Dev Diary #4 - Writing Bloodlines 2

[Cara Ellison]

Yes, the rest of the paragraph complemented the game, but that first part hit it dead in the centre. I enjoyed the game very much but it did seem ill-adapted to a female gamer. Is this being looked into equally, or will the dialogue be the same regardless of gender?

Hi there! Thank you for reading my work. I really appreciate it.

I am extremely aware of my responsibilities in this area, and though I joined the writing team about three years late, I have done everything I can to serve everyone who might come to the game. Primarily, we are trying to deconstruct how gender and sexuality works a little bit more in this game so that it is much more complex, however 'attraction' still works on a he/she structure currently because of the way the system has been built. So if you choose a she pronoun, for example, vampires who are usually attracted to someone who is a 'she' will have dialogue specifically written to convey that, regardless of what your body has been customized to look like. If you are a 'he', you might get completely different dialogue. Or, if the vampire you are talking to is attracted to he and she vampires, a high enough stat to flirt with them would open up positive results. So, we write dialogue for every eventuality of character, as all our NPCs make judgements on you based on the way you customize play and how you choose to speak to them. We try to write for the plurality of the modern world - if we know people who are NB, gay, straight, bi, asexual, or if we know interesting weirdos, nerds, introverts, etc we write in vampires who reflect this reality. I personally also feel this reflects the history of the people who have kept the IP alive over the years - there are a great deal of people for whom the tabletop and original game was important and they should feel like they live in a World Of Darkness that recognizes them. But honestly, this is not so vastly different from the way Brian wrote Bloodlines 1, except it has got a lot gayer because that reflects our increased awareness of LGBT players.

With regard to the Voermanns, we know they are fan favourites, but culturally we all have a better grasp of how mental health issues affect people now and we wouldn't use such a trope again. However, though Malkavians do exhibit some aspects of what look like human mental health difficulties, they are also supernatural, and the 'voices' that Malkavians hear are other Malkavians talking to them, or flashes of the future, for example. We also know that many people with mental health difficulties appreciate Malkavians and like to play as them. So what we'd like to do is put more depth to these portrayals, and instead of the player just meeting 'wacky' Malkavian NPCs, we'd like to expand what it might feel like to be limited by your perception of the world as frightening or threatening (often with good reason), or how you might interpret things differently than other people. I think this would go a long way to respecting how mental health issues reconfigure your life, often in ways that are unpleasant or provide an obstacle. But we are still writing the Malkavian layer as it always comes last in the script, so it's all just plans right now. I hope that you will be happy with the result. Brian Mitsoda and Rachel Leiker have been instrumental in supporting and designing these better ways to accommodate the player and look at making a more immersive experience and they have always listened to my design input.

 

[Cara Ellison]

You make it sound as if the player charcter won't be left behind by his sire? I'm surely misreading that as you're most likely talking about that (proposedly) friendly dude from the trailers are taking us under their wing, right?

The player character is left behind by their sire, but acquires a weirdo next door neighbor to show you the ropes.

 

[Cara Ellison]

She mentionend Spacemarines and explosions as average RPG - going into how Bloodlines is different in that their characters not being heroes and are pawns.

No, I was saying that the 'settler model', i.e. gaining territory and upgrading a base are par for the course in an RPG. But Bloodlines 2 is not really very interested in gaining physical 'territory' or 'upgrading your base', though you can gain allies and upgrade skills and abilities. Generally speaking the central conflict in Bloodlines games is a mystery about how you got the role you inhabit, whether your existence matters, and whether you will survive to find out. This is a central noir trope. It's about how much information you have.

 

[Cara Ellison]

What Cara's saying (and this, btw, is a pretty common approach in a lot of newer games) is that you AREN'T the most important person in the world, you're not the messiah, you're just some (un)lucky person who woke up as a vampire one day.

