Interview with the producer of Life is Strange: Before the Storm. Problems of youths

What: Exclusive interview with the developer Where: Gamescom, Cologne, Germany

Just yesterday, on Gamescom in Cologne, we managed to catch the producer in our tenacious gaming hands Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Proceedings to perhaps the main teenager interactive drama of 2015. We asked an employee of the Denver Studio Deck Nine Games (The original game, recall, was a brainchild Dontnod Entertainment ) On interaction with French colleagues, new heroes, music and why they decided to make a prequel, and not a continuation.

Read about our personal impressions of the novelty in a preliminary review with E3 2017 (Gamescom showed the same demo, only in a slightly more expanded form), and now the word is David Khaine.

So why is the prequel yet?

David Hine: There are many reasons for. One of them was that for the sake of continuing, we would have to make a canonical only one ending of Life Is Strange. Then the final solution of some players was incorrect, while others were the only right. But the main feature of Life is Strange is freedom of choice! Having decided to make a prequel, we retained this freedom, allowed each player to stay with their opinion. In addition, from the original game everyone already knows how the story will end. But what happened before it began? What was Rachel? This incites interest.

– Tell us how you exchange information with the developers of the first part of the game. Dontnod Entertainment controlled the development process?

David Hine: Before The Storm is an entire brainchild of Deck Nine Games: from the first sketches to the final build. But we, of course, are closely related to the plot of the first Life is Strange and show our work Dontnod Entertainment. About three to four months ago, we flew to Paris and together with Dontnod employees went through the entire first episode of the new game. They gave us useful comments and tips. When creating a new part of the game, I always want to make it better than the previous one, even if the differences are in detail.

– What do you pay special attention to when developing? What kind of details are you trying to do better?

David Hine: For example, we always try to bring to the ideal the slightest details of the animation: hand movements and the like.

– Is it true that you have completely changed the game engine, which lay down the basis of the original game?

David Hine: Yes, this is really so, Life is Strange was created on Unreal Engine 3. We work with the Unity engine, and this fact explains many small differences.

Heroes casting, puzzles, episodic

– Will we see new characters on the screen? How many will be? And who are they, if not a secret https://maximum-gb-casino.co.uk/?

David Hine: Of course, in addition to already famous characters there will be many new arrivals. Rachel Amber can be considered a new character, since it was never fully disclosed in the first part. We will also see the girl's family. We also have new students and teachers.

– By the way, about the plot: why was Chloe chosen the main character of the new part?

David Hine: In the original Life IS Strange Chloe was remembered by everyone as a notorious bully. In the new part, we would like to show it from the other side. Events start a couple of years before the events of the first part, shortly before her father's death. Chloe is tormented by grief due to the loss of a loved one, and this is the terrible pain with which, unfortunately, many of us are familiar. Because of this, she always seems sad and irritated all the time, it is difficult for her to get closer to anyone.

– Why do you think Life is Strange turned out to be such a successful project? People like to follow adolescents' experiences?

David Hine: Yes, I think that the first Life is Strange focused on the problems of young people, their experiences and attempts to find themselves in this world. While working on our project, we decided to follow the same principle, to show that our game draws attention to the problems of the real world. That there are heroes with whom players can associate. Such projects allow us to survive real problems in a “safe form” and so learn how to cope with them. I think this is the strongest of what games are capable of.

– Tell us a little about puzzles: what is the approach to them now? After all, in lis, much was tied to the special abilities of Max.

David Hine: Puzzles will not go anywhere. Yes, Max took pictures in the original game, but we had to solve small logical problems. There will be a similar system in the prequel, but instead of photography, Chloe will draw graffiti. You would not have to solve puzzles for advancement on the storyline! (laughs)

– Why is there only three episodes this time?

David Hine: We made a lot of effort to create the most thoughtful plot as possible, and therefore made only three episodes. We did not want to stretch history into five episodes and add a lot of excess. But, by the way, when buying the publication Life is Strange: Before the Storm Deluxe Edition to players will open a bonus episode "Parting" with the story of Max and Chloe, which unfolds before the events of Before the Storm.

– a kind of prequel is a prequel, it turns out?

David Hine: Something like that (laughs).

– How much time will it take to pass Life is Strange: Before the Storm?

David Hine: The passage of each of the three episodes will take on average for two to four hours.

Music for my ears

– And what can you say about the music that we will hear in the prequel? Musical accompaniment meant a lot in the original Life is Strange!

David Hine: The game will have licensed tracks, as well as the music of the indie-filter group Daughter, written specifically for the new part of the game. We still have a lot of work with musical accompaniment, since it is of considerable importance for game experience. So that Daughter understands better what they have to work on, before the start of cooperation, we dedicated musicians to the very essence of the game.

More screenshots from Life is Strange: Before the Storm

We can only add that to wait for Life Is Strange: Before the Storm left not for long – the release will take place next week, August 31!

All about Gamescom 2017! |Direct text broadcast with Gamescom 2017