Embark on a cinematic journey through medieval Bohemia as Tom McKay and Luke Dale bring to life the characters in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a video game epic that has taken nine years to script.
Acting in a video game is not a new concept, but for Tom McKay and Luke Dale, it’s been a nine-year journey that has taken them to the depths of medieval Bohemia.
The duo has spent most of their working lives on two video games – ‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance (KCD)’ and its sequel. The scripts for these role-playing epics run to over three million words, making KCD 2 potentially the longest single video game script ever written.
A Labor of Love
Tom and Luke’s characters often find themselves in trouble during the game, but for them, it was an acting challenge like no other. They had to adapt to a unique narrative structure that allowed players to carve their own path through the story.
‘It was one of the most amazing and unusual acting challenges I’ve faced,’ Tom says. ‘You would kind of go down one channel of a decision and then come halfway back up and go down another one and then maybe all the way back up to the beginning and back down.’
This meant hundreds of hours of studio time, with repeat trips to Prague, where developer Warhorse Studios is based.
Under the Radar
The video games industry is known for its secrecy, and Tom and Luke spent three years under a non-disclosure agreement as they made the second game. They had to keep their involvement in the project a secret, even from their partners.
‘It was almost like working for GCHQ or something,’ Tom says. ‘You couldn’t talk to anyone about it and people in the studio couldn’t even talk to their partners in some cases about what they were doing.’
A Divided Fanbase
The release of KCD 2 has reignited an online discourse that had erupted around the original game. Daniel Vávra, the co-founder and creative director of Warhorse, is a regular poster on social media and has defended his vision for the game.
Daniel Vávra is a Czech video game designer and programmer, best known for his work on the Mafia series.
Born in 1976, Vávra began his career in the gaming industry in the late 1990s.
He co-founded Illusion Softworks, which later became 2K Czech.
Vávra's expertise lies in creating immersive storylines and realistic game worlds.
His notable contributions to the gaming industry include the development of 'Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven' (2002) and 'Mafia II' (2010).
However, some fans have criticized the game’s lack of diversity and its portrayal of certain themes. Luke says that while there are valid criticisms, they are coming from an unrepresentative minority.
‘It’s a really good barometer of the distortion between online interaction and real-world interaction,’ Tom says. ‘We did nine hours and it didn’t come up once.’
A Visionary Director
Tom and Luke praise Vávra for his ‘forensic understanding‘ of his vision for the game. They credit him with helping them to distill down complex scenes and bring their characters to life.
‘He knows exactly what he wants every time,’ Luke says. ‘And that’s really helpful when you’re trying to create a believable character.’
A Lasting Friendship
After nine years working together, Tom and Luke have formed a lasting bond. They attribute this to the organic nature of their relationship, which has developed over countless hours in the motion capture studio.
‘It is like putting on a really comfortable pair of clothes,’ Luke says. ‘Which is ironic because in the motion capture studio you’re literally wearing head-to-toe lycra.’
