Meet Kiki Wolfkill: Head of Transmedia at 343 Industries Game Studio
Among all the creative pursuits, the world of video games remains quite mysterious. To an outsider it’s unclear how to forge a path into game development, which can be frustrating for those trying to get their foot in the door. We heard from you that you want to learn more about inspiring female inventors, who are dedicated to #MakeWhatsNext. Luckily we have a video game expert here to share her story and offer some wisdom, and she happens to be one of the biggest names in gaming! Allow us to introduce the amazing Kiki Wolfkill, who heads up Transmedia at Microsoft’s 343 Industries game studio (the one responsible for the hugely successful Halo franchise). Kiki’s story is unique in the fact that she combines a love and talent for racing cars, with a love and talent for visual storytelling.
SG: You were raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, and went on to race cars and produce video games. We’re dying to know; how did this all happen?
Kiki: It was a lot of good luck and opportunity, I think. Yes I grew up in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania, it was a farm — but we didn’t have animals. My childhood was very adventurous, and I was encouraged by my parents to explore and try new things. My father raced cars, so I grew up around motor sports. We would often go to the race track on the weekends to watch races, and my father taught both my brother and I how to drive when we were very young. We definitely grew up with a strong sense of speed in our blood. In fact I remember watching Evil Knievel, and I built this ramp to try and jump my tricycle over. It was a horrible, horrible failure. I must have been just six years old, when tricycles were made out of steel. I didn’t have a good grasp of physics at the time!
Later on I enrolled at Cornell with the intent to study Chinese history, and had gone out to Seattle to spend the summer in art school before starting my freshman year. Seattle was a very different vibe from the East coast — it was during the grunge days, and coming from my prep school background I found it all very enchanting. I ended up deciding to stay in Seattle, and got my degree in Chinese History. I started a second degree in Broadcast Journalism, because I wanted to make documentary films. I minored in art as well, because visual storytelling was something I was always passionate about. While I was working on my second degree, I did an internship with one of Paul Allen’s multimedia companies — making digital videos for their multimedia screensavers. This was during the beginning of digital filmmaking, but when it was little more accessible — so I learned how to edit on the Avid and took my analog filmmaking skills to the digital platform.
When my internship ended, someone was giving a talk on video compression. I approached the lecturer afterward and gave him my resume. It turned out that they had a contract position open at Microsoft, and so I started working on digital video projects in their media lab. During that time I began to participate in auto cross competitions and professional driving, because I loved the experience, the discipline and the speed. One day I was teaching at a racing course, and someone on the racing team at Microsoft had called the track and said, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a subject matter expert for the racing school component of one of our racing games,’ and the guy said, ‘Well, you actually have someone who’s working at Microsoft who is an expert.’ So that’s how those two interests merged and led to my first full time job working as an artist for the racing game studio. From there, I rose up to be an art lead, an art director, and then moved into an Executive Producer role when I joined 343 Industries to work on Halo 4.
SG: Can you walk us through the process of how you engineer major storylines in the Halo Universe?
Kiki: We have a franchise team here led by Frank O’Connor, and they’re the experts on the universe. Literally — they have an encyclopedic knowledge of the whole history of Halo, which is astonishing. So when we’re looking at storylines, we start with the primary themes that are important: heroism, wonder and humanity, and they then form the basis of whatever story we tell. Depending on whether it’s a game or a book or a live action piece, we ask ourselves two main questions: A) What are the new mysteries we want to introduce? B) Are there stories we need to continue or characters we want to introduce and develop? Then we start with putting those stakes into the ground. All of this of course grew from the first origin story of the Master Chief in Halo 1, so everything ties back to the big components of the universe that are special.
SG: What’s the most challenging element of your job?
Kiki: We spend a lot of time thinking about how we can bring people into the universe without it feeling intimidating, because there’s a long history with Halo. Obviously we don’t want the game to carry the burden of new players having to understand fifteen years of Halo history before they play their first story. It’s an interesting (and difficult) balance that we’re always trying to strike, because we have many players who are invested and knowledgeable about the history, but then we also like to pull in brand new audiences.
SG: What’s your favorite thing about your job?
Kiki: One of the things that’s really unique about game development is that it requires such a high level of collaboration and communication, that sense of accomplishment when you’ve accomplished something with a hundred other people is very powerful. It’s like going through battle and coming out the other end! Also, to be able to create an experience that resonates so much with people that they come up to you and thank you for it — is amazingly gratifying.
SG: How do you tackle a situation where a story is just not working?
Kiki: It’s a real challenge to be able to take a step back and look at a feature or an idea or an effort, and just say, ‘we love it and we put a lot into it, but at the end of the day it’s not working.’ Entertainment is a very emotional and creative endeavor, so as far as the emotional investment is concerned, a lot of manpower goes into the stories that don’t work as well as the ones that do. On the other hand, you just have to know when to move on to another great idea.
SG: The future of gaming is advancing rapidly and moving toward virtual reality (VR); how do you envision Halo players will be experiencing the game in the future?
Kiki: I don’t know if I can share too much about Halo specifically, but I will say that there’s been a lot of discussion lately about convergence in games and movies. VR is intriguing because from a narrative storytelling perspective, it occupies this really interesting space between game storytelling and traditional linear storytelling in movies or television. There is that unique 360 degree view, and in gaming we deal with player agency; the idea that the player can go anywhere. In movies it’s a more discreet and specific path. VR sits somewhere in the middle which is super interesting, and I think we’re seeing a really exciting convergence of storytelling there. If you look at audiences today, they truly are an online audience. Whether they’re on their phone or laptop, they’re very connected to an online space. In terms of Halo, we’re in the early stages of figuring out the formula for players to enter the universe from any device.
SG: What advice do you have for young people who are interested in pursuing games?
Kiki: First off, I would say: be great at what you do. I think it’s easy to get derailed into trying to find the exact career path, but one should always focus on what they’re really passionate about. When you do find that passion and you put time, skill and effort into it, the opportunities will open up. You always need to keep your eyes open, and when that opportunity opens up — you need to step in and rock it. It can be an intimidating space, but if you can build confidence in yourself, based on your abilities, it will take you a long way. Keep in mind that gaming is a collaborative problem solving space; it’s not about having all the answers. It’s about being able to work effectively with other people to get to the right answer. And it’s a good thing to remember that no single person is the single solution to a problem — everyone on the team represents a part of the puzzle. It’s about bringing your very best to that combination, and helping be the person who drives to the solution with others.
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Image courtesy of Kiki Wolfkill
