Aether & Iron Dev Diary #6 Explores How Player Choice Shapes Storytelling

New behind-the-scenes episode reveals how defining a central protagonist helped shape player choice and narrative scope

Issaquah, WA, USA – March 27th, 2026 – Seismic Squirrel today released the sixth behind-the-scenes developer diary for Aether & Iron, offering players a closer look at how the team approached narrative design throughout development. Titled "Creating Player Choice", the episode features Narrative Director Tyler Whitney as he reflects on the evolving process of writing a branching RPG story.

Watch the Aether & Iron Dev Diary #6:

In the episode, Whitney explains how creating Gia helped shape player choice in Aether & Iron. Inspired by 1930s-50s noir novels, the team designed decisions so that even mistakes lead to new, engaging story paths. By grounding choices in Gia’s personality and the smuggler-noir tone, players can explore the story in ways that feel both meaningful and true to her character.

Aether & Iron launches on Steam on March 31, 2026, featuring full English voice acting and text localization support for English, Spanish (Spain & Latin America), French, German, Polish, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Simplified Chinese - Play the demo and wishlist Aether & Iron now on Steam!  

About Aether & Iron: 
Set in an alternate 1930s New York transformed into a vertical city by the discovery of “aether”, a key component to newfound anti-gravitational technology, Aether & Iron follows Gia, a smuggler navigating crime syndicates, political conspiracies, and fragile alliances. Players shape Gia’s story through meaningful decisions, with every choice influencing relationships, outcomes and the fate of the city itself. The game features writing talent with credits on Mass Effect, Far Cry, and Sovereign Syndicate, with an original score composed by two-time Grammy Award winner Christopher Tin and Grammy nominee Alex Williamson, best known for their work on the Civilization series. 

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About Seismic Squirrel
Seismic Squirrel is a talented and passionate team of both industry veterans and enthusiastic newcomers. We share a strong desire to tell fascinating stories supporting engaging gameplay mechanics.