Detroit: Become Human Director on the Process of Writing Games

Shreds of information have slowly been coming out concerning Quantic Dream’s upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive, Detroit: Become Human. Although we have not heard anything new since Sony’s E3 2016 conference, director David Cage recently talked about his process of writing games and explained why this particular title is taking so long.

During the broadcast from the DICE Summit, Cage spoke to the simplicity of games years ago and how they were meant to test a player’s skill. Fast-forward to today, and now many gamers want an actual reason to shoot and some kind of motive that drives the gameplay. That middle ground is where the story has become so integral to gaming, and creating memorable narratives has been at the heart of Quantic Dream’s titles for years.

Your decisions in Detroit: Become Human will change the course of the story

Cage also stated that games with a good and intriguing narrative are the ones with the highest completion rates as players want to know what happens next. It is that level of anticipation and intrigue that keeps them moving through an 8+ hour game all the way to the end.

The writing process for a Quantic Dream game takes a “crazy amount of time”, according to Cage, at least eighteen months. We can see now, though, at least with Detroit: Become Human that it has been taking a lot longer than that. He went on to explain how the process is an incredibly long and painful one and that having inspiration is only part of writing the story. One also has to connect elements of the story in a way that does not compromise the actual gameplay, resulting in a disjointed experience.

In a similar fashion to Cage’s other games like Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, Detroit: Become Human will have great replay value. Players can live out their choices in order to finish the game, but once it’s over, there is always an opportunity to go back to previous saves and see the alternate ways a situation could have played out. We have come to expect this from Quantic’s games, but in each one, the stakes feel higher and our choices have even heavier consequences. Based on what we have seen in Detroit so far, it looks like those boundaries in storytelling and decision-making are being pushed again as we take on the role of Kara, a female android in near-future Detroit. Kara has to navigate a turbulent landscape and make choices that will ultimately affect an entire city.

There is no release window for Detroit: Become Human yet, but when the game does release it will be available exclusively on PlayStation 4.

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Tori Morrow

Tori is a writer and gamer originally from Vault 111, but now she resides in Chicago. She has an MFA in creative writing-fiction, runs primarily on coffee, and is an expert on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Follow her on Twitter @torithatnerd.