Creative Director Kent Mudle answering fan questions on Tumblr
Creative Director Kent Mudle is answering questions on tumblr here and it's pretty interesting stuff. Especially his thoughts on Marlon and AJ. Nothing spoilery I think, except small hints.
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Compiled most of them here below. I'll post the rest after the Q&A ends.
QUESTION: Hi Telltale sorry to bother you guys. Hope everyone at Telltale is doing fantastic. I have a few questions regarding Episode 1. Please ignore the ones you can't answer and apologies if these are too direct 1. Why did AJ shoot Marlon? Marlon seemed to be surrendering and showed remorse for his past actions regarding Sophie and Minerva. What caused AJ to shoot him? 2. How will the Boarding School react to AJ shooting Marlon? 3. Can you please let Clementine survive The Final Season? Please? ?
ANSWER: 1. AJ saw Marlon as a threat. He’s lived his whole life alone with Clem, on the road, just them and the undead. To him, the only way they’ve ever dealt with threats is to kill them. It’s how they’ve stayed alive so long. Marlon attacked AJ, tried to kill Clem with a gun, blamed Clem for a murder she didn’t commit. In AJ’s mind Marlon was another monster, like the many they’ve killed before with a shot to the head. Even though Marlon was defeated, AJ doesn’t think that far into the future. He’s too young and has been raised to survive a harsh world where killing means survival, where threats don’t get second chances. That’s just how AJ saw it. He’s not like the rest of the kids, since he never knew a world before monsters.
2. You’ll have to wait for the next episode!
3. No spoilers
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QUESTION: What and/or how was it like developing clementine? Also, I want to say I'm proud of every person in telltale and you guys have always done a phenomenal job. Thank you ?
ANSWER: I was only a cinematographer in the first season, but I can speak to developing Clementine for the Final Season. We wanted from the start to show that Clem has now lived in this world for long enough that she’s a very strong survivor. She knows the tricks, the common mistakes, and how to stay alive in any walker related scenario. She’s absorbed all the lessons taught to her by Lee and Kenny and others and because of it she’s kept herself alive. But we wanted to soften that hard exterior with having her be responsible for AJ. She’s at the same time kind and mother/big sister-ly, but also willing to be real and teach harsh lessons to keep AJ alive. I think this set up really lets us see all side of Clem and how far she’s come since being a little girl when walkers first appeared and Lee had to protect her.
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QUESTION: What is YOUR personal opinion about Marlon ?
ANSWER: Marlon is a really interesting character to me. I think he’s essentially a kid that had to step into a really hard role. When the adults abandoned everyone at Ericson, he had to rise to the occasion to keep as many of the kids safe as he possibly could. He approached this by being almost overly cautious, installing safe zones and giving everyone strict tasks to keep their little society alive. He’s had to deal with a lot of pressure. Along the way, as bad stuff kept happing and more kids kept dying, his response as leader was basically to turtle up. Keep pulling back the safe zone so that more kids stay safe.
When the most horrible thing happened and they met raiders, he was faced with a horrible choice, and caved under the pressure. All of this is understandable, but due to his ego as leader, he decided to keep the incident a secret. This was his biggest mistake, as the pressure it put on him and Brody just made things worse and worse, and his fear and unwillingness to trust others with his problems made the food situation worse for all the kids.
I don’t think Marlon is an outright villain. He’s a kid thrust into a role of leadership he was never ready for, and the pressures of it caused him to make a series of bad choices that ultimately led to his end. I think it’s up to the player to decide whether his death was ‘deserved’ but he was absolutely his own worst enemy in the end.
I also just think he’s a fantastically complex character, and I love seeing the many varied responses to him from players. I feel like he’s one that we’ll remember for a long time.
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QUESTION: Will we learn more about Marlon and Louis friendship? And will we finally get a answer for why the Garcia’s weren’t here???
ANSWER: There is more to hear about Louis and Marlon’s friendship in the next episode.
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QUESTION: Favorite line from episode 1? Thanks for such a great start to the last season
ANSWER: It’s a little nuts, but I love when Clem says ‘Then you better bury me deep, because if I come back I’m coming for YOU FIRST.” God, what a badass
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QUESTION: Hello there! Just wondering, how come there wasn't a next time/episode 2 preview at the end of episode 1 of the final season? Was there a reason for it or did you want to keep what's going to happen in episode 2 a surprise?
ANSWER: Complete transparency here, those Next Time Ons were truly awful to produce. We usually only have some of the assets ready from the following episode (characters, environments, voice lines) for the next one when we’re finishing the first, and the creative process is active enough that it was very hard to be totally accurate when writing these. I’m sure fans in the past noticed things happening in the next time ons that weren’t in the final product when the episode finally came out. Making them was an almost thankless task that we still had to devote time and resources to.
