This is a special Q&A session I had with Tiffany Leigh Smith, an independent game developer and contract programmer who also works as an actress and model. Tiffany recently worked for Nicalis Inc (site) and was also the lead programmer for the WiiWare version of the PC title Cave Story. She is currently in the process of starting up her own company called Nameless Inc which will focus on publishing small game titles. You can find Nameless on www.namelessinc.com and follow Tiffany on Twitter @tifflsmith.



(David) How are you doing? Did you have a fun summer?
(Tiffany) Doing great, thank you. Yes, I did have a wonderful summer. Hope yours went well too.

(David) How did you know that you wanted to be a part of the video games industry?
(Tiffany) I have always been into games and always knew it was a world I'd like to be a part of. My cousin married a game developer and after seeing some of the amazing stuff he was working on, I was absolutely hooked. Prior to that, I had been very interested in computers and learned a lot about how they work.

(David) Which games did you grow up playing?
(Tiffany) When I was a tiny kid, my dad had a Commodore 64 and I would sit and play games on that with him and my brother. Frostbite is one that comes to mind. My dad was always very encouraging when it came to playing games and using computers. It wasn't long before my dad had an Atari and I would play that. My first console, which I shared with my brother was a SNES and we used to play Street Fighter II and F-Zero. Also my friend had a Dreamcast and we would play Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern. I remember thinking the graphics were absolutely amazing at the time. Later I got into Counter Strike, Diablo, and Baldur's Gate.

(David) What steps did you take in order to get your first game related position?
(Tiffany) I taught myself to program using Dark Basic initially and then moved on to C and Allegro. Eventually I was able to make small games. I made a Rubiks Cube game with Dark Basic as well as a chess game and then later made a text based ASCII Tetris clone using C and Curses. My first game related position came when I started working for Gamedev.net. I had been a moderator for them and then eventually became one of their writers. I attended shows and wrote up coverage for them.

My first game development position came when I started working with my cousin's husband and a few others. We comprised a small team and were making a driving simulation game but the project unfortunately fell through. I became involved in a few other projects but most were either postponed or cancelled. Eventually I met Tyrone at Nicalis Inc and later became a lead programmer.

(David) I understand that you worked on a WiiWare version of the 2004 free-to-play PC title Cave Story. What was it like being a part of that project?
(Tiffany) It was an amazing experience. I learned so much throughout the project particularly when spending time attending developer meetings. One or two of those meetings were with Nintendo and I was able to be on the show floor at both the GDC (Game Developers Conference) and E3 when the game was showing. I'm very glad that it was more than just sitting in my office manipulating the codes.

(David) Did you work closely with the game's original creator Daisuke Amaya?
(Tiffany) The communication between Amaya-San and myself was very limited. Most of the communication went through the producer. Just having the opportunity to work with him was an amazing experience. I had been and still am a huge fan of the game. Working on Cave Story Wii was an absolute dream come true for me.

(David) Does he insist on being called "Pixel"?
(Tiffany) Not that I know of. I was told that Amaya-San was the polite way to address him. I try to aim for polite. :)

(David) Are there any projects you're currently working on that can be mentioned?
(Tiffany) Yes! Currently I am in the throes of starting up my own game company, Nameless Inc. We are going to be working with Ninja Cute Studios to bring their game Pillow Fighters to the scene. We also recently teamed up with comic book artist James Harvey and are working to bring one of his concepts to life.

(David) Where do you see the gaming industry in the next five years? Will motion control and 3D gaming become a bigger part of the average gamer's playing experience?
(Tiffany) The game industry is always quick to embrace new ideas and technology. I think that motion control, as it grows from concept, will not only be adapted by the current demographic but can also widen the market and bring more people in to the fold. I think there are two kinds of people, the people who like to hone their fine motor skills and those who prefer to utilize their gross motor skills. Games haven't really been very "gross motor friendly" until recently so the advancements in motion control are going to bring more of those gross motor types to the party. Its going to help expand the industry.

Stereoscopic 3D imaging was always par for the course. 3D itself is not intrinsically new to games. Virtua Boy and Dragon Layer had 3D virtual projectors and we have been trying to make games more and more realistic via 3D techniques for a long time. The concept of 3D has been revolutionizing the industry for many years and I think the advancements of today show a continuation of that technical progression.

In the next 5 years, I think we will see more advancements in these areas. I see our technical capabilities reaching up to new heights. I think some of the things we can look forward to are things like in-game, photogrammetric rendering where the software creates a mesh on the fly that determines geometric properties based on a photo the user uploads. I can imagine us giving more and more control to the end user to create their own world and be a realistic part of that world. Also I think cell phones are going to become a more prominent part of the game players experience such as having RPGs that users can play real time across many platforms. I could also see handheld devices such as the DSi and PSP being dropped in favor of the iPhone and Droid whose graphical capabilities are becoming equally as impressive as their handheld game device counterparts.

I would like to thank Tiffany very much for taking the time for this interview. Feel free to comment below with your thoughts on her answers.