Not For Broadcast Developers Talk Differences Between Live Theater, Video Games

gamerant.com:

Episodic video games, those with finite stories that release in chunks over time, are in an interesting state of flux. Titles like Life Is Strange and the collective works of Telltale once defined them; but last year's Life is Strange: True Colors abandoned the format and Telltale went bankrupt in 2018. The latter developer has come back under new management, and a Telltale series based on The Expanse was announced at The Game Awards 2021, but episodic titles are now often in the realm of indies like Not For Broadcast.

The final episode of Not For Broadcast, an FMV game in development since 2019, launched Tuesday. Leading up to that, NotGames co-creator Jason «Jay» Orbaum and CEO Andrew «Andy» Murray said they felt «shell-shocked,» riding a rollercoaster of emotions between waiting anxiously and having an intense need to make final adjustments. One of Orbaum's fears was seeing the ending be controversial like Game of Thrones or the British TV series Line of Duty; «I've never let a story go with this much expectation riding on it.» Game Rant spoke to Orbaum and Murray about how their previous theatrical experiences differ from episodic game development in terms of building an expectant community.

'Dystopian Dark Comedy' Not For Broadcast Uses Theatrical Experience to Advance FMV

The core team behind Not For Broadcast comes from diverse creative backgrounds as actors, filmmakers, musicians, and comedians. In fact, they met raising money for a youth theater charity through productions led by Orbaum. He said in theater a live audience makes it easier to judge when jokes land or drama leads to stunned silence, so it's interesting to work on an episodic video game where the creators may have to wait weeks to gauge reactions.

Somet