- 10 hours ago
Category
🎮️
GamingTranscript
00:05Welcome back to Beyond the Light episode 3 and today we had the chance to talk to
00:10lead writer on 007 First Light Michael Vogt. He will share a few insights on how we craft
00:16the story for the game. My name is Michael Vogt, I am the main writer on 007 First Light
00:24and I have been with I.O. for 14 years. The origin aspect was always essential to the project
00:35vision. Since we meet Bond as a young man, the tone and the story world also needed to
00:40reflect his sort of youthful perspective. It's not a dark and gritty or cynical world. It's
00:47dangerous to be sure, but it's fun and inviting and adventurous and ultimately hopeful. He's
00:53not jaded yet. So Bond is experiencing this, like, hidden exciting world of espionage for
01:00the very first time. Of course we want to convey a sense of bright-eyed wonder here. There's
01:03this trope of the hero who walks away from explosions, right, because he's so cool. But the reason
01:08heroes walk away from explosions is because they've seen so many of them. But this is Bond's
01:12first outing and he's 26 years old, so I think he's going to want to turn and watch that explosion.
01:17Many of the aspects that you associate with James Bond is already there as innate qualities. He's
01:25incredibly charming and charismatic. And he's audacious. He's very cool under pressure. And of
01:32course he's insanely capable and resourceful. And there's also, there's a ruthlessness to him when
01:37the situation requires it. Emotional distance or at least a reluctance to deal with emotions. He's not
01:43the, he's not the suave connoisseur either, who knows everything about champagne and wine and fancy
01:47cars. I think that will come with age and experience. But because he's a, he's a young
01:51guy, there are also some traits that we haven't really seen before. There's an innocence to him
01:56here. He's quite trusting and earnest and idealistic even. And, you know, traits that you sort of sense
02:02will probably not survive this job for long, even, even if he does. Belonging is definitely a theme
02:07in this story. He's a young man who hasn't found his place in the world or his purpose yet. What
02:13does
02:13it mean to be a double O in this age? And does the world even still need them? Will heart
02:18and intuition
02:19even matter? Or can technology just do everything better? So the, in that sense, the story reflects
02:25the times that we live in, which is also something that Bond's, Bond stories have always done. So this
02:30youthful take also informs some of the gameplay choices that we make. For instance, we have a bluff mechanic,
02:35something Bond can do to get out of a tight spot. Because we felt that that's exactly the
02:39sort of thing a young James Bond would do. Agent 47 in Hitman, he plans meticulously. But Bond
02:45is not somebody who plans meticulously. He's very impulsive. You know, he just goes in and
02:50he wings it.
02:53When we start out in the pre-production, we make a story outline that looks pretty much
02:59like a feature film, only it's a little bit more elastic. Technically, you can say you structure
03:04it like a film. You make sure that the first half of the second act is very flexible. So you
03:09can make
03:10for a much longer running campaign while still preserving the tension curve towards the end of
03:16the story, towards the climax. The way I see it, as a game writer, you really have two toolboxes.
