Hola Senor! An Interview with Dave Gilbert
Last week I posted a review of The Blackwell Trilogy from Wadjet Eye Games. Dave Gilbert, their creator, found the site and dropped by to say hi. I took the opportunity to ask him some questions and being the good sport that he is, he answered them. I wanted to get an idea of where Wadjet Eye is heading in the future and a little about Dave’s writing process.
I played through The Shivah and The Blackwell Trilogy and had a great time with them. I also played through Emerald City Confidential and, while I didn’t personally enjoy it as much, I think that it would be really appealing to play through with younger members of the family. Partly this is down to the larger, more colourful sprites but it’s also due to the tone and themes you’re covering. From what I’ve seen of Puzzlebots, it seems similarly accessible to a younger audience.
So, my first questions are, has this shift in themes and target audience of your games been a concious decision? What informed the change and do you see Wadjet Eye Games sticking with it in the near future?
Dave It wasn’t entirely my choice, but rather my publisher’s. Emerald City Confidential was published by PlayFirst, a casual games company with a laser-sight focus on “family friendly.” So despite it being my idea, I wasn’t able to go quite as far with it as I would have liked. Still, the budget they gave me enabled me to make the game much bigger and prettier than anything I could do on my own, so I felt the sacrifice was worth it. I did manage to sneak some questionable things through the censors (like Betsy Bobbins is supposed to be a prostitute) but I made them verrrry subtle so they were hard to pick up on. The game’s simplicity is also a result of marketing the game to the casual audience, but I am still very fond of the story and the characters.
As for Puzzle Bots, that is not being made by me but rather by Erin Robinson, a developer that I hired. One direction I want to take the company is to publish other folks’ games under the Wadjet Eye banner, as to have a variety of games available on the site. Erin did the artwork for Blackwell Unbound, and since she is a very talented game designer in her own right I thought she’d be a good first choice. So the art direction for Puzzle Bots is entirely her idea. Her style is very much “cute but with substance.”
I’ve seen it written in previous interviews that you work with a number of freelancers but that at its core Wadjet Eye is basically just you on your own. Is this still the case? What is it that appeals to you about being able to work with different people on each game?
Dave I’m a small shop, so I’m unable to afford to pay anyone to do art fulltime. When I work with freelancers I can pay them by-the-job and don’t have to worry about paying them between projects. As for working with different people on each game, it’s the nature of working with freelancers. They are not always available when you need them. They might have another gig that is taking up the majority of their time, or they got a fulltime job, or what-have-you. So when that happens I am forced to look for another freelancer. Originally I wanted Convergence to have the same art style as Legacy (mostly so I could re-use the original art assets!), but the artists weren’t available. This is the primary reason why the game has such a different style than the previous ones.
Emerald City Confidential had some really beautiful artwork in it. Puzzlebots seems to share an equally attractive art style. How does placing more emphasis on visual style affect the process of making games?
Dave Well, like I said ECC was published by PlayFirst and they gave me an actual budget to work with, so I was able to make the game muuuch prettier than I would normally be able to. With Puzzle Bots, Erin is an artist herself so she is able to do a significant amount of the work herself which saves a lot of money! I can barely draw stick figures, so when I make a game I am forced to look for freelancers to help with the artwork and that eats up a lot of money, so I prefer working with low-res graphics. So I wouldn’t say it effects the process at all. As with most things, it’s mostly a matter of budget.
I originally heard of Wadjet Eye when you released The Shivah but it wasn’t until you offered it for free during Yom Kippur that I bit the bullet and tried it out. This lead me to trying and then buying your other games. How has releasing The Shivah for free affected interest in the entire Wadjet Eye Games catalogue?>
Dave Woo hoo. My ploy worked. Yes, that was the idea behind the free offer. And yes, it definitely has sparked an interest in the other games in the catalogue. I’ve never done any marketing whatsoever for my games, despite doing this for three years. With the economy the way it is I figured it was time to start stepping things up in terms of marketing, so I’m trying whatever I can to drum up some publicity.
Narrative and story are clear core foundations in all your games. Were you writing stories before games or did you start making games and realise that you could also spin an appealing yarn?
Dave I always loved writing. I always thought I’d end up writing a novel or something, but the prospect of submitting it to a publisher just seemed overwhelming. It can take years to get a book published, let alone get feedback on it from customers. With games, I can get them out right away and get feedback instantly. And for some reason, I enjoy the interactive aspect of games much more than prose novels. I’m aware that the puzzles in my games can sometimes take a backseat to the story, but I prefer it that way.
I was reading an interview with Charles Cecil from Revolution and in it he talks about games being weak in their portrayal of empathetic characters. I would argue that your games do a good job of bucking this trend. Partly this is down to the skill of the voice actors you employ and partly this is down to the writing. When you sit down to plot out a game, how much thought do you put into your characters and how do you make sure you’re creating fleshed-out protagonists with whom the player can identify?
Dave Yes, I usually come up with a character first and the situation/story second. I’m very much inspired by Lawrence Block, a mystery writer who basically treats his murder mysteries like a character study. A guy is murdered and the detective goes around trying to learn everything about the victim. Most of it turns out to be irrelevant, but the process of discovering the information is fascinating. That’s the idea behind Blackwell, for the most part. The voice actors help out a lot, as well. Good actors can get a “feel” for their character and will often come up with more consistent/realistic lines of dialog than the author can! Abe Goldfarb (Joey/Stone) is a whiz at that. One of the main reasons why Joey is such a good character is due to Abe’s portrayal of him.
Do you see yourself returning to the characters and settings of any of your previous games? Will we see another Blackwell, Shivah or Oz?
Dave I definitely will return to Blackwell! That story isn’t over yet by any means. I’d love to do another Rabbi Stone game, but I didn’t design the original with sequels in mind and I have yet to come up with anything truly compelling. Maybe one day! As for Oz, that’s up to PlayFirst. If they greenlight another ECC game I’ll be on it like a shot.
What appeals to you about revisiting old settings and what compels you to work with new ones?
Dave Mostly, this city (New York) inspires me. There’s just so much here, and there are so many unique and interesting people who lived here (like Joseph Mitchell and Joe Gould). I guess I just want to show it off.
Where do you see Wadjet Eye Games going over the next few years?
Dave Hah. I don’t know if I’ll have matching socks tomorrow. But seriously, I hope to be able to publish other developers and bring a steady stream of traffic to the site. I also want to give another genre besides point-and-click adventure games a try. I’ve got a plan for a cRPG game (like Planescape or Fallout) that I’ve been itching to make. But basically, I just want to keep doing what I’m doing now! I love being able to make my living doing this, and I don’t want to stop.
Many thanks for your time!
Wadjet Eye Games has just released the Blackwell Bundle – all three Blackwell games at a discounted price. Well worth getting! For a review of the trilogy, see my previous post.
