How Dragon Age Writer David Gaider's New Game Is Coming Along

After some less-than-optimal news earlier this year regarding the impact of COVID-19, the developers of Dragon Age writer David Gaider's new game have shared an update on how Chorus: An Adventure Musical is shaping up. Summerfall Studios' Liam Esler wrote in an update to the game's crowdfunding page that the team remains "very heads down" as it works on "early production" elements of the game.

"The difficult thing with early production is there's not a lot that we can show, as a lot of it is preparatory, or so early we don't feel is ready to be made public," Esler said. "We also want to be very careful not to share any spoilers!"

Chorus--which is not to be confused by the other game called Chorus from Deep Silver--is "moving along pretty well," Esler said. The COVID-19 pandemic has "caused some delays," he explained, but he remarked that he's proud of the team for making up some of the lost time.

In terms of what's happening with Chorus right now, Esler said the team recently got to hear a draft of the first interactive song from the game. "Obviously it's still early, and we're learning a lot as we go, but it was exciting to start to hear the potential of what we're doing in a real way," Esler commented.

Additionally, the team is finalizing some of the character designs and environment concepts, along with the storyboards. The studio has also been putting work into laying the foundation for the "technical implementation" of the game's interactive songs, which is a major component of Chorus.

In terms of writing, Gaider is now said to have completed drafts for "roughly half" of Chorus. Summerfall's developers have been conducting table reads, and they are "shaping up extremely well," Esler said.

In the final game, The Last of Us 2 actor Laura Bailey will play the lead character, Grace.

Chorus was partially funded on Fig, with $690,079 USD coming in, and additional funding support from the Australian federal government. The team at Summerfall want to expand the scope for Chorus further, and are looking to raise more money to help realize this vision--but it hasn't been easy due to the global market being what it is due to the pandemic.

Chorus: A Musical Adventure Game was announced during PAX Australia 2019. The game is part musical, part illustrated adventure game, and part character-driven narrative.

Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory (Journey) is working on the music, while veteran voice actor Troy Baker (who is also an accomplished musician) will work on Chorus as its voice director.

For lots more on Chorus: A Musical Adventure Game, check out GameSpot's interview with Gaider and Esler. As for the other Chorus game, the cross-gen title is development at Deep Silver's Fishlabs studio. We recently spoke with core tech lead Johannes Kuhlmann about what it's like to welcome the next-generation Xbox Series X while still developing for Xbox One.