How Ghost Pattern built the story-driven world of Wayward Strand

blog.playstation.com:

Hey, I’m Goldie, the art director for Wayward Strand, coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on September 15 (that’s so soon!!)

For the first time in the six years since Ghost Pattern was formed, me and the team are sharing a deep dive into the making of our real-time, simultaneously told story, Wayward Strand, starring Casey, a 14-year-old aspiring journalist, as she follows her curiosity wherever it takes her.

Early artwork of how the ship might be loaded up with supplies, by me! Goldie Bartlett

From the start, the game was heavily inspired by immersive theater, slice-of-life comics, and graphic novels. Something I love about this format is that there’s a lot of space and area to tuck moments in amongst the larger plot points and knots of storylines.

Our team created Wayward Strand’s characters based on personal experiences and stories from people in our lives, particularly older people. We wanted our characters to be active within the story, as opposed to waiting around for the player to come by before they do anything. Georgia Symons, one of Wayward Strand’s writers, remembers that “the goal was to give each character the potential to ‘move the story forward’, through whatever actions they take.”

In early demos we were excited by how simultaneous storylines give the player the opportunity to happen upon scenes or storylines in mid-flow. It helps the player both understand and feel that there is a world of activity going on outside of their character.

Ghost Pattern’s earliest mock-up of the Day 1 schedule in 2016/2017. Each row, a different character and each column a time of day.

Wayward Strand’s other writer, Jason Bakker, feels like telling many storylines at the same time means we can really round out our