"Journey’s End: Dreamfall Chapters Interview - Part One" (and Part Two)
And here is the first part of a Rock, Paper, Shotgun interview with Ragnar Tørnquist. I haven't read it yet myself, so I don't know how spoiler-heavy it is, so go in with caution if you're spoiler-averse. No spoilers, at least in the first part. I figure the second part will probably be pretty spoiler-heavy, though, since they explicitly say they'll be talking about story in that.
I'll post the other part(s) here as I see them.
(EDIT)
And here is part two of that interview. Unlike part one above, there are a few spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the first two games, but it's not as bad in that respect as I was expecting it to be.
RPS: The second word I picked up on that you use a lot, on the Kickstarter page and in conversation, is ‘soul’. This is a broad question - what does that word mean to you?
Tørnquist: (pause) I don’t want to talk about games that are soulless because it’s not my place to do that.
RPS: That’s sometimes my job.
Tørnquist: (laughs) There are a lot of games that are soulless and that’s fine, it doesn’t always matter, a lot of them are polished and super-fun. They’re not games made by individuals, they are made by massive teams and marketing departments. Those games are often soulless. It doesn’t mean they’re bad games, it means you’re not left with anything afterwards. You think, ‘wow, that kicked ass’, and that’s it. A game with a soul has some depth, it has something to say. It’s a game with flaws, with edges, sharp ones, and unpolished surfaces. TLJ and Dreamfall were both games with tons of unpolished surfaces and sharp edges, they were games that could annoy you, but they also made you feel. Anyone who played those games felt something.
That exchange is, in part, one of the reasons I think Mr. Tørnquist is one of the coolest dudes in game dev today. If there is indeed one thing that TLJ and DF had that a lot of other games these days lack, it's definitely that kind of intangible, ill-defined "soul."
(/EDIT)
I'll post the other part(s) here as I see them.
(EDIT)
And here is part two of that interview. Unlike part one above, there are a few spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the first two games, but it's not as bad in that respect as I was expecting it to be.
RPS: The second word I picked up on that you use a lot, on the Kickstarter page and in conversation, is ‘soul’. This is a broad question - what does that word mean to you?
Tørnquist: (pause) I don’t want to talk about games that are soulless because it’s not my place to do that.
RPS: That’s sometimes my job.
Tørnquist: (laughs) There are a lot of games that are soulless and that’s fine, it doesn’t always matter, a lot of them are polished and super-fun. They’re not games made by individuals, they are made by massive teams and marketing departments. Those games are often soulless. It doesn’t mean they’re bad games, it means you’re not left with anything afterwards. You think, ‘wow, that kicked ass’, and that’s it. A game with a soul has some depth, it has something to say. It’s a game with flaws, with edges, sharp ones, and unpolished surfaces. TLJ and Dreamfall were both games with tons of unpolished surfaces and sharp edges, they were games that could annoy you, but they also made you feel. Anyone who played those games felt something.
That exchange is, in part, one of the reasons I think Mr. Tørnquist is one of the coolest dudes in game dev today. If there is indeed one thing that TLJ and DF had that a lot of other games these days lack, it's definitely that kind of intangible, ill-defined "soul."
(/EDIT)