- Hello Steve!
How are you doing?
I’m doing well, thank you.

- Now it’s only three months left until the release of the German version of  “So Blonde”. Is the development going as planned?
It’s going very well.  Considering that I only became involved last September, the Wizarbox team have done a wonderful job putting the game together in such a relatively short amount of time.

- What is your position in the development?
I’m the writer and designer.  However, I work very closely with the development team, particularly Jérôme Britneff-Bondy who’s contributed significantly to the story and design and made my life so much easier.

- When will we see an (English) release date?
I’m unsure when that date is.  I’m pretty sure that DTP will have all that in hand and will release the information when they feel it’s appropriate.

- What were some of the differences between working with Wizarbox and  working with Revolution?
The main difference is working remotely.  Apart from an initial meeting with the Wizarbox team (all wonderful guys, I should add), all other contact was through e-mail instant messaging and phone calls.  But because we saw the same creative vision for the game it was easy to work like this.  Clear communication was the real key element.
Another big difference was the amount of creative freedom Wizarbox have allowed me.  Although it was a very strong collaboration, they’ve also given me the chance to develop the story ideas and subplots in my own way, giving me feedback, support and suggestions that have helped refine the whole package brilliantly.
Of course, it was always a pleasure to work with the Revolution team and I would definitely jump at the chance to do so again, but I love being able to flex my creative muscles in new and fun ways.

- Broken Sword 4 was the first Revolution game you weren’t involved with  since Lure of the Temptress. Did it feel different to play it from the other games you’ve developed with Revolution? And what did you think of the game?
Actually, I didn’t work on Temptress – my first Revolution game was Beneath a Steel Sky.
Broken Sword has been a big part of my development career, so it certainly felt strange not being involved.  However, I was approached by Revolution and at the time I was asked I was deep into another project and was unavailable.  (This actually turned out to be an unfortunate situation – the project I was working on eventually ground to a halt because the company went bankrupt after their publisher went bankrupt.  So I have a game’s worth of dialogue that no one is ever going to use.) 
I’ve still not played BS4 as my computer is unable to run the game.  I have no idea when I’ll get an upgrade.  I must admit to being a little surprised that the minimum specification was so high for an adventure game, but I’m sure that they felt it was necessary to get the best out of the graphics.
Part of me doesn’t want to play it in case it’s better than the games I was involved in. 

- I’ve read your article about Interaction Density written about two and a half years ago, a very interesting thought which I absolutely agree with. Have you seen any changes in the gaming industry since you wrote the article?
Not that I’m aware of.  There are games that embrace these ideas (and So Blonde is one of them) but I think it’s probably more that the developers think that way naturally than as a direct result of my article.  Where I think that you get some of the highest interaction density is in casual games and amateur games areas, which tend to embrace this approach more naturally.
It seems to me that the more a game approaches reality with its visual style, the lower the interaction density appears to be.

- I know that some games developed by Kheops Studio (Return to Mysterious Island, Voyage, etc.) used multiple solutions for one puzzle. E.g. you could either open a door by find the key, or instead you created a key, for example. Do you think this is a way to reach a high interaction density?
No, that’s just a way of potentially making a game simpler.  In fact, I would say that you reduce the amount of interaction density because players will only ever see one of the solutions.  If during development you only have time to implement 100 puzzle solutions, say, then you will only actually have 50 puzzles in your game if there are two solutions to each puzzle.  Whereas, if there was only one solution to each puzzle you’d be able to implement 100 puzzles.  Therefore, interaction density is higher with single solution puzzles.
People may argue that multiple solutions may offer replay value, but that’s not the same thing as interaction density.  Besides, would you really want to play a game just looking for alternate solutions to the puzzles you’ve already solved?
In Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso there’s one place where you could find out a password from two sources, but this was just born out of a desire to be logical rather than actually looking to create two solutions.

- What do you think of the adventure games market today? Is it on its way upwards?
I think there is a lot of potential.  DTP, Telltale Games and many others are specialising in adventures and getting behind some very strong titles.  Adventures seemed to go through a dark and serious phase, but we’re now getting more fun and humorous titles appearing, which is always good news in my view.
Personally, I’d like to see more games containing a large, dynamic cast of characters with rich sub-plots and genuine drama that players can connect to.  We need the gaming equivalent of “Lost in Translation”, “being John Malkovich”, etc. and only adventure style gameplay can deliver this.

- Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso was appreciated by many gamers and also got good reviews. Is a sequel possible? And how are the other games coming along at Juniper Games?
I was more than pleased with the feedback and reviews I got for the game.  From the responses I was getting, it was clear that people were getting the kind of experience from the game that I’d hoped they would.
If nothing else, taking a whole game on by myself (though with music by Josh Winiberg, of course) from concept to completion was a real education.  I’d love to do a sequel of some kind (and even have an inkling of a story), but I have no idea when that might be.
Other game ideas are in different stages, but I’d kind of like to explore further working relationships in the same vein as So Blonde.  I have more ideas than I can shake a stick at, so this may be my best option of getting these ideas made.  So if anyone wants to go into partnership, just drop me a line.

- Are there any other games that you are involved with that you can tell us about?
I’m in contact with a number of people about different projects and am currently working on something that would be regarded as an adventure, but I’m not in a position to talk about them.  Sorry.  I will say, though, that I’m having lots of fun and that usually means that players will have some fun somewhere down the line.

- Thanks so much for taking time with the interview, hope to hear from you soon, and good luck with the games you are involved with!

Thank you.  That’s very kind of you to say.