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SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains plot details for the video game The Casting of Frank Stone
For the last decade, Supermassive Games and Behaviour Interactive have each cornered the market on fun, bizarre and gruesome horror games in their own unique way. The former is most known for their star-studded and award-winning choose-your-own-adventure cinematic tales, such as The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Quarry and Until Dawn, which is currently being made into a movie, that focus on the survival of multiple playable characters based on oft stressful decisions made by the player. The latter, mostly known for the popular online multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight, offers players the ability to enter iconic multiversal horror franchises such as Stranger Things or Silent Hill to test their survival skills (or their murdering skills) in a seemingly never-ending and hellish loop. With each of them continually raising the bar for their respective fan bases in their unique genre space, it’s no wonder that the two developers reached out to try and create the next best thing together with The Casting of Frank Stone.
The game follows a group of small-town teens as they discover a supernatural evil that starts to pose a threat to their lives. The story unfolds in three parts across three decades: the 1960s, where a cop named Sam goes to investigate a potential murder at a local steel mill. The 1980s, where the teens reside as they film a horror movie at the now abandoned (and potentially haunted) steel mill. In the present day, 2024, where Frank Stone, a serial killer whose soul has been trapped on the teen’s celluloid strips of film from the ‘80s, is being resurrected by a witchy woman named Augustine to cause murderous mayhem to the older versions of the teens in a bid to bring a world-devouring entity, a spider-like being that Dead by Daylight players know as that game’s antagonist, to earth.
Here, Supermassive Producer Traci Tufte and Behaviour Interactive’s Game Director Mathieu Côté talk to Deadline about merging brands, creating scares and unraveling fan theories.
DEADLINE: What was the inkling of this video game idea? Was it exploring the origins of The Entity or maybe the idea of exploring what the first Dead by Daylight looked like? Would you consider this an origin story?
MATHIEU CÔTÉ: It wasn’t an idea to do an origin story. The subject came up during our conversations: “Should we do an origin story? Should we explore that? Should we try to explain why The Entity is the way it is? Why the trials are the way they are? Should this whole game be set within the realm of The Entity? Or should it be in the so-called real world?” These were all very early questions and we had great ideas on both sides. There were really good ideas for a lot of possibilities. It was really a matter of finding the most compelling story for people [who were unfamiliar with Dead by Daylight]. We [also did] want people who knew Dead by Daylight. But more so, people who might be interested in a narrative single-player experience in a really interesting universe, and they would maybe catch a few Easter eggs and enjoy the ride [laughs].
TRACI TUFTE: There’s also some evolution as the team started talking and ideas came forward, and as Mat said, our priority was creating an interesting, compelling story, and that was where everything was rooted. It was less about being highly specific or detailed about The Entity’s mysteries, but we were very happy to play in the sandbox.
DEADLINE: I love this Stephen King-esque / Steven Spielberg-ian storytelling of following this group of teens as they try to shoot a movie while also unraveling this murder mystery of sorts in the process. Originally, I thought maybe it would play out as a singular character going on a journey through a haunted mill trying to escape Frank Stone. Can you talk more about adding this dimension instead of making it a more solitary experience?
TUFTE: From our perspective here, at Supermassive, we always have approached a lot of our games with an ensemble perspective, and it brings different experiences to different players because they’re going to identify differently with different playable characters they have access to. It also allows you to build relationships with multiple people as they go through and you’re in charge of their story. Different people have different reactions to the events that occur, so I think that’s interesting for us. It’s giving a variety of playable characters that will, hopefully, resonate. Still, everybody usually has one or two favorites that really stick out to them that they want to take care of throughout the story. So, I think that’s a really interesting way to do it rather than through the lens of only one character, which would give less story possibilities to the player.
CÔTÉ: The other massive advantage you get with a cast is that you can kill a few along the way.
TUFTE: Very good point, Mat [laughs].
DEADLINE: How did this partnership between the two studios come together? What would you say was the timeframe from chatting about it to making it to release?
CÔTÉ: It took a while, honestly, but mostly because when we originally reached out to Supermassive, they were busy. So, we sadly slunk back into our corner and forgot about it to a certain extent. We thought about either doing it internally or finding another partner, but we really wanted the best-case scenario, and that was to get Supermassive to work on a game with us. [After time passed], we asked if they would still be interested, and the conversations went quickly from there. Then, it was just a matter of building the game. Even though we were quite involved in the story and the lore, for the most part, we let Supermassive do their thing. We’re not going to tell you how to do what you’ve been doing so well for so many years and won awards for; we’re just going to let you do your thing and guide you as much as we can so that our universe is represented as best as possible.
