Fetching Neon: Meeting the Team Behind inFAMOUS Second Son, Sucker Punch Productions

In 2014, Sucker Punch Productions released their new game based on their popular inFAMOUS franchise, inFAMOUS Second Son. This new game was the first in the series to veer from focusing on Cole MacGrath and instead centered on someone else who had his own story to tell, introducing us to Delsin Rowe. This is the story of how I used my love for this game to propel me into the studio of Sucker Punch Productions.

This post is a little on the longer side because I think it’s important to tell the story of how I even got into the lucky position of rubbing elbows with the developers (henceforth known as “devs”). It took months of work to get to that point and it did not happen overnight. If you don’t want the full backstory you can jump to the moment I was in Seattle, Washington. Otherwise, strap in and get ready for one of the wildest stories of my life.

I wanted to do something to celebrate my love for this game by trying something new with Fetch as my inspiration.

My main objective and jumping off point to the start of this whole love for inFAMOUS Second Son.

When inFAMOUS Second Son dropped it was a prime example of what the PlayStation 4 could accomplish. It was beautiful in character designs, power displays and the Seattle, Washington hotspots that were included as the setting for the game. It was the game to play and even today it still holds up; running smoothly and dragging you into this world of humans with powers (known as “conduits”) and the mimic who can use them all as long as he touches your hand first.

But as engrossed as I was in learning all I could about Delsin, once he met Abigail “Fetch” Walker–an ex-junkie and a conduit welding neon with a flick of her wrist–I was unable to pull my attention away. I wanted to do something to celebrate my love for this game by trying something new with Fetch as my inspiration.

I started pulling references from the game to begin a cosplay for Fetch. I tracked down Sucker Punch Productions Twitter account (years before Twitter became X) because I had to know all I could about this brightly lit character. Around this time in my life I had also decided to push myself back into writing as I missed this creative outlet and found myself gravitating toward creating stories. I started tracking who was following the game creators’ account and I stumbled across a user by the name of @NeonDelsinRowe. His tweets were interesting to me because he tweeted as though he was Delsin Rowe–a role-play account with a strong grasp on this character’s voice. He quickly amassed a bunch of followers and I was intrigued to the max. I created my own alternate account on Twitter as Fetch to bounce off of his tweets and scratch my writing itch. Originally, this was a small experiment–how quickly could I grow a role-play account? How in-character could I be while writing for a character that was not my own? My account @LaserGirlFetch quickly pulled a slew of followers, thanks to interactions with this Delsin Rowe account. A month later @NeonDelsinRowe deactivated and left me alone to carry the torch of role-playing this feisty Pisces.

My account grew so quickly that it was only a matter of time before Sucker Punch Productions took notice of me.

My success of my alternate Twitter account, @LaserGirlFetch.

Except I wasn’t alone. In the month that @LaserGirlFetch had been around, several new role-play accounts had popped up for Delsin, Fetch, Eugene and even one for the D.U.P. Hotline–all characters within the inFAMOUS Second Son game. I mingled with role-play accounts for other franchises as well, creating a multi-universe community for character voices of several different games. I did my best, staying as true to character as I could while having the time of my life. I made a lot of new friends and we still talk daily outside of Twitter/X even today. My account grew so quickly that it was only a matter of time before Sucker Punch Productions took notice of me. I followed several of the devs individually and they also followed me back. I helped with game promotion by providing giveaways from my own funds, bringing in new fans and sharing photo-mode photos and trophy pops for gamers across my Twitter feed. None of it was paid and none of it was “official” but all of it was fun and a positive experience.

In July 2014, I debuted my Fetch cosplay at San Japan in San Antonio, Texas. It was recognized right away and though I wasn’t 100% satisfied with it (the curse of being a perfectionist), I had a fun time running around and pulling some great photos together of my creation. I entered a contest that Sucker Punch Productions held online for Best Cosplay and although I did not win, I enjoyed the praise and attention from the devs.

