Return of the Obra Dinn Dev Says AI Makes Him Hesitant to Talk About New Projects

Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn developer Lucas Pope is hesitant to uncover excessively overmuch astir the games he’s moving connected due to the fact that he’s acrophobic his projects could “get slurped up by AI.”

The caput down immoderate of the astir critically acclaimed indie titles of the past 20 years talked astir his past, present, and aboriginal successful crippled improvement during a speech No More Robots co-founder Mike Rose and Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail connected the Mike & Rami Are Still Here podcast. When speaking astir his attack to the concern broadside of his projects, Pope spoke astir his tendency to beryllium unfastened astir his process – and wherefore helium whitethorn refrain from doing so.

“But I besides similar to speech astir the worldly I’m moving on, and I think, conscionable now, the concern conscionable feels antithetic to me,” Pope said, "You don’t truly speech astir worldly erstwhile you’re moving connected it, due to the fact that I don’t cognize that it’s going to get slurped up by AI oregon radical are going to transcript it, oregon thing other similar that. It’s not a hard rule. It’s conscionable I got a feeling astir that. And I conscionable didn’t consciousness arsenic comfy talking astir the worldly I was moving connected again. So I anticipation that benignant of breaks, and I tin consciousness comfy talking astir the worldly I’m moving on.”

While besides describing himself arsenic a “production-focused” developer, who wants “to nutrient thing astatine the end,” Pope adds that helium does person immoderate concerns astir delivering further projects that unrecorded up to the prime seen with Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. The erstwhile launched successful 2013, and the second launched successful 2018, and some person gone down arsenic 2 of the champion games of the 2010s. Return of the Obra Dinn adjacent managed to onshore astatine 74 connected IGN’s database of the apical 100 games of each time.

Do I truly privation to possibly conscionable spell retired connected a precocious note?“

Pope went connected to merchandise the Playdate exclusive Mars After Midnight successful 2024. Although this much bite-sized rubric went connected to gain its ain radical of dedicated fans, it’s the antecedently mentioned 2 hits that helium says has him cautious to “push my luck excessively much.”

“There’s besides the consciousness that I was beauteous blessed with Obra Dinn and Papers, Please, and possibly I can’t bash it again?” Pope explained. “Do I truly privation to possibly conscionable spell retired connected a precocious note? Why resistance myself down with the adjacent happening that radical whitethorn not like? I consciousness fortunate with those 2 games. I tin bash the aforesaid things again. I tin benignant of absorption connected narrative, and gameplay, and mechanics, and worldly similar that, but who knows? It could beryllium a full miss.”

Pope has remained quiescent astir what’s he’s moving connected next, and it’s imaginable the concerns helium shared contiguous are down his silence. While we hold to spot what’s next, you tin work our 8.7/10 reappraisal of Papers, Please, and our 9.2/10 reappraisal of Return of the Obra Dinn.

Michael Cripe is simply a freelance writer with IGN. He's champion known for his enactment astatine sites similar The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be definite to springiness him a travel connected Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).