Ah! Yes! Also this. You don't really inhabit the 'most powerful person in the world' role here. You might feel capital C cool sometimes, but World Of Darkness always supplies something bigger and more scary than yourself to knock you down a peg or two.

 

[Cara Ellison]

Thanks for this interessing insight.

I also have two question.

How much are you limited in your creative freedom? Can write whatever you seems fit for Vampire the Masquerade (Bloodlines 2) or were some ideas that you couldn´t use?

And we know that some Bloodlines 1 characters will return. My question isn´t who returns but did you or Chris Avellone take over to write some
or is only Brian allowed to contuine Bloodlines 1 characters like the already shown TV Anchor (Just out of curiosity has he have a name?) and you have to wrote new ones?

Hi friend! Thank you for your questions.

Generally speaking the team lets me do whatever I like as long as it sits well within World Of Darkness rules. My natural way is to try to think of the most messed up thing that can happen in the world and then make characters experience it. Generally that's what I've designed to, but also in gave dev it's important to look at your resources - how many characters are you creating with this mission? How long will that take? Can we do voiceover for them? How long will that take? How much time will they take from the animation team? Can we create props for this mission? Does level design think it is possible to stage this mission? What environments do we have available for the mission? These are all things I have to take into account when designing a mission. And that's before even writing all the branches of the narrative. It's quite a lot more involved than most other forms of writing and requires quite a bit more development experience than I ever considered I'd gain.

Only Brian Mitsoda writes the legacy characters. He feels very strongly about character ownership because it keeps the voices consistent. So for example, if he ever wanted to write one of my characters I would be entitled to say no and Ka'ai wouldn't be able to fire me for it

 

[gh0s7]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, Cara, much appreciated.

It definitely sounds like there will be loads of potential for replaying not only with different clans but also genders; one thing I personally enjoy in CRPG's is replaying with different characters to better understand the narrative, both plot/lore and NPC-wise. I'm looking forward to discover your contributions to this upcoming game.

P.S.: Although I'm pretty sure you've got your hands full with BL2, I (and plenty others, for sure, if my impression of the comments on your last one is accurate) would really enjoy reading some more articles of yours in RPS, if you're ever in the mood and availability again to share your opinion.

P.P.S.: I agree with Andrei's request, wesp's continuous contribution to the first game is worth a reference (like an Easter Egg, for example). :thumbs-up emoji:

 

[Cara Ellison]

Thanks for the quick response.


Its a bit sad because in Bioware particularly in Dragon Age Series have liked that switched the Authors of certain characters.

But can we hear like Brain in Bloodlines 2? Also do you work with Margaret Tang or is this more Brian thing?

By the way speaking of representation. I like that consider that much nowadays by comparison to Bloodlines 2.
But do you work on better representation for nationalities? Some like Grünfeld Bach (Grünfeld isn´t a first name in the german language)
or Ji Wen Ja (Sorry Brian) weren´t that good retrospect to put it politely.

Also i have a small request to honor the Unoffical Patch Author Dr. Werner Spahl for his continuous devotion in patching Bloodlines 1.
Can you immortalized him in Bloodlines 2 as a minor character?

I can see that you are a huge fan! That is pretty cool I love to talk to people who really know their stuff. The questions are so much more detailed!

I can see how switching writers might be interesting! But also Brian is very territorial about this sort of thing, possibly because I have threatened to make more men shirtless than he is comfortable with. I can understand his concerns.

We will talk about the specific actors in the game soon! But both Brian and I have worked with Margaret Tang again to bring you one of the best voice casts in any game, I promise. A secret for only the Paradox fans here: when we were recording the largest chunk of voiceover in the studio in LA, Margaret heard that I was a huge fan of Steve Blum and she knows him well. She got him to call me from Disneyland (he was visiting with his wife). I almost lost my entire mind when Spike Spiegel called me?! It was so cool. I love him. I am trying to find an excuse to write a character for him in our upcoming plans at HSL, but that's obviously TBC/possibly subject to Bloodlines 2 being successful. So obviously your support means a lot to me so we can hire Steve...

