Deadly Premonition Director Discusses Protagonist In Post-Mortem

This article is over 14 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

In a Deadly Premonition post-mortem summary at GameSetWatch, game director, SWERY, discussed the title’s protagonist, Francis York Morgan, and why he feels that players can relate to the character and find him so likable.

 

“York speaks his mind with no regard for the feelings of those around him while constantly muttering to himself … In other circumstances, it would be no surprise if players grew to dislike him, wondering, ā€œWho the hell is Zach?ā€ [York has a second personality, named Zach, living within his mind.] There is a strong argument to be made for Zach being ā€œthe player.ā€

 

Yet everyone who plays the game seems to love him. Why? Perhaps itā€™s because players recognize that heā€™s extremely charming and reliableā€”a friend worthy of admiration. Of course, we donā€™t think we gained that recognition for free. Thereā€™s an important device at work: the invention of the ā€œZach as Playerā€ relationship. Agent York pursues his murder investigation in Greenvale, the player munches popcorn in his living room, and Zach is the bridge between them.ā€

 

There’s additional information on budget and schedule management, as well as the more technical aspects such as memory allocation, so if you’re into development talk, the post-mortem summary is recommended reading. The full version of the piece can be found in August 2010 issue of Game Developer magazine.


Siliconera is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.Ā Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan specializes in game design/sales analysis. He's the former managing editor of Siliconera and wrote the book "The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History". He also used to moonlight as a professional manga editor. These days, his day job has nothing to do with games, but the two inform each other nonetheless.