Interview with Deidra Kiai of Deidra Kiai Productions (and Telltale Games for a while)
Jan 21 '08 (Updated Jul 06 '08)
The Bottom Line My second (but not necessarily last) interview with a games designer.
I interviewed Deidra Kiai, who releases freeware games on via Deidra Kiai Productions and has also completed an internship with commercial developer Telltale Games, who produced Sam & Max: Season One game. She has released several games including full-length adventures like “The Game That Takes Place On A Cruise Ship” along with some rather experimental pieces.
What were your favourite games when you were younger?
My earliest gaming memories are of edutainment fare, mostly by Broderbund (The Treehouse and Carmen Sandiego were particular favourites of mine). Later, I went on to shareware PC titles like Commander Keen and Wacky Wheels and the like. I was also mesmerized by the Super Mario Bros. games on both the NES and SNES, which I played at my friends' houses, because my parents wouldn't let me have a console of my own. It wasn't until I was about twelve that I really got into LucasArts adventure games; however, once I did, they quickly became the primary influence on my own work.
What is your favourite genre? (if you don't say "Adventure", I'll be amazed!)
Actually, my favourite genre is the interactive narrative, which I'm not sure even properly exists as a proper genre yet. Adventure games are indeed the closest to what I have in mind, and yet, they're so limited in comparison with what can be done for a game that's essentially a story that you can control.
When did you finish your first game? What was it? Did you ever release it as freeware? (I seem to recall you saying Cubert Badbone, P.I. wasn't actually your first game, though I may be wrong...)
My first finished game is actually Cubert Badbone, P.I., and obviously, it has been released as freeware. :) But as for unfinished games, there was this one where you played a guy with dreadlocks abducted by clowns, and it had MIDI files of disco songs playing in the background. If it hadn't been wiped from existence due to hard drive formatting, I'd probably make it available, for hilarity's sake.
I seem to remember reading on your blog that your latest full-length adventure game, "Chivalry Is Not Dead" (just downloaded it btw!), might be your last freeware game - though my memory refuses to let me believe that can be true. In awful anticipation of the answer, I have to ask - is it?
Did I really say that? The truth is, even though I aspire to design games for a living, I don't think I'll ever completely stop releasing freeware games. There are, after all, many ideas I get that deserve to exist but aren't commercially viable, so I think that the only way they'll ever get a chance is if they're made into small, freely-available "gamelets" for people to take a look at. If people like them, that's great, but if they don't, there's way less risk involved. That said, I do doubt I'll be making very many full-length freeware games in the future. There's too much of a time investment involved, and I don't realistically believe that I'll be able to spend more than a few months on a freeware project, particularly when paying the bills wind up a higher priority.
How was life at Telltale Games? How much do you think your experience writing freeware games counted towards you landing the job?
Telltale was a blast, not so much because I got to work on their games (which I was already a fan of), but because I got to spend a lot of time being mentored by people who shared my interests and aspirations. At the time, we were in a miniscule 25-person office (they've grown a bit and moved since then; I now only know a little more than half of the people on their current staff list!), but I found that I liked that tightly-knit environment a lot, where you really got to know everyone. And yes, I'm told that one of the reasons they brought me on as an intern was because I wrote freeware games.
What's the single most important piece of advice you can give an aspiring game developer?
Make your own games. Not because it'll get you into the industry, but because you love doing it. Also, learn to work with limitations. I know a lot of people who have these grandiose project ideas in their heads, but never get any of them down in any concrete form, simply because they lack the time and resources. Particularly in the industry, where you're either an indie company that lacks the funding given to the big boys, or a huge one where your creativity is severely hampered by marketing demands and trends, that great next-gen game concept you have in your head probably won't ever exist as you imagined it. So, if you really want to say something in game form, you really have to do it in a way that's concise and feasible to implement.
What are your proudest achievements in terms of game design / programming?
In terms of gameplay innovations, I'd say Chivalry is Not Dead, but in terms of general responses I've heard from players, I'm proudest of Pigeons in the Park. It consists of one simple interactive conversation and took me under a month to finish, but I made it very personal and that resonated surprisingly well with others. Adding those kinds of personal touches is one of the things that really make indie games unique, so I'd like to do a lot more of that in the future.
You chose SLUDGE for your first few games and have been trying your hand at a package called "Lassie", I see. Did you use a bespoke programming kit at Telltale (or is it a trade secret?!?)
Yes, Telltale had what was very creatively referred to as the Telltale Tool, and that's probably all I can say about that right now. I have, as of late, also been using an engine called Wintermute for my most recent work, and that's worked rather well for me. I also tried to use the Ogre 3D graphics engine at one point, but that sort of fizzled away. Maybe I'll get back into 3D someday, but I'm not sure I have the time right now.
What did you actually do over at Telltale? How different was it from just making your own games from scratch because you want to?
Mostly, I did programming, scripting, and generally hooking things up, which actually wasn't all that different from what I do when I make games from scratch, except the art and design were already done for me, and in a way that was better than what I could do on my own. This, I found, was a good learning experience, particularly design-wise, because that's what I aspire to do more of in the future.
What do you find the best / most enjoyable aspect of game creation?
Well, as I said, I aspire to be a designer, and that's because it's what I love doing most. My programming background has been a great help in becoming a better game designer, mainly because having at least some understanding as to how software is developed is essential to knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the medium and what you can convey therein.
Now a little advertising space for you - what would you like to tell us about your games and website?
Well, my website http://www.deirdrakiai.com/ has all of my finished games up on it, and also has a blog, in which I rant about my various opinions pertaining to game development and the like. There's no real sense in talking about it when you can just click on the link and pay a visit, so... yeah. Just visit the site.
What's your next game in production? Or is it top secret?...
I won't say anything specific just yet, but I'm working on a couple of things in collaboration with a good friend of mine at the moment. This is very new for me and a little difficult to get used to, as I've only either finished games by myself or on a bigger team, but there are also many benefits in having someone there who you can bounce ideas off of.
Finally, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. I hope you get a bit more interest from the exposure this might give you, and I'll certainly be looking out for your (and Telltale's!) next releases.
And thank you for the thought-provoking questions! I really enjoyed answering them.
Deirdra’s games didn’t quite make it into my Top Ten Freeware Adventure Games list, though they are very, very good and if you like adventure games, you really should have a look at them.
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