Re: the representation for nationalities, that is a very interesting question, as I often hear very poor Scottish accents in games myself. I often talk with Rami Ismail about this, as he deals with the international game dev community on a large scale every day for Game Dev World, and about how there is a huge lack of language and international diversity in games.

In short, yes we recognize that international rep wasn't very good in Bloodlines 1. However, this is a very complex issue in game dev still, mainly because we choose to use union voice actors, and once you do that, you very much limit your international roster. Also, generally speaking, California-centric talent is not usually very strong on accents, so if you require a good accent you often have to spend a very long time looking for someone and auditioning. We have been lucky in that we have quite a diverse cast this time around (Margaret Tang is very good at finding great actors). Sometimes it is so difficult to find a person with the appropriate accent for your character that you have to do it yourself, just like I did for Void Bastards (I wrote some Scottish pirates into that game, and ended up voicing them too!). So this time around we have been careful to write characters we know we can get authentic voices for. So don't worry. We are doing that work too.

 

[Cara Ellison]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, Cara, much appreciated.

P.S.: Although I'm pretty sure you've got your hands full with BL2, I (and plenty others, for sure, if my impression of the comments on your last one is accurate) would really enjoy reading some more articles of yours in RPS, if you're ever in the mood and availability again to share your opinion.

P.P.S.: I agree with Andrei's request, wesp's continuous contribution to the first game is worth a reference (like an Easter Egg, for example). :thumbs-up emoji:

I love RPS and the RPS payroll kept me alive for many years while I languished in poverty and wondered whether becoming a writer would ever pay off. However, writing on the internet brings a particular type of exposure and hostility that I don't know if I'm very well equipped to deal with any more? I have retired to a quiet life in the dark, constructing elaborate World Of Darkness shenanigans with my friends and colleagues. But I will be doing a Redux S.EXE at the upcoming PAX West, if you are interested. Just when I thought I was out, etc etc.

We love Wesp. We love Wesp unashamedly. I will convey your wishes to the team.

 

[Demon Investor]

No, I was saying that the 'settler model', i.e. gaining territory and upgrading a base are par for the course in an RPG. But Bloodlines 2 is not really very interested in gaining physical 'territory' or 'upgrading your base', though you can gain allies and upgrade skills and abilities. Generally speaking the central conflict in Bloodlines games is a mystery about how you got the role you inhabit, whether your existence matters, and whether you will survive to find out. This is a central noir trope. It's about how much information you have.

Thank you very much for your answers. Really appreciate you answering me, as someone who seemingly took your post on the wrong wavelength.

Again the characters look quite interesting so far and at least with the curly haired (neighbour?) guy i can't wait to see how his character actually will be when coupled with his look.

Only ever encountered Noir as crime mysteries whereas protagonists fight to end up more or less were they started, which often was on somewhat of a last leg. Love the idea of having to 'solve' who brought you into the troubles you're in.

As i wrote in another thread, i'd love to actually explore how humans experience the slow unravelling of their percieved reality before becoming embraced. Which the thinblood ideas comes close towards. So out of interest - did Brian / the team immediately arrive at the idea of a thinblood or were idea like starting out like a human or eeven a classical vampire approach ever put forth?

 

[Cara Ellison]

I unterstand this but won´t you a better choice for returning female characters?
Maybe you can give NPCs like Damsel or VV a newer female view?

Generally speaking I feel like Brian wrote those characters very well! I'm not sure I would choose to write them differently. As far as I'm aware Damsel was written specifically for Courtney Taylor, because Damsel is basically Courtney - and Brian knows her well. I write a lot of characters who are not the same gender as me too, and it isn't much of a problem.

I think it's good to keep in mind that us two have to write a huge swathe of characters who fulfil all sorts of roles that we may not have experienced first hand. Like, neither of us know any gangsters, but we sure write a lot about them. But it just requires a little research.

