This interview is a guest contribution from Wendi Ndaki. A freelance writer at the intersection of games, art and IT.
It’s not every day you meet someone like him. Roy Kisielo is the former president of Enter Africa Nairobi and was key to keeping the Kenyan team intact in the first 2 years of the organization’s inception. He has created a couple of games and won a couple of awards. These awards have gone a long way to reassuring him and encourage him to keep on creating.
He works in the Design and Creative Media department at the Technical University of Kenya. I got to meet up with him over Google Meet. Join me in learning a little more about Roy, how he got into the gaming industry, and what makes him tick.
Wendi
If money and time were not an issue, what would you be doing right now?
Roy
One, I’d be farming if for sure I had the time and the money, I would be on the farm so that I could do some work on the farm because the farm for me is stress relief. It’s a way for me to calm down. And through nature I know I can get inspired to get all my work done.
I believe you always need an exhaust point. If you are doing a project long term you need something that can help you cool down so that you are not always thinking about the project. Sometimes I take a walk but when it’s too sunny I can’t walk much and because of COVID, I just decide to sit outside.
Another thing is, in the city, there are a lot of distractions and a lot of noise. There are also people who want to talk to you all the time and at times you just want to think. There’s this one time I was trying to memorize something in code and was seated outside and when I was just getting a grip of things someone said hello. We started a conversation and I totally lost track of the code.
Wendi
Yeah, I get why it’s more relaxing to be in the farm area because of the trees, the silence, the farm animals, and few people.
Roy
Mmmh, yes trees and animals don’t talk, if they do they speak to the persistence of nature i.e to create /yield. If I had the money and the time I’d be in a controlled environment, something I can control myself.
Wendi
And would you still be doing gaming and content creation in line with game development?
Roy
If I had the money, the time, the game community and the talent definitely!
Wendi
Speaking of game development, how did it all start for you in the gaming industry?
Roy
I would say around 2013, I was working on a game project for school for my papers in BTech. Later in 2018, I met you in Enter Africa and then I really got involved with the gaming industry and all the circles that come around it. Yeah, so it’s not a very long journey but, I have always had an interest in editing graphics, and especially with motion. And now gaming brings in a bit of logic whereby you have to think critically, analytically and solve something so I like the challenge of games in that manner.
Wendi
What have been some challenges you’ve had to go through in the industry and how did they affect your personal life?
Roy
So over the years, I have been struggling with insomnia and anxiety and I couldn’t cope at all! Late nights and a lot of procrastination were in my stable and I couldn’t kick it. I had been drinking heavily and not eating well but things worsened after my granddad died. I hadn’t dealt with the reality that the new trajectory of my life was just foreign. I was also in the habit of bottling up my emotions, I’m a man after all but it’d show in my movements especially drunk.
The complications with my condition had me stop schooling just when I was about to finish. I am currently working to reinstate and get my degree. It cost me a lot of time and I didn’t care for a period of time. It’s only during the time in isolation (COVID) that I got to realign my feelings and come to terms with how much I’m not in control of my life.
I also got to read a lot of books especially by Rumi like “The book of RUMI-105 Stories and Fables” that I realised that I might be my own enemy and friend in a lot of things I was going through. Another helpful book was “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. It got me thinking of where I was really going with my creativity.
There is a lot of untapped potential in overcoming inward resistance and we ultimately need to realize that we are working on our progress.
Wendi
Very true! We are all a work in progress.
Are you an avid gamer, were you playing games before you got into the industry?
Roy
I’m laughing because before you called me I was actually playing a game. I always have a game close by even at home during Christmas, we play a lot of board games. In our family group, we send each other those kinds of puzzle games. The ones you are supposed to find something and stuff like that.
Wendi
Okay, awesome. So your family also has creative people?
Roy
I’d say so because when people play games they have to be creative in one way or another.
Wendi
The fact that you’re a visual artist usually stems from somewhere, like maybe a family member used to play a musical instrument. Is there something in that line in your family as well? Like, someone used to do something creative also?
Roy
When I was a kid we would go out with my dad, he was actually a civil engineer, but he would draw people at the cafeteria as I watch. I did not know that I was picking up something, so later when I started drawing that is when my mother told me “Eeh! We unachora tu kama baba yako” Swahili for Hey! You draw just like your father. And I was like okay okay.
Yeah, there was a lot of art in the family. Even my granddad had a lot of books with art in his library, he had a library, it was a small library in the sitting room. And it forced us to read even over the holidays, but not boring books, historical, reader’s digest books with pictures about trains and dinosaurs.
Wendi
So in many ways, your family life was a source of inspiration for you to get into doing this creative stuff as well. Yeah?
Roy
Yeah, actually I would say that my brother is my biggest critic, like when he sees my stuff, he always says, this is not good you’ve not done this. And of course, you know, criticism is good if done in good portions. I always take criticism as some good feedback. So yeah, I’d be around people who do a lot of artistic stuff. I also think growing up having toys made me think like, how do you come about with this kind of stuff?
Wendi
Okay great! So recently, you’ve also been getting lots of awards and recognition within the industry, care to share a bit about that? You guys won the Global Game Jam in 2019 right?
Roy
Yeah, I think that was the first global game jam in Kenya. The one that happened this year was the third one.
The theme then was home. What does home mean to you? So we just turned it around to the kind of mischief that goes on at home? Because you know when at home some kids get into some mischief. We turned that around and created a story out of it. So that was the first time I’ve received an award and you know winning also gives you some kind of reassurance that you’re on the right track.
Wendi
All right. And then came the Africacomicade one, and then the AR/VR Africa Hackathon in partnership with BlackrhinoVR in Kenya.
Roy
Yeah. Africacomicade was last year (2020) August and the BlackRhino one was late last year (2020).
The Avoidance game submitted at the Global Game Jam 2019 is a tale of an emoticon boy who is trying to save his village from the pandemic by collecting as many sanitisers as possible. You can source it on github.
Wendi
What are you currently up to and what do you have planned for your future in the industry?
Roy
One, we have a studio company coming up and we hope to form alliances with whoever is willing to engage. Possibly partnerships that will grant us the much-needed push to see growth!
Two, we plan to release a few games, animation, tutorials and some innovative solutions if possible. Merchandising is also a good choice in building investment.
Three, we hope to see the Creative Industry in Africa blossom and ultimately jolt our careers and thus giving us an opportunity to employ individuals that are like-minded.
Wendi
Awesome! Lastly, if you were to pick a superpower, which one would it be?
Roy
I’d say infinity. An infinity power, like let’s say I learn something like a code for computers. I will be able to remember how to do it and make it better… Infinitum!
Wendi
That’s an amazing power!
It is a great thing to model successful people. It was a pleasure speaking with Roy and getting to learn what makes him tick like his love for farms and controlled environments to allow for reflection, his unique family background and basically what makes Roy, Roy. In the spirit of reflection, I challenge you to think about what you have learnt from this conversation and remember “The mind is everything, what you think you become.” Buddha.
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