HAGENMAIER: Tell me your name, your year at Georgia Tech, and your major.
KE: So my name is Shannon Ke, and I'm a third year computer science
undergraduate, with threads in artificial intelligence and media.HAGENMAIER: What is the title of your game?
KE: It's called Yeji, which was actually inspired by my friend who was named
Yeji. Um, cause she helped me out a lot with making the game. The main character is also her, like a lot of stuff is based off of her just cause like she helped me, she's in 2261, so 2161 is like the class that's dedicated to Game Boy games. So they were like a lot more advanced than we were at the time.HAGENMAIER: Can you describe sort of what happens in the game or the game play?
KE: Um, it's like a, like an exploration puzzle solving game. It takes place in
West Village at Georgia Tech. Um, you can tell because like the main screen has like Panera bread and stuff. Um, you can go into like two adjacent rooms and 00:01:00basically just talk to the people, figure out what their problems are and then solve them. There's like a few things that are interactable and items you can collect. And then after you solve everyone's problems, they give you like a clue to unlock a safe that is on top of a bathroom stall. Um, and then if you unlock the safe, then Yeji is able to like get her to Buzzcard back cause it was like stolen. Um, and that's basically how you win the game.HAGENMAIER: Can you talk a little bit about any other games that inspired it or?
KE: Um, so it was really inspired by JRPGs, which are Japanese role-playing
games, um, specifically like the pixilated horror ones, like, um, [inaudible], Witch's House. Uh, they're very, they're also pixilated, very like puzzled-based. Um, and at a lot of times they're really challenging to figure out and you need like guides and stuff, which is why, Yeji is really confusing in the beginning if you don't know what you're doing, a lot of people get lost. 00:02:00But yeah, that's kind of what inspired it.HAGENMAIER: Um, can you tell me one memory I have of using technology as a kid,
like a game early game you played or a computer you had when you were little? Anything that pops into your head?KE: I guess my earliest memory of using technology, I remember playing with the
Game Boy Advance. I'm not, not the SP but like the original one, um, for like a few days before my parents returned it. Um, but I mean it was fun. It was actually pretty easy to pick up for being like my first handheld gaming device. Actually that's not exactly true. The first handheld gaming device I ever played with was at my grandpa's house and it was like a really, really simple Chinese like, um, there were only two, there was a D-pad, which are like the plus sign looking pads and then like a button that was like an A button, but there was no 00:03:00B button or start button. And it was like super, super simple. That was the first thing I've ever played with.HAGENMAIER: Can you tell me one aspiration that you have for your future after
tech? Anything that you, you hope to do or see?KE: I mean, I want to work for like a gaming company, um, because I'm like
really into art and music as well. And I want to go to a place that like combines the three things that I like doing the most, which are like, um, game development programming, like art graphics and like music. So yeah, it would be sad if I had to like be in one of those boring CS companies. So this is my life. We're all I look at is like code for like backend software. Yeah.