David Cage on sequels, musicals, what follows Heavy Rain

12.03.2010
While speaking with David Cage at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, I asked him what he felt he had achieved with his loose trilogy of games (, , and ) and what was next for him and his team. Some critics have noted that all three of these games are incredibly serious experiences, and devoid of any humor, so I also asked him if there was a comedic soul hiding within him.

"I don't think I'm about to do a comedy any time soon," he chuckled "but what I can tell you is that what we've done with Heavy Rain is create something that can be used as a framework for other experiences. I'm really proud of what we were able to produce, and now that we've finished with this thriller, I can see that we could use that framework for all sorts of different types of stories. Thinking about it, I think we could just as easily produce something for children - even a cartoon style game, or we could go as far as to try and make a musical. Really, anything is possible."

With regard to what's next for Cage, he was surprisingly candid and spoke of his ambitions in ways that we're more used to hearing from novelists, rather than game producers. After humbly acknowledging that there was still some question over the amount of downloadable content that would be available after The Taxidermist, he said that "what I learned from Heavy Rain was that the most rewarding aspect was the personal expression. People seemed to really respond to the emotion, and the observation of feelings and events that seemed very real. I think that whatever I do next will be more from that perspective, and will be much more personal than Heavy Rain."

On the subject of a possible sequel, Cage was quite emphatic. Though the ending to the game drops some hints about possible directions that the game could go - particularly with a couple of the characters, Cage told me that there would not be a sequel. "I've said everything that I wanted to say," he informed me, echoing comments that he made after Indigo Prophecy several years ago.