Three Questions With Jurassic Park Designer Mark Darin

TelltaleGames

We revealed the first trailer for Jurassic Park last week and opened up pre-orders for the game that's been "65 million years in the making" so I figure it's time to start bringing in some folks working on the game in for the "Three Questions" series. 

I had a chance to sneak four questions in to Jurassic Park designer Mark Darin recently, and here's what he had to say!

Q: What has been your favorite part of working in the world of Jurassic Park?

Mark Darin: I've really been enjoying exploring the lives of these characters who have been left behind on the island and those who have been sent in to get them. For the most part, these are just regular folks; not scientists or dinosaur experts. But I think my favorite part so far has been imagining what the other areas of the park are like. In the movie, we only got to see a few areas and I've always wondered, "what other attractions did they have planned?" Well now we get to answer some of those questions!

Q: Was Nedry's missing Barbasol can always the crux of the Jurassic Park story you and the team have been crafting? What led you to that story thread?

Mark Darin: The Barbasol can with the stolen embryos was at the top of the list from day one. It's an iconic piece of the film and seemed like bit of a loose end. It just seemed fun to follow that thread just a little longer to see what would have happened next! We tossed around a lot of ideas in the initial pitch meetings, with some ideas being better than others! One pitch that didn't make it dealt with smugglers capturing civilian boaters and forcing them onto the island to collect trapped dinos which were then sold to the black market as commodities - food, skin, horns, etc. Think Blood Diamond, but with dinosaurs!

Q: What, to you, are key elements of a story told in the Jurassic Park universe?

Mark Darin: For me, two key elements common in every Jurassic Park Story are respect (and conversely a lack thereof) for the dinosaurs, and the exploration of the bonds that make a family. A Jurassic Park story is about people and how they come together to face forces of nature that are much bigger them them, in this case literally.

Thanks for your time Mark. I rather like ichthyosaurs myself; he was my favorite character on the cartoon from the late 80s, Dinosaucers. 

What are some questions (that would realistically get answered) that you'd like to ask folks from the Jurassic Park team? Let's hear it in the comments.