Benoit Sokal: do not think that we are creating for eternity

At the Winter Nights 2015 conference that just ended, we took a short interview with the author of the Siberia dilogy, Benoît Sokal.

The schedule has shifted. Despite the fact that the interview was scheduled for 17.40, at 18.00 I am still standing at the meeting room. Through the glass, covered with a transparent curtain, you can see how the French artist is being interviewed by three of my colleagues from another publication. They are in no hurry, as, indeed, are the representatives of Buka, standing in line “to receive” me. Finally the door opens and the French translator, a blond guy of about twenty-five, releases the 4pda delegation and lets me in. I apologize in English that I will still talk through an interpreter.”I’m sorry that I only speak French, my English is not enough. I will learn Russian,” Sokal replies. I jokingly suggest that he visit the real Siberia, where you can definitely learn our language.

Sokal: No. My real dream is to go to Mongolia.

App2Top.ru Questioner: It’s much further than Siberia. However, the stories of Russia and Mongolia are closely intertwined. In the Middle Ages, the Mongols conquered Russia.Sokal: Yes.

App2Top.ru Questioner: But now this country is a solid steppe. Why her?Sokal: I am impressed by the culture of shamanism in Mongolia today.

I have a friend, she is a shaman. And she became a shaman by accident. She was a journalist, worked for a British radio station and did a report about Mongolia and Siberia. And got involved…

When she returned to Paris, she decided not to make money on her gift. Instead, she said that she wanted to understand scientifically what is behind the basics of shamanism, so now when she falls into a shamanic trance, electrodes are connected to her head. This is how she studies this issue.

App2Top.ru : Here we have an otherworldly theme that also comes up in Tim Schafer’s game Grim Fantango. This game, by the way, recently released a remake. He didn’t come out very good. Have you ever thought of reviving the story on new technologies, making a remake on, for example, Unity or Unreal?Sokal: No

App2Top.ru : Why?Sokal: In my profession, remaking, remaking is always a mistake.

The only point that can justify a remake is the case when technology has gone so far ahead that it is impossible to use the old sources, they are no longer readable by anything that exists on this planet.

App2Top.ru : Why did I ask: I recently launched Siberia, launched it on an iPad, launched it on a modern computer with a large screen… 10 years ago I was a fan of the game. Now, launching the game, I see a great story, I see a heroine, live characters, solve puzzles, I really like everything, but technologically – with these smeared pixels, stretched textures, with angular models – everything looks weak. For me, there is a contradiction here between a brilliant idea that could not become obsolete, and technologies that have gone far ahead.Sokal: It’s like looking at your mother or grandmother and saying that the fact that they are getting old shocks you.

I’ll explain what I mean now. If there is an update, it will not be done by me. I created this game many years ago, I started working on the first part 16 years ago, I was at a certain stage of my own life, I had energy that I completely directed to this product, which was practically the only thing I did for three or four years. And this is the product that was created at that moment, in that period of time. If someone now has enough energy, time, desire and opportunity to make a remake of Siberia with modern technologies and 3D, why not? I definitely won’t mind, but it definitely won’t be me, because I have a different focus now, I have other things to do now. Plus, let’s say we make a remake of Siberia now, but in 10 years the game will be outdated again. It is necessary to accept the very principle of aging of things. They are beautiful because they are old.

App2Top.ru : I was reminded by your answer of the story of “Dune” by Khodorovsky, which was never filmed, but a huge storyboard was left, which is now gathering dust in many world film studios.Sokal: I don’t agree, “Siberia” was made.

App2Top.ru Yes, I agree, the game was made, Siberia was a success, but when time passes, when the moment comes to turn the hourglass, when a new generation of players looks at the object anew… For them, the project that they see now within the framework of their new perception is not at all like the game that we saw with completely different eyes then, 10-15 years ago. And therefore, the success of the game for the new generation remains an unsolved mystery, just such a storyboard.Sokal: We must understand that this is the normal order of things, everything is getting old, everything is becoming obsolete and we should not think that we are creating for eternity.

We no longer live in the Renaissance, when statues were created for her, when their authors believed that they would pass through the centuries. This is such a small dead end for any author who is now creating films, books, games or comics that I continue to create. I can’t know if they will be considered obsolete in two years or if someone will still read them, play them as they are playing the first two parts of Siberia now. But there is no need to artificially pump botex into this aged face, making remakes, trying to artificially keep it afloat. That’s not how it works. When creating a thing, you must understand that it will become obsolete.

To the last question about the attitude to Life is Strange and Telltale Games titles, Benoit just shrugs his shoulders. He didn’t play them. The time is up, it’s a little over 18.30 on the clock. I ask for a photo with the master as a keepsake and say goodbye.