DEADLINE: Back to the game itself, I’d love to talk more about some of the creative decisions that went into it. Was there a specific reason you didn’t use the OG survivors like Dwight, Meg or Claudette as your main characters for the game?
CÔTÉ: We did discuss this in the beginning, “Should we use the original killers? Should we use the original survivors?” It could have been the case.
DEADLINE: Were there any specific story beats that you had to touch upon? Were there any non-negotiables, such as the game having hooks and generators with the skill check mechanic? Because that stuff obviously made it into the game itself, I’m curious how you both ended up parsing through that while also maintaining the game’s original concept.
TUFTE: The big thing was that we wanted to make it accessible to everybody, but also feel very Dead by Daylight to players familiar with that franchise. Many of our games have had quick time events in them, so it was a logical choice to bring in the familiar Dead by Daylight style skill check. So, some of those [stylistic choices] were easy things. And, of course, we have people throw pallets, there are generators, there are hooks, and it gives a little thrill when you see those things brought to life in a different context than what you get currently in a DBD map. That was something we were really excited about. There’s so much deep lore we could tap into and really fun Easter eggs we could put into the game, both with our trinkets and our relics and other collectibles and things like that, that are our direct homages. It’s not even a subtle nod to Dead by Daylight; it is quite on the nose [laughs]. But we have huge Dead by Daylight fans here at Supermassive, so we were really delighted to create this marriage of things that felt right for The Casting of Frank Stone and things that we, as fans, would love to see in this type of collaboration.
CÔTÉ: And I want to address the bit about non-negotiables. Everything was on the table. We clearly stated we’d love to get as much Dead by Daylight as possible, but if it didn’t fit, it didn’t fit. You didn’t need to put all these things. It was fun to squeeze as much as possible, but none of them were mandatory.
TUFTE: Behaviour [Interactive] was so supportive. We were able to make their killers into adorable little dolls and put them into the game. So, to be honest, this is absolutely stuff that we wanted to do, and Behaviour was like, “Yeah, cool, let’s lean in.” That was hugely refreshing for us as developers working in close collaboration with IP holders and publishers. It also was a great reinforcement to the team that we were headed in the right direction and fully supported. We got to do some cool stuff and then push it a bit further.
DEADLINE: Was there any specific inspiration that you all used for The Casting of Frank Stone? Were you all trapped in a room listening to “Helter Skelter” on repeat?
CÔTÉ: There were so many things it would be hard to list. I’ve told this story before, but these first few meetings for me really left a mark where we had a bunch of people on both sides, mostly the creative people, whether it’s Dave [Richard], Ash [Pannell] on the Dead by Daylight side and Steve [Bosco] and some others. While shooting ideas back and forth, we found so much common ground and inspiration in books, movies and TV shows. There were so many obscure, niche little movies and black-and-white movies from the ’50s to really get an idea of what we were trying to do here. Stephen King is a great example of that because there’s this juxtaposition, that contrast between the really mundane, little town, quiet life, and then something really, really off-putting and supernatural and dread that you don’t know if it’s coming from the bad people or from bad stuff that’s from somewhere else. And that was one of the key themes everybody latched onto. So there was no one specific reference, but we knew what the sandbox was going to look like from the many we were inspired by.
TUFTE: There were many references viewed.
CÔTÉ: That’s the thing. I’m sure this is an issue on Supermassive’s side, too, but on Dead by Daylight’s side, you do not want to see the search history of some of our artists and designers. It’s so dark [laughs].
DEADLINE: Understandable. Whenever I look up a spooky show on my work computer, especially if it’s based on a real true crime, I always await a visit from the FBI.
TUFTE: Safe search has to be turned off to do this work [laughs].
DEADLINE: What were some of the unique challenges of creating this game? I assume it has to be the time travel element, but maybe it’s adding a narrative to this player vs player universe.
TUFTE: The biggest challenge regarding The Casting of Frank Stone was how to treat this fantastic IP that is rooted in a very different style of gameplay that can be quite intense. And certainly, The Casting of Frank Stone can be intense at times, but it was always intended from the very beginning to be a single-player experience. That is what we were able to root in, and that helped us give clarity on what the game is and what the game is not. What was really our guiding light was how do we take some of the madness that is the world of Dead by Daylight and bring it to something that still absolutely has cosmic horror and supernatural elements but also feels grounded. It can be paced out and feels authentic to the players as they’re going through. So, that was certainly our challenge the whole way through, but knowing that we were starting from a single-player space helped flush that out.
