How a 62-year-old black man gave cred to the story of the We Are Chicago video game

Tony Thornton grew up in the tough streets of Chicago. He knows how you have to make the right choices to survive in neighborhoods that are plagued by gang violence. And he wants to convey that story to a new generation of video game players with We Are Chicago.

After four years in development, We Are Chicago debuts today on Steam on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It was developed by Culture Shock Games, a team of diverse backgrounds in Chicago, headed by Michael Block, who financed the project with money he made from an earlier game. Thornton, 62, served as the writer, and he gave the game its credibility and authenticity.

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The story is about a high school student named Aaron who grows up in a tough neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. His world is unraveling, his best friend has stopped showing up to school, and Aaron has to make the right choices. Thornton breathed life into the narrative adventure game, creating moments like when a family tenses up but continues eating dinner at the sound of gunshots outside their home.

Proceeds from the game will benefit two Chicago non-profits, All Stars Project of Chicago and Reclaim Our Kids. I talked with Thornton about the process of writing the story and creating the game. It took me back several decades to when I used to walk the South Side of Chicago as a journalism student.

Here’s an edited transcript of our talk.

GamesBeat: It’s an unusual project. I’ve been writing about video games for 25 years, and I’ve never come across a game like this.

Tony Thornton: So I’ve been told. I have no experience with games whatsoever. I don’t play games. My generation had things like Pokemon and the like, but I wasn’t too keen on that. So it was quite a fascinating turn of events that got me involved with the project.

GamesBeat: How did you meet and get acquainted with Michael Block?

Thornton: At the age of 58, I went on a program that President Obama had signed into law called the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program. I received a certain amount of dollars a month to go to school. That program ended and I would have had to go back to work, which would have impeded my progress in school, in order to keep putting food on the table.

I was talking to one of my professors, asking if there were any jobs available at the school, so I wouldn’t have to commute back and forth to a job every day. She said, “Well, there’s a gentleman looking for a writer for a video game.” I told her I didn’t know anything about video games, but she said, “You can write well. If you can write for one medium, you can write for any medium.” Through the director of our program, the media and communications program, I was put in touch with Michael. We kind of clicked together, and the rest is history.

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GamesBeat: He mentioned that you were more interested in writing for movies at first.

Thornton: Exactly, yeah. My hope is to become a screenwriter, to do screenplays. But this has opened up a whole new field for me, so who knows?

GamesBeat: What career were you switching from when you became a writer?

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Thornton: I had a number of jobs, but my two biggest careers—I was a mailman for 12 years, and I sold cars for about 12 years, which I hated. I didn’t want to go back to selling cars. The place where I was a salesman went out of business, and at that point—I drew unemployment for a while, and when that ran out, I thought, “God, what am I going to do?” A buddy of mine says, “Hey, Obama signed this bill into law. We can get paid to go to school.” I’d always toyed with the idea of finishing my education, so I went for it.

GamesBeat: You mentioned you were in the armed services.

Thornton: Yes, I was in the Army. On paper I’m considered a Vietnam-era veteran, but the Vietnam conflict was a few years before me.

GamesBeat: Do you have another job now, besides going to school?

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Thornton: Right now I’m working at an internet television station. I’m using the associate’s degree I got in my field. I’m the technical director, and we stream live via YouTube. I’m the engineer in the control room making everything happen. This is in Roseland, not far from where I’m at, maybe 15 or 20 blocks away.

GamesBeat: So you grew up on the South Side, which made you familiar with everything around there?

Thornton: I grew up in Englewood, as did our protagonist. The things I’m writing about, I lived all those things that the character goes through.

GamesBeat: How early on was it clear to you that this was a different kind of game? Something that wasn’t a crime story, a shoot-em-up.

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Thornton: I was aware of that from the beginning. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I didn’t want to do something that magnified the negatives about our neighborhood. I wanted to do something that understood the positive things and magnified them. As Michael was interviewing me, I was interviewing him at the same time. Here’s a young white guy from suburbia, right? Our neighborhood has been pimped out any number of times, and I wasn’t going to be a part of a project that took advantage of the negative things in our neighborhood and ignored the fact that there are way more hard-working, positive aspirants in our neighborhood than there are gang-bangers.

