Life Flashes By: A Deeper Look

This past November, I posted about a new PC-based game titled Life Flashes By, developed by Deirdra Kiai (aka Squinky). If you haven't yet played it, I highly recommend you give it a go, especially to check out my mad voice acting skillz.

Recently, Deirdra had an e-mail chat with a friend of hers at the Border House to delve into Deirdra's thought process and how several cultural narratives contributed to the script and character development within the game. Following is an excerpt:

It was always in my head that Charlotte had to be a person who feels real, with a complex personality that includes both positive and negative characteristics. Honestly, it’s such an obvious thing to me that I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. I mean, I see a lot of well-meaning male creators in various media who aim for what we call Strong Female Characters, and while that’s way better than using women as decorative set pieces or not having any women around at all, I keep feeling like there’s too much idealizing going on at least in comparison to the variety we have in sympathetic male protagonists. It’s been my personal experience that I can relate better to a socially awkward nebbish protagonist like Guybrush Threepwood from the Monkey Island games than I can to, say, April Ryan from The Longest Journey — and I say this knowing that April’s still one of the best Strong Female Characters we’ve got in gaming. Something’s got to give.

Do give the whole thread a read, as it really touches upon a lot of items that help give the game an even deeper meaning.