David Cage on Heavy Rain storytelling

By Robert Purchese Published 25 July, 2008

How it differs to Uncharted, which he admires.

Quantic Dream founder David Cage reckons that Heavy Rain's storytelling makes Uncharted: Drake's Fortune look like a porn movie.

"The big difference between Uncharted and what we're doing [in Heavy Rain] is that Uncharted was still structured like a videogame," Cage, whose studio developed Fahrenheit and is currently working on PS3-exclusive Heavy Rain, told Gamasutra.

"It gives you a bit of story, then action, then a bit of story, then action - like porn movies, when you think about it," he elaborated. "Porn movies are structured in exactly the same way, except that the action is not the same! Most videogames are done like that.

"It's one thing to do a great cut-scene, even if it's real time. It's another thing to try to tell the story as you play, so the story's not told through cut-scenes, it's told through gameplay. So you don't need acting performance in cut-scenes. You need interactive performance," he said.

Cage went on to discuss videogame content and its penchant for catering towards teenagers simply because, he argues, they were responsible for inventing the medium.

He would like to see more deep and meaningful content for adults, and to break away from conventional hero characters, which is something he's keen to do in Heavy Rain.

"I write something very dark with things, that as far as I know, are serious and have never been used in games," he said. "It's a real story with some very personal things in it, and I hope all this will come through and people will feel that the story is pretty good."

Cage stopped short of adding further details about Heavy Rain, but said he was pleased to be focusing all of his talent on getting the most out of one platform.

We've still seen nothing of the film noir-style thriller since a technical casting demo at E3 2006.

Cage had much more to say to Gamasutra in the full interview.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Erinan #1 4 years ago

    Ha, the tagline makes me rethink what "Uncharted" could mean.

  • andywilkie35 #2 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit was brilliant i thought, so hopefully Heavy Rain will be too....maybe my PS3 does have a reason to exist after all

  • Psychotext #3 4 years ago

    What the hell?

  • coojam #4 4 years ago

    Hehe I like the analogy. Except, generally, the dialogue in porn films is better.

  • CrunchinJelly #5 4 years ago

    Omikron: Disappointing
    Fahrenheit: Disappointing

    Let's see how this one turns out.

  • Metalfish #6 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit seemed like wanky toss with Simon-says interaction instead of any real gameplay*. Though I kinda respect this man's intentions; I hope it isn't as pretentious as their last game was.

    *Not that I played a whole lot of it myself, mind.

  • Gradius #7 4 years ago

    Well, tbh, considering the completely dodgy porn scene in Fahrenheit, I'd say this guy has porn on the brain...

  • jaywalker3010 Verified Mastering Manager, Square Enix #8 4 years ago

    Ahh the french and porn :)

  • el_pollo_diablo #9 4 years ago

    Uncharted: Right Up Drake's Fortune Cookie

  • NewbieZilla #10 4 years ago

    I believe this is the only PS3 exclusive I care about. Not that this would be enough to make me buy a PS3. Lucky I know people who have PS3s anyway.

  • FirewalkR #11 4 years ago

    Haha Eurogamer, stirring up shit aren't we? Nice headline!

    I'm starting to see people coming in to defend Uncharted. It doesn't need it, Cage praises the game in the article. Do read it before you comment.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 17:19

  • Genji #12 4 years ago

    Story, then action, story, then action. Sounds like... oh, I don't know... an action movie.

  • bluefunkzero #13 4 years ago

    ... and Fahrenhiet

  • ZuluHero #14 4 years ago

    What's the connection between the two games? I'm i being a bit thick?

    Or did they just have a big hat with names in and David Cage QTEed a name out of it?

  • darrenb #15 4 years ago

    "Uncharted was still structured like a videogame"

    Funny that considering that is exactly what it is supposed to be... If I dont want to PLAY a VIDEOGAME I'll rent a DVD!!!

    Oh, I have never even played Uncharted, I'm thinking about games in general.. The day producers/developers start thinking of games as anything else is the day I'll switch the machine off.

