Welcome to Just Adventure + — Part 34

‘Who’re You Gonna Call?’ is the first in a series of articles that will spotlight various adventure game developers who will discuss how they broke into the industry and maybe even offer some advice for aspiring game designers.

This month we pay a visit to Pascal Luban; General Manager of the Game Design Studio in France:

WHO’RE YOU GONNA CALL?
By Randy Sluganski

Have you ever wondered how an adventure game is birthed? Let’s say you have this really nifty idea for a game, but you don’t know what direction to go next. Do you call a game company? Heck no, unless you are one of their employees they won’t even entertain the thought of listening to your idea regardless of how wonderful it may be – lawsuits and all that you know.

Should you contact someone who has actually developed or written an adventure game? That would surely be a step in the right direction. Find someone who has actual experience in releasing a game to retail; someone who has successfully obtained funding and then pick apart his brain. The odds against your success are still enormous though and many talented people have fallen to the wayside. One man though decided that his desire to make adventure games outweighed the risks involved and in a bold move formed his own design company.

I first had the pleasure of meeting Pascal Luban, General Manager of The Game Design Studio while doing some research for USS Antartica (previously known as 1906) an upcoming console adventure game. As is my usual state of my mind, I was also slightly confused as my notes identified the same individual as one of the designers of the sublimely horrific Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare – the continuation of Hubert Chardot’s ground-breaking action/adventure series. In my usual subtle manner, I emailed The Game Design Studio about six hundred times until they finally capitulated and provided Just Adventure with an exclusive article on how and why they came to be. So now, in the words of Pascal himself:

It all began in the early 1990’s. At that time, I held a marketing position at Panasonic France. It was not dull but I wanted to create things. The advent of the CD-I made me realize that future game platforms would allow designers to write and realize high quality games. I decided to work on a game project for those new platforms. My vision was to realize an action/adventure game entirely done in video. The reason behind this choice was that I expected the new media (CD-I, CD-ROM, etc.) to appeal to new gamers, especially older ones. For adults to play games, it appears important to me to bring them a high quality product, as good as what they are accustomed to: movies.
I convinced a young and talented French realisator, Benoît Guerville, to team with me and we started to work on our project. It was a time of great endeavor. We had to invent new mechanisms that would allow us to offer a good degree of interactivity in spite of the fact we would be using video. We wrote an exciting script taking place in a cyberpunk universe (that was about 8 years before Matrix !).
We worked two years on our project. Our early contacts with publishers were encouraging. We witnessed the explosion of the industry thanks to, not the CD-I, but the CD-ROM. It was confirming our beliefs and pushed us to work even harder to come up with a truly great project.
At that time, I was still working for Panasonic France. An exciting opportunity came up in 1995. The launch of the 3DO console. Panasonic was one of the main supporters of this platform. Knowing that I was a big fan of games, our CEO asked me to prepare the launch of the console in France. It was an exciting time.
Unfortunately, I realized that the console would never be launched in France. I decided to fully live my passion for creation. I took the gamble of leaving my cushy job to try to break through in the newly born game industry. I gave all my energy to our project but very soon we came to a dead end. Our project was too expensive (and a bit naive too!). My partner was so disappointed that he dropped out of the project. But I did not give up. I worked on another game project. That one was designed for the new full 3D platforms like the Playstation or the Saturn.
I worked round the clock to present a good project. I presented it to many publishers and studios. At times, I had doubt about my chances, but I kept going. I felt like Cortez, the Spaniard that conquered with a handful of men, the mighty Aztec empire. The legend says that Cortez burnt his ships once he and his men had reached the shores so there would be no temptation to turn back.

And one day, all my efforts paid off ..

Indeed they have for Pascal is now so busy that he has stopped work on the USS Antartica in order to develop a few yet-to-be-announced projects for his own business. Fear not though for the USS Antartica is still in production and we have been promised some exclusive screenshots that you will not want to miss. As for Pascal: adventure gamers will want to keep a close eye on the Game Design Studio as this innovative and daring developer has some real treats in store for the genre.

Stay tuned for in upcoming months we will spotlight other well-known or soon-to-be well-known game designers in the adventure game industry.