The making of Take 2's FMV game Black Dahlia from 1998, as told by the cast and crew themselves. I conducted these interviews from September 2025 to February 2026, gaining a whole new appreciation for what goes into developing a game of this enormous scope.
Watch my retrospective of the game: https://spectra.video/w/rhvmgFLyMoCC4unZozWN3c
Watch my 4 hour "movie cut" of the game:
Original resolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0C0dev0aj4
HD upscale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTkLF4toBEg
You can watch the full interviews on my 2nd channel:
Darren Eliker (actor, Jim Pearson): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC0MkuwNaDE
David Whalen (actor, Dick Winslow): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3DwwGPaJRo
Eric Trow (director): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdg9nRlNhd4
Steve Glasstetter (design coordinator): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCXpbGZ0A3Y
Patrick Freeman (screenwriter): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8oN_0it4rI
Greg Brown (producer/lead programmer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orDE5pbG_SI
Henry Borrasso (lead compositor/VFX): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkNHxFag7xU
Richard Cobbett (writer/former games journalist): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItFHK3Mru9Y
Listen to/download my Black Dahlia remix EP: https://spacequesthistorian.bandcamp.com/album/black-dahlia-a-fair-balanced-ep
00:00:00 Chapter One: From Cyberpunk to Cleveland
00:09:30 Chapter Two: Shooting the Movie
00:11:04 Explain VFX to a 5 year old
00:12:13 Choosing a director
00:13:23 The actors
00:25:55 Neutral Man
00:27:55 Dennis Hopper
00:31:14 Teri Garr
00:33:00 Steve's Monsterman cameo
00:35:46 "Lost in the Blue" - Living in bluescreen
00:44:44 Trains - the ruiners of takes
00:46:38 The intro sequence
00:48:34 Chapter Three: Putting It All Together
00:52:09 Moving virtual cameras
00:54:27 Winslow ripping out his eye
00:56:35 Easter eggs
01:00:08 Chapter Four: The Puzzles... oh, god, the puzzles
01:05:59 Sandwich puzzles (Gabriel Knight)
01:07:32 Learning from past mistakes
01:10:32 Chapter Five: The Legacy (... or lack thereof?)
01:12:16 Reviews and reception
01:19:17 A retrospective appreciation
The Adventure Game Hotspot Network:
https://youtube.com/@OneShortEye - adventure game speedruns
https://youtube.com/@AdventureGameGeek - adventure game reviews
The Classic Gamer's Guild Podcast (https://www.cggpodcast.com)
https://youtube.com/@AdventureGameHotspot - the main hub
Join the SQH community on Discord: https://discord.gg/9mcCQt2
Support me via Patreon: https://patreon.com/spacequesthistorian