14 DAY TRIAL // Telltale Games, the developer of The Walking Dead adventure game series, has shared some insight into the creation process for the first episode of Season 2, confirming that it was a real challenge to make Clementine, a young little girl, the main protagonist, after spending Season 1 with Lee, a full grown man.
The Walking Dead Season 1 amazed millions of gamers from around the world with a touching story filled with tough choices that further fleshed out the universe created by the comic books written by Robert Kirkman.
While Season 1 focused on the story of Lee, a full grown man trying to make sense of the zombie infestation in its early days, Season 2 actually focuses on Clementine, a young little girl that's already been through plenty of tough adventures and is just looking for shelter.
This change in protagonists was a real challenge for developer Telltale Games, according to its SXSW panel, via Polygon.
"In hindsight, if you made a list of the most challenging things we could do — it was like, in Season One you played a college professor, smart, capable, physically fit and now in Season Two, you play a little girl," Telltale's Kevin Bruner said.
Clementine being a little girl automatically made some situations unfeasible, but Telltale tried hard to craft sequences where she could prove her skills and abilities.
"The whole challenge is you're playing as a character who was an NPC before, the way the world treats her is very, very different. As a little girl you walk into a conversation about zombies attacking, pretty much nobody wants to know what the little girl wants to do. Crafting situations where Clementine is really empowered and important in a way that makes sense was really challenging."
In order to overcome the initial feeling of seeing Clementine as the protagonist, Telltale was forced to make some sudden changes in the beginning of the first episode of season 2, thereby allowing players to quickly forge a good relationship with her. Be wary, however, as Bruner's statements contain spoilers for episode 1.
"When you start with Christa, it's like, 'Oh, fantastic, I know who's taking care of Clementine after season one.' And then immediately, you — because you're the person with the controller — you mess that up. You go, 'Oh, now nobody's taking care of Clementine and that's my fault.' And that's where you have this big period of loneliness, where it's just kind of Clementine and you. The first the thing that Clementine does is establish a relationship with the person holding the controller; it's the first thing the game does."
Episode 2, which was released last week, broke new ground in terms of Clementine's story so it's going to be interesting to see where Telltale takes the new series.