Detroit: Become Human was extremely successful when it launched earlier this year. It enjoyed developer Quantic Dream’s most successful launch, and was highly praised for its choice-based storytelling. Now, studio founder and co-CEO David Cage has given fans a behind-the-scenes look at how the developers scripted the Detroit: Become Human story.
How Quantic Dream Scripted the Detroit: Become Human Story
Detroit: Become Human outpaced Quantic Dream’s previously most successful title, Heavy Rain, by around 20% during its launch month. The successful launch raised awareness of the studio significantly around the world, with the game performing surprisingly well in Japan for a Western release; largely driven by a local PlayStation marketing campaign. The game features three character-driven storylines, with players making a huge number of decisions during the course of those stories. David Cage has now revealed just how complex scripting all of those decisions were.
Ever wondered what the structure of a scene by Quantic looks like? Here are two charts showing what a nightmare our games are to write, script, shoot and test… but this is also what makes them special!
Props to our scripters 😉#DetroitBecomeHuman#ConnorArmy pic.twitter.com/LgR4yLH4db— David Cage (@David__Cage) August 28, 2018
The studio founder Tweeted out two highly complex flowcharts; showing what the game’s internal scripts look like. It gives fans a clear picture of just how difficult it is to construct a game like Detroit, where the emphasis is on widely branching story paths. Although unconfirmed, Quantic Dream has hinted that they could develop a sequel to Detroit: Become Human. If they did, it would be the studio’s first ever sequel, and given the success of the first title, would also be likely to perform well.
However, Quantic Dream has had its share of problems. Just a few weeks ago, the studio’s other co-CEO, Guillaume de Fondaumière, announced the cancellation of plans to add a photo mode to the game. Detroit: Become Human is a PlayStation exclusive title, but reportedly uses up practically all of the console’s available memory. Thus, adding a photo mode in as well proved to be impossible. More seriously, however, the studio lost a lawsuit last month to a former employee; the lawsuit was just one part of an ongoing scandal. The French studio’s leadership face accusations of overworking staff and turning a blind eye to a racist and sexist culture among staff. The studio is currently engaged in lawsuits attempting to sue the media outlets who published that report.