Paradox subsidiary White Wolf has cut a deal with interactive audio drama producer Earplay that will see Earplay’s Dave Grossman working with game writer Richard Dansky to create a full-length “interactive audio experience” set in White Wolf’s World of Darkness.
That’s a notable mix of talent, since both Dansky and Grossman are longtime game writers and designers; the former most recently wrote for Ubisoft’s The Division, while Grossman is well-known as a writer and designer of games like Day of the Tentacle and The Secret of Monkey Island.
Game devs should also note that we’re basically talking about audio-based choose-your-own-adventure games here. Earplay has already released one such game, Codename Cygnus, which it Kickstarted back in 2013 when it was still known as Reactive Studios.
Since then Reactive hired Grossman, became Earplay, and expanded its focus from iOS to also encompass Amazon’s Alexa-powered family of voice-controlled, Internet-connected speakers.
White Wolf, which Paradox bought from CCP Games last year, was for the better part of its life a publisher of tabletop roleplaying games that together comprised a “World of Darkness” universe. Dansky, who has writing credits on everything from Dark Messiah of Might & Magic to Driver: San Francisco, was himself a writer and designer on several White Wolf tabletop games, including one revolving around spirits called Wraith: The Oblivion.
Thus, it’s fitting that in order to promote the upcoming World of Darkness “audio experience” Earplay plans to put out a free teaser, The Orpheus Device (slated to release by All Hallow’s Eve), in which players will speak with a “malevolent Wraith” via their Alexa-enabled device.