Also artistically, I think the ends of each of these episodes give you more than enough to be excited and speculate about in the wait between releases. And yes, I’d prefer not to spoil any of the very exciting stuff that’s coming
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QUESTION: REAL QUESTION—are you for Violet or Louis?
ANSWER: I honestly can’t choose. They’re both great characters and have fantastic chemistry with Clem. I know this feels like a cop out, but having been part of the process in creating them, I love all my zombie survivor children equally.
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QUESTION: can I get uhhhhh some clementine x Naruto?
ANSWER: This is not my Ninja Way
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QUESTION: Why wasn't Marlon determinant based off of what we taught AJ? He was such an interesting character I was hoping to see more of him
ANSWER: Marlon’s fate is very important for the arc of the season. It serves to illustrate the capacity that AJ has for violence, and how he thinks having been born into this world after walkers came. I can’t spoil anything further, but knowing that AJ CAN kill might make you think differently about your choices in the rest of the season.
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QUESTION: Is it true that someone from the previous TWD seasons will be back in one of the episodes in the final season?
ANSWER: This is true. But WHO?????
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QUESTION: In episode 1 there were a lot of choices between Louis and violet so I’m guessing they’ll be important characters in future episodes?
ANSWER: Both Louis and Violet are very important characters in this season. You’ll be seeing a lot more of them and learning more about them.
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QUESTION: What was the inspiration to have Clementine and AJ take refuge in an abandoned boarding school with kids only?
ANSWER: The school setting was chosen to give Clem a unique opportunity. We’ve seen her in groups of adults since the start of the series, but never among peers of her own age group. This helps it feel more natural that Clem can have an impact on this community. It also provides a lot of fresh character types that we haven’t seen in the rest of the series as well.
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QUESTION: PLEASE BLESS AJ TO GROW UP INTO An EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY BOI. PRESS F TO BLESS.
ANSWER: AJ and Clem deserve a good blessing, whatever button ends up doing that
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QUESTION: theres a theory that violet and ben are related, are you able to confirm or deny this??
ANSWER: Violet and Ben are not related.
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QUESTION: will we ever get the chance to meet justin, the notorious fucker?? because at this point hes the only character i trust
ANSWER: I mean… how do you think that story he’s famous for ended?
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QUESTION: Will Chairles make it to the end of the season???
ANSWER: Chairles has a solid survival advantage of being made of wood instead of flesh, so I’d say his chances are pretty high.
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QUESTION: What was your favorite part about episode 1?
ANSWER: The opening zombie car attack scene is one of the most amazing things we’ve ever made at Telltale, and I’m a sucker for a good action scene. There’s a lot of great parts, but I’d pick that if I need to pick just one.
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QUESTION: How mad Clem is gonna be after what he did in episode 1 with Marlon
ANSWER: That’s up to the player.
QUESTION: Why'd you make Marlon out to be an evil person? He was a good kid and he didn't deserve to die.
ANSWER: Marlon’s not evil, but he made a lot of terrible choices. He cracked under the pressure of leadership and got himself into a no-win situation.
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QUESTION: what's louis' skincare routine because he's looking great
ANSWER: Terrible jokes do wonders for your pores.
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QUESTION: Do you feel like Marlon is a straight up antagonist or a just a scared kid? I like how there's a grey area with him
ANSWER: I think he’s a little of both. He was forced into a horrible situation as a young child, and did the best he could, but ultimately the pressure of leadership caused him to make a series of really bad choices. This world is unfair, and Marlon is another person that failed to cope with it.
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QUESTION: Are we going to see more of some of the other kids like Mitch and Aasim have a bigger role in future episodes?
ANSWER: The other members of the cast get plenty of screentime. I really love these kids and I think you’ll all enjoy learning more about them as the season goes on.
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QUESTION: Salutations! Before I ask anything, I just wanted to say I really adore the graphics of season four, there’s something surreal about it. And, I really enjoyed the dialogue in the game too. It just seems pretty realistic. Alright, back to the questions; How do you guys feel about the hate AJ is receiving, I mean, it’s pretty messed up on how people want a kid to die, and how would YOU justify his actions? Would you say AJ and Lily have some similarities? And, is there an aro\ace character?
ANSWER:
I’ve seen negative responses to AJ, and I think people need to understand that AJ is a child with a very strange upbringing. He’s not normal, because the world isn’t normal. He knows that we kill things that threaten us to survive, and he’s not used to being around anyone other than Clem (who isn’t a walker). It makes sense that in a moment of high tension and pain he reverted back to his survivalist ways. Small kids aren’t great at foreseeing the future consequences of their actions, after all.
