Tim Schafer reveals Grim Fandango secrets
A lot was cut, design wasn't finalised...
Veteran adventure game maker Tim Schafer has released onto the internet the design documents used by LucasArts to build cult favourite Grim Fandango back in 1996.
The 72 page document reveals the processes the designers went through in putting the game together, prior to its critically-hailed release in 1998.
"People said the puzzles in Grim were super hard, and I've always maintained that this was due to a deep character flaw or mental illness on the part of the player," Schafter himself tells the Double Fine website.
"But now, reading this again, I've realised that holy smokes - some of them puzzles were nuts. Obscure. Mean, even."
A lot was removed from the game, too, the designer also highlighting the fact that the entire game wasn't ready prior to the deadline date on the design document - forcing him to create a jumbled final paragraph; a fake print formatting error.
"Look how much stuff we had to cut just to get that game done in three years. The Pizza Demon! Giraffe Lady! Bernard, and my beloved Dillopede. And the five-puzzle action climax with Hector LeMans! If only we had one or two more years," he adds. "Well, reading about them ten years later is just as good, right? "
Interesting, interesting stuff. Double Fine continue work on Brutal Legend.
