Sam Lake Quotes

Well, we look for sources of inspiration in pop culture in general. It's very important for us that, when it comes to storytelling, we don't look into other video games. We'd rather look into other mediums
movies, television series and books
for sources of inspiration.

The sun went down with practiced bravado. Twilight crawled across the sky, laden with foreboding.
----
Max Payne 1

I think that in general
well, at least it's true for me
you tend to put something of yourself into the story as a whole. Not necessarily in any character, you understand. But you've got your own way of looking at the world, and that naturally will affect how you craft a story.

Life was good.
The sun setting on a sweet summer's day, the smell of freshly mowed lawns, the sounds of children playing--
A house across the river, on the Jersey-side. A beautiful wife and a baby girl.
The American Dream come true.
[Honey, I'm home!]
But dreams have a nasty habit of going bad when you're not looking.
---
Max Payne 1

The feeling hit me like a point-blank shot straight in the face... Something was not right about this.
----
Chapter One: Roscoe Street Station - Max Payne 1

It's also very important to make sure that the main character and the player are completely in synch.

But dreams have a nasty habit of going bad when you're not looking. The sun went down with practiced bravado. Twilight crawled across the sky, laden with foreboding.

The way you write dialogue is the same whether you're writing for movies or TV or games. We use movie scriptwriting software to write the screenplays for our games, but naturally we have things in the script that you would never have in a movie script
different branches and optional dialogue, for example. But still, when it comes to storytelling and dialogue, they are very much the same.