The premise of the season is also to deal with these issues AJ has. Clem is doing her best to be a good parent, and it won’t be simple to make AJ integrate better into a less wild world, but it’s a noble goal to aim for with their choices.
There’s a lot more to AJ, and I’m excited to see how the response to him will evolve as the season progresses.
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QUESTION: Do you have a favorite School kid that isn’t the main trio? I like Aasim.
ANSWER: Hard to choose, but I really like Ruby. She just feels like a rock you can rely on. She’s tough, but she’s kind and has a good heart deep down. I’m excited for fans to learn more about her.
End of the Q&A!
Kudos to ForClementine for transcribing that! Definitely an interesting read.
Thanks
Kinda' makes it clear their intention with AJ/Marlon was to be more grey area but honestly, they just messed it up because AJ only shoots Marlon after he's given up and no longer has the gun, the same gun AJ picked up and shot him with.
I think I forgot one! And it's a great one as well.
QUESTION: All the TWDG games have dealt with mature topics, but it seems like this one might take a deeper delve into dark matters. How was this issue addressed? How did you handle the trade-off between making a game that's accessible for many, but which covers topics that are difficult to handle? Did you/are you consulting with outside sources to ensure these topics are handled properly? (Forgive me for accusatory tone, the organization of this sort of stuff fascinates me).
ANSWER: We’ve been very careful since the start of the season about the dark matters, especially because we’ve known that it would be about a cast of children. We’re not consulting outside groups, but we frequently ask members of the creative team to get their takes. Communication is very open inside our team, and I trust the level of good taste being used by all involved.
A rule I always follow with violence in TWDG is to never glorify it. This is a hard and horrible world where terrible acts can be needed to stay alive, but it should never come off as ‘cool’ if that makes sense.
tfw no bf to teach you rasengan
Thank you and it's no problem!
The next time on answer was pretty interesting, although its not like they haven't tried to make do in the past. Borderlands used a few methods for it, and Guardians was able to get by it through interview like videos. I could have seen a Clem monologue with illustrations (maybe even done in the style of Tenn's drawings) to tease the events of the next episode.
They didn’t really mess it up. If AJ shot Marlon before he gave up, then Marlon would have been remembered as a full-on villain and AJ a hero. Whilst it’s wrong to want anyone to die, let alone a 5-6 year old, AJ shooting Marlon when he did split the fan base and created the grey area that Telltale intended.
Glad to see they moved on from scenes like this:
(7:20)
Marlon wouldn't have been viewed as a victim at all if AJ shot him during the standoff. AJ would be seen as a hero but Marlon would be seen more as a villain than he already is. They should have had Marlon with his own gun and have it so Clem talks him down, he's handing her his gun, and then AJ shoots him because he thinks Marlon is trying to trick Clem. That'd be really gray. Was AJ right? Was Marlon only trying to get Clem to lower her guard? Or was AJ wrong and Marlon really was surrendering and AJ basically murdered him?
There was a big debate about Carl on the show because he did something very much like that back in season 3 or 4. He told the kid to drop their gun. The kid looked like they were, but they were doing really weirdly slowly so Carl killed him. It created a huge debate for months over whether Carl was justified, if the kid was just trying to get Carl to lower his weapon so he (the other kid) could kill Carl or if Carl was just a trigger happy murderer.
Let's look at it this way, Marlon attacks AJ. He throws him to the ground and steals his gun. This makes AJ very angry. He's not really listening to the conversation between everyone. He just wants his gun back, so when he gets the opportunity he takes it back. But he's still angry AF. So he shoots Marlon. Yes, not a normal reaction to being pushed over, but kids overreact at the best of times. So an angry AJ in a post apocalyptic world has a gun, he gonna shoot that mofo down. And he did.
That's just idiotic. I mean as far as an explanation for why he killed Marlon several minutes after Marlon had dropped the gun and was a blubbering mess. That just makes AJ seem more dangerous and crazy than he already seems.
Nah, it's pretty logical for a kid with the issues he has. Have you seen videos of kids with their siblings when they aren't even angry? They smack them round the heads with baseball bats just because! AJ got thrown to the ground by Marlon, that'd make him mad AF. AJ don't care that he apologised, got sad. Guns are normal to him, as are using them. Give an angry kid a gun and see what happens. Disagree, that's fine. But it ain't idiotic.
You also have to remember that AJ is far more mature for his age than kids in our world are. Like Clem had to grow up fast and was basically like a 20 yr old in season 2, AJ has the maturity level of a 15 yr old.
