DONTNOD's Life is Strange turned out to be a sleeper hit, selling over three million units and receiving critical acclaim including the BAFTA Games Award for Best Story. This success inevitably spawned a franchise, with a sequel already announced (Life is Strange 2) and a prequel due to launch its first episode (of three, in total) later this month.

　　Life is Strange: Before the Storm, unlike the first game and the sequel, is being developed by Deck Nine. We were able to speak with Producer David Hein to bring you more information on the game ahead of the release, due on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

　　Did you have any kind of interaction with DONTNOD to prepare yourselves to develop this

　　game? 

　　Life is Strange: Before the Storm from concept to production, is entirely the product of Deck

　　Nine Games. However, we’ve been in contact with DONTNOD for some time. We were very

　　proud to send our lead writer Zak Garriss to the DONTNOD studios with our first episode for

　　the Life Is Strange team to play. From that session, we gained a lot of great feedback that

　　has gone on to influence our story and gameplay.

　　Considering that this will be a prequel, how much of an impact will player choices really have?

　　We didn’t want to tell a story in Before the Storm that players already knew the ending of. To

　　that end, we deliberately set the events of this game years before the original Life is Strange.

　　We found plenty of room to create some new details, moments, and mysteries that will

　　surprise even the most dedicated fans while remaining true to the canon of the original

　　game.

　　Do you plan for the ending to be still open to interpretation, like in Life is Strange?

　　One of the wonderful things about Life is Strange is how it fostered passionate discussion and

　　debate among fans between every episode and long after the last episode was released.

　　Likewise, we expect Before the Storm to keep fans talking. Beyond that, we wouldn’t want to

　　say anything that spoils the ending of our story. You’ll have to play the game and experience

　　it for yourself.

　　Did you change anything after the feedback received from the gameplay video showcasing

　　the first twenty minutes of the game?

　　The reality is that video game production is a fast-paced environment with a lot of competing

　　demands. We’ve been bug fixing and polishing Episode 1 in advance of release so that the

　　best possible game winds up in players’ hands. Everything we hear from fans and playtesters

　　informs the work we are doing across all three episodes.

　　Can you explain the new Backtalk feature that's set to debut in Before the Storm?

　　We’re going to release additional details about gameplay at a later date.

　　Will each episode last approximately the same amount of playtime, or are there differences

　　in this regard?

　　Each of the three episodes will be approximately around 2-3 hours in length for the average

　　player. Of course, the world will reward deep exploration for those who want to take their

　　time and see everything.

　　Regarding the Farewell bonus episode - will it be approximately as long as the others or

　　shorter?

　　We’ll be releasing more details about Farewell at a later date.

　　Can you tell us about your StoryForge tools and how you are using them to build Before the

　　Storm?

　　We’ve been developing our StoryForge tools for the last three years with the goal of

　　removing all the technical burdens off the creative artists who contribute to making a

　　cinematic adventure game. There are two components to StoryForge: PlayWrite and

　　StoryTeller. PlayWrite is our scripting tool. In PlayWrite, our writers write every line of

　　dialogue, as well as gameplay logic. When they have a draft of a scene, we can play through

　　the scene in PlayWrite, a bit like it’s a choose your own adventure book! StoryTeller is our

　　cinematic tool. It takes the script and turns it into a timeline onto which cinematic artists can

　　place characters, create camera angles, and light and color shots. StoryTeller also gives our

　　animators the tools they need to make moving facial and emotional performances.

　　Which engine are you using?

　　We’re using the Unity engine for Before the Storm. As you can tell from our videos and

　　demos, with Unity we’ve been able to emulate the distinctive and beautiful look and feel of

　　Life is Strange across multiple platforms.

　　One of the benefits of the Unity engine is its cross-platform support. We can develop for both

　　Xbox and PS4 SKUs simultaneously. We’re planning on support Xbox One X and PS4 Pro

　　features.

　　Could the game run on the Nintendo Switch from a technical standpoint, if a port was

　　eventually greenlit?

　　At this time, there are no plans for a Nintendo Switch release.

　　Thank you for your time.