In August 2014, the devs of the game decided to have a streaming event on Twitch where they could talk about the game in more detail and play it for the fans to watch and enjoy. I got to be a part of it and I created my first Twitch account to log in and provide Fetch commentary and interact with fans (by way of not overstepping on behalf of the devs). Coincidentally, the devs also had a trick up their sleeves and announced a stand-alone DLC for the game known as inFAMOUS First Light. This featured none other than Fetch herself; her story, her art, her neon–everything about this woman spurred on by the power of the love from the fans. I was overjoyed and excited to see that most of what I had gleaned from the story Fetch told in inFAMOUS Second Son was accurate to her character. I like to think the devs took a few new things from my role-play account and incorporated them into her story as well but I don’t have confirmation of that.

Now we were speed-running cosplay as a job. Labor Day weekend in 2014 I was on stream with Sucker Punch Productions bouncing around fans’ comments as Fetch while also in Atlanta, Georgia for Dragon Con. I literally stayed in the hotel room for a few hours running that chat in full neon just for the fun of it. I brought my Fetch cosplay to that convention and ran into a few Delsin cosplayers which made my night. In January 2015, I debuted three (yes, three!) new Fetch cosplay looks at PAX South based on her outfits from inFAMOUS First Light and her original concept art from inFAMOUS Second Son. I also had taken apart the very first version of Fetch that I had built only months prior and redid nearly every aspect of it, landing on a much more accurate look for this character who inspired me endlessly. A year later in January 2016, once again at PAX South, I debut a version of Fetch based on a scratched out note from the devs: Fetch in Delsin’s outfit. With every cosplay build I sent photos and updates to the devs, tagging them on Twitter and loudly proclaiming my love for their hard work from my personal account and my Fetch account. They were kind enough to retweet and hype me up and we had an amazing bond that formed over the experience.

Fast forward to the upcoming Labor Day weekend, 2016. I had a job working with Ubisoft at PAX West to help promote Watch_Dogs 2 (more on this in another post coming soon) and I reached out directly to Sucker Punch Productions letting them know I would be in Seattle, Washington. I asked very politely if I could possibly drop by the studio to say hello and thank them for all the work they had done with the inFAMOUS IP and I got an immediate response of, “We are 90% sure you can. We’ll be in touch.” After a bunch of emails with NDA’s for me to sign, I was given their direct address and a contact and I made sure I packed my Fetch cosplay to travel with me for the big day.

I took an Uber to the studio and patiently waited in the building lobby while a team meeting took place in the studio a few floors above me. Many of the team left after that and someone came down to the lobby to bring me up to their studio space. I tried to do my best to be calm and collected (“Do not fan-girl,” became my internal monologue) but the second I exited the elevator Billy Harper, a self-proclaimed eMOTIONalist–a person who is passionate about developing entertainment that gives others “all the feels”–was there to greet me and he freaked out, fan-girling over my cosplay and finally getting the chance to meet me outside of our chats on Twitter. It was hilarious and a great ice-breaker! I was given a few minutes to take in my surroundings while he literally ran to grab devs to come meet me.

The lobby was bright and airy and full of amazing props and nods to their games all over the place. My favorites included the cane of Sly Cooper, a mannequin wearing full D.U.P. armor, a tiny Lego Delsin Rowe on the receptionist’s PC tower and a post-it note version of Fetch on their window. Not to mention the art along their walls–the studio oozed creativity and inspiration! The team was very much the reflection of this as they all come over to meet me and take photos with me and thank me for being a part of their lives in my small way on Twitter. It was wild to think that this team had been following my tweets and had been watching my cosplay career between working hard on so many things.

I had brought cards for a few of the devs I had been speaking to and I had some button badges with me of Fetch that I passed out to the ones who got to meet me in person. Everyone was super adorable and fun to chat with. I asked if I could get a photo with a sign I knew they had somewhere in the building. I told them I had seen a photo of Laura Bailey, Fetch’s voice actor, standing next to a neon sign that said “FETCH” and I thought maybe it was in the break room. Billy immediately said it was in the kitchen but to get me there would be tough since they still had people working on something that was very much under wraps. This was a crazy ask, and I knew it. They could have said no and I would have been sad but understanding. Instead, they pulled out all the stops, running to turn off monitors and screens and walking me carefully to the kitchen while my hands were over my eyes all the way there (and back to the lobby afterward) for a few photos with a neon sign. It turns out that they were actively working on a new title during my visit which would later be announced and sore to great success–Ghost of Tsushima.