GamesBeat: Was the story based on something you’d been writing already?

Thornton: Michael and his team had done extensive research on the neighborhood and the characters before I began writing for the project. They already had a framework for how the story would go. They simply needed me to flesh out that story, so to speak.

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GamesBeat: What was your view of him at first?

Thornton: Coming up in the neighborhood, as I did—what comes to mind is a song by Marvin Gaye for the movie Trouble Man. He said, “I come up hard.” Coming up in our neighborhood, you had to be able to quickly assess a situation, assess the people you would meet, whether they were a threat or not, friend or foe. In any number of instances growing up, we had to be prepared to fight or run. You quickly develop a nose for sizing people up.

After speaking with Michael for a short period of time, I said, “He’s genuine. He means well.” And from that point on it was just a matter of the merits of the project. But I was pretty sure early on that he was a straight shooter.

GamesBeat: Was that, what, four years ago now?

Thornton: Right, four years ago.

GamesBeat: How long did your participation in the project last? What did you want to capture to make the story feel more authentic?

Thornton: I probably finished my leg of the race in four to five months. I was aiming for realism first and foremost. When I grew up, in that same neighborhood, our parents wanted the best for us. They wanted more opportunity for us than they had for themselves. They pushed education. Education would be our ticket out, our ticket to a better life, a more fulfilling life. We were taught that an education gave you options. You could do something you loved to do, something that wasn’t a grind.

Having that type of training at home, and then having parents who had a moral compass—myself and my friends growing up, none of us were gang-bangers. There were certainly gang-bangers around, but we weren’t allowed to do those things. Likewise, I felt that the protagonist, he came from a good family. They had a moral compass. There were things that he wasn’t capable of. Being in a gang would be untenable for him.

GamesBeat: The idea that this game was going to be about the choices you make, was that the plan all along?

Thornton: Right. Again, this is what Michael and his team had already worked out when I got there. When I began to write, my editor would say, “Okay, you need to put more choices in there.” So the player would have all these different options, instead of it just being a one-way street. My editor, Cynthia, reminded me of that on occasion. It made me a much better writer, and not just for video games. Going ahead, thinking about a character being at a crossroads and having different options they could entertain.

GamesBeat: What do you feel is the statement or the message that the game is trying to convey?

Thornton: Originally, the market Michael intended was for other people like himself, from neighborhoods that were light-years away – geographically and logistically – from Englewood. They couldn’t even conceive of the problems that face the people in that neighborhood. To a person in their car driving through, looking at the neighborhood and looking at the people, they’d have certain impressions without really knowing anything about the life there. Michael’s idea was that if they knew more about that lifestyle, they’d appreciate the people there more, the fact that they live in situations that force them to make decisions that people in suburbia don’t have to make. The gangs, the violence, the drugs, the pervasive atmosphere of oppression that white folks in the suburbs don’t have to live with.

Thinking from the perspective of a white suburbanite, I’d say, “Wow, if I lived on the South Side of Chicago under these circumstances, how would I have turned out? What would my life be like if I was confronted with violence and crime? I’m trying to raise my family and live a positive light, but I’m confronted on all sides by negativity, or the specter of negativity. I have to make these choices and make the best of my life. Would I rise to the top or settle to the bottom, making concessions that I wouldn’t want to make, but felt forced to make?”

GamesBeat: Was it also intended as something that might inspire people from the neighborhood?

Thornton: Yes. Like I say, I was talking about Michael’s intended audience. But after coming to the game, I told him that I felt this was something people in the neighborhood could gravitate to as well. We all like to see ourselves portrayed, on TV and film or wherever. When we’re not included—why do I want to see the movies when I’m never in the movies? Why should I want to watch a show that doesn’t speak to my reality? When there’s this inclusiveness—I say all the time that the most wonderful sound in any language is your name. Now my friends and family who know about the game are anxious to try it for themselves.

We’ve done beta tests with kids playing the game. They’ve definitely said that it rings true. They’ve said, “My life is like this. These are things I have to deal with every day.” It’s relevant to the people who live in those areas and languish under those conditions.

