Development Info Disco Elysium Developer Session at EGX 2018

[Infinitron]

Tags: Disco Elysium; Robert Kurvitz; ZA/UM

As we reported last week, the guys from ZA/UM took Disco Elysium to the annual EGX conference in Birmingham this weekend. Since the team relocated from Estonia to the UK, Disco Elysium become quite popular with the British games journalism literati. I'll assume that explains the rather flattering title of the developer session that lead designer Robert Kurvitz and co-writer Argo Tuulik participated in yesterday. The session is hard to summarize, but basically they talked about the game and its inspirations - personal, cultural and political. There was much discussion of its unique skill system, in which skills are autonomous beings that talk to the player. Robert considers this an important evolution of the roleplaying genre, and essential to making character development feel like it matters.

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The discussion is about 28 minutes long with another 10 minutes of Q&A. Robert's answer to the final question from the audience regarding the game's art direction is pretty cool. Once again, however, there's no gameplay footage in sight. Maybe they're saving it for Christmas?

 

[Haba]

Oh wow, second main page newspost. You guys really have Infinitron in your pocket. What is your secret, how did you break the hardened Mossad newsjew?

 

[Jenkem]

the framerate is disgusting in that trailer they showed



I guess that is what happens when you hire some students to cobble together something that doesn't exist

 

[Glaucon]

Stop posting this Eurofag's Zizek-lite, pop-radical, hipster garbage.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

No idea how the game will turn out, but I liked the interview. It sounded less cliche and stale than most (with Obsidian/Larian/etc). Sounds like they have some new ideas and approaches, which is a good thing.

 

[Destroid]

Do they say why they moved to UK? Much cheaper to make games in Estonia.

 

[Kasparov]

Do they say why they moved to UK? Much cheaper to make games in Estonia.

Once you consider the cost of relocating talent to the fringes of civilization, you’ll reconsider that statement. If you squint your eyes very hard, “fringes” might begin to spell “frontier”.

 

[Fenix]

Oh wow, second main page newspost. You guys really have Infinitron in your pocket. What is your secret, how did you break the hardened Mossad newsjew?

Judaism!

 

[CappenVarra]

Do they say why they moved to UK? Much cheaper to make games in Estonia.

Once you consider the cost of relocating talent to the fringes of civilization, you’ll reconsider that statement. If you squint your eyes very hard, “fringes” might begin to spell “frontier”.

On the other blimey hand, If you drink enough ale "UK" might begin to spell "ale"...

 

[Van-d-all]

Hmm, moving to UK might have a negative impact on the whole post-commie agenda. Especially as I'm genuinely intrigued to see the work coming from my neighboring eastern block country devs. But then again, it's UK we're talking about.

 

[Fenix]

I'm absolutely sceptical about cases when someone get life experience in one place that made him a good writer or dunno - director, and then moved from that place to another, and stayed same good writer or anyone else.
Usually there people suddenly run out of talent and ends with nothing.

 

[Prime Junta]

I have it on good authority that they were invited by Jeremy Corbyn personally to assist in the agitprop effort of the coming world revolution slated to start March 19 of next year.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

I have it on good authority that they were invited by Jeremy Corbyn personally to assist in the agitprop effort of the coming world revolution slated to start March 19 of next year.

Fuck, I have to get ready for my cousin’s wedding that week—the revolution will have to wait. Can you pass on a request to reschedule? I’m sure we can find a mutually agreeable time slot if we work together. Believe me, upstaging my cousin at her wedding would be a bad start. She’s terrifying. The last thing we need is to drive her into the arms of the counterrevolution.

 

[Prime Junta]

I have it on good authority that they were invited by Jeremy Corbyn personally to assist in the agitprop effort of the coming world revolution slated to start March 19 of next year.

Fuck, I have to get ready for my cousin’s wedding that week—the revolution will have to wait. Can you pass on a request to reschedule? I’m sure we can find a mutually agreeable time slot if we work together. Believe me, upstaging my cousin at her wedding would be a bad start. She’s terrifying. The last thing we need is to drive her into the arms of the counterrevolution.

Typo. I meant March 29. We're all good.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Russian devs like Zaum seem to get a lot of press at Codex.

So they're in UK - what next, a visit to cathedral?

 

[Kasparov]

Russian devs like Zaum seem to get a lot of press at Codex.

So they're in UK - what next, a visit to cathedral?

We did just see the Pope himself roll by past our writers’ room window.

 

[Van-d-all]

Russian devs like Zaum seem to get a lot of press at Codex.

So they're in UK - what next, a visit to cathedral?

We did just see the Pope himself roll by past our writers’ room window.

According to my state's propaganda popes other than JP2 don't count...

 

[Forest Dweller]

Watch out for muslims Kasparov.

 

[Fenix]

Kev Inkline I mean - that person has grown as person there and in these curcumstances. He is he because of that place, that time and that circle of people, that forming his life's experience.
And then this persone achieved success in something, and moved to another place, in pursuit of glory or something like that.
But it was this place that fueled his talent, not the other.
Usually, when people break away from their roots, all their talent is gone.
That's what I feaf about actually.
Kasparov