When you write characters that are not like you, you 1) do research on what that person would experience, read first person accounts of those issues, and make yourself aware of the stereotypes so that you can avoid them or complicate them 2) ask the people in the studio who might have a closer perspective on these characters to review if it is satisfactory (for example, if you are looking to write a Vietnamese granny, you might know someone in the studio who has one!) 3) ask your friends who have also first hand experienced these issues/cultural backgrounds for advice on more complicated topics. You may also need a step 4) which is to pay a consultant who is an expert on the issue, e.g. if you are writing Duwamish roles and you don't know a Duwamish person (we are considering a number of things in this manner for DLC). We are lucky to be surrounded by professionals that reflect the diverse population of Seattle in the studio, but I think that if you are a skilled writer, you will know enough to be able to write other people responsibly and to a standard that is not offensive. But obviously, you the players will be the ultimate judge of whether we land that or not, and I am happy to be asked to step up my game. Being a writer is constantly being at school, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Cara Ellison]

So out of interest - did Brian / the team immediately arrive at the idea of a thinblood or were idea like starting out like a human or eeven a classical vampire approach ever put forth?

We conceived of encountering the other Unsanctioned Vampires as being your guide as to what crossing over is like. They are going through vampire puberty when you encounter them. Generally speaking, Bloodlines is urban horror noir, so we try to stay fairly far away from gothic literature type or classical fantasy because other games tread that territory better. We try to give you a sense of what becoming a vampire would be like if you had to do it right now, where you live. Before being Embraced, people are completely blissfully unaware of any vampires at all, hence The Masquerade.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

We conceived of encountering the other Unsanctioned Vampires as being your guide as to what crossing over is like. They are going through vampire puberty when you encounter them. Generally speaking, Bloodlines is urban horror noir, so we try to stay fairly far away from gothic literature type or classical fantasy because other games tread that territory better. We try to give you a sense of what becoming a vampire would be like if you had to do it right now, where you live. Before being Embraced, people are completely blissfully unaware of any vampires at all, hence The Masquerade.

@Cara Ellison I am curious about a couple of things in particular. The first is, roughly, what percent of the NPC's in the game are romance-able? (If Slugg is non romance-able I might be very put out )

On a more serious note. Given how much Bloodlines 2 draws on the v5 rule book, how big a threat is The New Inquisition going to be?

 

[Cara Ellison]

@Cara Ellison I am curious about a couple of things in particular. The first is, roughly, what percent of the NPC's in the game are romance-able? (If Slugg is non romance-able I might be very put out )

On a more serious note. Given how much Bloodlines 2 draws on the v5 rule book, how big a threat is The New Inquisition going to be?

'Romanceable' characters in Bloodlines games is a complicated thing because vampires think drinking blood is better than sex. They wouldn't really have a reason to bother trying to sleep with or romance someone unless they were a human being, and you had to convince the human that they should stick around. You are a Thinblood vampire in the beginning, and most of the characters you encounter are Full Blood vampires - so the power differential is off there. So the vampire population in general is not really interested in sex unless it's a special case vampire. The few humans you will encounter you will probably have a chance to sleep with, depending on your stats, as it will make them like you more.

With romance, vampires can be open to companionship, as it makes hunting easier, but again, you start out as an outcast, a weakling and an abomination, so those choices will be limited too. However, we have written some romance storylines and we obviously let you flirt your way into and out of a great many situations.

I don't think I can answer your second question!

 

[Naiva klaM]

Hi there! Thank you for reading my work. I really appreciate it.

[...]

