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Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
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DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
How can Secrets and Clues motivate characters?
AI✦The episode applies game-design principles to Wake Up Dead Man’s plotting structure, distinguishing between landmark information (characters simply possess), secrets (characters know exist and must unlock), and hidden information (invisible until characters pay a cost)–showing how this framework shapes character agency and narrative velocity.✦
Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure!
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“Getting information puts your character in danger. And danger rewards your character with information." — One of three ideas we steal from game design in this episode. In this two part series, we talk about how secrets, clues and hidden information motivate characters and may (or may not) help you plot from a character perspective. Part One (this episode) looks at WAKE UP DEAD MAN; while Part Two looks at SIDE EFFECTS, and the pilot episode of SHRINKING… →
Films:
Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
"The way those secrets were hidden, revealed, and discovered were all rooted in the characterization."
— mel | DZ-126: Secrets and Clues