Adventure Gamers: With your earlier games, you were basically working alone with a lot of the material. Is this the case again?

Jonathan: Yes. I am back on my own, stuck at the old train station and hotel... listening for voices in the dark, or faces at the windows. But I haven't always been alone...

I needed help, quite a bit of help, with The Lost Crown. It was a brand new way of working for me, and offered lots of exciting possibilities. Movement was my main desire, so I was thrilled to see many reviewers picking up on how much effort had gone into the world movement, (even if the characters’ animations were a bit robotic). That kind of stuff takes absolutely ages to do, so it's no surprise the game took 3 years! I sought advice, and tutorage, from a few individuals. They were all 'indies' like myself - like Matt Clark at Shadow Tor (who created some wonderful particle effects) and Jan Kavan at Cardboard Box Entertainment, who wrote some fool-proof tutorials. But, once I was happy with my skill base, I set out to work in the same way I have with previous titles... on my own.

This time round is a little different. I am completely on my own. It is a pleasure to revisit the old Train Station and Hotel from Dark Fall 1. I really do feel as if I've climbed back through the tunnel, and entered a well known space, to survey the area and show through Lost Souls how the place has changed and deteriorated. Working alone in the dim light of the Darkling Room is the best way to approach this next game. It needs one mind, one pair of eyes, looking very carefully for clues to where the place is going. I create the games in the late evening, mostly, after work. My faithful old friend, the BBC World Service, plays out in the gloom of the Cornish evening, as I piece back together my favourite game location. It's an eerie, isolating experience.

AG: Why do you prefer this type of solo approach?

Jonathan: I don't. I'd love some company in those gloomy corridors, but no-one will put up with me! I'm too specific and particular about things, leaving little or no room for second opinions. But, there's also the hours to consider... they are nocturnal hours, of concentrated work, which doesn't always go in the expected direction. I jump from one task to the next (sound, to art, back to sound, and then onto modelling), so any team would feel mightily confused. Plus, there's the small matter of how much I enjoy working on my own. I believe my games are interpreted as very personal, small games, with big themes... (life, redemption, death, the afterlife, the soul, purgatory)... which come from my own thoughts and observations. The worlds of Saxton, Dowerton or Fetch Rock are created from an informed imagination, using textures and sounds from the world around me. I think a little of that personality would be lost, if tackled by a small team.

AG: You’ve given some insight into this already, but what does a typical working-day-in-the-life of Jonathan Boakes look like? Or is there no such thing as “typical” when you’re an independent, ghost-hunting game developer?

Jonathan: Well, I don't get to work on games full time. I'd like to, but it's not going to happen any time soon. Publishers are the problem. But I do enjoy making games, so there's still plenty to come from me. The 'typical day' sees me spending A LOT of time standing at rural train stations, getting to and from work. I'm a big fan of the traditional notebook - big ones, small ones, old ones, battered ones, useless ones full of ranting notes and mad ideas - so I find myself scribbling endless notes and sketching objects and rooms for 3D construction. You'll see from the scan I've provided how useful/useless the notes are... but they are my main 'game document', when it comes to working. I have about 15 small notebooks, packed full of game ideas. Some are huge, needing a big team behind them, and some are wonderfully small, requiring a single individual to make the idea a reality. I often share my ideas with other small developers, to see if they want to use them. It's not all ghosts and spooky English ghost-towns.



So, no, I don't have a typical day, or plain way of working. I tackle whatever comes to mind, and produce the games as I go along. It's a very informal way of doing things. Bottom line, really, is the desire to make things as enjoyable as possible, both for myself and the end gamer. It's not a mechanical, or planned, way of working, which I hope seeps through the gaming experience.

AG: In Lost Souls, we know that players will be going back to the haunted train station and hotel from the first game. What inspired you to make another game in the same location?

Jonathan: I love that old train station and hotel. It was a grotty pleasure to work there, back in 2001, and it is proving to be a derelict delight, once again. The Dark Fall 'world' was based upon several locations - some real, some based in other fiction - and seems to capture many aspects of what people believe English train stations to feel like. They exhibit a kind of fallen grandeur, of a more industrial and vital time, long since passed. It's the perfect place to tell a ghost story, as people are not supposed to stop and stay in those places. They should not stay for a long period of time. But the Dark Fall characters do stay there... through no choice of their own. It's almost as if they are waiting for one last steam train to come rolling into the station, to take them to the next life.

AG: Revisiting Dowerton seems like a challenge to make it not feel like we've already been-there-done-that. How are you going to tackle this issue?

Jonathan: No, not an issue, not for me. I get asked to set a game back at the old train station, several times a week. The place really seems to have implanted itself in people's imagination. In many ways, I think some gamers feel as if a little piece of themselves still resides there, in the dusty, creaky, old hotel hallways... waiting for their next opportunity to explore the battered old buildings, and look further a field. There are still plenty of stories to tell, left over from Dark Fall, and some locations which play a much more important role. Plus, you will be travelling away, for certain scenes, to places as yet unseen. It's going to be very exciting.

AG: Will we see any familiar faces from Dark Fall: The Journal while we’re there?

Jonathan: Yes, absolutely. There are a couple of characters returning for one last chance at freedom. They want to get away from the place, once and for all. The owner and staff of the hotel have all moved on, as they played such a narrative role in Dark Fall, but there are a couple of guests who have unfinished business. You could say that those particular ghosts never really left me, and have been waiting for this opportunity for nearly ten years! I've left them, cooped up in their old hotel rooms, for quite some time. Another decade has almost passed since we last heard from them, so I am wondering what kind of personalities we are likely to find, waiting for us, in those old hotel rooms. Will they be willing to help us, for a chance to 'move on', or will we be expected to make some sort of offering, or perform some all-important task? If so, you may find yourself contemplating whether you can really believe in promises offered by the dead. Too much contact, and sympathy, could see you taking a hotel room of your own, and joining those unfortunate souls... trapped forever.