With regard to the Voermanns, we know they are fan favourites, but culturally we all have a better grasp of how mental health issues affect people now and we wouldn't use such a trope again. However, though Malkavians do exhibit some aspects of what look like human mental health difficulties, they are also supernatural, and the 'voices' that Malkavians hear are other Malkavians talking to them, or flashes of the future, for example. We also know that many people with mental health difficulties appreciate Malkavians and like to play as them. So what we'd like to do is put more depth to these portrayals, and instead of the player just meeting 'wacky' Malkavian NPCs, we'd like to expand what it might feel like to be limited by your perception of the world as frightening or threatening (often with good reason), or how you might interpret things differently than other people. I think this would go a long way to respecting how mental health issues reconfigure your life, often in ways that are unpleasant or provide an obstacle. But we are still writing the Malkavian layer as it always comes last in the script, so it's all just plans right now. I hope that you will be happy with the result. Brian Mitsoda and Rachel Leiker have been instrumental in supporting and designing these better ways to accommodate the player and look at making a more immersive experience and they have always listened to my design input.

Hi there !

As a person who suffers from schizophrenia I'm really really glad to hear/read that you guys are putting more depths into the malkavians characters ! Thanks a lot !

Having them be more " realistic " would be a huge atmospheric improvement (probably even more for headphone users) and would probably make the gameplay experience very different for this specific race.

I have one question : is triggering people one of your concerns ?

For my part I'll play the game in english so voice wise I should be okay as the voices talk to me in my native language (which is not english). But sound wise (sounds such as " ssssh ! ", laughs, screams, moanings... that are made by someone that you can't see on the screen) might trigger me/other people as we wouldn't know if theses voices are real or just the ones in the game. (I'm talking about the people who suffer from schizophrenia and hear voices, which is not all of us).

I'd hate devs to soften the malkavian experience just for a few of us because again, the malkavian gameplay could be so " atmospheric ", so realistic that I would really love people see how scary and incapacitating these things can be for some of us. You described it very well when you said " I think this would go a long way to respecting how mental health issues reconfigure your life, often in ways that are unpleasant or provide an obstacle. "

I don't know if it's too much trouble/work but putting some kind of " safe mode " in the option panel could be an idea. People that are afraid of being triggered could put it on and they wouldn't have all the sounds/voices experience (someone whispering in your ear but they are not " really " there etc), just the various " different " and funny dialogues that Malkavians know so well

And if you put the safe mode off you'll have the whole experience with voices, sounds, maybe some visual effects from time to time.

 

[Hermes]

Yeah i see that you didn't understand what i wrote, so let me try to paraphrase.
How she described it rang bad with me. Not the underlying information i think she was intending to give, but how she described these.

She mentionend Spacemarines and explosions as average RPG - going into how Bloodlines is different in that their characters not being heroes and are pawns. Things i disagree with, while i get what WoD is - owning and heaving read different books and interviews of designers helps one understanding what the WoD is. Though i'd say that has somewhat changed thorughout time.

Regarding the abandonment.
So to paraphrase, your sire abandonend you, to get put in front of a court which wants to behead you? How is that not being abandonend? Am i erring, when i rememver magazines telling us that the court scene was more or less the first scene?

I'm highly positive about what storytelling i've seen so far. And also the overall character design we've been shown. Not to forget the overall tone.
But Caras post sounded wierd to me and didn't fit what i yet percieved. As i wrote, i guess the fault lies with me and how i interpret stuff. But it sounded to me as someone was talking about how great Apocalypse Now is, by describing it through comparisons to Full Metal Jacket. Sure i'd agree and i'd get what is meant, but it would leave questions.

When she says space marines she doesn't mean wh40k space marines she means space marines as in Jim Raynor, Shepard, the dude from gears of War, usmc from aliens etc. Heroes in other words. Wh40k space marines are space nazis, she is not referring to those.
What she is saying is that computer RPG heroes are usually by default good and action oriented while a vampire protagonist usually isn't. I agree with this generalization. As for vampires being pawns, they most certainly are, this is a big theme in vampire, otherwise we wouldn't have the anarchs or the sabbath(who started out as anarch).
Now good action heroes can certainly be pawns too but I'd say it's much more common for vampires to be pawns.

