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audioBusting

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Games in which actual developers of the game address the player directly, to talk about the game, inside the game

I thought about this while I was building my GotY 2019 list and got to Anodyne 2. A combination of Breaking the Fourth Wall and Developer Cameo, this is when someone from the development team of the game honestly talks about the game itself, inside of the game. Not in a developer's commentary mode or anything, just showing up and saying "Hi" when you were playing the game normally.

Maybe this should be a concept page or something, I don't know, I can't be bothered figuring out the taxonomy for that sort of business. I'll just keep adding to this list the more examples I find, the same way I do my other lists.

List items

  • Probably my favourite example. The Wachowskis show up at a pivotal moment and directly said, "we thought the movie ending is boring for a game, so have a giant boss battle instead!"

  • Spike Lee shows up to personally introduce Livin' Da Dream. It seemed sincere.

  • What made me think of building this list to begin with. The game starts with a letter, thanking the player and explaining what the game is (like how you don't have to play Anodyne 1). How nice!

  • David Cage gives the player a full rundown tutorial of how the game works, before the story begins. (Thanks to rahulricky for pointing this out.)

  • May be the most emblematic of this concept! His name is even in the title of the game! (Thanks to selbie for this one.)

  • "... upon completing the final story mission, a message pops up telling the player about the various end-game activities left to do in the open world and thanking the player, signed by the dev team." I'll count it since it's more elaborate than a simple "thank you for playing" (Thanks, Savage!)

  • "There's the one ending in Chrono Trigger, which is just the devs talking about the game." (Thanks sergeantz!)

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rahulricky

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Indigo Prophecy had David Cage 3D modelled and talking to you at the beginning to explain what made the game different.

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audioBusting

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Edited By audioBusting

@rahulricky: Good catch, I'll add it to the list. Thanks!

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chamurai

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Edited By chamurai

Pokemon has the creators in the game, the grade your Pokedex completion. Does that count?

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audioBusting

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@chamurai: I don't remember what they say exactly, do they say stuff referring directly to the game like "Thanks for playing our game!" ?

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sergeantz

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There's the one ending in Chrono Trigger, which is just the devs talking about the game.

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selbie

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JohnLocke

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Team Fortress 2 tutorials spring to mind. You don't see him, but Gabe N talks through how to play the game and gives you his email to provide feedback.

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Savage

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@johnlocke:That's the TF2 dev commentary.

There are many games that acknowledge the player at the end of the game. Some games do this by saying "thank you for playing" in the credits (e.g. many Nintendo games)--I wouldn't count these for this list, since credits are not "in game." Others might do it in the last level (e.g. in Super Mario World, the final stretch of the final secret level, Funky, uses coins to spell out "You are a super player!!"). Other games pop up a message after completing the last level (e.g. in Days Gone, upon completing the final story mission, a message pops up telling the player about the various end-game activities left to do in the open world and thanking the player, signed by the dev team).

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JohnLocke

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@savage: Ah my mistake. I thought when you did the tutorial on TF2 classic (as in before all the class updates they rolled out) that Gabe spoke about what to do. Sorry.

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audioBusting

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Thanks for the tips everyone :D

List updated.