Annie VanderMeer Mitsoda Interview
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Tell about years of your work for Obsidian. And tell, please, about 'Project New Jersey' and Aliens RPG.
Ha! Going right for the shadowy stuff, eh? I wish I could go into more details, but the Non-Disclosure Agreements that protect those old titles hang around for a long time, and are not things to be trifled with, even when you don't work for the company anymore. It's considered in terribly bad form to break one - even a little bit - and as a game developer, it impacts your relationship with both your current and your future employers. I'm certain I have a reputation for being a terrible tease about those two little-known titles, but for as much as I seem to be coy about them, I really do wish I could say more than has been said elsewhere. The fact of the matter is that the great revelations about these games are not mine to make - if only because I can't write my own paycheck should things go poorly for me as a result.)
THAT BEING SAID - Project New Jersey was the game I was brought onto Obsidian to work on initially, and where I really got my first shot in more well-developed game systems such as ambient creatures and level design. It wasn't long for this world, sadly, and part of the reason I suppose much didn't get out there was that there wasn't all that much game as yet. I myself was only on it for a couple of months, but I did grow very fond of it, as I think everyone else on the project did as well.
I was a dedicated member of the Aliens team for probably a grand total of four weeks - I'd followed its progress at the studio and given feedback on various documentation, but I didn't really get to work on it directly until my last month or so at Obsidian, when I was swapped off the end polish for Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir to write for it. I felt rather bad about that, too - there was a really interesting cast of characters that had been created for the game, and I really wanted to write for them. I told Josh Sawyer it was like being handed a basket of the cutest kittens in the world and being told I could pet them for a bit, but I was forbidden to take any home. (...And now since the game is dead, I've inadvertently got you all thinking of dead kittens. I'm a horrible person.)
One interesting thing that the Aliens RPG had in common with Dead State (and something that intrigued me as a writing challenge then even as it does now) - with each character, there is a possible moment where they're fully aware they're going to die. Not in this "oh no chief, are we gonna make it" kind of vague way, but in a very clear and definite one: they've been facehugged - or they've been bit. They're dead in a matter of time, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. What a fantastic litmus test for a character! You rarely get that kind of moment of terrifying clarity in writing. It's almost like you're cheating the system, getting a thought experiment like that. It's heavy and exhausting and chilling to write, but kind of thrilling in its own way, because the player, too, knows exactly what that moment means - everyone's approaching it with the same understanding. Heavy stuff.
(...and then you have to lighten the mood with a fart joke or something. Kidding!)