Yes the sire isn't around but others are there to help you, so not abandoned

 

[Marc_Hicks]

When she says space marines she doesn't mean wh40k space marines she means space marines as in Jim Raynor, Shepard, the dude from gears of War, usmc from aliens etc. Heroes in other words. Wh40k space marines are space nazis, she is not referring to those.
What she is saying is that computer RPG heroes are usually by default good and action oriented while a vampire protagonist usually isn't. I agree with this generalization. As for vampires being pawns, they most certainly are, this is a big theme in vampire, otherwise we wouldn't have the anarchs or the sabbath(who started out as anarch).
Now good action heroes can certainly be pawns too but I'd say it's much more common for vampires to be pawns.

Yes the sire isn't around but others are there to help you, so not abandoned

Thr whole point that DI appears to be missing is that your sire is effectively a CRIMINAL, & most likely the subject of a blood-hunt. So why the heck would you want to hang out with them.....except to maybe diablerize them.

 

[Cara Ellison]

I have one question : is triggering people one of your concerns ?

100% yes, we are absolutely concerned that some content in the game could be difficult for players living with trauma or a mental health issue. For the Malkavians we will make sure to describe to the player what they may experience when playing. But what may be difficult for us is making some of the systemic or scripted events turn on or off selectively. We are moving away from the 'fishmalk' portrayal for this iteration of Bloodlines, so we expect the Malkavians to be a much more unsettling or scary experience this time around.

Rachel and I have discussed some ways to be kinder to players who might have PTSD issues in particular, and one of the things we are considering pitching to the team is a part of the accessibility menu where we outline the thematic content of each mission so that you can prepare yourself ahead of time for a particular mission, choose not to play a side mission that might involve some issues you feel uncomfortable about, or grab a friend or partner to play through certain content with you. What we may do is give players a run down in that menu of what to expect from Malkavian playthroughs so that you can make a more informed choice about whether you feel comfortable playing that way. That way, we are not changing the experience, but we are giving you space and time to consider when you'd like to continue.

Does that sound like a good idea to you? This is all still being worked out of course, but we really care about it, and I hope that our game can be considerate in a way that works for you. I'd also love to talk to you over email about what you personally experience as difficult in games, it would be wonderful to know more about how to design a game from scratch for these issues, so we begin from the start to make the system work for you.

 

[Gezz]

100% yes, we are absolutely concerned that some content in the game could be difficult for players living with trauma or a mental health issue. For the Malkavians we will make sure to describe to the player what they may experience when playing. But what may be difficult for us is making some of the systemic or scripted events turn on or off selectively. We are moving away from the 'fishmalk' portrayal for this iteration of Bloodlines, so we expect the Malkavians to be a much more unsettling or scary experience this time around.

Rachel and I have discussed some ways to be kinder to players who might have PTSD issues in particular, and one of the things we are considering pitching to the team is a part of the accessibility menu where we outline the thematic content of each mission so that you can prepare yourself ahead of time for a particular mission, choose not to play a side mission that might involve some issues you feel uncomfortable about, or grab a friend or partner to play through certain content with you. What we may do is give players a run down in that menu of what to expect from Malkavian playthroughs so that you can make a more informed choice about whether you feel comfortable playing that way. That way, we are not changing the experience, but we are giving you space and time to consider when you'd like to continue.

Does that sound like a good idea to you? This is all still being worked out of course, but we really care about it, and I hope that our game can be considerate in a way that works for you. I'd also love to talk to you over email about what you personally experience as difficult in games, it would be wonderful to know more about how to design a game from scratch for these issues, so we begin from the start to make the system work for you.

Give us the option to turn it off then I would be fine with it.

