Given that Life Is Strange: True Colors’ small-town setting of Haven Springs is located in Colorado, the state where Deck Nine is based, we can’t help but ask whether the studio is in a similarly picturesque spot. Co-founder and CEO Mark Lyons and COO Jeff Litchford both laugh and shake their heads. “Denver is 20 minutes that way, and Boulder is 20 minutes that way,” Lyons says. “So we’re not nearly as rural as that.”
In fact, Litchford – a native of the Centennial State – tells us that the choice of setting was influenced by publisher Square Enix. “We were excited about heading down to Louisiana, setting something in the bayou, but the team in London were like, ‘You know, Colorado is pretty amazing – those mountains are phenomenal’. And we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I guess it is!’ I grew up here – to me, it’s just my everyday.”
Colorado might hardly be known as a game-development hub, but that, Lyons explains, is part of the appeal. Having worked as a lead programmer at Sony’s San Diego offices, he explains the reasons for moving from California and establishing