DEADLINE: OK, so we have to talk about a challenge I had—this ending. We have to talk about it. It seems no matter what the player does, your surviving character, if you survived at all, is stuck at the campfire, which is a direct nod to the lobby of Dead by Daylight. So, I get it as a concept. But it hurts that there’s no escape for these people. Can you talk about the decision to have such a sad ending?
CÔTÉ: Did you really expect a happy ending? [laughs].
DEADLINE: I had hoped! My only surviving character was Sam, and I wished so badly that there would be some kind of ending to peace for him and me. I wished there was one timeline where you could avoid the fate of the campfire or the arrival of The Entity.
TUFTE: Well, Chris has her ending where she can end up back in her timeline, so there is an escape route for her. Then Sam has a path because of his character arc. One of the big things is that he’s found out what Augustine is doing and how to travel between the different tears and many realities. We saw three in The Casting of Frank Stone, but there are more than three, and Sam has cracked how to dance between those realities. So there’s a path for him who does not necessarily end up at the campfire. And then there is an ending, of course, where all of your players don’t make it before the campfire, and you take on the persona of Frank Stone himself. So yeah, most paths do absolutely lead to the campfire, but there is escape for some, Destiny [laughs].
CÔTÉ: The endings are meant to make you react. It’s the same in Dead by Daylight. It’s to create strong emotions and get you to talk to others about it and say, “This is what happened to me [while playing]. You’re supposed to ask each other, “Did you make it?” And they go, “Yeah” or “No. Me neither.” So, that’s a wonderful feeling you have. It worked [laughs].
DEADLINE: Is Jaime the baby that Frank Stone is trying to kill at the beginning of the game?
TUFTE: I am happy to confirm that Jaime is the baby.
DEADLINE: Let’s get into some of these fan theories I’ve seen online. The biggest of them is: Is Chris a version of Augustine? There seems to be some evidence to support this.
TUFTE: No, Chris and Augustine, at least in the current iteration of The Casting of Frank Stone, have no connection outside of obviously the events that take place in the game.
DEADLINE: Augustine is an interesting character. She seems like a normal woman because she can be harmed and killed, but clearly, she’s been around for hundreds of years. Her goal is to bring The Entity to the world of these characters, so she creates this serial killer to lure it in. However, in a cruel twist of fate, The Entity shows up and kills her despite her worship. Should we feel bad for this lady? Her plans straight-up backfired on her, but I don’t think she’s redeemable at all because she’s evil. How should players see Augustine?
CÔTÉ: That’s a gigantic philosophical and moral question. Should we feel empathy and sympathy for people who do terrible things, whether because they’re misled, broken or hurt? That’s very beautiful and very deep. And I’d say, on a personal level, I think that everybody can be redeemed, but many people won’t. Ever. And that doesn’t mean you need to agree with them or tolerate what they do. But yeah, I think there’s redemption. I’m an eternal optimist. I’d like to see the best in people. But also, some people are way far gone.
TUFTE: Everybody, whether you develop this game or play this game, is going to have a different interpretation of the story and what it means to them. So, I’ll share mine. I think this, in some ways, for Augustine and her character is a bit of a tragedy because she spent lifetimes, plural, trying to build this connection with The Entity and searching through years and years to try and find Frank Stone to get this incarnation of a killer she could then present to it. And obviously, The Entity doesn’t play. It can’t be manipulated. So, for me, Augustine is the villain of The Casting of Frank Stone. It’s not Frank Stone nor The Entity. Augustine is what caused all these horrible things to happen to this lovely group of people.
CÔTÉ: You could argue that Frank Stone is almost a victim, right? He doesn’t have much agency. And as for The Entity, it’s never the villain. If anything, that’s because it cannot be comprehended. You don’t understand why it does what it does. I think of it more as a digestive system than a malevolent thing. It’s a thing that exists and it does a specific thing. Unfortunately, that process creates a lot of grief, pain and tension for a lot of people, but we don’t know. Maybe it is super evil though, I don’t know [laughs].
DEADLINE: What does a potential sequel game for this look like?
TUFTE: I’d be lying if I said we hadn’t thrown ideas around the table for sure. But we haven’t talked with Behaviour about those ideas just yet.
CÔTÉ: I think everybody involved thought about this. In my own personal opinion, I think if we were to do a sequel or a second project, it would be a completely different story. It would have to be a completely different thing. It would not follow the same characters, it would not even follow the same premise and maybe not even in the same universe. It would be a completely different experience. There are so many stories to tell using that lore and that universe that we’ve created, at least, that’s what I would be pushing for. Doesn’t mean I’d have my way, but that’s what I think we should do.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]