 

[Naiva klaM]

100% yes, we are absolutely concerned that some content in the game could be difficult for players living with trauma or a mental health issue. For the Malkavians we will make sure to describe to the player what they may experience when playing. But what may be difficult for us is making some of the systemic or scripted events turn on or off selectively. We are moving away from the 'fishmalk' portrayal for this iteration of Bloodlines, so we expect the Malkavians to be a much more unsettling or scary experience this time around.

Rachel and I have discussed some ways to be kinder to players who might have PTSD issues in particular, and one of the things we are considering pitching to the team is a part of the accessibility menu where we outline the thematic content of each mission so that you can prepare yourself ahead of time for a particular mission, choose not to play a side mission that might involve some issues you feel uncomfortable about, or grab a friend or partner to play through certain content with you. What we may do is give players a run down in that menu of what to expect from Malkavian playthroughs so that you can make a more informed choice about whether you feel comfortable playing that way. That way, we are not changing the experience, but we are giving you space and time to consider when you'd like to continue.

Does that sound like a good idea to you? This is all still being worked out of course, but we really care about it, and I hope that our game can be considerate in a way that works for you. I'd also love to talk to you over email about what you personally experience as difficult in games, it would be wonderful to know more about how to design a game from scratch for these issues, so we begin from the start to make the system work for you.

Thanks for the details

This actually sounds like a really smart idea. I know it'll be very helpful for me as it would allow to " organize " my playing time in function of my current health state and therefore enjoy the game without being scared to be triggered. I'll be able to fully immerse myself in the game. I don't know if it makes sense but such an accessibility menu would allow me to take over on my gaming experience and be the one to choose when or with who I want to see certain scenes that might trigger me. (English is not my first language, sorry ^^)

I sent you a private message with my email address.

 

[NmNighteyes]

Give us the option to turn it off then I would be fine with it.

Well, you pretty much already have that option...
It's called don't choose to play Malkavian... <3

Thanks for the details

This actually sounds like a really smart idea. I know it'll be very helpful for me as it would allow to " organize " my playing time in function of my current health state and therefore enjoy the game without being scared to be triggered. I'll be able to fully immerse myself in the game. I don't know if it makes sense but such an accessibility menu would allow me to take over on my gaming experience and be the one to choose when or with who I want to see certain scenes that might trigger me. (English is not my first language, sorry ^^)

I sent you a private message with my email address.

Can't imagine how this must be for you and I'm so happy you are speaking up so it can at least be something they focus more and more on...

100% yes, we are absolutely concerned that some content in the game could be difficult for players living with trauma or a mental health issue. For the Malkavians we will make sure to describe to the player what they may experience when playing. But what may be difficult for us is making some of the systemic or scripted events turn on or off selectively. We are moving away from the 'fishmalk' portrayal for this iteration of Bloodlines, so we expect the Malkavians to be a much more unsettling or scary experience this time around.

Rachel and I have discussed some ways to be kinder to players who might have PTSD issues in particular, and one of the things we are considering pitching to the team is a part of the accessibility menu where we outline the thematic content of each mission so that you can prepare yourself ahead of time for a particular mission, choose not to play a side mission that might involve some issues you feel uncomfortable about, or grab a friend or partner to play through certain content with you. What we may do is give players a run down in that menu of what to expect from Malkavian playthroughs so that you can make a more informed choice about whether you feel comfortable playing that way. That way, we are not changing the experience, but we are giving you space and time to consider when you'd like to continue.

Does that sound like a good idea to you? This is all still being worked out of course, but we really care about it, and I hope that our game can be considerate in a way that works for you. I'd also love to talk to you over email about what you personally experience as difficult in games, it would be wonderful to know more about how to design a game from scratch for these issues, so we begin from the start to make the system work for you.

Thank you so much for all of the things you've said both here and in the original post...
With people like you at the helm, I am certain that this game will be worth the wait and that it will treat these things and many more respectfully...
I hope you choose to spend more time with us here in the forums, be it in this post, others or even future Dev Diaries...
You make me proud to have put my trust in you all as a company <3