Dontnod was advised by multiple publishers to change the gender of Nilin, Remember Me's main character, on the grounds that it would prevent the game from finding an audience. In an interview at the time of the game's release, creative director Jean-Maxime Moris described being turned away by publishers because Nilin was a woman. "We had people tell us, 'You can't make a dude like the player kiss another dude in the game,'" he recalled. "'That's going to feel awkward.'"

Things have changed, for Dontnod and the industry at large. The studio's next game, Life is Strange, an episodic series with female characters at the heart of its story once again, was a major commercial success, sparking a conversation around the kind of stories that games could - and perhaps should - be telling in the process.

"It doesn't matter really any more," says Oskar Guilbert, CEO of Dontnod, when I ask him about how the industry's perception of female characters has changed since Remember Me. "What we see now - even in the movies - is that female main characters are more and more present. There are not as many questions. We have more freedom now. Perhaps we contributed towards this freedom in a small way.

"It's great that the industry is moving in this direction, but I think it's also very, very normal. I mean, half of us [people] are women. It's normal to have that same proportion in games."

The success of its episodic drama Life is Strange may have drawn favourable comparisons with fellow story-focused studio Telltale Games, but Dontnod Entertainment doesn’t plan to simply follow the Walking Dead dev’s footsteps into the world of licences.

That’s the vow from Dontnod CEO and co-founder Oskar Guilbert, who told Develop that despite Life is Strange’s noted similarities to Telltale’s work – namely a preference for episodic narratives and strong ties to pop culture – the developer didn’t want to delve into adapting other companies’ IP as Telltale has done with series including The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Wolf Among Us, Minecraft, Batman and Marvel.

“No, no, no, we don't want to do that,” he retorted. “We want to create our own IPs.”

However, Guilbert admitted that the dev, which is currently working on original title Vampyr, might be open to partnering with an existing TV, film or literary franchise – if the right offer came up.

“Maybe in the future, I don't know, who knows?” he continued. “Maybe if we see something really interesting, an IP we really want to develop, then yes. But no, we see ourselves like maybe IP creators.

Coming soon to Steam Early Access! Add to your STEAM wish list - http://store.steampowered.com/app/411480 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - https://goo.gl/JwaQ47 'LIKE' us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/battlecrewgame 'FOLLOW' us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/battlecrewgame VISIT our website - http://battlecrew-game.com/

BATTLECREW™ Space Pirates is a competitive multiplayer shooter set in a packed and evolving universe.

You play as the coolest and most charismatic pirates in the galaxy! Each character has a unique attack, defense, and movement attributes: it's up to you to find the one that suits you best!

Lead your team into intense and epic battles! Take on enemy teams that are just as classy and bloodthirsty as yours! Steal as much of their gold as you can, turn them into space dust, and become the most feared and respected pirate in the four corners of the galaxy!

Between battles, dock at Tortuga, a space station that has become the lair and meeting-place of the worst buccaneers in the Milky Way! Find new team members or invite your friends to play, check the online scores, and take part in the ongoing community challenges…

BATTLECREW is more than just a shoot 'em up - it's alive! Players can unlock characters, environments, and game modes by winning regularly-updated community challenges!

Lift off and join in on the wildest galactic adventure for light years around!

Not too many details are available other than it will be a competitive multiplayer shooter designed with "community features, events and challenges." The game is slated for Steam Early Access where players will get their hands on a large part of the game so they can offer feedback. As for the new studio, Dontnod had been collaborating with a company called HeSaw. The partnership grew enough that Dontnod renamed HeSaw and made it a spinoff. "The goal of our collaboration is to help those talented independent developers and benefit from their know-how," said Dontonod CEO Oskar Guilbert. "They’ve been working on this game for about a year and we’re happy to help them achieve their goal of releasing this fun, exciting and innovative gaming experience.” As for Dontnod, it is currently working on a Vampyr RPG, and just recently released Life is Strange Episode One Chrysalis across all platforms.

“Long story short, I’ve always known since I was a kid that I wanted to make movies, be a storyteller in some way, do writing or film-making,” he said. “As a child, I was a very voracious reader and loved TV and films. I actually really wanted to be a stop-motion animator when I was a little kid, that was my biggest thing. I loved animation and Ray Harryhausen movies, with their old school physical effects, and I started making films, but at a certain point I just realized that there were other people far more talented than me that could do this stuff and I was much more interested in putting it all together and overseeing it as a writer or director. I think games are just another just another storytelling medium that it’s good to be a part of.”

As a child, it wasn’t video games that taught Christian how to construct a good story though, but a different kind of game. “Dungeons and Dragons probably taught me more about storytelling than anything because I was a huge D&D fan,” he said. “I would always prefer to be the Dungeon Master than to be a player because you can control it, you’re in charge of what happens. I liked the idea, and it was good for honing your storytelling instincts because you have to respond so quickly to the roll of a dice. When you do, it becomes another story and when you walk in to that bar, you have to be able to voice all the different characters that are going to be in there, so it really does help from a storytelling perspective. I think D&D and roleplaying games are really helpful because they do force you to kind of put yourself in the perspective of the storyteller and see things from all these different, branching angles which is a big part of gaming of course.”

“Max is a wallflower, she’s shy but she’s not crushed,” Christian said. “She has volition and she’s willing to step up. She also screws up, she’s not perfect, and that’s the other thing about writing both about and for teenagers, they know bullshit a mile away. You can’t fool a kid. Maybe you can trick them in to Justin Bieber,” Christian quipped, “but for the most part you can’t fool them. I mean I knew when I was a teenager, who was phoney and who wasn’t. That’s why Catcher In The Rye resonated so much, there’s a bit of a touchstone there with Life Is Strange because Holden Caulfield was all about spotting phoneys and when you’re that age you start realising who is being fake. ”

This relation between what a person is really like and the face that they show to those around them is crucial to the game throughout. It’s also what makes its portrayal of the characters so effective, as the player struggles to get a handle on what people are looking for, what their endgame is. David Madsen is a perfect example of this. At the beginning of the game, Madsen appears to be a domineering megalomaniac who has it out for Max and Chloe, but it turns out his character is far more than that. Christian told us that he enjoyed watching people react to characters in that way, and welcomed the diverse range of opinions.