Dead State - Interview @ The Critical Bit

Brian Mitsoda has been interviewed at The Critical Bit, discussing Dead State and previous projects:

Your own estimations have put a playthrough of Dead state at “50+ hours.” There must be a lot of dialogue and written descriptions. Tell me about the process of writing Dead State. What were you going for with this games story, and how hard has it been to achieve it? How does the writing in Dead State compare to the writing you’ve done for other games?

The process started with Annie and I figuring out the location, what would be possible mechanically, and the scope. With the limits defined, we started thinking inside that box and coming up with characters that would provide interesting reasons to keep them around and story hooks that would work alone or on top of other possible characters. Most of the writing was laid out before we started with the expectation that when you’re writing you’re going to improve, expand,  or get rid of some of the pre-production outlines or come up with new and interesting story ideas for the characters. While we have a few similar scenarios for each character – like a random event where allies get sick – many of the situations for the allies are planned out depending on when they become available, who they know at the shelter, who they like/hate, and how much they respect the player. It’s some of the most complex dialogue I’ve ever written for a game, on par with the largest characters I’ve written in other games, but when the game is mostly about the characters, it’s necessary. I think we provide a lot of the story and emotional investment hooks, but it’s the player that will ultimately connect them and write their own story in the game.