Marianne & Klei

This week, EA Partners announced that famed game writer Marianne Krawczyk (renowned for her work writing the God of War series) would be working with Vancouver-based Klei Entertainment on their stylish new 2D fighting game, Shank.

I'm happy to see this announcement go out, partly because I love the idea of big-name industry writers *and* smaller independent developers partnering up and people actually giving a shit about it, but also because I have a personal connection to both these parties.

I worked with Jamie Cheng, Klei's founder and CEO, in 2004 on the original Dawn of War. Back then, Jamie was a fresh-faced AI programmer, super young, super keen (he's not much older now, and looks to be ageless). He had a little office in the corner of our team area, and used to 'relax' by playing chess with one of the other programmers on the team, Kris Botha. I knew that Jamie had been working on a little hobby game project on the side -- he had all my interest and passion for creative independence, but he also had the ability to make things happen in code. At one point I asked to see the project he'd been working on with some friends as a pure hobby endeavour -- it was Eets. Jamie was pretty modest about the game and looked at it as a tiny diversion of no consequence. When I saw it, it was clear to me that the game already had a kernel of something magical.

Jamie would go on to leave Relic to strike out as an independent developer, and Eets would go on to become Klei's first shipped game. They've come a long way since then.

As for Marianne, I knew her by reputation, and when I needed an external writer to help out with my project at Ubisoft Montreal, she was at the top of my list. We had some phone conversations, and it was clear to me that, unlike many of the equally qualified writers from 'outside' the industry -- several of them prominent TV and film writers who came across with their loud Hollywood personas -- the combination of Marianne's interactive writing experience, the strength of her characterization and dialogue, her passion for writing, and the quiet, gentle way in which she communicated her ideas, really elevated her from simply being a veteran writer, to being a true collaborative writing partner.

Over almost a year, we had a very fruitful collaboration, with a few week-long 'on site' visits which I came to really look forward to. We mapped out vast story arcs, deep character backgrounds, debated endlessly on details of plot and characters, never never ever succumbing to that seductive way out, "it's a game...nobody will care about story in the end." We both tacitly subscribed to the religion about storytelling where every story you hope tell should be worthy of any treatment in any medium, worthy of any audience. We aimed to create something truly memorable, dramatic, deep, rich, emotional, transcendent.

Over this time, not only had Marianne become a truly integral creative partner, but I dare say, a friend. We spent countless hours talking about story, character, often directly related to our project, often not, and engaged in that sometimes rambling process that you submit yourself to when discussing story, and which in our case resulted in some extremely fruitful, energetic discussions that were inspirational, infuriating, enlightening, and always, always enjoyable. Working with Marianne has been one of the high points of my video game career so far.

I wish both Jamie and Marianne the best. If their collaboration is half as productive as ours, the power of Shank's storytelling will be truly exceptional.