Alright, so here’s the thing about writing a novel—it’s usually a solo gig, right? You’re in your own bubble, mostly. But then, there’s screenplays. Ah, the 120-page sweet spot, unless, of course, you’re working for, you know, Martin Scorsese or something. Now, video games? Whole different beast. Hours and hours of content needed. You gotta bend the story to suit the gameplay, and don’t even get me started on the team dynamics. It’s like herding cats sometimes. When a deadline is looming, you just hurl words at the screen. Trust me, 3 a.m. can be magical—or a disaster. Take your pick.
Anyway, Clair Obscur’s got all these Frenchy vibes going on. Esquie, a character with that birdlike charm, captivated everyone. There’s this campfire chat about François that just sticks with you. Esquie describes François’s shift from “Wheeee!” to “Whooo,” and players can choose their path through the convo. Kinda ridiculous, but it works.
Svedberg-Yen said she cooked that up in the dead of night while grappling with seven dialogue scenarios for Esquie. The script for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? She says it hit something like 800 pages—not even counting the NPC chatter or the lore docs. That’s a lot of words, folks. She found inspiration everywhere. Like Monoco, the floating bird thing? That’s her dog. True story: when her pup needed a trim, bam, it made it into the game. “You look like an overgrown mop,” she said to her dog, and then to Monoco.
That “wheee whoo” bit? Sillier than ever at those ungodly hours, but somehow, it clicked. Svedberg-Yen admits she was trying to speak about something heavy, touching on joy and grief. But she was exhausted, so… “wheeeeee!”
For her, the goal is authenticity. Creating characters with real-life vibes, even if they’re from some fantastical realm. She trusts her gut, even the weird stuff, because that’s what makes it genuine. Sometimes, life throws you a curveball, and you just have to roll with it. Did she go too far? Eh, sometimes. But hey, it’s all about channeling those raw, in-the-moment feelings into the story. Feels authentic, you know?