And for the record, I wasn't trying to insult you by saying him killing Marlon because he was mad he got pushed is idiotic. If it came off as insulting I'm sorry, especially if it seemed directed at you personally.
I don't think being angry excuses that. But I partly blame this scenario on Clem. Because a kid would know better if they were taught better. I legitimately don't think AJ knew better and I think its because Clem was more concerned with teaching him to survive than with the morality of it. I'm guessing she thought she wouldn't need to worry about it since they'd always been on their own up until that point.
I mean, think about it, when AJ says 'you shouldn't have given that guy our food,' there's no option to say 'killing isn't always the answer and is sometimes wrong.' I mean she can say 'fighting isn't always the answer, you got to pick your battles' but that isn't specific enough to be taken as 'killing is sometimes wrong.'
And if you push the guy out the window AJ responds with 'it was awesome!' She should have reprimanded him for that and explained she only did it because it felt like her only option. She should have gone into how if there's other options to avoid killing, take it.
However if your Clem's a bit ruthless and she's teaching AJ to survive first than I suppose it doesn't matter if she didn't do any of that. But for a Clem that's not ruthless its a problem.
Edit: The examples I was telling just kinda show that its not exactly something she thought about. If she didn't ever think to teach him all that how could he know what he did was wrong?
I agree, it is very badass, but when can she say that?
Thanks for the link! I don't have a tumblr account so I appreciate it!
You have to appeal to Louis and have to pick "Then bury me deep." dialogue choice.
You are awesome for doing this.
Thank you, I and everyone else I’ve watched so far have appealed to Violet. I really need to see the Louis option.
You all debating about AJ's actions with the Marlon situation are doing exactly what TTG wants. lol This is great. I'm actually enjoying a fan base divided on a character's actions rather than the games flaws for once.
I'm going to agree with you on this. They will be missed (by me).
Firstly, it was interesting not only in the sense of the plot direction, but also in how Telltale operates. Despite how many of those segments would be different upon episode release, it was still cool (albeit kinda disappointing) to see how they rewrote the plot to go in a different direction.
Secondly, when they changed it, they changed it well.
I think Borderlands had the best Next Time segments. They were different than before, and didn't necessarily explain what would happen next. Most were teases.
Episode 1's segment had a full run-through of clips that would happen throughout the season. Some would come true (like Gortys) some would not (like Tector and his magical machine gun).
Episode 2 had a small mysterious tease of Vallory, nothing else.
Episode 3 had a cool infomercial-style clip of Hyperion's Helios base, and teased the return of Yvette.
They were different, but all great!
Did you notice how he ignored the early question about why the Garcia’s aren’t returning? I stopped reading right there...not interested in anything else he has to say if he can’t answer that one.
Thank you!
Maybe there's some surprise later in the season and he doesn't want to continually lie about it. I wish they would tell us something but until the full season is released we have to consider the possibility that there's a good reason he's avoiding those questions.
WTF DOES THIS MEANNNNNNN
Dafuq? Whatever button you choose? What does that mean??
That's the problem with Season 2, Clem seems like an adult while most of the adults act like teenagers who are relied on her -_-
Clem has been guilty of looking at the world as just AJ and herself...danger needs destroyed. Now she is with people and he needs to be taught that not every solution is a gun shot or a shank in the skull.
That's why it's the weakest season imo. It's silly that all the adults ended up listening to and relying on an 11 yr old as much as they did but because that was the playable character they had to in order to give the player agency.
Well, I don't know that they relied on her or listened to her. Cause, if they had, most of them wouldn't be dead. lmao.
So damn true.
LOL fair point about them listening, but still, Clementine had far too much impact on the decisions and actions the group took. They should have basically been telling her to shut up and let the adults talk 9 times out of 10 she spoke up. Of course if they had, it'd be super annoying to the players so they didn't, hence the problem.
The thing is though, we know what usually happens with groups when it comes to Clem. They all die off eventually. I don't think neutering AJ's survival instincts over a group that we've been part of for only 2 days is the wisest decision necessarily.
Thank, goodness. I honestly don't understand why people like Jesus, I find him infuriating and incredibly unrealistic. Too much of a Gary Stu.
That scene is physically impossible, and extraordinarily unsafe, I cannot take it seriously, and if the comics series has lots of scenes like that, I have absolutely no interest in it. The human body doesn't work that way.
‘Then you better bury me deep, because if I come back I’m coming for YOU FIRST.”
Huh, when can this line play? I never heard it.
At the end if you appeal to Louis you can choose this line.
Thanks, as if I wasn't unsecure enough about my choices.
I just hope this season isn't Clementine falling into the Lee-Type role of just serving as a pure caretaker of AJ with no story of her own in her final season.