David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream and director of last year’s Heavy Rain, has received all kinds of acclaim and numerous accolades for his work on the PlayStation 3 exclusive. He attributes much of that success to personal storytelling.
Cage explained how he drew inspiration from his own personal stories, saying, "it was about my relationship with my first son and how he changed my life – and also about how loving someone without expecting anything in return was something totally new."
It seems that this source of inspiration is something Cage would like to see more often, as he went on to vent his frustrations with the storytelling often associated with modern-day games.
"There should be more people trying this," he said. "Don’t write about being a rookie soldier in WWII, because you don’t have a clue what that’s like. Talk about yourself, your life, your emotions, the people around you, what you like, what you hate – this is how the industry will make a huge step forwards. I’m fed up with space marines."
Telling an emotional story certainly payed off for Cage and the rest of the team at Quantic Dream, as Heavy Rain went on to sell two million copies. Hopefully that encourages other developers out there to take similar risks with future games.
