Cognition writers talk adventure games, detective stories, and bad writing advice

Thanks to Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, more eyes than ever are focused on graphic adventure games. Known for its brain-teasing puzzles and interactive storytelling, the genre is currently experiencing a surge in popularity it hasn’t felt since the 1990s. This is also thanks, in part, to crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter, which is where independent developer Phoenix Online Studios turned for its latest project, an episodic mystery called Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller.

Like The Walking Dead, Cognition features a branching storyline, a comic-book art style courtesy of artist Romano Molenaar, and gory subject matter. As psychic FBI agent Erica Reed, the player must track down a serial killer who has taken her brother as one of his victims. GamesBeat recently chatted with Cognition’s co-directors, Cesar Bittar and Katie Hallahan, as well as industry veteran Jane Jensen (Gabriel Knight, Kings Quest, Gray Matter), who worked on the project as a story consultant, about their writing process and why detective stories make great adventure games.