Delivering Mars: Inside the production on one of 2023\u2019s most ambitious indie gems KeokeN InteractiveDeliver Us Mars stands tall as one of the year\u2019s most ambitious sci-fi games yet it comes from an unassuming indie team of barely a few dozen developers in the Netherlands. To shed some light on how the expansive project came together, from the cast\u2019s first impression of the script to seeing themselves digitized on the red planet, we spoke with actors Ellise Chappell and Neil Newbon on their experience bringing the game\u2019s central father-and-daughter relationship to life. While KeokeN Interactive\u2019s latest release boasts a staggering, interplanetary scope as the very survival of our species comes into question, this backdrop mainly serves to illuminate an extremely personal, tightly-woven familial conflict at its core. The troubled relationship of scientist Isaac Johanson and his daughter Kathy is the driving force of the narrative and one that takes players on many unexpected, heart-wrenching twists and turns where right and wrong, good and bad, are never truly black and white. It\u2019s a surprisingly engaging storyline that we praised as a \u201ctruly unmissable journey\u201d for sci-fi fans. Though the ambitious tale you\u2019d expect from a AAA-caliber team, fit with full motion capture, authentic performances and a well-rounded script, comes from a relatively small indie studio toiling away in the Netherlands. Breaking down just how this enormous project came to be, and what the process looked like for two of the leading cast members, we spoke with UK actors Ellise Chappell (Kathy Johanson) and Neil Newbon (Isaac Johanson) to gain insight on all things from the strenuous recording sessions to the research required in grounding the spacefaring adventure. Contents Breaking down the casting process – Researching the role – A look at the \u201cintense\u201d production schedule – What lies ahead for the series? – Finding the right Isaac & Kathy As two polar opposites, Chappell and Newbon find each other at completely different stages in their respective careers. For the former, years of performing in a number of immensely popular TV shows led to her first steps in the gaming industry. While for the latter, more than a decade of experience as one of the region\u2019s top motion capture experts led to another opportunity in the space, though one that he wasn\u2019t initially set to star in. \u201cOriginally, I wasn\u2019t going to be playing Isaac,\u201d Newbon revealed in conversation with Dexerto. \u201cI was trying to find Isaac.\u201d Having first emailed the company years prior after playing 2018\u2019s Deliver Us The Moon, Newbon was enraptured and fully onboard to work with KeokeN Interactive in just about any capacity. Cut to 2021 and he joined the follow-up project in pre-production as a performance director, helping the team cast its next batch of stars for the sequel. \u201cSomeone said \u2018that guy emailed us about three years ago!\u2019\u201d he joked of his first day in the studio. Before long, the team realized he himself was actually the best fit for the role. \u201cFor casting, it\u2019s treated very similar to film these days,\u201d Newbon continued. \u201cWe do screen tests, self-tapes, way more extensive casting than we would have done before, simply because more actors are interested in games.\u201d That\u2019s a point Chappell echoed as well, stating the audition came through her agent \u201cjust like any other\u201d she\u2019d receive for a film or TV project. As the protagonist of the new chapter, Chappell was first to be locked in for the role of Kathy, securing her spot in her very first video game. \u201cI immediately said yes, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve always wanted to do,\u201d she said. \u201cAs soon as I read the scenes I got through, I was really into it straight away. I found it really complex, the whole audition process was so playful, fun, and interesting.\u201d Adding to the \u201cnew experience\u201d was the fact it was Chappell\u2019s first audition in a \u2018volume,\u2019 a technologically advanced production stage akin to the likes used to film The Mandalorian. This means acting with minimal surrounding context, just a handful of props, and no specific costumes to help immerse the cast. A completely different setup to what you\u2019d find outside of the gaming space. \u201cEllise Chappell is an extraordinarily talented actor,\u201d Newbon said, having been \u2018blown away\u2019 by her first appearance on a stage of its kind. \u201cTo see someone of her caliber come in and not only do an amazing job performance-wise but also smash performance capture\u2026 she blew us away.