  • whatsthecoo #16 4 years ago

    NewbieZilla "I believe this is the only PS3 exclusive I care about."

    The main reason I bought a PS3 is for Team Ico's 3rd game. That is my most anticipated title, period. Heavy Rain does look good though. I thought Fahrenheit started well but the last third just went completely down the crapper. More down to earth dialogue, less aliens & wire fu next time please...

  • Santino #17 4 years ago

    does he mean like half life has been doing it for a decade? or something different?

  • Lamb #18 4 years ago

    Clearly he has been watching too many porn movies and felt the need to share!

  • Scimarad #19 4 years ago

    Yeah, but Uncharted was a great game - That's more than can be said for Fahrenheit. IMO, of course.

  • Waldo #20 4 years ago

    And when it wasn't ripping off The Matrix, the plot of Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy made The X-Files look like Masterpiece Theatre.

    GET READY!!

  • Redeye #21 4 years ago

    Mmm, porn...sorry, what were we talking about?

  • FenderMaster #22 4 years ago

    I know everyone hates it, but thats one thing Kane & Lynch did really well, and deserves more credit for, it really told the story through the gameplay, especially in co-op where 1 player starts freaking out as Lynch in the bank and killing hostages

  • Freek #23 4 years ago

    Is it possible for developers to promote their own games without sounding like a bunch of arogant dicks and/or slagging off other highly aclaimed enjoyable titles??

  • septimus #24 4 years ago

    He has jinxed this now. It's going to be shit.

  • Agent_Llama #25 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit was one of gaming's greatest let-downs. The stupid (and unforgiveable over the final boss fight) QTE's, the horrific sex scene, and the most ill-conceived and painful stealth section in a game ever.

  • UncleLou #26 4 years ago

    Gamers sure are an over-sensitive, whiney bunch.

  • drumbaby #27 4 years ago

    If this turns out even half as fun as Uncharted (or porn) I'll eat my hat.

  • cw- #28 4 years ago

    The link to the 2006 E3 is broken.

  • Darren #29 4 years ago

    I thought Omikron on the DC was a really ambitious and intriguing game for its time but it wasn't without its issues. I never played Fahrenheit beyond the short demo but that didn't compel me to buy the full game so in that respect the demo was a failure. Heavy Rain could be a brilliant cinematic experience... or it could be embarassing. Remember Haze's claims about it having a great story, etc.? Look how that turned out... ;)

  • Miths #30 4 years ago

    "Clearly he has been watching too many porn movies and felt the need to share!"

    Actually I was about to suggest that he can't have watched a whole lot of porn since the 80s or early 90s, seeing as there's (fortunately) zero "story" and nothing but action in around 99 out of a hundred porn movies produced these days :).

  • smelly #31 4 years ago

    >Except, generally, the dialogue in porn films is better.

    * And acting..

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #32 4 years ago

    Could be a great game. I wait 'till it's out to see if I'm jealous or not.

    Fahrenheit was an average game that showed the potential for brilliance. Should have copied Shenmue more. ;)

    And whoever mentioned the tedious stealth part... +10

    ...and what's the point of having QTE's when the QTE's are so quick and tricky that you can't actually watch the action!

  • Zaltan #33 4 years ago

    Gonzo FTW, porn with a story line is pontless.

  • chris_ace #34 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #35 4 years ago

    Well we have to make it a little dramatic, cough. The interview on Gamasutra is long, but a very good read. He seems like nice bloke, that Cage.

  • ZombiZtyle #36 4 years ago

    I was waggling my joystick while playing Uncharted anyway :p

  • Prodigy_BE #37 4 years ago

    @ Coojam

    Really?
    Having a background in scriptwriting, I thought Uncharted was one of the few examples of storytelling structure and dialogue that was on par with a good feature film. Way better than all that "I'm the hero of this story, I can take on any opponent and no trap or event can get me out of ballance" kinda crap we get in most other games.

    That Cage dude is one of the few guys in this biz who can look down upon Uncharted, because Fahrenheit was a real masterpiece, AND kind of a milestone story-structure wise (in the way that you had a limited amount of time to choose a dialog option, and you could go back and try the other ones).

