Alanah Pearce’s Dispatch character carries a tribute she forgot she’d made

Alanah Pearce had forgotten a family tribute she helped put into Dispatch until she encountered it in the finished game. In Dexerto’s Fall Damage interview, she explained that Malevola’s surname came from her stepfather, who died before the game’s release.

Malevola is a demon on Z-Team, a group of former villains trying to change course. Pearce recalled that the team considered giving her no surname, or something ordinary such as Smith. When they asked for ideas, she offered Gibb while her stepfather was ill with cancer. She described him as supportive and encouraging of her career.

AdHoc Studio’s Steam page describes Dispatch as a superhero workplace comedy in modern-day Los Angeles. The player is Robert Robertson, also called Mecha Man. After his mech suit is destroyed in a battle with his nemesis, he takes a job at a superhero dispatch center, managing a team of former supervillains.

The game’s description puts relationships alongside the emergencies: Robertson has to handle office dynamics as he manages the roster, and choices affect both those bonds and the direction of the story.

“It really blew me away,” Pearce said on Fall Damage, recalling the moment she met that scene after release. What stayed with her, she said, is a permanent homage to someone she loves who is no longer alive.