\u201d From there, it was off to the races as the cast prepared for a few weeks of flat-out recording sessions, diving head-first into an extensive amount of research in the process. Complete immersion Given Chappell and Newbon signed on at different stages of their career, it lines up that their experience with the series from KeokeN also differed greatly. On one hand, we know Newbon was an enormous fan, someone who \u201cfell in love\u201d with the original game back when it first launched. \u201cI just thought what an incredibly interesting and provocative game,\u201d he said of Deliver Us The Moon. \u201cThen I realized how relatively small the team was and I was blown away. I actually emailed them and said I\u2019d love to work with you on anything, whatever you want,\u201d Newbon said. Though on the other hand, as a relative newcomer to the gaming industry, Chappell hadn\u2019t played Deliver Us The Moon prior to her audition. In fact, she was fairly inexperienced with the industry as a whole, describing herself as a \u201cmini-gamer\u201d before jumping into the deep end. Rather than playing through certain titles herself, she instead preferred to watch a handful of playthroughs online. Games like The Last of Us helped show just what the medium is capable of, \u201cthose kinds of games where the narratives and the characters are just as thrilling as the gameplay,\u201d she explained. As Chappell hadn\u2019t yet experienced the first chapter of the \u2018Deliver Us\u2019 saga, she waited until things were official and the role was locked in before getting up to speed. \u201cI waited for a few weeks to hear which was a bit nerve-wracking, but then I got the news which was really exciting. I didn\u2019t play Deliver Us The Moon until I knew I\u2019d got the role. When I got the role, I was like, alright, I\u2019m gonna play Deliver Us The Moon and do as much \u2018space prep\u2019 as I could. \u201cI loved it and I was so enthralled by the feeling I had, what was achieved in terms of feeling like you were in space. I found it really thrilling and immersive, so I really enjoyed the first game.\u201d Now both caught up on the original and fully onboard for the next chapter, it came time for the cast to prepare for their new roles. From studying tape to having experts in the field read over the script, no stone was left unturned in making Deliver Us Mars as authentic as it could possibly be. \u201cWe were all studying a lot of NASA feeds,\u201d Newbon said. \u201cJust to get a sense of the ambiance of space, to understand the process of becoming an astronaut. We went with as much realism as we could.\u201d \u201cI was watching NASA livestreams every morning,\u201d Chappell chimed in. \u201cImmersing myself that way made it easier to imagine things [on set].\u201d Fortunately for both, the script was airtight well before performance capture got underway, allowing them to get familiar with their character\u2019s journey along with the overall scope of the narrative. \u201cNASA and the ESA were contacted to help on the script,\u201d Newbon revealed. \u201cSo there were lots of space agencies that were actually working independently on the script to make sure it was accurate.\u201d \u201cI would say I had the whole shape and most of the script before we started shooting, which was really helpful,\u201d Chappell continued. \u201cIt was like 400 pages. Kathy goes on such an incredible arc in this game, it was so useful having that all in front of me. \u201cI did my prep in a similar way that I would prep for a TV & film job. I mapped out her whole arc, I put it all on post-it notes on my wall. I felt this was such a personal, emotional, and complex story within this family. To have such a personal story in duality with this huge theme and big, epic backdrops was a wonderful thing. To be able to see so much in these relationships. They\u2019re all so complex and these characters are really interesting. I loved discovering this journey.\u201d An \u201cintense\u201d production schedule Not only responsible for portraying Isaac, but also for helping guide performances across the board, Newbon had to strike a balance between his responsibilities as an actor and director on Deliver Us Mars. Juggling multiple hats, he described it all as one big form of \u201cstorytelling, just with a different set of tools. \u201cIt does take a shift in terms of focus. Directing is more cerebral than acting. In acting, you can\u2019t overthink when you\u2019re doing it, it\u2019s more experiential than cerebral.\u201d Condensing the full capture process into just two weeks, the day-to-day hustle for all involved was \u201cintense,\u201d Chappell added, often having to record a \u201cbunch of scenes every day.\u201d But with Newbon\u2019s assistance alongside Narrative Designer Raynor Arkenbout, the crew pulled it off without a hiccup. \u201cI loved it,\u201d Chappell said of her experience on set. \u201cIt was really fun to just get completely immersed in the story. It was a really wonderful experience.\u201d However, she admitted it was certainly a \u201cchallenge\u201d jumping from familiar territory in the world of film and television to her first gaming project. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on [a TV or movie] set, sometimes you\u2019re working with a green screen. So in that sense, you have to imagine your surroundings or imagine a mythical character. But when you\u2019re in a volume and you\u2019re in a motion capture suit, you don\u2019t have the costume to ground you either. On top of that, in this setting, you\u2019re in space. Such a tiny percentage of the human population gets to experience what it\u2019s actually like to be in space and wear a spacesuit. So it takes a lot of imagination.