The world of game development is a world filled with unique tales and personal stories. And we’re not just talking about the wide range of endlessly creative projects that see the light of day on a daily basis, but also the brilliant minds that will these titles into existence. Our series of game developer interviews began with a simple goal in mind: to introduce you to some of the most wonderfully creative people of the industry, and to learn a bit about their personal experiences and perspectives while working in this field.
It’s shaping up to be an exciting journey, and we’d love to have you along for the ride — so, without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Point & click adventure games are still here, they didn’t go anywhere–indeed, one of the most exciting aspects of the indie dev scene is witnessing a continued passion for the nostalgic genres and ideas that shaped us. Which brings us to today’s guest: we’re chatting with Clifftop Games, the studio attached to point & click adventure games like Kathy Rain,Whispers of a Machine and the recently launched Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer.
First things first: could you please introduce yourself for our readers?
Sure! I’m Joel Staaf Hästö, founder of Clifftop Games. My official title here is Creative Director, but I dabble in many different areas, mainly writing and design, as well as leading the dev team and the studio as a whole.
It’s been nine years since the 2016 launch of the original Kathy Rain – what are some of the lessons you’ve learned from the first game, and more generally speaking, how did the last decade shape and influence the development of the sequel?
The biggest lesson is probably to spend some proper time in pre-production and not just winging it and going straight into production. That’s one of the major reasons that we released a Director’s Cut version of Kathy Rain in 2021, to try and fix some of those early mistakes I made.
As for how the last decade has shaped the development, I’d say that the rise of more accessible professional game engines for indies, like Unity and Unreal has been instrumental. Our first few games were done with the aging AGS engine, which has been and still is used for commercial games, but it’s mainly a hobbyist tool and transitioning to more modern technology has opened a lot of doors for us.
What inspired you to get into game development?
It’s been a lifelong dream of mine, so it’s a bit hard to pinpoint a specific moment! It’s always been something that I wanted to do, but in my younger days it felt unachievable, similar to pursuits like becoming a professional author or artist. I think the now-defunct Swedish PC Gamer magazine helped to some extent, explaining some of the inner workings of video games before that information was broadly available online, demystifying the process a bit.
What would you say has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to face while working on your game?
Shipping it! Those final months were absolutely grueling, with fires upon fires that had to be put out. The biggest issue we faced at that hectic time was that both our primary and secondary prospective partners for the voice overs couldn’t take on the project due to scheduling conflicts, so we had to do scramble to find a third option, and they ended up needing much more support from us than we had planned for (I personally had to handle almost all of the casting, for instance).
Some of the more persistent challenges over the course of the whole project have been working in a larger core team and creating a game with a more time-consuming and detailed art style than our previous titles.
What is the one thing that you believe every game developer should be aware of?
The importance of work-life balance. Passion is necessary in any creative industry, but don’t let it have a detrimental effect on your health or your relationships. I wish I was a better role model in this regard — every game I have shipped has ended in crunch and a subsequent recovery period. It’s a destructive pattern, but very hard to avoid if you are working with a rigid schedule for your game.
In your opinion, what is needed for a game to be recognized by the gaming public? What will make people pay attention to the project?
That’s a tough one! Things shift so fast, and discovery is a constant battle for indies. You need either novelty or great execution to succeed. If you have both, you are golden, but that’s obviously something that happens extremely rarely.
Do you have any words for aspiring game developers?
Brace yourself for a challenging and chaotic career! Generative AI is and will continue to be a major disruptor, layoffs have been rampant, and who knows where the game industry will be just a few years for now. If I was young and eager, I might just do something else for a while, dabble with gamedev as a hobby, stay ahead of the curve with generative AI, and see where things are when the dust settles. I wouldn’t dare go to school for gamedev right now — come graduation, everything in the curriculum could be obsolete.
If you could go back in time, what would you tell your past self? Is there anything you’d do differently?
I always struggle with this question, because every decision I made led me here, making a living as an indie game developer, telling my own stories. It would be easy to tell my past self to take better care of himself and not work too hard.
But then again, it’s rough out there, if I hadn’t gone the extra mile, would I even have survived as an indie in the first place? Despite all the hardships with making these games, I think it’s been incredibly rewarding and worthwhile — there’s nothing I’d rather do.
Finally, could you tell our readers where they can follow you and your work if they’d like to stay up to date with any future developments?
You’ll find me under ClifftopGames on all of the socials, but I’m mainly active on X and BlueSky!
Make sure to check out our previous indie dev interviews as well:
The Wild Gentlemen (Chicken Police)
Lucky Cat (The Silent Kingdom)
Cybernetic Walrus (ORDER 13, Roadside Research)
