00:05Welcome back to Beyond the Light Episode 3, and today we had the chance to talk to lead writer on
00:11007 First Light, Michael Vogt.
00:13He will share a few insights on how we craft a story for the game.
00:20My name is Michael Vogt, I am the main writer on 007 First Light, and I have been with IO
00:26for 14 years.
00:30The origin aspect was always essential to the project vision.
00:36Since we meet Bond as a young man, the tone and the story world also needed to reflect his sort
00:42of youthful perspective.
00:43It's not a dark and gritty or cynical world.
00:47It's dangerous to be sure, but it's fun and inviting and adventurous and ultimately hopeful.
00:52He's not jaded yet.
00:55So Bond is experiencing this hidden, exciting world of espionage for the very first time.
01:01Of course, we want to convey a sense of bright-eyed wonder here.
01:03There's this trope of the hero who walks away from explosions, right, because he's so cool.
01:07But the reason heroes walk away from explosions is because they've seen so many of them.
01:11But this is Bond's first outing, and he's 26 years old, so I think he's going to want to turn
01:16and watch that explosion.
01:17Many of the aspects that you associate with James Bond is already there as innate qualities.
01:25He's incredibly charming and charismatic, and he's audacious.
01:30He's very cool under pressure.
01:32And of course, he's insanely capable and resourceful.
01:35There's also a ruthlessness to him when the situation requires it.
01:39Emotional distance, or at least a reluctance to deal with emotions.
01:42He's not the suave connoisseur either who knows everything about champagne and wine and fancy cars.
01:48I think that will come with age and experience.
01:50But because he's a young guy, there are also some traits that we haven't really seen before.
01:54There's an innocence to him here.
01:56He's quite trusting and earnest and idealistic even.
02:00And, you know, traits that you sort of sense will probably not survive this job for long, even if he
02:05does.
02:06Belonging is definitely a theme in this story.
02:08He's a young man who hasn't found his place in the world or his purpose yet.
02:12What does it mean to be a double O in this age?
02:15And does the world even still need them?
02:18Will heart and intuition even matter?
02:20Or can technology just do everything better?
02:23So in that sense, the story reflects the times that we live in,
02:26which is also something that Bond's stories have always done.
02:29So this youthful take also informs some of the gameplay choices that we make.
02:34For instance, we have a bluff mechanic, something Bond can do to get out of a tight spot,
02:38because we felt that that's exactly the sort of thing a young James Bond would do.
02:41Agent 47 in Hitman, he plans meticulously.
02:44But Bond is not somebody who plans meticulously.
02:47He's very impulsive.
02:48You know, he just goes in and he wings it.
02:53When we start out in the pre-production,
02:56we make a story outline that looks pretty much like a feature film,
03:00only it's a little bit more elastic.
03:02Technically, you can say you structure it like a film.
03:05You make sure that the first half of the second act is very flexible,
03:09so you can make for a much longer running campaign,
03:13while still preserving the tension curve towards the end of the story, towards the climax.
03:18The way I see it, as a game writer, you really have two toolboxes.
03:22Toolbox number one is the classic screenwriting craft,
03:25the time-honored method of structuring plots and creating character arcs and themes that resonate
03:33and kind of tying it all together into a meaningful experience.
03:37And then, once you've done that, that's usually when you enter production,
03:41you go to toolbox number two, and that's the game writing craft.
03:44That's where you take that initial outline and then translate it somehow into an interactive experience.
03:53And throughout production, we work especially very closely with level designers
03:56in just designing the moment-to-moment story gameplay flow.
04:01Creating the story gameplay flow is a much more demanding task
04:04than simply writing a classic story outline, and it takes like 50 times as long.
04:11As writers, we are schooled in classic storytelling.
04:15So in a way, you can say a linear story-driven action-adventure like First Light
04:20is actually closer to home than, say, a big, sprawling, non-linear, gameplay-driven beast like Hitman.
04:28So I don't think we actually as a team had to adapt that much.
04:32It is kind of within the, you know, the comfort zone of what we're trained to do.
04:36The bigger challenge was to figure out how to make a forward-momentum game
04:41while still preserving, you know, the things that make an IOI game an IOI game.
04:48So the story is about how Bond becomes a double-O.
04:50So we are going to put him on a trajectory,
04:53but we're not going to resolve the character in this game.
04:57I think, to me, Bond is someone who clearly grows and evolves,
05:02but he's not somebody necessarily who changes fundamentally.
