The Making of Disco Elysium - Part One: Foundations
YOUTUBE LINK: https://youtu.be/eH6mUTHZ5C4
Hello folks,
This one took a while, I know - but we wanted to make sure we did a good job with the story of such an important game.
In this first in our multi-part-series on the development of Disco Elysium, we focus on the foundations of the game - namely the place and time it came from, and the D&D influences that laid the groundwork for Elysium, Revachol and Martinaise.
Our series will dive into art, design, writing, what happened to the studio around launch and just after - and where the series lies now. Our series focuses on the work, the team, their connections and how they collaborated throughout the project. The good and the bad. It mostly ends at the original launch of Disco Elysium - there are plenty of other stories that dive into the complex web of legal cases and infighting that came afterwards. But we will wrap up our story with some insights and thoughts into what it all meant to those who were part of it, the influence of the game, and what hopes fans should have for the future.
Massive thanks to Jeremy for doing the initial super-edit, to Frank for capturing the gameplay, and to the countless people I talked to both on and off the record about this story.
And of course our interviewees, all of whom had an appropriate level of skepticism when I approached them. I think this community and our work laid the groundwork for them opening up to us. We heard again and again that they only answered because they appreciate the work we do at /noclip - and for that I can only thank our community and patrons.
That's enough from me - we hope you enjoy the first episode and let us know what you think in the comments.
Danny
Comments (10)
I'm glad people enjoy this game and are enjoying this series! But I also hope this is the end of the "this is why Disco Elysium is so great" content stream as a whole. Disco Elysium is the Donnie Darko of modern video gaming discourse. It's a fine game, but I am SO tired of reading/watching/hearing about it and how smart/ahead of the curve/deep/interesting it is.
This is a fantastic start to the series! I recently bought (but haven't started) Disco, and was a little hesitant to start the doc before the game, but I'm so glad I did. Seriously amazing work and well worth the wait!
For me as an Estonian abroad, it was great to see these bits and pieces of home. Thank you! The episode was also, at times, kind of a hard watch (with Kurvitz lamenting the end of the Soviet Union etc.) Of course, it was pretty clear from playing Disco Elysium (which I love) that the author(s) might have had some, erm, complicated feelings about their place of origin. Anyway, this has made me think again about the relationship between art its creator and what effect me liking or not liking the artist has on my ability to enjoy their art. So thank you for this food for thought as well!
So cool, but I did want to mention, you misspelled Tallinn in the credits.
Really enjoyed this first episode!! Awesome camera work, music and overlays. The game artwork in the pictures was incredible!! Saw the PMG post / recommend earlier which was really cool for you and the team. Thank you for making another amazing documentary NoClip 🤗
I have been waiting for this. I signed up her just to get in on it early lol! But I'll stay. :) Thank you so much for making such amazing documentaries.
Thanks so much for your support!
This was absolutely excellent, with this just being the first part I think this might end up being one of the best series you've ever created
Side note, also interesting and unusual how detailed your credits were for who did what on the project; it really shows the intense depth of work such a small team does
Let's go!!!