Hopetown Inspirations: Disco Elysium writer Martin Luiga on the Writing Process, Fan Reactions, and the Art of Creating a cRPG | Developer Interview | Part Two

Welcome to the next instalment of our Hopetown Inspirations: The History of Disco Elysium series. In this edition, we return to ask Martin Luiga, one of the founding members of the ZA/UM cultural movement that brought the world Disco Elysium, some more questions about the writing and narrative foundations of Disco, and how he’s bringing the knowledge he gained from working on it to his work now on Hopetown.

From the creative environment that gave rise to Disco, what surprised Martin about the reception to the game, and how he’s approaching the creative process for Hopetown, we’ll gain more insight into the creative journey behind Disco and its continuation in Hopetown. 

Martin’s work is an integral part of the intricate, genre-bending world we are creating with Hopetown. This edition takes a look back on his work for the beloved cRPG Disco Elysium, while also looking ahead to his exciting work for Hopetown. 

[From TTRPG to cRPG] Q: You mentioned that Disco Elysium was essentially "translating a personal Game Master session into a mass medium". How do you approach that translation differently with Hopetown? What lessons from Disco's pen-and-paper origins are you applying, and what are you deliberately doing differently?

A: I myself have never really game-mastered in a serious capacity. I am actually not a storyteller in the traditional sense at all. I am, first and foremost, a political intellectual of some sort, which Robert Kurvitz is also. However, I can make characters. The fans are often specifically fans of the characters, and it can very well be said that a character necessarily implies a story. A character needs a soul of some sort, be it someone you know from life or via media. It can also be an idea or an emotion; it can be a song. So the story, or anyhow what makes the story special, will grow out of those characters.

[Craft: Capturing magic] Q: This gets at the craft question: how does one recreate that lightning-in-a-bottle personal storytelling at scale… twice?

A: It is now, I think, more possible to make a good RPG than it was before Disco. However, this is best not approached by trying to retro-engineer Disco’s success in the way of saying ‘politics appears to be popular so we should put politics in the game’ without a clear idea of the politics one wants to depict. The way politics was depicted in Disco Elysium cannot and should not be copied precisely as it was. Firstly, because we can’t precisely copy Robert’s voice, and secondly, because the fans want something “similar, but different”, which means it needs to have an original voice, and a compelling one at that. Original thoughts also. Which is all well within the realm of the possible.

[World building of Martinaise] Q: The Martinaise district in Revachol feels so expansive and intricate to the player, even though it is, comparatively, a tiny map compared to other RPGs, and is, by necessity, limited by the constraints of a game. How did you all build this history into it, inject this feeling of expansiveness into it? How did the history of your home country play into that? 

A: Well, Revachol is really the most well-developed location of the Elysium IP, being in the works for over 20 years now. Already when what turned out to be Disco was still a more ambitious project, Robert described about 30 distinct locations for Jamrock, Revachol, and I am sure it would not be hard for him to do 60 more. It is one of the things he can write most well, which also means he is rather fast about it. It is all for the most part Robert really, I don’t know how he does that specifically, although I know that particular IP well enough to write into it. 

I don’t think Estonia has been consciously used much as a model, although its troubled history is bound to be one of the main influences for both Robert, Argo and many of the team – you can’t really scrape it off even if you wanted to, and undoubtedly it also gave Disco much of its novelty. 

From Martin: “a photo from the Voyager Road commune inhabited by me, Argo Tuulik and Robert Kurvitz from about 2006 to 2008. This was the time when Robert started writing his first and, to this day, last novel set in the Elysium world”. 

On Writing, Fandom, and Looking Forward

Q: What lesson are you bringing to Hopetown from your time working on Disco Elysium?

A: I do believe that I have some organisational know-how, some ability to recognise ability. I do think I could put together a fine formulation of “what made Disco successful”. My general politico-religious worldview is at the level of complexity that allows me to contribute to Kurvitz's world building. That being said, I am a less versatile writer than he is. It’s important to note how much he is a music-first intellectual. In truth I am not your typical writer at all. Being a writer used to be a rather precise thing which had to do with managing large masses of text and being incredibly obsessed with having the correct effect. I can work at the side quest level and I have some interesting ideas regarding skill systems. I can do character voices.

Aside from my world building experience, I have six years of experience in beefing with the state and the most powerful industrial sector in the country, which has given me some insight into the inner workings of the government and journalism, and business and general organisational psychology. I have some familiarity with Lacanian psychoanalysis.

Editor Notes: Martin’s modesty aside, his character work on Disco Elysium speaks for itself. 

[Personal freedom, and the similarities in conditions between HT and DE] Q: You talk about "fighting aggressively for personal freedom" in a Stirnerian way being crucial to Disco's creation. Hopetown is being made in a very different context - post-Covid, post-ZA/UM collapse, in a more consolidated gaming industry. How do you carve out that same radical creative freedom now? What does that fight look like today?

A: Well, things that are somewhat similar regarding Disco and Hopetown is that they are both made by new companies that have a specific, rare product towards which they strive. I would here be a Nietzschean and say that if the spark is there, good art can be made under any conditions. And I cannot really say that the conditions of making Hopetown are overall worse than the conditions of making Disco. They are just different, meaning if problems arise, they need to be solved in a different manner. I hear that Disco was, at one junction, at a place where the project leaders did not know how to get from the mess they had to a finalised, high quality product. They figured it out, whether with outside guidance or without it. If you really want to, or need to, you can. 

Q: In the wake of Disco being played and enjoyed by so many around the world, is there any element of the fan response to Disco that surprised you? 

A: Regarding the Disco fandom, I could not really have imagined something like that. Though I do think that a major reason why the RPG genre got resurrected was for its ability to inspire very durable fandoms. The genre still has very few works in it and carries incredible potential. Many also said that the intensity of Kim's popularity came as a surprise to them...

Q: You are a different person now than you were when you worked on Disco, just through the passage of time. In your work on Hopetown, are you trying to write “through the eyes” of your younger self, or are you explicitly writing as the wiser, older writer looking forward? 

A: Well, one of the reasons why I fell off the Disco wagon was also that I didn't feel as if I had super much to say to the world at that time. I would say this has markedly improved, I enjoy writing more now. The general genre in which I write those things is still a political sitcom; it is easy enough to write and has proven itself effective. This reminds me of how they say of Jacques Lacan that he stressed four things about his discourse: it needs sex, it needs humour, it needs to have a connection point with the Communist discourse and the Catholic discourse. This is a good exercise in general, finding four things that will help you support your discourse.

What have you always wanted to know about the making of Disco Elysium? Any burning questions for Martin that you’d like to see answered in the next post? Let us know in the social comments, or on our Discord. Finally, don’t forget to wishlist Hopetown on Steam!

Missed previous dev blogs?

On The Record | Disco Elysium Inspirations by Veljo Hagu

On The Record | Disco Elysium Inspirations by Martin Luiga, Part One

Developer Interviews: The Next Lead

Our next On the Record will spotlight another corner of development — exploring how story, art, and systems continue to weave together as Hopetown grows. Keep an eye on our dev blog and socials for the next instalment.

Join the Conversation

We’re building more than just a game — we’re building a community. What have you always wanted to know about the making of Disco Elysium? Any burning questions for Martin that you’d like to see answered in the next post? Let us know in the comments, or on our Discord.

Until next time, 

— The Hopetown Team