An Exclusive Interview With Yves Bordeleau, President of Wicked Studios, Re "Keepsake"
TonyFry, 2005-09-17

First of all I would like to thank you for answering these questions (as I hope you will ... you never know ... I might have mailed this by mistake to Microsoft after one of the recent Windows crashes that I've been experiencing). Anyway, assuming that you are not Steve Ballmer, and you will not try to buy AdventureDot into not posting this interview, I will begin with the questions…

AdventureDot: I am relatively new to AdventureDot and I don't know much about your company. Could you give us some background information about yourself, Wicked Studios and the people that are currently working on Keepsake?

Yves: Hi! My name is Yves Bordeleau and I'm the president of Wicked Studios. We are a new videogame developer from Montreal, Canada. Half of our team was core members of Vircom Interactive and creators of The 4th Coming and Black Moon Chronicles MMORPGs; and the other half are former Ubisoft and other company employees. As I was saying, we had some experience with RPGs and MMORPGs since that's what most of us used to develop when we worked for Vircom Interactive. But now we are adventure experts since we've been developing Keepsake for the last two years :)

AdventureDot: For anyone who has not heard about this game, what do you feel is essential for them to know about it?

Yves: Keepsake is an adventure game that takes place in a medieval/fantasy universe. It's a mix between the traditional "point and click" adventures (King's Quest) and the puzzle adventure (Myst). An interesting thing about Keepsake is that you are never alone in the game. Sidekick Zak is always there to give useful information or to simply have a chat.

AdventureDot: How far in the development are you? What are the major milestones you've passed already?

Yves: Right now, we are at the end of Keepsake's development. There's some integration left to be done and we'll also be recording the characters' voices next week. On the artists' side, there's a few cutscenes that needs to be done and also some other graphic related things. As usual, finishing the dev of a game is very difficult and demanding; but thanks to coffee, energy drinks and express pizza delivery, we'll probably be able to make it ;)

AdventureDot: From what I understand some of the influences behind the game include classics like Syberia, Myst and the oldie (but goldie) King's Quest series .Could you please describe some of the features of the game that were influenced by these adventures?

Yves: First, we tried to have the same dramatic story effect as the Syberia series. But we also liked the funny parts in the old King's Quest so we went a bit in that direction at times in the form of occasional comic reliefs. Our medieval/fantasy setting is also influenced by classics like Kyrandia and Quest for Glory; but we perhaps got a bit more inspiration from movies like LOTR and Harry Potter. We also included some first person perspective puzzle solving similar to Myst to the gameplay.

AdventureDot: And while we're at the feature chapter could you please tell us something about the most interesting features in the game. What sort of gameplay does it offer and what is unique about it?

Yves: Keepsake will feature many kinds of puzzles but we tried to stay as far away from the traditional "Go Fetch" kind of puzzle. What is quite unique about the puzzle solving is our Hint System. This feature will allow the player to as Sidekick Zak some clues when he/she is stuck on a puzzle. This will provide an effective alternative to the player for the classic "Walkthrough searching" on the Internet. Another key feature in Keepsake is the "Visions" that Lydia will have at different time in the game. Those visions will reveal some details about the main plot and they will also give some hints to the player on what to do next.

AdventureDot: The in-game hint system sounds interesting but I can't help it wonder if this will not make the game a bit too easy as many players will try to solve the puzzles as fast as they can. Is there something to prevent the player from using this automatically?

Yves: The answer here is quite obvious: yes, if always used, the hint system will make the game easier. But the internet, gamefaqs and walkthroughs will have the same effect. We decided to put a hint system to prevent the player from quitting the game out of frustration. For instance, when you are stuck for too long in front of a hard puzzle the temptation to go on the net to find a walkthrough is very high and almost inevitable. That's a bit why we decided to integrate a progressive hint system in the game. That way you can have just that little bit of help you need to finish a puzzle or you can ask for more hints if you are really stuck. There is no option to prevent the user to use the hint system beside his own free will and determination ;)

AdventureDot: Tell us something about the story in Keepsake .It looks like the game will have some Harry Potter influences in the start, but will it continue in this style, or does it have a more serious story to uncover?

Yves: The story is about Lydia, a young woman who arrives at the Dragonvale Academy on her first day of school. But she bumps on a little problem once she get there... the school is empty. Every students and teachers seems to have vanished. That's a very unusual situation on the day a welcoming party should have been awaiting her. So, she'll start to search for someone who can help her out… but a lot of other unexpected events will transform this odd situation in an amazing adventure! The story will indeed become more serious as the player progress. The only similarity Keepsake has with Harry Potter is the "school of magic" thing and that the protagonist is a new student, that's about it.

AdventureDot: Does Keepsake have a linear story? Does the game have more than one possible ending?

Yves: Keepsake story is linear but the way you play Keepsake is quite open. You can solve puzzles in different order to get where you want to go. Since Keepsake is very deep in storyline, there's only one ending.

AdventureDot: What sort of NPC interactions will player experience? How does the dialogue system work?

Yves: When you meet a NPC there's conversation choices that are available. You can ask multiples things to NPC; some of those conversations are pre-requisites to advance in the game, others are for background story elements. Another interesting element in Keepsake is the optional conversation feature. The player can start a conversation with Zak at any moment and talk about many topics related to what have been discovered so far. Also, some dialogues will be triggered randomly depending on where you are in the school when they occur.

AdventureDot: I understand that the story takes place inside Dragonvale Academy. What is the size of this world, and how much time do you think the players will need to go through the entire game?

Yves: The Dragonvale Academy is quite big. In fact, the school is so huge that it is divided into two very distinctive areas: the lower levels, which are more of a non-magical/commoner area; and the higher levels, where all the magic classrooms and labs are. The structure was conceptualized around a mix of classical gothic architecture mixed with dragon inspired elements. Beside the Dragonvale Academy, the player will also be able to explore the Elvandar forest and other magical locations. Regarding the time to go through the entire game, well, it all depends on how much optional things the player will do. If you don't skip dialogues, explore the whole game and play till the end without overusing the hint system, you'll have more than 20 hours of gameplay.

AdventureDot: What can you tell us about the quality of the sound in Keepsake?

Yves: Keepsake will have a very nice soundtrack composed by Marc Derell (Warlords Battlecry 3, Seven Kingdoms: Conquest, Joan of Arc) and me :). It'll be a mix of many influences and it will be very contextual to events that occur in the game. Regarding the sounds and ambiance, all the sounds are processed in 3D to fully blend in the gaming environment.

AdventureDot: When will Keepsake be released? In what countries/languages will it be released?

Yves: Keepsake is bound to be released sometime before Xmas 2005. The game will be released internationally by different publishers and will be localized in many languages. So far full localization with speech includes French, English and German.

AdventureDot: Is Keepsake the only project you have for the moment? If Keepsake will be a success, do you plan on continuing with adventures - or you have something else in mind?

Yves: For the moment we are busy finishing the dev for Keepsake but we do have other secret projects in mind ;) Adventure related... maybe. ;)

AdventureDot: Is there anything you would like to add for the adventure fans that are waiting this game?

Yves: First, continue to be adventurers; the genre is making a great comeback! Also, we are always happy to have feedbacks and suggestions to make better games; so if you have any comments or suggestions, drop us a line! :)

AdventureDot: Thank you for answering these questions. I'm looking forward to playing Keepsake, and I hope the Wicked imp will be a happy imp. BTW ... is it true that you are all working for a wicked dungeon keeper?

Yves: It was my pleasure. All the Imps at Wicked Studios are always Happy Imps playing tricks and pranks... well, except when the Greater Fiend guarding the studios is around... ;)