Silicon Knights Employees Voice Their Thoughts on Denis Dyack
Do you like this man? Y/N?
In honor of the recent release of Silicon Knights’ Too Human, MTV Multiplayer’s Stephen Totilo thought it’d be a good idea to interview some of the people behind the game. Most, including myself, would assuredly include the outspoken, and often controversial, Denis Dyack amongst the interviewees. Totilo specifically requested that Dyack not be among those to be interviewed. As a tease for the full interviews that will follow, Totilo asked Too Human’s Art Director, Director of Design, and Audio Director how they felt about their boss, President and Co-founder of Silicon Knights, Denis Dyack.
Carman Dix, Art Director, responded with:
“Underneath, Denis is still that boy that genuinely loves video games with a passion.”
Henry Sterchi, Director of Design, had this to say about Dyack:
“Denis is sincerely passionate about the quality of everything Silicon Knights does, and with that passion comes some of his outspokenness and desire to interact with the community. One of my favorite Denis stories is when we met to discuss Eternal Darkness when I was working at Nintendo. A few of us got together, went out for dinner, and then ended up at an arcade just playing games for hours while we talked about ideas. It was incredibly refreshing and exciting to see all of the passion he had about making games and still act like a gamer and have fun.”
And finally Steve Henifin, Audio Director, continued the praise by saying:
“One of the things I like about Denis is that he is a tenacious person and he takes risks. I respect him for that, because I’m the same way. I never give up, and if you don’t take risks you are never going to know your potential. I know that if it were not for Denis we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, because SK wouldn’t exist.”
As expected and rightfully so, they all have positive spin, either because they genuinely like the guy, or they genuinely like their jobs. Whichever way, it was a stroke of brilliance from Totilo. Giving the spotlight to those that don’t often receive it, as well as keep the spotlight away from those that, in my opinion, have had the spotlight a little too often.
Regardless of how I feel about Denis Dyack’s philosophies and how he approaches certain situations, I will give credit where credit is due. He’s kept Silicon Knights running for over a decade, so he must be doing something right.
Source: MTV Multiplayer
