You play as a real estate agent named Alfie Banks who comes to get his piece of the pie, but soon finds himself overwhelmed by everything. I thought this would make a great backdrop for an adventure game, so I decided to make one set against the founding of Coral Gables, America’s first planned community. I mentioned I grew up in Miami, and I’ve always been fascinated by the odd history of the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s, which was a crazy time when people migrated south in droves and all sorts of shady characters and mobsters were using the South Florida area as a playground. All in all, it took me 8 years, but it was a great learning experience for all disciplines of adventure game design!Ī Golden Wake (AGW) was my first commercial project, and one that’s very personal. I started the series in 2004 because I wanted to see if I was capable of sticking with a long-term project. Each game is a separate case, and takes place in a different part of the world, where Ben investigates real life local legends and/or folklore. Care to tell us a bit about each of them?įrancisco: The Ben Jordan series are 10 free to download and play adventure games (8 originals and 2 remakes) about a young college graduate turned paranormal investigator. I made it in a few days, and it was a lot of fun!ĬSH: Fast-forwarding seventeen years: You have quite a few games behind your belt now. Ben Jordan was your first Adventure Game Studios (AGS) game, right? Was it also your first ever game?įrancisco: It wasn’t! I started playing around in AGS in 2001 and made my first game for a community series called “Reality on the Norm.” The idea was that every game took place in this wacky village, and there were community shared assets like backgrounds and character sprites, all done in a very simple style so anyone could contribute, regardless of art skills (or lack thereof) The first game I made was about a pirate named Hooky McPegleg who comes in search of “The Lost Treasure of Reality on the Norm” (the game’s title). There’s definitely something to be said for nostalgia contributing to the staying power of pixel art, but I also think it’s a perfectly valid art style and shouldn’t be discredited because of the low resolution.ĬSH: Couldn’t agree more. As far as pixel art, in addition to just really liking the look of it, it’s easiest for me to produce as a one-man show. Now, I have to ask: Why adventure games? Why pixel art?įrancisco: I grew up playing the classics from Sierra and LucasArts, and always wanted to make my own! I fell in love with the adventure game design of talking to people, solving puzzles, collecting items, etc, and always felt it was the best medium for telling stories. I’ve been writing stories and developing game systems for years but have found myself debilitated by my complete lack or artistic talent (I can’t even draw a reasonable stick figure). I’ve worked with a few actors repeatedly, but I always try and bring newĬSH: I am incredibly jealous of your talent. Nowadays, it’s mostly the same, although I work with a casting director to hold auditions and find local (NYC) talent to come record at a studio. When I made adventure games as a hobby, I’d find people to help me out on the internet. In the past, I’ve just made games doing mostly everything myself, except for music and voice acting. Are you a one-man studio?įrancisco: I am! Grundislav was my high school nickname (it’s supposedly the ancient Germanic form of González) so I used it as my online handle, as well as an identifier for a studio name. Francisco González, the one-man game-making machine, joins me to talk about his studio Grundislav Games, his impressive portfolio of adventure games, his time with Wadjet Eye, and upcoming game Lamplight City.ĬSH: Tell me about Grundislav Games.
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