Today, Dontnod Entertainment has uploaded the first video from the three-part development series to further discuss the concept behind the upcoming episodic game called Life is Strange; this web-narrative project follows a female protagonist named Max who rewinds time (like the butterfly effect) to help her former best friend Chloe to find a missing classmate, but the nostalgic role-playing game also addresses hidden motifs, such as identify, time, and social issues. Here’s the ten-minute video that reveals some worth-wild insights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg-qvp7Urv8
Citing Original and Secondary Sources
Again, this development film series was shot at DONTNOD Entertainment’s studio in Paris with the aim to provide a behind the scenes view of the game and the team working on it. Having the developers confirm certain facts gives game design students and educators an original source if they plan to research video games without indiscriminate ploys. Additionally, these researchers can also use the episodes from Life is Strange as secondary sources by recording their own opinions or citing other gamers’ reviews.
Although the developer did not specifically state that social issues reflect the United States (despite Arcadia being located in Oregon); it’s easy to assume that these developers are scratching the surface of these common everyday problems in all cultures.
“Most indie-games have chosen to talk about social issues and everyday life problems. And this is, I think, something really important for media. We want to see what is really everyday life in a small town where there are the problems of unemployment, alcoholism. A lot of the teenagers see those problems and of course they have their own. You’ve got some social bullying, you’ve got some violence also in the high-school world. So all those problems and those social-issues are very important and we want to have them in the game and talk about them.”
-Raoul Barbet, Co-Game Director of Life is Strange
Keeping Female Protagonists
Having reoccurring female leads is a rare attribute in most gaming industries (particularly in the past decade), and several articles are written and dedicated to see female character designs evolve in production over time. Right now, we’re at a critical time when video game researchers question the very existence of gender and sexual presence. Because the creators of Remember Me are using another female protagonist, researchers can study how these leading ladies act and behave toward their surroundings or beings. Do they worry about their appearance or demonstrate sexual gestures to purposely obtain a key item or on an apathetic moment?
Additionally, censorship also comes into question when design decisions are made. Fortunately, Dontnod Entertainmant kindly shares that Square Enix, a publisher of Life is Strange, did not want to change the female protagonist unlike other unknown publishers.
“Square Enix was basically the only publisher that didn’t want to change a single thing about the game. We had other publishers telling us make it a male lead-character. And Square Enix didn’t even question that once.”
-Michel Koch, Co-Game Director and Art Director
Releasing First Episode
As a quick reminder, Life Is Strange will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on Jan. 30th, 2015. Pre-order the game here: http://bit.ly/1BNVd5E For more information, please visit the official website.
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