What is science fiction to you? How do you define it? How do you engage with it, and how do you draw a line between it and other fantastical modes? I think there are key lessons here for learning how to design richer, reflective stories for players, and obviously it works: Primordia is considered a modern classic for a reason. What I was struck by in the interview was how clearly Yohalem thought through the various ways that science fiction can provide opportunities for games, especially when it comes to player agency within strong, designed controls. This interview goes to many places, from broad understandings of the science fiction genre to specific ways that Yohalem and the Wormwood Studios team used visual strategies to intrigue the player in a science fiction setting. In the wake of the latter’s release, I asked Yohalem to sit with me to talk through some of the design decisions he’s made with the games and how he understands science fiction and its relationship to the broader universe of speculative work. Mark Yohalem has written and designed two of the most interesting and fantastical modern adventure games, Primordiaand Strangeland. What comes out are fascinating organic discussions, and I’ve already learned so much about the genre and how it interfaces with games. These interviews are all edited selections from longer interviews, and I specifically instruct my interview subjects to follow their impulses. There are thousands of interviews that you can read with prominent science fiction authors or filmmakers, but one has to look hard (and, often, get past the promotional speech for the most recent game they’ve worked on) to identify these creatives in the game space and to find their real insights about the genre. The second is that I think that video game culture needs a record of the thoughts and opinions of its science fiction talent talking about the genre that they work in. The first is that I’m an academic and my specific interest is the intersection of science fiction and games, to the point where I am currently finishing a book on the subject. I’m doing these interviews for a couple reasons.
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