    Really, REALLY looking forward to Heavy Rain, by the way.

  • Ryze #38 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit started EXTREMELY well - then turned into button bashing and Simon says bollocks.

    I'm VERY curious to see how this one turns out. If it's 8/10 or better then it will be a great purchase to accompany my PS3 in 2010 with God of War III and Shadow of the / ICO 3.

    edit: Oh no - Fahrenheit's stealth as well. What a load of bullcrap. Then there's the character and camera control...

    Potential for greatness...
    Edited by 1 at 26/07/08 @ 11:16

  • Orange #39 4 years ago

    The first half of Fahrenheit was great.

  • Stuz359 #40 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit was a flawed but useful game. In terms of narrative and story it is still one of the best games in attempting to capture a deeper and more dramatic story in a videogame. However, it failed because it attempted stupid hoorible hollywood tricks and an awful second half of the game. But if they had continued the second half of the story like they did in the first half it would have been truely exceptional, not just as a videogame but as a piece of narrative storytelling.
    This to me is more what I would consider a mature videogame, not gore and gratuitous sex, but a genuine attempt to engage the player in a great story and even try to move the player in some way, to genuinely care about the characters and the situations involved in the game.
    Very few titles have achieved this and hopefully Heavy Rain can come close.
    I don't get the Uncharted reference because what he said about that could be said of hundreds of games.

  • Rash' #41 4 years ago

    "He would like to see more deep and meaningful content for adults, and to break away from conventional hero characters, which is something he's keen to do in Heavy Rain."

    +1

    The tech demo was very promising. This game continues to intrigue.

  • holydrone #42 4 years ago

    True Interactive Narrative is an academic holy grail. I've studied this area in some depth and his comments about the "porno structure" ring very true. I sat with a scriptwriter from Broken Sword and we had a non-starter conversation about the storytelling process in games, in which I put forward the notion of "granular nodes" in games narrative. But that was dismissed as impossible to incorporate into the current work flow models. Like a lot of games script writers, he really wanted to write for film and TV.

    It seems that the most elegant narratives in games are fairly abstract (such as the the sequence of events in a game of Tetris) and storytelling should be built from that (admittedly weird) basis. Basing story structure on linear fiction will only ever result in stop/start, QTE and fuck/talk style nodes and "Interactive storytelling", as is described here, should be left to the universities.

    Only a game engine with human-like consciousness will be able to generate truly reactive stories, so, until that time, games makers should just concentrate on engaging interface design and stop aspiring to the Hollywood model.
    Edited by 2 at 27/07/08 @ 10:03

  • Retroid #43 4 years ago

    Porn films. Or action films in general

    /Joey

  • guernican #44 4 years ago

    He makes an interesting point. Of course, Fahrenheit was so successful in telling the story throughout the game that I hardly noticed any actual gameplay. Sort of the world's longest RTE. I wonder if that was the effect they were aiming for?

  • Dizzy #45 4 years ago

    So it will all be quick-time events?

  • wattoo #46 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit's Demo is why I bought Fahrenheit.

    More fool me.

    Like metalfish said. it's all QTE and I did finish it and that is all there was.

    How can this guy be so full of himself after that?

    It was a joke.

    I'll be buying Uncharted before I buy another Quantic Dream game.

  • PlugMonkey #47 4 years ago

    Fahrenheit started EXTREMELY well - then turned into button bashing and Simon says bollocks.

    Indeed. I was really enjoying the branching puzzle idea at the start, but that seemed to begin and end in the diner at the beginning. From there the Simon Says QTEs took over, the character stereotypes started seriously grating and the plot went to complete bollocks. By the time I got to the end, I had never hated a game so much.

    And as for the final 'plot twist':
    It's an artificial intelligence that became self aware on the 'net back in the 80's!

    I can't even begin to describe the number of things that are fundamentally wrong with that statement.

    And she f***s a dead guy!

    David Cage games: Approach with extreme caution.

    Edit: Got my spoiler tags wrong. :(
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/08 @ 10:24