XBLA hot-prospect Deadlight has its story explained

Deadlight could be this year's Limbo, this year's Shadow Complex - this year's Summer of Xbox Live Arcade stand-out hit.

It's a side-scrolling platform game, but it hopes to become much more through a stylishly presented post-apocalyptic story.

And it's the story that the latest Deadlight developer diary sheds light on.

Deadlight's story was spun out of an image - a picture of a silhouetted man in a long coat aiming a long-barrelled gun at something off-shot. He's backdropped by an orange an pink sunset sky. Who is he? What's he doing? Why is he dressed like Neo from The Matrix?

Tequila hired Antonio Rojano - a script writer with no video game storytelling experience - to flesh out the tale.

Deadlight's central character is Randall Wayne. He's not a cop, a soldier, a murderer or a survivor. He's not a scientist. He's not a hero.

"He's just a normal guy, with his own problems, weaknesses and fears," said Rojano. And he's undergoing both a physical and mental journey - one that will unfold gradually as you play.

Wayne's been caught up in some kind of virus outbreak. The game's first cutscene tells us we're 145 days after Patient Zero.

Tequila CEO and creative director Raul Rubio added: "Deadlight is not an objective story. It is told through the eyes, thoughts and diary entries of Randall Wayne."

That diary appears hand written and tatty - a bit like Nathan Drake's in the Uncharted series of games. In that diary you'll uncover Wayne's past, his fears and his phobias.

The for Tequila was to make a story, not just a game.

The full developer diary is below. There are gameplay clips and passages of comic book-style cut-scenes within.

Eurogamer wrote a Deadlight preview earlier this year, in case you missed it.

Deadlight's due out at the very beginning of August, exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade.