Brian Mitsoda

Brian Mitsoda earned a B.A. in English{{cite web |title=Torn Developer Diary #1 |publisher=GameSpy |date=April 2001 |url=http://archive.gamespy.com/devdiary/april01/torn1/index2.shtm// |accessdate=2009-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603231904/http://archive.gamespy.com/devdiary/april01/torn1/index2.shtm// |archive-date=2011-06-03 |url-status=dead }} at Florida State University in 1997, moving out to Los Angeles to pursue a career writing for television and film. After playing the game Fallout, he was inspired enough to look up the developer and apply for a job.{{cite journal |title=Gaming Made Me: The Return of the Panel |journal=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |date=July 14, 2009 |url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/14/gaming-made-me-the-return-of-the-panel// |accessdate=2009-07-31}} This resulted in him entering the game industry as a quality assurance tester at Interplay in 1999.

Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to designer/writer at Black Isle Studios, and took on the role of lead writer for TORN, a PC RPG that used Monolith's Lithtech engine, and a modified version of Fallout's SPECIAL system. However, the title was cancelled in July 2001.

Around mid-to-late 2002, Mitsoda joined Troika Games, where he designed and wrote the story for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, which gained a very positive reception for the quality of its characters, writing, and voice work (of which Mitsoda himself provided multiple uncredited performances).{{cite journal |title=Interview Without a Vampire: Bloodlines' B Mitsoda |journal=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |date=April 6, 2009 |url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/04/06/interview-without-a-vampire-bloodlines-b-mitsoda// |accessdate=2009-07-31|last1=Rossignol |first1=Jim }} Among the characters that Brian Mitsoda has both written and provided dialogue for in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines are the ghoul Romero, the elderly hitman Ji Wen Ja, the newscaster and multiple voices on the in-game radio (including one in the infamous "Frickin' Chicken" commercial).

After the collapse of Troika, Mitsoda moved on to work at Obsidian Entertainment, where he worked on a cancelled role-playing game project codenamed New Jersey, provided feedback on several expansions for Neverwinter Nights 2, and worked as a creative lead on a version of Alpha Protocol. There exists some controversy regarding Mitsoda's role in creating Alpha Protocol: while he has been credited with the development of the game's dialogue system (known in the shorthand as "DSS"), characters (along with designer Annie VanderMeer), and an earlier complete draft of the script, he has since stated that all of his work has since been removed from the game. He has publicly stated:

{{bquote|...for good or ill, I have nothing to do with Alpha Protocol as it is being developed currently. I was working on the creative direction, story, and dialogue for previous iterations of the game, but outside of a dialogue system I created (before Mass Effect was announced) for an earlier version of the game, my (and Annie Carlson’s) original dialogue and plot – again, for good or ill – are not being used for the game. Any characters I’m attributed with creating bear only a superficial resemblance to the ones in my original story.{{cite web |title=A Press Release of Sorts |publisher=MySpace |date=March 19, 2009 |url=http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=53880425&blogId=477803171// |accessdate=2009-07-31 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207065936/http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view |archivedate=February 7, 2009 }} }}

Mitsoda is currently living and working in Seattle. In June 2009, he opened a new development studio, DoubleBear Productions. Their first project was Dead State, a turn-based RPG set during a zombie apocalypse developed with the aid of fellow indie game company Iron Tower Studio.{{cite web |url=http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/faq/ |title=Dead State: The Zombie Survival RPG |work=FAQ |publisher=DoubleBear Productions}} Mitsoda has said that an aim of the game was to be a "[s]erious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster"{{cite journal |title=Obsidian Veterans to Make Zombie RPG |journal=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |author=Kieron Gillen |url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/07/obsidian-veterans-to-make-zombie-rpg-zrpg/ |date=August 7, 2009 |accessdate=2009-08-07}} and that the game is "designed around" the "stress and survival aspects" of "a world in crisis".{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/99780-dead-state.html |title=Dead State Interview |publisher=GameBanshee |date=September 16, 2010 |access-date=September 18, 2010 |archive-date=September 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919002422/http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/99780-dead-state.html |url-status=dead }} Dead State was released on December 4, 2014,{{cite web|title=Big Halloween News: We Have A Release Date!|url=http://steamcommunity.com/games/239840/announcements/detail/255904315154126224|work=steamcommunity.com|date=31 October 2014|publisher=Steam Community|accessdate=2014-10-31}} and followed up with numerous free updates, culminating in the Reanimated update on May 13, 2015,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/19/dead-state-reanimated-review/ |title= Wot I Think - Dead State: Reanimated|author=Alec Meer|magazine=rockpapershotgun.com|date= 19 May 2015|publisher= Rock Paper Shotgun | access-date=2015-12-08}} which acted as a kind of definitive edition. He worked as a writer on DoubleBear's second project, PANIC at Multiverse High!{{cite web|title=PANIC at Multiverse High! FAQ/Walkthrough|url=http://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/194726-panic-at-multiverse-high/faqs/74852|publisher=GameFAQS|accessdate=2019-12-11}}

In 2011, Mitsoda released a book of his "One Sentence Stories," a humor book in which stories are told in only one sentence.{{Cite book|isbn = 978-1467937245|title = One Sentence Stories: Tales for the Short Attention Span|last1 = Mitsoda|first1 = B.|date = 17 November 2011| publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform }}

In March 2013, it was announced that he would work with inXile Entertainment as a writer on Torment: Tides of Numenera.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/posts/433614|title = Update 8: Updated our Journal (8): Pat Rothfuss Stretch Goal, New Digital Comic Reward, +1 Mitsoda, George talks about the Bloom · Torment: Tides of Numenera| date=16 May 2017 }}

From 2015, Mitsoda worked with Hardsuit Labs on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 as narrative lead; in July 2020, he and creative director Ka'ai Cluney were terminated from their positions in a joint decision by Hardsuit Labs and the game's publisher Paradox Interactive, which Mitsoda called sudden, unexpected and disappointing.{{cite journal |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/08/19/brian-mitsoda-has-been-fired-as-narrative-lead-on-bloodlines-2/ |title=Brian Mitsoda has been fired as narrative lead on Bloodlines 2 |author=Smith, Graham |date=August 19, 2020 |journal=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |publisher=Gamer Network |access-date=August 19, 2020 |archive-date=August 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819145541/https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/08/19/brian-mitsoda-has-been-fired-as-narrative-lead-on-bloodlines-2/ |url-status=live}}

Mitsoda has been working with Hungarian studio Primal Games on 2.5D soulslike Mandragora.{{Cite web|url=https://gamerant.com/soulslike-game-mandragora-britan-mitsoda-irish-vampire-goth/|title=Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines Writer's New Project Mandragora Joins Knights Peak's Lineup|first=Katelyn|last=Kivel|date=June 8, 2024|website=Game Rant}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1802720/ Brian Mitsoda] at the [https://www.imdb.com Internet Movie Database]
• {{moby developer |id=25406|name=Brian Mitsoda's profile}}
• [https://www.amazon.com/One-Sentence-Stories-Attention-ebook/dp/B0067A30YU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324160708&sr=8-2 One Sentence Stories: Tales for the Short Attention Span by b mitsoda - Kindle version]

{{Troika games}}

{{Obsidian Entertainment}}

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Category:American video game designers

Category:Florida State University alumni

Category:Living people

Category:American video game writers

Category:Black Isle Studios

Category:Obsidian Entertainment people

Category:Interplay Entertainment people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)