05:06Rather, he has some innate qualities that makes him an agent of change.
05:09You know, he changes the world, right? He does that all the time.
05:12He has to have some, you know, some inherent Bond qualities
05:17that are just there from the get-go.
05:19So we're definitely on this journey with him,
05:21and we see him mature in many kinds of ways.
05:25But the story is as much about how he changes MI6
05:29and how he changes the characters around him.
05:32Bond has, he has heart, and he's very tenacious,
05:36and he's willing to take risk.
05:39And that actually changes the way MI6 operates
05:43in an era that is otherwise kind of risk-averse and data-driven.
05:47Our Bond definitely leans more on other people than we're used to seeing.
05:53One, because he's not a seasoned agent yet, and he's still learning the ropes.
05:57And also because games are fundamentally different from film,
06:00in that players spend a long time alone on the sticks.
06:04So you do need that supporting cast to communicate story, really.
06:08So Bond has a number of strong relationships throughout the campaign,
06:13some known and some new,
06:15and they each kind of affect him in different ways
06:17and play a role in how he develops as a character.
06:20As a player, especially an IOI player,
06:23you want as much agency as possible,
06:26and we want to give it to them, obviously.
06:28At the same time, we do need players to feel like Bond at all the time.
06:32In Hitman, you are kind of able to go spectacularly out of character
06:37at any given moment.
06:38But you can't really do that with Bond that feels wrong.
06:41He's too established.
06:43So the way we approach choice is not about branching.
06:46It's about improvisation.
06:47So your Bond can be more of a brawler,
06:49or he can be clever and talk his way out of situations,
06:52or he can stealth around and use gadgets,
06:54and those are all valid choices.
06:56So we use choice as a way for players to feel clever
06:59and to think on their feet like a proper double-O agent,
07:03but without ever actually breaking character.
07:05Afternoon, sir. Staff and press only.
07:08Oh, damn. Forgot my press badge.
07:10You're not the first.
07:11You'll see sometimes in the game
07:13we're able to enter a dialogue tree with different characters,
07:16and the way we use it is, again, not about branching,
07:20but it's about that there's usually one option that's mandatory,
07:23and then the others are for worldbuilding.
07:26So it's something about how interested are you in this world,
07:28and this situation, and these characters.
07:30Part of the creative approach is also eavesdropping,
07:33especially in a social arena.
07:35There are a lot of similarities we did in Hitman,
07:37where you have to listen in on conversations,
07:40to obtain hints,
07:42and unlock opportunities to solve a certain objective along the way.
07:48A good villain is someone
07:51who's thematically opposed to the main character,
07:55and it can be multiple people, obviously.
07:58You usually have three or four major or minor villains
08:03that challenge different aspects of the hero's character.
08:07Sometimes a great villain is also someone
08:09who's a dark mirror,
08:11you know, a mirror image of the hero,
08:13but I think that the thematic aspect
08:14is probably the most impactful, really,
08:17whose values and ideas are just diametrically opposed.
08:20A character like Baobma has a lot of contrast.
08:24You know, on the one hand,
08:25he seems very volatile and ruthless,
08:29savage even,
08:30but he's also kind of a philosopher king.
08:33You know, he's very thoughtful and eloquent,
08:35and ultimately, I think what makes him interesting
08:37and sympathetic is that he is someone
08:39who's really trying to build something from nothing.
08:42You have to respect that,
08:43even in a harsh environment.
08:45He's someone who thinks that the sky's the limit.
08:47We have some really great actors
08:49and a fantastic ensemble cast
08:51that hopefully players will really fall in love with.
08:55And of course, the story is clever and intriguing,
08:57and I'm very proud of it,
08:58but I do think games are more like TV series than film
09:03in the sense that it really is characters
09:05who drive engagement, ultimately.
09:19We hope you enjoyed today's episode of Beyond the Light,
09:22and if you have missed the first two episodes,
09:25don't worry, you can check them out on the channel.
09:27We are live here.
09:29And also, don't forget to pre-order the game you haven't,
09:32because you can get a free deluxe upgrade
09:34for 007 First Light, releasing on May 27th.
09:38See you next time.
09:40Agents of very short life expectancy.
09:46And if you do get caught,
09:47we will deny ever having heard of you.
09:49How does that sound?
09:51When do I start?
09:52God bless you.
09:53God bless you.
09:58What do I do?
Commentaires