Interviews

ALEXANDER TAIT INTERVIEWS MONTE CHEYENNE WOLFORD, CREATOR OF NACAH AND THE UPCOMING, DEREK.

Monte Cheyenne Wolford is the creator, writer, programmer, composer, (and anything else you care to think of!) of Nacah, the first adventure game created from a Christian perspective. While I was writing the walkthrough for it, I contacted him for help about one particular puzzle. Having an interest in the creative process, I asked Cheyenne if he'd be kind enough to answer some questions.

Thanks for your time, Cheyenne. Let's start the interview with what I consider essential questions:

1. Tell us about yourself.

I'm a 23-year-old second-generation home schooler, a self-taught computer graphic artist, and adventure game maker who loves God's second book - Nature. I love exploring! I spend a lot of my spare time hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, and paragliding. Being in God's nature draws me closer to my Creator. I love living in an area where you never know what you will find over the next mountain, maybe a bear, old cabins or new waterfalls! You just never know what's out there waiting to be found!

2. Why did you decide to make Nacah? Where did you get the idea?

All my life I loved doing anything creative, music, art, animation, inventing, etc. When we got our first 25-megahertz computer, I realized this was the tool that could combine all of my loves into one. I instantly started trying to make a game but soon realized that you need more then just a computer to make a game. This started me down the long hard road, buying tons of software I didn't need. I would search everywhere for some kind of tool to make a game with, only to find a program with promises written all over the packaging and nothing more then a Pong or maze game maker inside.

Then one day my whole vision changed, I was in a computer store looking at all the new stuff when something jumped off the screen of a nearby Mac and blew me away. It was a self playing demo of Myst! The big problem, I didn't want to spend $59.00 for a computer game. My love was creating and the solution was to make my own game. Everybody said Myst was just a slideshow so I figured that all I would need to make a game like Myst was a good slide show maker or multimedia presentation program. After buying about five different slideshow makers I realized how wrong it was to call Myst just a slideshow. As the years past I never gave up and just continued buying and trying everything I could find, slowly a game started to evolve and it was this evolving game that finally became Nacah. My idea was simple, growing up a Christian I always wanted to find a Christian adventure game but could never find anything out there. Had I found a Christian Bible adventure game I probably would not have even worried about the price, in fact my parents most likely would have bought it for me. Knowing this I started making Nacah with no goal in mind other an adventure and exploration through your Bible and through some amazing places.

3. What games have you played and how did they influence you?

I never really spent time playing games, I spent all my time trying to make one!! Quite awhile after starting Nacah I saw Myst in a bin for $14.95, I grabbed it and in playing it realized what an important part puzzles had in the flow of the game, they could speed it up or slow it down. I also played a little bit of Lemmings but I don't think it influenced me in anyway whatsoever in relation to Nacah!

4. How long have you been into computers and more specifically into programming?

About 8 years, and all of that time was spent in trying to make some kind of adventure game. Throughout that time I crashed my mothers computer numerous times, often beyond repair! Then when Windows 95 came out claiming to be the solution to all my crashing problems I made the move over, only to realize that many of the games I had made in DOS no longer ran on this new platform.

5. How long (in both time and details such as how many cups of coffee or other events that happened) did it take to make Nacah?

I don't drink coffee, but the generator drank hundreds of gallons of gas. We also wore out about three generators. In hindsight maybe this is why there's a generator puzzle in Nacah that's so tough to solve. Just the other day I found an old version of Nacah, it was labeled 1998 and had taken me about a year to make. So Nacah has been in the works for about five years. The final version still has some of the original Artwork, sounds, music, etc. It's been a long journey. I would think I had Nacah finished only to find it ran on nobody else's computer but my own. This was very discouraging and I started to slow down on Nacah. Then a friend inspired me: he gave me the address to Bible Games Company. Almost over night I had a distributor and a goal for finishing Nacah. But by then we had moved off the power grid, I remember running out in the middle of the night to refill the generator with gas as the battery backup sat beeping away. Another thing that made it hard is that during the day I'm a stone mason. It's great physical work but leaves you very tired and drowsy in the evening. I remember nights when I was up at 2:30 in the morning working on global variables, or a puzzle that wasn't working right, or a door that was open when it was supposed to be closed. I would stay up working on Nacah in a half sleep, then go to work the next day and half way through the day start wondering and trying to remember what it was that I had done to Nacah the night before.

6. Who will enjoy Nacah?

Anybody that's been looking for a Bible adventure game should love Nacah, or someone who's played everything and is looking for something that's different and unique.

7. The idea of using a Bible to get hints for the game is novel-why did you decide to do that?

The Bible can still be found in most people's home, although maybe covered with dust or hidden in the attic. Nacah is designed to make you get the Bible out and use it, while hopefully have some fun going through it.

8. What's the underlying story of Nacah?

People arrive at the islands of Nacah with no direction, plan, or goal. They find themselves disoriented and in darkness. You go through the game gaining knowledge, light, and skill. At one point you see a ship sailing out on the sea: who's sailing on this ship and where is it going???

9. What do you do when not creating adventure games?

Live a life that's filled with adventure, going on mission trips, exploring ghost towns, hunting for things that are unique and unusual. I also love teaching people some of the things that have been giving me so much enjoyment in life, the Bible, music, art, paragliding, etc.

10. What is the most important part of an adventure game?

That's a big question. I guess it depends on who it's targeted at. The most important thing to me would be a good balance between being educational, fun, and having learned something of importance when done.

11. Tell us about Derek, the sequel? How will it be different? What can we look forward to?

First of all, a story that really brings everything together. A people called the Matteh, that have been thrust into darkness by the Dalaq, a false religion claming to have control over Man's very conscience. The Matteh have not had the Bible in their language for centuries. The only Bibles left were rewritten by the Dalaq in a language the Matteh could not read. Is there any hope for then Matteh???? There is believed to be a group of sincere Mattehs called the Qadas who took copies of the Bible in the Matteh language and fled to a secret valley in the mountains, but that was many years ago. Are they still there? Can they be found? Do you have what it takes to find them and set the Matteh free from darkness, by giving them the Bible in their language again?

12. Has the response to the game been positive? How has it sold?

Yes, Very good! I have not had any complaints, everybody seems to love the game. It's selling well considering that it was just released. I'm sure there's a lot of people who would love to buy if they knew it existed.

13. You used Adventure Maker for Nacah; will Derek be using it too?

Adventure Maker is the best tool I've found for making a game like Nacah. Instead of working on programming it lets you work on what's important, like gameplay, graphics, sound, etc. At the present I'm making Derek on Adventure Maker. Adventure Maker is supposed to have a lot of upgrades coming in the near future, things like panoramic views, transitions, etc. Derek will have all these upgrades if they can upgrade Adventure Maker in time for Derek's release.

14. Do you have any advice for would be adventure writers?

Just keep pressing on!! The game will only be as good as what you put into it.

Cheyenne's Nacah is currently available and he's hard at work on the sequel, Derek. Find out more about both titles at his website: http://www.virtuegames.com. Cheyenne welcomes feedback about Nacah. Contact him at cheyenne@virtuegames.com.