Behind the Scenes: Is Str8 Based on a True Story?! (Patreon)

So for these logs, we're going to be looking at some of the common questions that we receive from fans about the game and the dev team. This is one of the biggest questions that we get from people so we thought it would be cool to actually do a post and write the answer up more succinctly. I'll also warn that these logs get a bit more personal, at least from my perspective, but they will hopefully give more insight into the characters and the passion behind them and the story as a whole.

 So many of you, over the past years, have asked in some fashion or another where the idea for the game came from. Is it a true story? Are Zack and Braden real? Are the stories they share real? 

So is Str8 True!? Do Braden and Zack Really Exist!?

In short: nope.  First and foremost, Str8 is a work of fiction. Neither Zack, Braden, or Mikhail or anyone else in the story exists outside the scope of the game—at least to my knowledge.  So unfortunately, they aren't real people--well, not in the way that they appear in the game anyway...

I’ve been pretty open in past replies that I’m very “Zack” and this is actually true across most of the characters. Zack is the character that I relate to the most and the most visceral depiction of my own personality that I've really ever shared with anyone until I started writing this, but I'll talk more about that in a future log. However, there’s a part of me that’s very Braden as well. Braden is very much my "bro" side and the one that really teeters on not necessarily fitting into any particular sexual stereotype at times. While Zack represents my "overthinking" side, Braden very much represents the side of me that doesn't subscribe to boundaries very well--things sorta just become what they become in all my relationships. Mikhail, on the other hand is my ideal self and the part of me that summarizes what I know to be true but sorta try to pretend like it isn't. He's like my conscience giving the other characters advice based on his own life experiences and struggles that happened before the story began. He's also my favorite because he's the strongest of all the characters in my opinion. 

Essentially, the dialogue you see between Zack, Braden, and Mikhail is my own inner monologue—like one side of me talking to another. This is why I never did outlines in the beginning of the game and it's also why I've frequently referenced how personal the writing is to me in spots. It's also why some of the characters speak similarly. I could go out of my way to be more professional and vary the voices of the characters but then I would lose the personal nature and the purpose of the story to me.  

On the other hand, some of the stories the characters share are true. For example, when Braden talks about the bully during a secret dinner conversation (to unlock, don't try and scare Braden in the bathroom when you sneak up on him) —that’s a true story from my high school days (That dude was such a dick...). Zack’s distaste for squeaking basketball squeaking shoes: that’s totally me—can’t stand that shit and I refuse to watch basketball because of it. Also, Braden's Tai Chi not only has a point to the story, incorporating a sense of balance to Zack's overanalysis, but it was something that I learned and really got into in my undergraduate schooling. It helped me quiet my head and accept things beyond my control--something that I always struggled with before. I'm also a huge martial arts fan and this serves as the basis for Braden's enjoyment of MMA. At the time of the scene where they watch the fight on Zack's bed for the first time, there was a huge fight that summer on Pay-per-View that I was stoked about (Cormier is my boi and he totally won!). There's also true stories early in the game in which I reference lost family members that were important to me and some other deeper shit. There’s hints at my own personality throughout the characters but no one character or the story is fully true as they appear in the story. 

The one story I won't confirm (and the one that I get asked the most often): was the coffee shop story about the veggie oil wankfest true? Haha. I won't confirm or deny this one. People seem to have their own minds made up on both sides of the fence on that one already so you can decide for yourself. But I will say that scene is the best real life example of hanging out with me at a coffee shop. Zack telling that story is the most unfiltered version of Aaryn you will see in this story. My voice and the cadence of the writing in that scene was so glaringly obvious that I remember Blayke saying that it was totally me.

I'll go into more detail on how the story came to be in another post. But let me know if you have more questions about this topic specifically. I can always modify the post to include those if they aren't too crazy personal to me. 

Stay tuned for more Behind the Scenes stuff include walkthoughs of the game making process and other Q & A stuff about the game. If you have specific questions you'd like to see addressed, feel free to comment below and we'll consider them.