After acquiring these photos, I figured I was done with my visit but the team wasn’t done with me. They gave me a gift bag of goodies to open later and then treated me to coffee at their favorite small shop. I sat with several of the devs drinking coffee and talking inFAMOUS. We spoke about codenames for games (most every game gets assigned a codename which can be used for communication about the game outside of the studio where people who are not employees may overhear the conversation without knowing the context). They asked me why I liked Fetch so much and I explained that I was drawn to the humanity of her character, that her story resonated with me, that I just connected to her on a deeper level. The devs told me that in reading my tweets they were glad I had her character down so well. They explained that much of her story was written and placed in-game but was pushing her title to an ESRB rating of M for Mature. Sony had told Sucker Punch Productions that an M-rated game in a Teen-rated IP would not do, so they had to cut and skirt a lot of her story to get it down to that T-rating that Sony would allow. They were hoping people would pick up on the puzzle pieces they had to scatter and they were glad to see that I had locked in on them and run with them on Twitter to help fill in her story gaps. I was happy to hear that.

We spoke about inFAMOUS Paper Trail and how that changed the game for the devs themselves. They had to change how they viewed working on gameplay and create something that could be cut into much smaller chunks but still build on the world and characters in a way that didn’t feel like throwaway content. They absolutely enjoyed working on that and they were sad to say that Sony was discussing pulling the plug on the online content after the website contract was set to expire and they knew the backlash would be rough for that, so they were actively trying to figure out what could still be playable within inFAMOUS Second Son and what would have to be removed for good.

They asked me if I knew who was running a few accounts on Twitter for various inFAMOUS characters (two of them were also mine and the devs were laughing about that) and I gave them as much information as I could on the others. They also asked if I knew who was running the inFAMOUS Wiki but I didn’t and I still don’t (if you are reading this, please reach out to me). It was an amazing conversation about my favorite franchise with the people responsible for creating it and one I will never forget.

After PAX West was over and I was safely home, I was suddenly barraged by a post on Twitter that tagged my Fetch account. Sucker Punch Productions had taken a short video of me “attacking” Billy and then (in the midst or working on a totally different game!) added neon affects to it and called me out via their Twitter account. Not only was my Twitter account going crazy from their mention, but my friends were texting me like crazy to tell me how proud they were of me. It was then that I was dubbed the “official unofficial Fetch (due to Sony copyright restrictions)” by Sucker Punch Productions and I adore the title so much. Not only have I made lifelong friends with a gaming studio I adore, but I am now a part of their secret arsenal in the inFAMOUS world they have created.

It was an amazing conversation about my favorite franchise with the people responsible for creating it and one I will never forget.

A huge thank you to Sucker Punch Productions for being the best!

Thank you for reading about this wild adventure all thanks to my love for a video game company and how they inspired me. Please, take this media file download of Fetch’s ringtone from inFAMOUS First Light:

If you want to see more of my Fetch cosplay looks, you can find them here:

• Abigail “Fetch” Walker: First Cosplay Iteration (inFAMOUS Second Son)
• Abigail “Fetch” Walker (inFAMOUS Second Son)
• Flashback (inFAMOUS First Light)
• Curdun Cay (inFAMOUS First Light)
• Original Concept Art (inFAMOUS Second Son)
• Fetch in Delsin’s Outfit (cancelled outfit idea)
• Holiday Outfit (original design)
• D.U.P. Armor (inFAMOUS First Light) – coming soon

If you want to see more of my cosplay from the inFAMOUS IP:

• Delsin Rowe Vests (inFAMOUS Second Son)
• Brooke Augustine (inFAMOUS Second Son)
• Delsin Rowe (inFAMOUS Second Son) – coming soon
• Celia Penderghast (inFAMOUS Paper Trail) – coming soon