AMA with Game Director Mikael Kasurinen

 
Last week, we gave our community the opportunity to ask the Director of the Federal Bureau of Control some questions. This week we have had the other Director in the house. Game Director Mikael Kasurinen took part in a live AMA over on our Control Steam page!

 

We had some great questions and of course answers, so for anyone that missed it please check out some of our top picks below…
 
USER: SCULLY
 
Q: Are there any Easter eggs or secrets in the game that are very deeply hidden, and it will take a very long time to find them? I mean, something like a mission with a mirror or a Department of probability and luck, but hidden much deeper?

 

A: The game is full of them! We wanted to create a world that feels like it is brimming with a secret history. Something for the players to uncover on their journey. Many of the secrets are pretty tricky though, sometimes requiring unconventional measures. But yeah, if you feel like you stumbled on something, there’s likely a story to be discovered!

 

USER: CPT LANKY
 
Q: I’ve just finished Control, incredible game as always Remedy. I went back achievement hunting on Quantum Break and noticed multiple instances of «AWE» as graffiti. Is this a coincidence or was this part of a bigger plan?

 

A: Hah. Yeah, I guess it’s time to say out loud that it wasn’t a coincidence.

 

USER: vexblackheart
 
Q: Will you release the ability to play/generate player-designed thresholds?

 

A: Oh man, I have a modding background. I built levels to the original Doom and Quake back in the 90s, that really set my path towards becoming a game developer. So I feel you. Unfortunately our framework for building the games is so complex that it is hard to package that to the players without a lot of planning and effort. We just don’t have the capability and capacity.But we often discuss different ways of achieving user-generated content in our games, so it is very much something that is on our minds. Let’s see if we can somehow bring this element on board in the future.

 

USER: toldtea
 
Q: When the team writes all the game file collectibles — memos, research, correspondence, etc — do you write the full document text and then go back and redact out choice parts? Or do you simply insert the redaction in advance as part of the original drafting without having actual «text» to redact?

 

A: Oh that’s a clever question, I can see what you’re going after there. They first [REDACTED] but then it’s also important that [REDACTED].

I hope that helps!

 

USER: Pizza Girl Gwyndolin
 
Q: Hi Mikael! Thank you for making such an incredible game. I’ve been a huge remedy fan for over a decade and this didn’t disappoint. My question is more character-based: a number of people, myself included, have noticed there’s some romantic tension going on with Jesse and Emily. Was that intentional? Thank you again for your amazing game!!!

 

A: I think there’s a sense of a connection between the two that is instantly felt when they met. I think we can all feel it, but who knows what goes on in their heads?!

 

USER: Cthonical
 
Q: Hi! I love Control and am excited to see where Jesse and her new crew end up next in the wider metanarrative. Relatedly, I’m interested in how the Remedy team keeps what is obviously a really huge sprawling interconnected story together — is there a «RCU bible» with every plot thread and clue and key points, to keep it all straight and refer back to as the next part is developed? Is there a particular program or tool that you use for that?

 

A: What a wonderful dev related question! Yes, it’s interesting, when we were doing Alan Wake, it was simpler since we only worked on one thing at the time, and uhh, we really took our time. Now that we have multiple different projects, it is even more important to keep track of all of this. I think many people see how our narrative approach in Control is actually very different compared to our past games. There’s a lot of lore, a lot of stories and a sense of history to the world and its characters. So we need to ensure that it all is tracked and maintained, and we’re currently going with an internal wiki -like solution, so all the info is easily accessible within the studio. And yes, keeping track and maintaining all of this is a lot work, but to us it is crucial that we handle this well, and we love doing it!

 

Head over to Steam for the full AMA!