Crime Boss: Rockay City Q&A with Actor and Writer Damion Poitier

The Game Awards 2022 ended with the announcement of Crime Boss: Rockay City, a brand new first-person shooter from INGAME STUDIOS and 505 Games.

Currently scheduled to hit PC (via Epic Games Store) on March 28th and consoles later this year, Crime Boss: Rockay City is set in the so-called seedy underbelly of a fictional version of 90’s Miami. Players will take the role of Travis Baker, played by Michael Madsen, as he tries to take over the criminal underworld of the titular Rockay City.

The game features a star-studded cast of 90s action heroes and personalities like Chuck Norris, Danny Glover, Kim Basinger, Michael Rooker, Danny Trejo, Vanilla Ice, and Damion Poitier. The latter actor, known for having cameoed as Thanos at the end of the first Avengers film before Josh Brolin replaced him in the role, is also working on Crime Boss: Rockay City as a writer. Wccftech recently had the opportunity to talk to him about his double-duty work on the game; scroll below to find the full edited transcript.

Can you tell me about your involvement with this project? How did it come about?

I was invited by the creative team to be a part of the game, both as a performer and as a writer.

How long have you been working on Crime Boss: Rockay City?

I’d say for a couple of years now.

I know you were previously involved in other games, such as PAYDAY 2. Can you talk about the differences you encountered when working on Crime Boss: Rockay City?

On this, I’m writing as well. So, coming from just being a performer to being someone who’s actually helping to create the narrative and character backstories and fill in some of the blanks and, you know, having an influence on how my character actually gets presented. It’s a very, very different experience.

Can you discuss the specifics of your writing job for Crime Boss: Rockay City? That is to say, what kind of area did you focus on? Is it the main plot or maybe certain characters?

Mostly mine has been characters. You know, coming up with different narratives and backstories and things like that, filling in the blanks and giving them their flavor.

There’s been a little bit of work on intros for some of the different missions and things like that, but primarily, it’s been characters and dialogue, so backstories and things of that nature and various details.

Did you write your own character, Nasara, or did you leave that to other writers?

Well, it’s been all of us working together. There are certain aspects of the character that they need for the game and there are certain aspects that I would like to perform, so in some aspects, it was me presenting something to see if they liked it and whether or not it would work for what we’re trying to do. In other aspects, they were saying, ‘Okay, we need somebody that can do this’ and I figured out how to distill that into a character they could utilize.

How would you describe your character in Crime Boss: Rockay City? What kind of person is he?

He’s got a bit of a mysterious past. Without giving away too much, he’s got a very, very specific way about him. He’s assisting Travis Baker and his bid to take over as the crime boss of Rockay City, so he’s using all of his connections and the different things he knows about the criminal underworld and Rockay City specifically to help bring together this team to put Travis Baker at the head of the pack.

Are there any specific quests with him?

Yes, all of these characters have their own quest lines. They all have different lives and different things that are going on with them that factor into the game in different ways.

Did you play the finished game yet?

They’re still working on it. I played some earlier builds.

Are you a regular gamer?

I was more of a gamer before I started working on games. Now I don’t have time to game, I have to make the stuff!

If you had to compare Crime Boss: Rockay City to another popular game, what would that be?

It’s this evolution of everything that’s come before it, so there’s really no comparison when you start to look at the different aspects we have going on. It’s virtually impossible to do the same game twice. Like, you will never play this game the same way twice because different characters in the background are moving in different ways, and they’re making their own choices. Everything that’s presented will be different in each playthrough.

In terms of playthrough experience, there’s nothing like it that I know of.

How is the game structured?

It’s a day-by-day playthrough, so each day, different things are presented to the player. Time is a factor as you have a certain amount of days to get into position to take over the city.

Is there a dynamic day/night cycle in Crime Boss: Rockay City?

No, there isn’t.

Did you also work on the co-op multiplayer?

I personally didn’t work on that much because, as I said, I was doing dialogue and narrative for the characters, so I don’t have as much experience with that.

I imagine you also worked alongside the other famous actors featured in Crime Boss: Rockay City, such as Michael Madsen, Danny Glover, Kim Basinger, and the rest.

Yeah, I was in quite a few sessions. Sometimes we read scenes together, and I was reading against them. Sometimes they were listening to recordings, and other times, I was just listening to them and giving them different notes when applicable. So depending on the situation, I had varying levels of input on it.

I’m guessing you had more experience in the gaming medium, while it’s the first game for some of the others. 

I’m sure that there were a couple that hadn’t done it before. But in terms of the level of involvement, most of them were not as involved with other games as they have been in this game, especially when you consider that we’re using their likeness, we’re using some aspects of characters that they’ve performed in the movies or television shows in the past. So the level of involvement with this, with all those different personalities, has been higher on average than they had experienced in the past.

Since you’ve also worked on films and TV, how does it differ from an acting point of view being in a game and being in a live-action production?

It’s very different. There’s theater, there’s film, and then there’s gaming. With gaming, one of the things is there are there can be multiple aspects of your performance. There’s the physical performance if you’re doing motion capture, which I did perform, there’s the facial capture if you’re recording the face for the likeness, and then there’s voice capture which obviously is the heart of the video game where that’s the basis for all your performances comes from what you do with your voice. Integrating the three is a very interesting and different process than any other type of medium that I know of.

I also imagine it’s harder to perform because when you’re on a movie or TV set, it’s perhaps easier for an actor to feel immersed in the character, right?

It’s easier and harder. It’s easier because you have so many different aspects that you’re working with separately that you focus on. When you’re on a set, it has to be all there. With the broken down performance, if you don’t like something you did in one aspect, you can punch it up with another aspect. So if I didn’t like how I sounded, I could make a face that’ll make the sound make more sense or do some physical movement that will change how it is interpreted. Whereas when you’re doing film, you get takes and that’s it, this you get three different aspects potentially to work with the material.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about your experience while working on Crime Boss: Rockay City that we haven’t touched yet?

Being on the development team as well as the performance team as an experience has been incredible. I have a much greater understanding of the medium, of what we’re dealing with, of how things work, of what goes into it.

I knew game developers worked. I had no idea how hard they worked. People do not understand the blood, sweat, and tears that go into bringing a video game to life. It’s been incredibly enriching for me to be on the other side. I’m not a coder, so seeing more of the nuts and bolts of scripting and development and all the different parts of bringing these games to life, has really increased my appreciation for the media.

Would you be interested in doing more work with videogames in the future?

Absolutely. It’s incredibly rewarding.

One last question. Earlier, we talked about your involvement with PAYDAY 2. Starbreeze is now working on PAYDAY 3, so I’m curious if they called you back to work on the upcoming game.

I am Chains! That’s all I’ll say.

Alright, fair enough. Thank you for your time.