Mark Darin Interview

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This interview was held by Rick123Axel.
Mark Darin wrote Episode 2 of Season 1 in the Telltale Walking Dead Game, Mark also co-wrote the 400 Days DLC
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Did you make the key decisions of that episode such as the cannibalism, the introduction of Ben the introductions and deaths of Travis, David, Jolene and Mark and the death of Larry?
We generally have the leads of the project (Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin, Me, Chuck Jordan, and others) sitting in a room coming up with these things together.  It's almost never just one persons ideas that make it into the game.  In the end, it's really hard to know who came up with what idea because we are all building off each others ideas.
Which of the new characters did you enjoy writing for most?
Travis was fun because he was a "Know it all" idiot. My all time favorite Walking Dead character to write was Larry.
How did you get to be a co-writer of 400 Days and writer of Starved for Help?
I've been a writer and designer here at Telltale for about 8 years now, so thats just part of my job!
Are you aloud to share any cut or deleted scenes?
I can talk about some of them...But there is a lot that changes over the course of writing/designing an episode. I do remember that at one point, when Danny is in the barn and You and kenny are hiding, there was going to be a long stealth sequence where you were supposed to go from stall to stall hiding from Danny as he tries to hunt you down.  You were supposed to find the Bear Trap yourself, Set it and try to get him to step into it. It turned out to be too complicated and confusing so it wasnt actually fun to play.  We eventually got to the sequence thats in the game now.
Did you watch the show or read the graphic novel prior to you writing the episode?
Sometimes. The thing about the show and the comic is that they often bring up really interesting moral deliema's and you get to see how Rick deals with them, so I sometimes bring those same deliemas into the game so that we can ask " How would YOU deal with it? In 400 Days, Shel's story about the captured stranger, I was inspired by the TV when Rick and Hershel brought the bandit kid back to the farm.  I modeled Boyd after Dale.
Volume 11 Fear The Hunters was focused on cannibalism was this volume focused on for some ideas and inspiration maybe more than others?
Actually, not really.  We came up with our idea separately from that storyline, although we were all familiar with it.
What was it like to work with Dave Fennoy and all the other amazing voice actors in the Game?
Working with the actors is one of my favorite parts.  They are almost always fascinating people and so much fun to hang out with. I've become pretty good friends with so many of them.
What was your reaction to hearing that The Walking Dead had won the Game of the Year award at Spike VGAs as well as the huge success of the Game in general? Did you ever expect it to become so successful?
I was excited and surprised.  Sometime when you have been working on something for so long it becomes hard to tell if anyone is actually gonna like it.
Did the cast and crew do anything special after the Game was finished?
We had a party, but we have parties after every episode release too...I dont think we did anything super extra special... We are always focused on the next episode of whatever we are working on.
Are you currently working on anything interesting that you can reveal?
All I'm working on right now is more Walking Dead!
Thank you again on behalf of the entire wiki! We appreciate it very much!
Sure thing.
Category:Interviews