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At the outset, our titular also-ran has no idea what separates him from the sunglasses people.

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The idea is likeRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, he explains.

You take the most minor, insignificant character and you make the story about him.

As a result, he needs to have a fascinating world around him.

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Video games are so informed by movies.

Theyre so cinematic and narrative-driven, but now movies are equally inspired by video games, says Tobman.

It has really believable characters that have multiple journeys that it’s possible for you to go on.

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And none of them are right or wrong.

He literally has a certain amount of gigabytes to economize for a backstory that isnt important.

How does one design an environment for that?

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The answer was found in the tiniest details: Guys front door has five deadbolts but no knobs.

A calendar on the wall is missing a day of the week.

In his pantry only cereal and a single spoon.

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All of these are Easter eggs, he says.

But that gives you the sense that this persons life doesnt matter.

Weve all felt like cogs in the machine that are trying to figure a way out.

But maybe were not destined for greatness.

And that was my way in as the foundation to designing a world.

She urges him to go from zero to hero by leveling up or defeating other players.

It raised certain questions for the filmmakers: How does Guy level up?

How does he fight?

What tools does he use to fight?

And what are his movements [versus] all of the amazing background characters?

And once those rules were established, he knew exactly when to break them sometimes using practical design.

The stash house is enormous but the idea is, it bends the laws of physics, he says.

From the outside, you are entering a small space.

And once youre inside, its the size of a football field.

Thats the joy of a video game.

It doesnt have to follow the rules of gravity or geography.

Meaning there is a glut of blink-and-you-missed-them in-jokes taking place in the periphery of the action-upon-action scenes.

So we had an extra who did that, says Tobman.

Like, squatting up and down on someones head, which is a really common move in video games.

When theyre escaping down the narrowing avenue, the drawbridge comes up from the highway to help them escape.

And beneath that road, theres sky, he explains.

Because you dont develop crust magma in a video game.

Why would you develop anything thats not on camera?

You would put a flat road in floating sky.

Its like inThe Truman Show: You look behind the curtain and theres nothing there.

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