Interview with Kisses developer Ryan Juckett

Kiss-and-Tell Eskimo Style
By Russell D. Carroll [February 17, 2005]

Q: For everyone reading out there, who are you and what was your involvement with Kisses?
A: I’m Ryan Juckett and I worked on programming, design, art, and sound. The core team consisted of me and three other programmers. We also had some part time help from three artists and a musician.

Q: What do you think makes Independent games distinctive?
A: Besides the price to buy them (if there is one), they have a pretty high chance of trying out innovative designs. Even though most independent games tend to be remakes of classic video games with a twist or some side scrolling shooter to use as a demo, there are those willing to risk a design that hasn’t yet been proven to attract an audience.

Q: How did your studio get your start in working with independent games?
A: This was our senior game project at DigiPen and we have had to develop a game each year for our projects class.

Q: What is the most innovative feature of Kisses and how is it innovative in your mind?
A: We definitely tried to do some things we hadn’t seen in games before. One interesting aspect of the game is that villagers will gossip with each other about things that go on in the village. This means that if Susan sees Bob kiss Mary, Susan might tell Mary’s boyfriend Joe and things could get ugly. The player can also decipher what villagers are saying by watching the icons in the chat bubbles.

Q: What do gamers appreciate most about Kisses?
A: I think that tends to vary from person to person. We have definitely noticed that females have taken to liking the social aspects of it, and we are glad it appeals to both genders.

Q: What was the single most difficult part of Kisses to program?
A: The hardest part for us has been dealing with compatibility across different video cards. The game would be running fine on all the cards we could test it on and then a new card would come out causing corruption on the render targets or big wholes in the shadows. A few times we just had to wait for newer drivers with bug fixes.

Q: Other than your own game did any one of the IGF finalists or Student Showcase games stand out to you? Why?
A: I’ve had a lot of fun with all of the games I tried. One game that surprised me was Wik. I liked the art design, and was impressed with how simple they were able to keep their controls. We also wanted a game that only used the mouse in hopes that it would be easier for a non-gamer to get into.

Q: How do you think Independent Games will evolve in the future?
A: I think the hardest challenge as an independent developer is content creation. The standards for graphical detail and world size are getting higher and higher. Outside of the puzzle genre, a whole lot of artists are needed to make a game. In Kisses, we decided early on that our villages would be generated at run time and our face textures would be assembled out of an assortment of parts to help reduce the content creation needed. If I was going to make another independent game, I would push the procedural content as far as I could.

Q: What is the biggest challenge facing Independent games?
A: It depends on why the game is being made. Lots of independent games are still done for the fun of it, but if you want to get published or make some money, the chances of hitting the mass market lie somewhere between very low and impossible.

Q: As one of the leaders of Independent Games, what is next for you?
A: Currently our team has moved on to work at Neversoft, ArenaNet, Pipeworks, and NST so we have our hands full. It’s always fun to make a game on your own and I’d like to do it again someday.