Dead Space — Guys Who Get It
June 1, 2008 –
EA’s dev team behind Dead Space, a space horror shooter channeling all that’s good and wholesome in Paul WS Anderson’s Event Horizon, is championing the story-first approach to game development. While a space horror with a single protagonist and legions of spiny-armed demons isn’t exactly fertile ground for film-worthy dialogue, the dev team has succeeded in creating an interesting backstory in the form of surprisingly well produced and voiced comic-videos. Engaging story? Absolutely.
Check out a feature with the game designers where they talk about developing story first — not last — and using a character-centric model to drive horror. “The more you know about the characters, the more you’re informed on what they would do in a certain situation.” While the main plot has yet to be revealed, if the comics are anything to go by, Dead Space will be the best conceived space horror to hit gaming in ages.
“Right from the beginning, we wanted to make a really good story…a really, really strong story, because that’s the kind of game we wanted to play.” Amen, brother.