I’ve noticed that as far as game players go, very few of them appreciate writing - even though they can definitely tell when it’s gone wrong. Are there any underappreciated difficulties with what you do? Things that you can point out and say ’If this happens’ or ’If this doesn’t happen’ that means someone was doing their job, and that should be appreciated just as much as an explosion or excellent looking decapitation. Obviously players getting stuck is one...

DG: Players getting stuck is a big part of it. The challenge is this - you’re trying to tell a story, but you do not control the actions of the protagonist. The player has to do this - you have to do this in conjunction with the player, it’s a collaboration. That would be hard enough if you were sitting in the room with the audience and you could talk to them. I have to do my whole part up front. Basically what I have to do is think of everything that makes sense for you to try to do, and try and respond to it. I build this great big machine that you’re going to knock around in and hopefully I seal up all the cracks before you get there, because I don’t get the chance to do it after.

Yeah, that’s when gamers get really vicious and blast you on forums everywhere.

DG: My thing is this. I want the player to feel like they have free will, because nobody likes to be told what to do all the time. I also want them to feel like there’s the comfortable hand of fate guiding their actions. To feel like their actions have meaning in some story context. Perhaps that’s why religion’s so popular. It’s nice to think that this all means something and someone has your best interest in mind. I try to be that guy, to not be too controlling but let you feel my hand.

To be protected and guided, but not completely sheltered and oppressed.

DG: Yeah! Go! Play! Have fun! Explore!

Do you prefer the challenges of guiding people through an interactive story to normal writing for TV or movies?

DG: In a way. I’ve done some of the ordinary non-interactive screenwriting, and that is fun. It’s liberating, to not have to worry about what people might or might not do. The words on a page are all you have to worry about.

If they don’t like it they’ll just put the book down.

DG: But I will say that writing interactively is a lot more interesting. It’s not really a well-explored territory. The tropes and the paradigms we use are still being developed, so it’s kind of the wild west of writing. It’s exciting!

Oh yeah, I’m very excited to see what people come up with.

DG: Me too!

Alright, is there anything else you want players or developers to know?

DG: Uh... wow.

Yeah, very broad question. It can be like - I like bagels.

DG: I do like bagels.

Who wouldn’t like bagels?

DG: And you know, I’m missing my bagel to be here today.

Oh no!

DG: Well, I would encourage developers to take more stabs at episodic development. It’s a rewarding thing to do, but it’s not easy by any stretch of the imagination. To our audience, I would say buy everything we ever make!

Hopefully they will.

Our thanks go to Dave Grossman and Marketing & PR Representative Emily Morganti for talking with us. If you’re intrigued about episodic gaming, please check out Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures or Sam & Max. If you’re intrigued about Telltale Games in general, and how they can make games so damned fast, check out part 1 of our interview here.