03:22Toolbox number one is the classic screenwriting craft. The time-honored method of structuring plots,
03:30and creating character arcs, and themes that resonate, and tying it all together into a meaningful
03:36experience. And then, once you've done that, that's usually when you enter production, you go to toolbox
03:42number two, and that's the game writing craft. That's where you take that initial outline, and then
03:48translate it somehow into an interactive experience. And throughout production, we work especially very
03:55closely with level designers in just designing the moment-to-moment story gameplay flow. Creating the
04:02story gameplay flow is a much more demanding task than, you know, simply writing a classic story outline,
04:08and it takes like 50 times as long. As writers, we are schooled in classic storytelling. So in a way
04:16you
04:16can say a linear story-driven action-adventure like First Light is actually closer to home than,
04:22say, a big, sprawling, non-linear, gameplay-driven beast like Hitman. So I don't think we actually,
04:30as a team, had to adapt that much. It is kind of within the, you know, the comfort zone of
04:34what we're
04:35trained to do. The bigger challenge was to figure out how to make a forward momentum game while still
04:41preserving, you know, the things that make an IOI game an IOI game. So the story is about how Bond
04:50becomes a double O. So we are going to put him on a trajectory, but we're not going to resolve
04:54the
04:54character in this game. I think, to me, Bond is someone who clearly grows and evolves, but he's not
05:03somebody necessarily who changes fundamentally. Rather, he has some innate qualities that makes
05:08him an agent of change. You know, he changes the world, right? He does that all the time. He has
05:13to
05:13have some, you know, some inherent Bond qualities that are just there from the get-go. So we're
05:20definitely on this journey with him, and we see him mature in many kinds of ways. But the story is
05:26as
05:26much about how he changes MI6 and how he changes the characters around him. Bond has, he has heart,
05:33and he's very tenacious, and he's willing to take risk. And that actually changes the way MI6 operates
05:43in an era that is otherwise kind of risk-averse and data-driven. Our Bond definitely leans more on
05:50other people than we're used to seeing. One, because he's not a seasoned agent yet, and he's still learning
05:56the ropes. And also because games are fundamentally different from film in that players spend a long
06:02time alone on the sticks. So you do need that supporting cast to communicate story, really. So
06:08Bond has a number of strong relationships throughout the campaign, some known and some new, and they each
06:15kind of affect him in different ways and play a role in how he develops as a character. As a
06:21player,
06:21especially an IOI player, you want as much agency as possible, and we want to give it to them,
06:27obviously. At the same time, we do need players to feel like Bond at all the time. In Hitman,
06:33you are kind of able to go spectacularly out of character at any given moment. But you can't really
06:39do that with Bond that feels wrong, he's too established. So the way we approach choice is not
06:45about branching, it's about improvisation. So your Bond can be more of a brawler, or he can be clever and
06:50talk
06:51his way out of situations, or you can stealth around and use gadgets. And those are all valid
06:55choices. So we use choice as a way for players to feel clever and to think on their feet like
07:01a proper
07:01double-O agent, but without ever actually breaking character. Afternoon, sir. Staff and press only.
07:08Oh, damn. Forgot my press badge. You're not the first. You'll see sometimes in the game we're able to
07:14enter a dialogue tree with different characters. And the way we use it is, again, not about branching,
07:19but it's about that there's usually one option that's mandatory, and then the others are for
07:25worldbuilding. So it's something about how interested are you in this world, in this situation,
07:29in these characters. Part of the creative approach is also eavesdropping, especially in a social arena.
07:35There are a lot of similarities we did in Hitman where you have to listen in on conversations to
07:40obtain hints and unlock opportunities to solve a certain objective along the way.
07:48A good villain is someone who's thematically opposed to the main character. And it can be multiple
07:56people, obviously. You usually have three or four major or minor villains that challenge different
08:04aspects of the hero's character. Sometimes a great villain is also someone who's a dark mirror,
08:11you know, a mirror image of the hero. But I think that the thematic aspect is probably the most
08:16impactful, really, whose values and ideas are just diametrically opposed. A character like Bartma
08:22has a lot of contrast. You know, on the one hand, he seems very volatile and ruthless, savage even,
08:30but he's also kind of a philosopher king. You know, he's very thoughtful and eloquent. And ultimately,
08:35I think what makes him interesting and sympathetic is that he is someone who's really trying to build
08:41something from nothing. You have to respect that, even in a harsh environment. He's someone who thinks
08:46that the sky's the limit. We have some really great actors and a fantastic ensemble cast that hopefully
08:52players will really fall in love with. And of course, the story is clever and intriguing and I'm very proud
08:57of it. But I do think games are more like TV series than film in the sense that it really
09:04is characters
09:05who drive engagement ultimately.
09:19We hope you enjoyed today's episode of Beyond the Light. And if you have missed the first two episodes,
09:25don't worry, you can check him out on the channel. We are live here. And also, don't forget to pre
09:30-order the game
09:31you haven't, because you can get a free deluxe upgrade for 007 First Light, releasing on May 27th. See you
09:38next time.
09:40Agents of very short life expectancy.
09:46And if you do get caught, we will deny ever having heard of you. How does that sound?
09:50When do I start?
09:55I'll see you next time.
09:55We'll see you next time.
09:58Bye-bye.
Comments