\u201d Over the course of the two-week shoot, the team \u201cgenerally\u201d stuck to the script given how \u201cfinely tuned\u201d it all was, but that\u2019s not to say there wasn\u2019t room for improvisation. Far from it, in fact, as Chappell was told to \u201cbe vocal and go with what feels right for the character. \u201cWith Kathy, we all pretty much stuck to the script because it\u2019s so well-written. But there are these little moments where you feel you could be softer or add a little joke. With the emotional scenes, I had a line here and there, but it was more just here\u2019s the shape of what happens, then I just kind of did whatever came out.\u201d In a similar instance, while capturing an emotional scene conveyed through a hologram in the finished product, Newbon spoke from the heart and ended up with an entirely new chunk of dialogue not originally nailed down. \u201cIt just came out of the experience I was having,\u201d he explained. \u201cSomething came out amid what we were doing and it sort of became improvisational because it just felt right. [Arkenbout] deliberately kept it in because he felt it was a really natural, organic moment.\u201d Having given their all to the project back in 2021, what came next was entirely out of their hands. Newbon and Chappell departed and left the developers to work their magic over the next two years as they brought the cinematic sequences to life and realized the intricate gameplay sections in between. \u201cHeartwarming\u201d reception and what lies ahead With Deliver Us Mars now out in the wild for fans of the original to experience and newcomers to be enraptured with, it\u2019s been a \u201csurreal\u201d period for the cast that did their bit a few years prior. Now seeing it all in one complete package, viewing the sequences they memorized from a whole new perspective, witnessing the level of detail in every frame, it\u2019s unlike any other acting experience out there, both agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly so surreal, but in the best way possible,\u201d Chappell said. \u201cI love everyone who worked on this project, everyone worked so hard and was so passionate about the project. So to get to play it and see everyone\u2019s work come together was really special. I was so invested in the story and the characters, to see that all play out, to go through all of it was a complete joy.\u201d For Chappell, it was such a \u201cwonderful experience,\u201d the UK actor is now keeping the door open for any and all gaming opportunities. \u201cI just think it\u2019s a wonderful medium, you can get so fully invested in it.\u201d In fact, she\u2019s even starting to play more video games herself, now the proud owner of a Nintendo Switch. \u201cThat\u2019s my main port of call,\u201d she joked. \u201cI\u2019m really getting into it and I\u2019m really excited for Hogwarts legacy to come to the Switch later this year!\u201d As for what comes next from KeokeN, both performers are unsure of what the future may hold, but they\u2019re absolutely eager to work with the team again should the opportunity arise. The following section contains spoilers for the ending of Deliver Us Mars. Do not continue reading if you haven\u2019t yet finished the game. Mere moments before credits roll, Deliver Us Mars hangs on four words amid its conclusion: \u201cWe can be better,\u201d as spoken by Kathy. Traveling back to Earth, things go awry. Our home planet has ceased communication, though it\u2019s unclear exactly why. Could it simply be technical issues? Has devastation rapidly torn apart the rest of civilization? No one knows for sure, but the threads certainly linger if KeokeN wishes to pull on them anytime soon for a third chapter. \u201cI don\u2019t know anything about what the future holds. None of us do,\u201d Chappell admitted. \u201cBut if it was going to come back for a third game, I think there\u2019s so much more to explore and I would love to come back as Kathy. \u201cIt is left on a bit of a cliffhanger, there\u2019s so much scope to explore. What happens to Earth? What is the state that we find it in? We see the technology from Mars is starting to malfunction a bit. There are so many unanswered questions that I feel would be lovely to explore. Fingers crossed.\u201d \u201cI would love to see more work from KeokeN,\u201d Newbon added. \u201cI would love to see an even bigger budget for whatever they do. Is something happening? I have no idea. But I think the bigger KeokeN gets, the more exciting the project is gonna be. \u201cKeokeN, whatever you want to do, I\u2019ll always audition, even if it\u2019s playing a dude in the corner sweeping, I\u2019d love to work with them again!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delivering Mars: Inside the production on one of 2023\u2019s most ambitious indie gems KeokeN InteractiveDeliver Us Mars stands tall as one of the year\u2019s most ambitious sci-fi games yet it comes from an unassuming indie team of barely a few dozen developers in the Netherlands. To shed some light on how the expansive project came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}