Sasha Darko interview about The Last Dogma by Andrew Ehrensperger
June 26, 2015, GameStakers.com
Original page: https://www.gamestakers.com/interviews/sasha-darko/
What was your inspiration for making The Last Dogma?
There were no inspirations, for the most part I devised the plot on my own. Some plot elements, however, were influenced by movies Red State (ATF agent enters territory of a religious cult), Southland Tales (TV-style introduction, worldwide madness) and Cabin In The Woods (underground base under a cabin).
Seeing that there are a few fantasy elements, did this give you creative freedom with certain aspects of the game such as the design of the weapons and vehicles?
Writing a plot not entirely based on an alternate reality allows you to make a story however you wish. Tell me more about “Holy Intentions”, the cannibalistic Christian cult. Most of totalitarian sects in the world exist for money profit or/and orgies. In third world countries they go as far as killing and kidnapping people for money. “Holy Intentions” is one of the latter, but with a huge financial support. As others do, they explain bible texts as they wish and then feed the result to the people to believe, to bring everything they have to the sect. Cannibalistic aspect is not that literal though – it’s there to show that “people eat people”, especially when it comes to religion.
Why did you choose to set the game in 1999?
1999 was a year before Millennium, last year of the century and the last year of 1990s. While some countries were hoping for changes, for some it was an end of an epoch. 1999 in The Last Dogma is the last year for humanity as the whole.
What tips can you give aspiring game developers about designing a plotline with more than one ending?
You better write just one ending.