GamesBeat: In some ways, it’s surprising that this story hasn’t been told in a game before.

Thornton: I don’t pretend to be an expert on games, but there’s a lot of action in popular games like Grand Theft Auto. A lot of that action is violent. Kids are shooting up zombies and everything else. You’d think that was hard to compete with. The market is driven in that direction, just like in the movies or the music industry. There’s a lot of other music besides gangsta rap, guys saying “bitch” and “nigger” and everything else. There’s a lot of positive rap out there. But it doesn’t get air play. Likewise with games. Maybe there’s a market for this that nobody knew about.

GamesBeat: How much of the story is personalized in some way?

Thornton: I largely drew from my own life. Aaron, our protagonist, is just like me. When I found out the particulars—okay, this guy isn’t involved with gangs. He’s a good kid. He’s a writer, a poet. That’s me. I’ve been writing poetry since I was maybe 15 years old. So yes, I identified heavily with him, and much of my experience is written into the story. His mother is like my mother. His father, although his father has died in the story, is like my father. His sister is like my sister. His buddies are just like the friends I grew up with. And they have to make the same sort of decisions we were faced with.

GamesBeat: Do you feel like the path you have to take through those decisions is obvious? Or is it a little foggy or fuzzy in some ways?

Thornton: It depends on the player, whether or not the right option to choose is clear. When you’re playing a game, as opposed to living through the experience in real life, there’s a huge difference. There are lots of gray-shaded areas in real life.

I had a friend who felt pressured to join a gang — and he was the only one of our circle who ever did join a gang – because on a particular day he was by himself and he was confronted. He couldn’t fight or dissent, so when they said, “We want you at this meeting Thursday, and if you don’t show up we’re going to come looking for you,” he was swept up in something that he didn’t have a choice in. In the game, though, it just depends on who you are – if you’re going to take the easy way out, or if you’re going to hold fast to the morality you’ve been taught. “This is wrong, and under no circumstances will I choose this option, because it goes against what I’ve been taught.”

GamesBeat: What about the place? It’s not based on an exact map of Chicago, but how authentic do you feel the locations are?

Thornton: One example, they’re accosted near a school that I attended. That’s in the game. Some specific locations are quite authentic.

GamesBeat: It still has to be fictionalized to some degree, I suppose? You don’t necessarily want to use real-world businesses or specific homes.

Thornton: The look and feel of the game is very authentic, but yes. In terms of naming particular businesses, those are fictionalized.

GamesBeat: Seeing the finished product now, what do you think about how it’s turned out?

Thornton: I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen. The things that I brought to the game I think were much-needed. I used to talk about the fact that our neighborhoods, on any given block on the west or south sides of Chicago—you’re in California, correct? My daughter attends USC, and when I went to USC, I saw a lot of the same things there as here, the urban blight.

On the south and west sides of Chicago, on any given block you’ll see four or five boarded-up houses, four or five vacant lots, no thriving businesses. You’ll see stores you wouldn’t really want to go in. Nothing like what you see in upscale neighborhoods and gentrified neighborhoods. It’s like a desert. You’ve heard of food deserts? There are neighborhoods where you have to travel quite a ways to get to a grocery store, which means that the money you’re spending doesn’t circulate in your neighborhood. All the things you need for you subsistence, you have to go to other neighborhoods to buy them, and the money you spend ends up in those other neighborhoods. Your neighborhood just gets poorer and poorer.

Those boarded-up houses bring homeless people who go in and squat in those places, drug addicts who shoot up in those houses. The abandoned homes become dangerous. At the very least they’re eyesores, driving down the value of houses on the block. When they end up on a demolition list, they mark those with red Xes. That was one thing I pointed out to Michael, driving through the neighborhood – look at the houses with the red Xes. What type of psychological effect does it have on kids to not only see on this blight, but then see that? That has to have a lasting effect on their psyche. He incorporated that into the game. You’ll see houses with red Xes in the game world.

GamesBeat: He mentioned that there was a point in the game where there’s a gunshot, and the family doesn’t really react to it, because it doesn’t sound like it’s nearby. Nobody would be shocked to hear that in the general area.

