs and the iPhone the target of your kicking yeti?

BR: I’m a huge Apple nerd. My first computer was an Apple IIGS. I also really want an iPhone. I’m a bit jealous of people who have one.

Bitmob: Is that R5-D4, the droid that Luke buys that blows up in Star Wars: A New Hope, in Episode 3: The Almighty Sarlacc? And did the yeti kick a can of Pepsi into the Sarlacc to make it sick?

BR: Yes! That is him! And the can of Pepsi was an homage to Maniac Mansion. If you fed a can of Pepsi to the plant on the top floor of the mansion, it would burp.

Bitmob: What do chocolate milk and Brian Wilson of  The Beach Boys have in common?

BR: They are both awesome.

Bitmob: Is getting banned from Tumblr really a fate worse than death?

BR: Yes, it is. I love Tumblr. I used to work in the same office space as the Tumblr dudes. They are amazing people.

Bitmob: How did you develop this skewering sense of humor of yours? Does it appear in your other works?

BR: I think my sense of humor is a bit strange. I’m a huge fan of Andy Kaufman. I like pissing people off just as much as making them laugh. For an example, in a few episodes of Yeti Knight, the player can end up watching an animation sequence that just loops forever. I get a kick out of thinking that someone’s clicking all over the screen trying to stop the animation. Suckers. That same humor is all over my work.

Bitmob: What’s next for the yeti?

BR: I’m working on one now. Yeti Knight visits Soulja Boy to fix a leaky air conditioner.

Bitmob: Just how cynical are you?

BR: Me? Cynical? No way. OK, maybe just a little.