Interviews

Interview with Martin Mystère Developer Ricardo Cangini

Conducted by Randy Sluganski

Though Martin Mystère is extremely popular in Europe, the series has yet to obtain a following in the United States. Can you provide us with some background on the character and the series?

Martin Mystère is an eclectic character - similar to Indiana Jones - an anomalous and omniscient researcher that investigates the most absurd and impossible mysteries that we can imagine, from UFOs to Atlantis, from the Templars to the Aztecs... and now the portrait of Dorian Gray.

Diana is his charming wife who often helps Martin in his adventures while Java, with his primitive instinct and his bodily strength has a fundamental role in every dangerous situation. Martin Mystère lives in New York with Diana and Java and sometime assists in Police Investigations helping his friend Inspector Travis.

I have to ask, what’s the deal with Java? He is surely a unique sidekick!

Yes he is! Java is a curiously strong Neanderthal man who doesn't speak but only grumbles! However, Java is fundamental in both the comic strip and the game.

Are there any ongoing negotiations to bring Martin to the North American audience or are publishers too unfamiliar with the character to take a chance?

We're talking about it to a couple of publishers, surely the game can be played by every adventure player regardless of where they live, fortunately it's a good game and license.

Is the game adapted from one of the comic strips or is it original material?

The game was inspired by “Operazione Dorian Gray” (“Operation Dorian Gray”) and has been adapted as an adventure game to best represent Martin Mystère's world and character.

The story begins with the murder of Professor Eulemberg. After an Inspector Travis call, Martin goes to the Professor’s magnificent villa to investigate why this homicide might be shielding something ‘strange’. At the outset, the story seems a bit strange but little by little some mysterious aspects of the Professor’s life are revealed...

The game has a very Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers feel to it. What were your inspirations?

We were not officially inspired by a particular game even though our designers certainly have a fond recollection of past adventures, most of all the LucasArts games; in fact we have a fondness for the style, the feeling and the interface of the Lucas cult adventures. Of course time has passed and technology has advanced but some positive influences have stayed in our hearts, we have tried to mix a bit of these aspects into Martin Mystère.

Can you tell us a little about the basics of the game – length of play, how are inventory items handled, is it linear or non-linear?

Martin Mystère is 'a real adventure game', it means that we have a point and click interface, an inventory, the possibility to use objects, to exchange, to take, to combine together more objects; dialogues let the player to understand what Martin should do and are sometimes serious and sometimes funny and there is also a map that allows the gamer to choose his location. As for the length, of course it's subjective, but not less than 20 game hours as the game sections are not linear even if the plot is rather linear.

Were you allowed to take any liberties with your interpretation of the Martin Mystere character or did you have to work within the predefined limitations?

Certainly the world, the manners, etc. of the characters have been and must been respected (as always occurs when someone else's licenses are used) but it is not a real limitation, on the contrary, the use of a preexistent world can help to build a good character.

What adventure games have you worked on in the past? Can you share a little of your professional background?

Artematica incorporate in its organic the Simulmondo core team and people who worked in other Italian companies, our team has developed numerous pruducts, adventures and sport games, precisely (amiga/pc) 17 Dylan Dog adventures, 17 of Diabolik, 3 of Spider Man and some of Simulman and Tex Willer while the first Artematica one is Druuna Morbus Gravis (2001) which is really different from Martin Mystère that is more similar to classical adventures and uses a point-and-click interface.

What is the ‘Martin Mystery’ animated series? It appears to be a teenage version of Martin Mystère.

Yes, and it is quiet different from the original Martin Mystère character. The animated series differs from the comic strip because the target-audience is different (and is focused on children).

Our game is related to the original comic character with a detailed representation of the Martin Mystère world.

If Martin is a success, do you foresee a sequel? There is certainly a wealth of material to work with.

Not at the moment. We are working on another adventure but I can't say more about it... TOP SECRET.

Finally, a question for Martin himself – Martin, what were some of your more memorable cases?

Every case is 'mysterious' and 'impossible' but probably the most strange, dangerous and amazing was really Operation Dorian Gray.