Brian Mitsoda
Brian Mitsoda (also credited as B. Mitsoda, b mitsoda) is an American video game designer best known for his writing work on the 2004 PC title Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.
Early career and Black Isle Studios
Brian Mitsoda earned a B.A. in English[1] at Florida State University in 1997, moving out to Los Angeles to pursue a career writing for television and film. After playing the game Fallout, he was inspired enough to look up the developer and apply for a job.[2] This resulted in him entering the game industry as a quality assurance tester at Interplay in 1999. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to designer/writer at Black Isle Studios, and took on the role of lead writer for TORN, a PC RPG that used Monolith's Lithtech engine, and a modified version of Fallout's SPECIAL system. However, the title was canceled in July 2001.
Troika and Obsidian
Around mid-to-late 2002, Mitsoda joined Troika Games, where he designed and wrote the story for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, which went on to disappointing sales, but gained a very positive reception for its memorable characters, excellent writing, and quality voice work (of which Mitsoda himself provided multiple uncredited performances).[3] After the collapse of Troika, Mitsoda moved on to work at Obsidian Entertainment, where he worked on a canceled RPG project (codenamed New Jersey), provided feedback on several expansions for Neverwinter Nights 2, and worked as a creative lead on a version of Alpha Protocol.
Current projects
Mitsoda is currently living and working in Seattle. In June 2009, he opened a new development studio, DoubleBear Productions. Their first project is Dead State, a turn-based RPG set during a zombie apocalypse developed with the aid of fellow indie game company Iron Tower Studio.[4] Mitsoda has said that an aim of the game is to be a "[s]erious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster"[5] and that the game is "designed around" the "stress and survival aspects" of "a world in crisis".[6]
Trivia and quotes
- Mitsoda used to keep a MySpace page which he updated with humorous "One Sentence Stories." The format would follow that would give the title of the story, list his name as the author, and give the entirety of the work in a single sentence. The last one posted was as follows:
| “ |
Time - by b mitsoda
In another time and place, a man did not hug another man, but that was then and this is prison.[7]
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” |
- In Fall 2008, Mitsoda took the stories down, hinting that he had "started the ball rolling on the publication process"[8] and was working on turning them into a book. The book is now available in print and Kindle versions on Amazon.com.[9]}}
- There exists some controversy regarding Mitsoda's role on the action/RPG Alpha Protocol: while he has been credited with the development of the game's dialogue system (known in the shorthand as "DSS"), characters (along with designer Annie Carlson), and an earlier complete draft of the script, he has since stated that all of his work has since been removed from the game. He has publicly stated:
| “ |
...for good or ill, I have nothing to do with Alpha Protocol as it is being developed currently. I was working on the creative direction, story, and dialogue for previous iterations of the game, but outside of a dialogue system I created (before Mass Effect was announced) for an earlier version of the game, my (and Annie Carlson’s) original dialogue and plot – again, for good or ill – are not being used for the game. Any characters I’m attributed with creating bear only a superficial resemblance to the ones in my original story.[10] |
” |
- Among the characters that Brian Mitsoda has both written and provided dialogue for in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines are the ghoul Romero, the elderly hit man Ji Wen Ja, and multiple voices on the in-game radio (including one in the infamous "Frickin' Chicken" commercial).
References
- ^ "Torn Developer Diary #1". GameSpy. April 2001. http://archive.gamespy.com/devdiary/april01/torn1/index2.shtm//. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ "Gaming Made Me: The Return of the Panel". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. July 14, 2009. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/14/gaming-made-me-the-return-of-the-panel//. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ "Interview Without a Vampire: Bloodlines' B Mitsoda". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. April 6, 2009. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/04/06/interview-without-a-vampire-bloodlines-b-mitsoda//. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ "Dead State: The Zombie Survival RPG". FAQ. DoubleBear Productions. http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/faq/.
- ^ Kieron Gillen (August 7, 2009). "Obsidian Veterans to Make Zombie RPG". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/07/obsidian-veterans-to-make-zombie-rpg-zrpg/. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ "Dead State Interview". GameBanshee. September 16, 2010. http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/99780-dead-state.html.
- ^ "One Sentence Stories: Pt.165". MySpace. March 3, 2008. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53880425&blogId=363690962//. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ "One Sentence Stories Update". MySpace. August 12, 2008. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53880425&blogId=423619701//. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ "Buy Brian Mitsoda's Book, Help Fund Dead State". GameBanshee. December 6, 2011. http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/105967-buy-brian-mitsodas-book-help-fund-dead-state.html//. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
- ^ "A Press Release of Sorts". MySpace. March 19, 2009. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53880425&blogId=477803171//. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Mitsoda, Brian |
| Alternative names |
b mitsoda, bmitsoda |
| Short description |
American video game writer and designer |
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| Date of death |
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