Thornton: That’s the reality of the situation. From time to time you do hear gunshots, so you become an expert at judging the distance. If it’s close, you take some kind of protective action. There’s a saying, that bullets don’t have names on them. Just because they’re shooting at one person doesn’t mean another won’t get hit by a stray bullet. There have been many recorded instances where someone is in their living room, just enjoying the safety and sanctity of their home, and they get shot.

GamesBeat: Michael mentioned that it was something that his own staff didn’t understand. You had to step in and make them aware.

Thornton: Absolutely, yes. There were a few instances like that, where being raised in that environment—I’d routinely have to say, “No, that doesn’t ring true. Black folks, we wouldn’t do that. We wouldn’t say that. We’d react this way.” I was the voice of experience.

GamesBeat: Were there any other African-Americans on the team in different roles?

Thornton: Not that I met. Usually I’d be the only black person in the room. But there were other black people working in areas where I wasn’t involved. And of course, when we were doing the voice-overs, all the voice actors were black. From some of the pictures I’ve seen, there were programmers and other staff involved who were black, but our paths didn’t cross.

GamesBeat: It’s interesting to come back again to this notion that this game probably wouldn’t have been made without white people.

Thornton: My question would be, if indeed it was conceived and brought to market by a black person – myself, let’s say – I wonder if we would have gotten the same press.

GamesBeat: Or the access to the money to make that.

Thornton: That too. But Michael has made a comfortable living off his previous games, so he had the disposable income to invest in the making of this game.

GamesBeat: It’s a rare thing for someone like him to do.

Thornton: Yes it is. Not knowing exactly how the game would be received, I give him high marks for taking a risk with his own resources.

GamesBeat: I went to journalism school at Northwestern. There was a quarter there where I was assigned to cover public housing. I spent some time in the Robert Taylor Homes, and Cabrini Green.

Thornton: Right, which are no longer there.

GamesBeat: It was a very stark experience for me.

Thornton: I can imagine. You’re originally from California?

GamesBeat: I’m from Sacramento, in the north, and I live in the Bay Area now, near San Jose. This was not something I’d ever seen growing up. It was very eye-opening.

Thornton: As I said, I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and my first trip to Cabrini Green was an eye-opener too. Any project that you go too, it’s very intense. You have all these people thrown together in a small area. The education level and the income level is such that—I mean, it’s not like a high-rise in a richer part of town, where people have a pretty high disposable income and education and appreciation for the finer things. You have people who are thrown together, who don’t own much, and don’t have an appreciation for others who do, you know?

When you own property, whether it’s your home or your condo or a nice car, you appreciate nice things. You’ve been taught to appreciate nice things. It’s a difference from living in a neighborhood where you just see other people with things that you wonder if you’ll ever be able to afford. To the point where you have people robbing other people for their gym shoes. Things we can’t even conceive of. “They did what?”

GamesBeat: I guess you’ll find out soon out well enough how the game does. Has the project turned out well for you otherwise?

Thornton: As I say, I went back to school in 2013, 2014. If it hadn’t been for the game—we’ve gotten a lot of good press. Just months after returning to school, I got my first professional writing gig, and as a result of that gig I’ve been called on to do interviews on the radio, television, magazines, newspapers. It’s been a whirlwind. Of course I hope it’ll be my entry into having my scripts read, at least. With luck it’ll be well-received, and maybe it gets my foot in the door.

GamesBeat: Are you still down in Englewood, or do you live elsewhere now?

Thornton: I live in Roseland, which is a carbon copy of Englewood. It’s closer to my job. But it’s pretty much the same neighborhood.

GamesBeat: You mentioned 58. Is that how old you are now?

Thornton: No, that’s how old I was when I first went back to school. I just had my 62nd birthday. It’s a thrill to have made a career change at this point in my life, to have doors opening like this. It’s very flattering. I hope the game does well – not just so I can have some professional kudos, but because it’s instructing people about situations that they would otherwise have no knowledge of. Maybe it does something to promote understanding between different ethnicities. There but for the grace of God go I.