But Ben Gelinas hopes his journalism video game will be both interesting and fun.
Times and Galaxyscheduled for release on June 21 on consoles and PC, puts players in the shoes of a robot trainee for the eponymous publication of “the most reliable holopaper in the solar system.”
Gelinas left high school wanting to become a journalist and studied at the University of Regina. He did his first internship at Edmonton Journal.
After working at two newspapers in southern Ontario, he received a call from an editor at Edmonton Journal asking him if he wanted to return to Alberta.
The job, unfortunately for him, was that of a crime reporter.
“I hated crime reporting so much,” he said. I’m shy at the best of times. As a journalist, I put my hat on (…) but writing about crime was simply the most difficult thing.”
However, he missed Edmonton and it was a permanent job in journalism pretty much right out of school, so he left.
Gelinas spent three years at the Edmonton newspaper covering crime – probably more than 100 homicides, he estimates.
“After a while, I started to get really exhausted,” he said.
He took a break from writing arts articles like concert reviews, but he also missed the adrenaline of breaking news.
One day, Edmonton-based video game studio BioWare called with a job offer it thought would be a good fit.
“They needed someone to take their fantastic story into the series Dragon Age and turn it into something internally referenceable” – like Wikipedia, he said.
It was a six-month contract offer.
Gelinas, then in his 20s, was faced with a choice: keep his permanent journalism job or take a potentially temporary job in an industry he always loved.
“I took the risk and never looked back,” he says, before correcting himself. “Well, sometimes I look back. Times and Galaxy, that’s looking back, isn’t it? And I miss it, but I’m not a journalist anymore. I’m a game developer.”
“It’s so weird. I’ve been doing this for so long and I still feel like an imposter.”
Journalism, an asset
His background in journalism was an asset in his budding career in video game development, as it brought new ideas and perspectives. His contract was eventually made permanent.
“I brought a lot of stories – not specific – but realism into this game that we were creating,” he emphasized.
When his wife got a job in Toronto, Gelinas left BioWare and returned East. Eager to expand his skills beyond writing and editing, Gelinas connected with the local community of independent developers and created Speed Dating for Ghostsbilled as a “wholesome horror game.”
After working under contract, notably writing for Control from Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment and Gotham Knights from WB Games Montreal, Gelinas eventually returned to Edmonton, where his wife is a journalist.
Times and Galaxyhis first major project, took years to complete with the help of a group of creatives he had met over the years in Edmonton and beyond.
“We’re a bunch of weirdos from across Canada and one person from New Jersey making this game.”
Learn “with your feet in the water”
Weirdness is everywhere Times and Galaxya comedic adventure game in which the player, as Reporterbotis sent to cover all sorts of stories, including intersolar cat shows and space ghost funerals.
The game features 2D characters in 3D environments, like the Nintendo series Paper Mario.
In a first mission, Reporterbot is sent to a shuttle accident on a barren planet. Our intrepid intern is greeted by a Policebot, which offers a technically correct explanation: “There was an incident. This incident is currently under investigation.”
After further questioning, the Policebot becomes slightly more specific: “A shuttle hit a rock-like object.” The reporter is then told to speak with police relations officers.
It’s up to the player to question witnesses, authorities or experts on site to gather information, then build a story.
Gelinas says the players have “first-hand” experience with the types of challenges journalists face when gathering news.
One of his favorite activities as a journalist, he said, was trying to capture what he learned and write a story that was both accurate and worth reading.
“I’m trying to make it a video game, with aliens and robots,” he said.
