Copychaser Games' blueprint for story-focused titles

gamesindustry.biz:

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Writing a good story is challenging; sometimes, humor doesn't land, or a character may not be understood. However, the payoff remains the same; people enjoy an engaging narrative and will return for more.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Bioware alum and now Copychaser Games' creative director, writer, and producer Ben Gelinas explains the nuances of developing a good story. He also takes us through the company's goals for its new title Times & Galaxy.

The studio was established in 2017, shortly after Gelinas' exit from Bioware. During his five-year stint, he wrote for titles such as Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Copychaser's first release was Speed Dating for Ghosts in 2018 on Steam, which launched on multiple platforms two years later. The title had a small team that included Gelinas, Mikey Hamm, Andrew Carvalho, and Doug Hoyer.

Regarding how Copychaser Games approaches new narratives, Gelinas says it looks at topics and places in unfamiliar settings. For example, most people associate ghosts with death and haunting. So the idea shifted to placing them in a different context, dating, and Speed Dating for Ghosts was born from that idea.

The new perspective on narrative creation was made easier by leaving AAA game development. He reminds GamesIndustry.biz that video games still have an opportunity to tell more stories, saying, "…we tend to see the same general stories, archetypes, and perspectives repeated--especially in the AAA space.

Gelinas adds that the bigger the project, the more siloed it is for a writer. "More staff and money tend to mean more moving parts and variables. Because of that, the